Just because we're Knopf doesn't mean we shouldn't sell books as well as any other publisher in the land.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There's a blockbuster side to Knopf, whether it's P. D. James or John le Carre or our best-selling books. We try to sell our writers as aggressively as those houses regarded as commercial with a capital C.
Knopf is solidly profitable, and that is how I intend to keep it.
People still try to sell books that way - as 'books can take you to foreign lands.' We've given children this idea that reading and books are a nice option, if you want that kind of thing. I hope we can get over that idea.
Nobody sells books like J.K. Rowling. We have a rule in publishing: Never compare anything to 'Harry Potter' because it's like lightning in a bottle.
We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods.
It seems the world of book publishing is constantly changing. Whether it was the rise of chain stores or their decline, or the digital revolution... fortunately, we have been able not only to adapt but to thrive.
I don't publish the books to make money, not at all.
The publishing industry has always wanted to make books as cheaply and as ephemerally as they could; it's nothing new.
The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership. I get a little angry when people try to say such a thing.
I've got lots of books sitting here that have never been published because nobody could make any marketing sense of them.