3.30.08

Today the bunny is pleased to welcome Colin Harrison, author of six novels, including The Finder, which will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux on 10 April. Mr. Harrison is also a senior editor at Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster (itself a division of Viacom). The bunny thinks that makes him an excellent candidate to question about the book publishing industry, since he has the view from both sides of the desk.

The Bunny Papers: Where is the publishing industry now?

Colin Harrison: As a writer and as an editor, I am bullish on the future of books, for the foreseeable future. Call it 10, 15, 20 years. After that, who knows, we’ll all be reading books on the inside of our eyelids. I’m not worried about the book business. Now, it’s true, the book business has big challenges, but those challenges are well-known. People like books, they like to feel books, they like throwing them into their bags.

TBP: So people still like to read. But will they read in print or on screen?

CH:I have a broad theoretical answer to that. My theory is that content in its short form has lost almost all its market value. Once upon a time, if you wanted to have stock prices that were pretty current, you needed to pay $11K to have a little box on your desk. Now it’s free. 20 minutes delayed, but free. There are a bunch of newspapers now you don’t have to subscribe to, because they’re free. People will download short films, but will still go to movie theaters for feature-length films. I think the structural pressure is on magazines and newspapers. The way this is maybe going to be solved is with these new electronic readers. But I say "maybe". With an electronic box, people drop it on the pavement, it might break. When it comes to books, the culture still celebrates books as a fetish item. Books are still something people collect. One of my pet phrases is, "There’s nothing like a book."

TBP: There's nothing like the consignment model of returns, which the industry has been running on since the Depression, either.

CH:The book business still sells newly-printed books published 50 or 75 years ago or more. You don’t see the same parallel in the auto industry. Books don’t have the same kind of obsolescence curve other consumer items do.

TBP: Have you ever worked in sewage?

CH: No. I just thought it was an intriguing way to kill somebody.

(Author photo by Joyce Ravid)