CEOs Ponder the Future of Publishing

Publishing giants Jane Friedman and Larry Kirshbaum shared a long, candid web video interview with Samantha Ettus–taking a blunt look at the future of publishing.

On the web show, Obsessed with Samantha Ettus, both publishing executives were frank about their leadership. “The truth is I always thought bigger was better. That was one of my mantras. Now what’s happened is publishers have a bottom line to protect,” explained Friedman, the former CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. “And to protect that, they have to publish more and more books just to get that top-line revenue. That is so unhealthy.”

“I wish I had stayed longer with the digital initiatives that we made, but we were just too early,” said Kirshbaum, former CEO of the Time-Warner Book Group. “We were right. It was just too soon. If I had one regret it was that I couldn’t stay longer to keep that going. This is the definitely the future and publishers are, to some extent, beating back the waves here.” (Via Edward Champion)

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