I wrote a novel for my degree and I'm very happy I didn't submit that to a publisher. I sympathize with my professors who had to read it.

Writers rush in where publishers fear to tread and where translators fear to tread.

As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.

I believe my publisher has shown a great deal of faith in me over a lot of years but I'm not prepared to be so arrogant to say that the long-term literary value of my work would compensate them for a financial failure.

I remember once giving my dad some drawings and writings and said 'If you could just give these to the publisher that would be great.' And I was about five!

I've drunk Amazon's free Diet Coke. Nothing makes more sense to me than a company trying to make bookselling into a profitable business. I'm not anti-Amazon and I'm not pro-publishers either. I'm pro-books.