Hello from Harper

I remember trudging along on the elliptical machines at my gym. I just got the May 2009 copy of Fast Company magazine in the mail the day before so I brought it along with me. Browsing through the trusty table of contents my fingers and eyes land on "Fast Talk. Page 17: Book Tech". To the left of this was a large photo of Julia Cheiffetz, Senior Editor at HarperStudio in New York. "We're looking at multimedia packaging such as including a DVD of Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno films along with her book." This struck me because not too long ago I was having a discussion about various forms of media (or other recreational items) being packaged with limited edition books. Nonetheless, I was quite thrilled and enthralled by all the articles in the Book Tech section especially the segment on HarperStudio. Many of you may already be very familiar with HarperCollins publishing. HarperStudio is part of the HarperCollins family that's trying to rethink both the format of books and the book business model. "HarperStudio will publish just two books a month and offer authors 50-50 profit sharing rather than a tradional 7% to 15% royalty." I think they should have a playdate with our friends at Flatmancrooked! In a nutshell HarperStudio wants to "publish books in a way that is effective, creative, and sustainable. [They] believe books are a vital part of our culture. [They] believe traditional publishing models are broken and are experimenting with new ones."



I was sold and proceeded to check out their site, see what they were all about. From then on I naturally started following all of them on Twitter, communicated with them via this medium, and even contacted them to see if they would be interested in donating a few HarperCollins children's classics to my book drive. Their very own Assistant Editor, Katie Salisbury, was kind enough to have a number of books sent over from their various offices including "Where the Wild Things Are" (THANK YOU!!) She was also super kind enough to participate in an exclusive interview for the blog and share some of her recent reads along with other faves. She also dips into life at HarperStudio and her habit of sniffing books!


I give you 20 Questions with HarperStudio's Katie Salisbury. And be sure to also check out their blog, 26th Story.

What book are you currently reading right now? Who is it by?

Yellow by Don Lee

What is the book about?

It’s a collection of short stories about Asian Americans living in the fictional and somewhat isolated town of Rosarita Bay in Northern California. I actually just finished it and enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the last story in the collection which shares the book’s title.

How did you find out about this book?

My roommate had a copy of it and recommended it to me.

What book did you read before Yellow?

Before Yellow, I read The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole. It was his first novel and he wrote it when he was just 16. Pretty incredible. He was quite the perceptive 16-year-old.

Do you have a favourite book or a favourite author?

It’s hard to choose one favorite book, but if I had to, I would probably say The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Two of my favorite authors are Virginia Woolf and Jhumpa Lahiri; Woolf for her lyrical prose and the central role of women in her novels and Lahiri because her short stories are just so good—despite their somewhat formulaic structure, they never fail to deliver.

Is there a particular genre of books you tend to gravitate toward? Why is that?

When I read for pleasure, I tend to read short stories and more literary fiction…although I have been known to read a Vampire novel or two. And then there’s always Tolkien and Star Wars…

Is there a genre of books you have yet to read and would love to get into?

I’d like to read more non-fiction, especially since that’s what we mostly publish at HarperStudio.

Did you have any favourite books growing up? Why were they your faves?

Growing up some of my favorite books were The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, the Cam Jansen series (remember Cam’s photographic memory?), and The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Also, a book called The Dollhouse Murders—no matter how many times I read it, I always got chills!

What is it like working at HarperStudio? Do you find yourself reading more since working there?

Working at HarperStudio is a lot of fun, especially since we get to experiment and make up the rules as we go along. We’re such a small group that everyone is doing a little bit of everything and I’m learning a lot. I definitely find that I’m reading more now than ever just to keep up with all of our books!

What are some books you excited to read?

I’d really like to read Lush Life by Richard Price. It’s a hard-boiled crime story and most of the action takes place in my neighborhood in New York.

Has there been a movie based off a book that you felt was faithful to the text?

In general I think that movies based on books should not be held to the standard of recreating a book word for word; they’re different mediums and should be judged accordingly. But if there ever was an excellent film-version that was completely faithful to the book, it’s the BBC six-hour long version of Pride and Prejudice, hands down. After all, it made Colin Firth into the Mr. Darcy we all know and love.

Do you own a kindle? If so, do you like it? Thoughts on the Kindle vs. an actual book?

I don’t own a kindle, but I would love to try it and if the price was right I would definitely get one. I’ve tried out the Sony Reader, but so far it hasn’t persuaded me to do most of my reading electronically. That said, I still think digital e-books will be a big part of the future of books.

Do you have any special, random, interesting quirks or habits when reading or handling a book? Perhaps never bending the spine?

I like smelling books, especially old ones—I like the smell of musty, yellowing pages. It sounds gross, I know, but I’ve discovered this habit runs in the family…my grandmother and my aunt, who is a librarian, also do this!

In Anne Fadiman's "Ex-Libris" she refers to an "odd shelf". It's a collection of books you own that are of a particular genre...but just really random collection of books whose subject matter is totally unrelated to the rest of your collection. Her Odd Shelf holds 64 books about polar exploration: naval manuals, journals, narratives, collections of photographs, etc. Do you have an "odd shelf"? And if so, what subject matter would I find? If you do not currently have an "odd shelf" per se, what would your ideal "odd shelf" contain?

My odd shelf is probably the one I have dedicated to books on or related to China, including memoirs, non-fiction accounts/analysis, and novels. I studied abroad in China during college and I’m kind of a Sinophile.