Publishing Quotes

“An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but has escaped the terrible desire to write.”

“We published authors, not just books.”

“I publish what I want to read. That's the only rule I have.”

“At a certain point, you have to convince the publisher that you've found something new.”

“Obscurity is a far more dangerous threat to authors than piracy.”

“I don't think there is any such thing as a 'New Yorker' story. It's just a story that we happen to publish.”

“A publisher's first duty is to his authors.”

“What I learned at 'The New Yorker' is that the page is infinitely flexible.”

“A great magazine is a kind of mutual admiration society.”

“What do I tell a young person who wants to be a publisher? Don’t.”

“The key to a successful magazine is to be mainstream enough to get the numbers, yet edgy enough to have a cult.”

“Publishing is a very mysterious business. It is hard to predict what kind of sale or reception a book will have, and perhaps that is why it is so fascinating.”

“It is a publisher's business to be something of a prophet; to be a little ahead of his time; to be the first to publish a book which will be acclaimed as a masterpiece ten years hence.”

“A great magazine is a conversation with its readers.”

“Work, finish, publish.”

“If you are not a gambler, you're not a publisher.”

“A publisher is a man who bets on brains.”

“My mission was to be the Lenny Bruce of publishing.”

“A publisher is a man who bets on brains.”

“An editor should have a nose for a good book, but it is even more important for him to have a good stomach, for he will have to eat many of his words.”