And since we’ve met Jane Friedman a couple of times and generally think the CEO of HarperCollins is very smart in a terrifying sort of way and probably has more knowledge contained in her pinky than we ever will in both our heads, disagreeing is, well, not an option. Especially since she lays out her reasons for making this statement to Saj-nicole Joni at Forbes:
We are seeing a breadth of titles selling in many different channels of distribution. We are no longer publishing for the independents only, the chains only, the big box merchandisers only, the online sellers only. We are selling across the board. The health is the breadth, diversity and range. That’s good for business, and more importantly, it’s good for society.
Other fun tidbits: Friedman “never had a plan” but relied on curiosity and gut feelings for moving up the ladder and identifying trends. She’s really big on large print at the moment, and credits “working with people who are so much smarter than I am in their fields” as a reason why publishing is “the best job in the entire world.”