The Business of Books

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Jonathan Karp, publisher of the Warner Brothers imprint Twelve, argued that we live in "the age of the disposable book."

Self-aggrandizing memoirs penned by TV pundits and recovering addicts, portraits of heroic pets, minor-league athletes and serial killers, many headed for the remainder bin - or the mulcher - the sad fate for up to 25 percent of the product churned out by New York’s publishing machine.

The book business is well aware that it’s broken. Sales are stagnant, CEO’s are getting axed and quickly replaced, big-name authors are jumping from one publishing house to another, and electronic books are creeping up in the market.

Boris Kachka is a contributing editor at New York magazine. After more than five months of research and interviews with 75 publishing executives, his article "The End" is now on news stands. He joins us from New York with more about the future of the publishing industry. Also joining us is veteran publishing executive Bob Miller, publisher of the new imprint HarperStudio.

Whatever the fate of the industry, books continue to grab hold of readers and spark other ideas or artforms. We hear how a musician could be inspired by a book, an author uses music to move a plot forward, and a literary characters starts writing songs. Independent radio producer Nathanael Johnson brought us this glimpse of cross-fertilization in art, assembled at San Francisco's LitQuake festival.

(Photo by arjecahn)