Bill Boggs Presents 'So You Want to Write a Book?' at the East Hampton Library

When the name Bill Boggs pops up, most people think of him as a TV talk show host and producer. That stands to very reason. The Emmy-winning, longtime Springs East Hampton resident has impressively helmed a staggering 16 shows.

Among those — with an equally astounding interview sizzle reel featuring the likes of everyone from Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis to Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams and Donald Trump — are Midday Live on WNEW Channel 5 (now FOX) in New York for 13  years, Weekend Today in New York for two years, CBS’s All Star Anything Goes, the Travel Channel’s Freeze Frame and Historic Traveler and CNBC’s Let’s Talk Stock.

Hundreds of Boggs’ interviews can be found on YouTube. Additionally, he has had a hand in several other shows that can be considered television firsts. In the late 1980s, for example, Boggs co-executive produced and hosted the first syndicated stand-up comedy series Comedy Tonight and executive produced the nationally syndicated Morton Downey Jr. Show, which is still considered an early seminal influence of tabloid television and reality TV.

He also logged time as one of the Food Network’s original on-air personalities hosting TV Diners, the first national restaurant review show, and created Bill Boggs’ Corner Table, which was the network’s first non-cooking show that ran from 1996 until 2002. Then there are Boggs’ equally voluminous acting credits, including several one-man shows and such TV and film appearances as Oz, Miami Vice, Trading Places, Species 2, Eyes of Laura and The Comedian.

What some people might not realize, however, is that Boggs is also an accomplished author of four books and a sought-after motivational speaker. Both talents were on full display Wednesday, August 20 as part of East Hampton Library’s Summer Book Talk series, where he hosted a well-attended presentation and Q&A called “So You Want to Write a Book?” Boggs said his goal was “to help other aspiring authors get started.”

“Throughout my career on television and on the speaking circuit, I’ve literally been approached by hundreds of people over the years telling me they always wanted to write a book. But then this would almost always be followed by them giving me a whole laundry list reasons for why they didn’t think they could do it.”

Boggs added: “How’s that for creating a self-fulfilling prophecy for yourself? I’ve always tried to encourage them as much as I could and some of them listened. A few of them even sent me their books.”

In one form or another, Boggs has been writing practically his entire life, having had a multifaceted fascination with broadcasting, show business and comedic storytelling that began when he was young boy growing up in Philadelphia after his parents gave him his first radio. He is also a voracious reader. In fact, whenever he’s on the East End, one of Boggs’ favorite activities is perusing the stacks at the East Hampton Library. “It’s a magical place and I can spend hours here,” he said.

As an author, his official foray into the literary world began in 1980 during the height of his tenure hosting Midday Live — and at around the same time he began coming out east to visit a friend in Westhampton—with the publication of his first novel At First Sight, published on January 1 that year by Gossett & Dunlap. The romantic plot was inspired by one of his real-life relationships.

In 2008, HarperCollins also published Got What It Takes?, a critically acclaimed motivational book that was based on Boggs’ interviews with highly successful people, including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Sir Richard Branson and Diane Furstenberg, among others, the second edition of which led to another TV interviewing gig contributing profiles for My Generation on PBS.

Then, in 2017, Boggs penned The Adventures of Spike the Wonder Dog: As Told to Bill Boggs and a sequel Spike Unleashed: The Wonder Dog Returns: As Told to Bill Boggs. Published in 2020 and 2023 by the Simon & Schuster imprint Post Hill Press, a majority of each book was written at his home in East Hampton. The first book’s cover describes the protagonist Spike as a “very funny English bull terrier with a politically incorrect sense of humor and a heart of gold” and tells the story of his rise to fame on both his owner Bud’s TV talks show and social media, and the price he pays for fame.”

But while both books are billed as fictionalized comedic satire, almost all the characters and plots were adapted from Boggs’ life — including Spike, an English bull terrier he owned in the early 1970s when he was hosting Southern Exposure, a syndicated morning show in High Point, North Carolina. Spike often appeared on the air and even received fan mail until he was hit and instantly killed by a speeding car in 1974.

Though many people had suggested he write a memoir about the horrific experience, Boggs had other thoughts. “As soon as I got the idea of writing about what might have happened if Spike hadn’t died and had come to New York with me and become a big TV and social media star in today’s world, the creation process was instant and I knew it would work much better as a novel.”

As for optimizing the creative process of other writers who are just getting started, Boggs advised, “Start small. Even a couple of hours a day will produce huge results over a long period of time. The first thing I’d recommend is disarmingly simple: just sit down and write and see what happens.”