Readers say they’re bored, publishers blame “screens.” But what if the problem is the books themselves? Has contemporary fiction retreated into safety and lost its audience?

A publisher’s biggest fear isn’t a bad book. It’s a great book they can’t figure out how to sell.

From lit mags to the Big Five, publishing’s boldness lives in the press releases. The rest vanishes quietly.

The cleanest book ban is the one you never have to announce. Publishing does it all the time — the manuscripts that vanish before they’re ever called ‘books.’

If you could get a sequel to any book that never had one, what would it be?

Finally picked up a used copy of The Master and Margarita. Not sure why it took me this long.