Traditional books on paper open a new chapter of success | Books | The Guardian

Nigel Newton, chief executive of independent publisher Bloomsbury, whose catalogue spans Margaret Atwood and the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, sees the future of bookselling as finely balanced. Publishing itself was in a robust state, he stressed, but the outlook for booksellers is less certain. At a recent industry conference he likened bookselling to the bus in the final scene of the 1960s heist film The Italian Job - balanced on the edge of the precipice. Asked if the teetering vehicle will tilt back on to the road or tumble down the cliff, he said he was an optimist. "I expected the statistics to support a complete downward picture, and in fact they don't," he said.