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Kobo in Conversation

Join hosts Michael Tamblyn and Nathan Maharaj for in-depth conversations with all kinds of authors about their latest books, how they write, and the books and writers that shaped and inspired them.

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  2. Booktalking - Publishers wannabe booksellers, the book business's third rail, dark matter sales data, and more

Booktalking - Publishers wannabe booksellers, the book business's third rail, dark matter sales data, and more

Feb 11, 2026

Hosts Michael Tamblyn and Nathan Maharaj caught up on the latest private equity-fueled mergers & acquisitions, what we're not talking about when we're talking about the money made from books, plus a whole lot more.

This episode covers:

  • Rosetta Books acquired by Open Road Media
  • Why private equity is (still) interested in the book business, most recently in German companies Bookwire and Zebralution
  • Independent Publishing Group's move to add more direct-to-consumer services for their publisher clients (and why becoming a bookseller is harder than it looks)
  • The "dark matter"* that's not being reported when we talk about the health of the book business
  • Publishers and librarians duking it out over digital book pricing
    • Sidebar on Heated Rivalry and the NYPL
  • And a remembrance of Porter Anderson

Beloved backlist books cited in this episode include Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, The Rise and Fall fo the Third Reich by William L. Shirer, the works of Octavia E. Butler and William Styron.

More author interviews at kobo.com/conversation

Find past Booktalking episodes here 

 

*Nathan said "grey matter" in the episode because his was failing him at the time.