I’ve always tried to keep my cover prices on the low side. I’m more interested in getting people to read the books we publish and less interested in the profit margin.

One thing I discovered is that the book world is vast. It’s easy to walk around the store – even the room with literature and poetry, where I work most often – and feel overwhelmed.

Just like writers can have a lot of different styles, so can readers. It’s hard to pigeonhole book buyers.

I sometimes wonder if what I create as a writer will leave any sort of dent. There’s really no way of knowing, so I just have to keep going.

There are definitely some tricks and techniques to a good reading. Rewarding the audience that shows up to your reading is very important and you can’t be boring or ungrateful.

I have a very positive outlook on things. It’s hard to predict how actual books are going to do but I’m not freaked out about ebooks taking over. I think there are probably more active readers now because of computers and iPhones.

I learned that you have to respect how much time and work a writer has put into their book. I always give the writer I’m publishing a good deal of control in shaping the book and figuring out how it looks, but I’ll make suggestions on how to make it stronger.

One thing that is sometimes forgotten in this “future of books” discussion is that there are all these awesome presses – big and small – that are producing and designing amazing books.

I try to be a lot of things for the authors I work with – a careful reader, a helpful friend who also happens to be an experienced writer, a thoughtful editor, and a creative midwife.

I think one thing I’ve learned, as dorky and obvious as this sounds: People who like cool books are usually really cool people.