When I first entered the publishing industry back in 2006 as an author, there was still a giant chasm separating print and digital authors. The “digital books aren’t real books” mindset was still firmly in place, and even today, that lingers.

Brian Gibson, CEO of the supplier of the ubiquitous supply chain system commonly referred to as Vista, died on April 22 after a 14-month fight against cancer. Most people in publishing will probably not know of Brian, but his impact on the industry over the past 30 years, in both the U.K. and the U.S., was profound.

I’ve ghosted books on nearly every conceivable subject. The first question every new ghostwriting client asks is, “Are you an expert or do you know anything about [fill in the blank]?” My answer is almost always the same: “No.”

Sometimes we need to be pushed to do what is best for us. That certainly appears to be the case with the publishers’ business model for e-books and its competitive strategy with Amazon.

This summer, I’m learning to ride a motorcycle. I plan to jump it through a flaming hoop at my book party.

A fascinating experiment in bookselling was recently launched in Tokyo: Daikanyama T-Site, created by Tsutaya, one of Japan’s leading bookstore chains. Unlike most of its stores, which are pulsating, neon-lit urban hubs where you can buy books, magazines, coffee, and DVDs till late at night, Daikanyama is more sedate, with glass walls, weathered wood floors and shelves, with a target audience of the over-50s, or what the Japanese call the “silver market.”

At a book fair I once signed two books to “Tom.” Tom turned out to be “Rod.” Rod refused my offer to sign new books for him. With a malicious grin, Rod said he planned to show my bloopers to his friends as evidence of our close personal friendship.

Maris Kreizman is audiobooks editor at eMusic, a music and audiobooks digital retailer.

In a recent New York Times T magazine article, Holly Brubach, a writer I admire and a friend of Tanaquil Le Clercq, took umbrage at my audacity for depicting the life of the late great ballerina and fifth wife of George Balanchine in my forthcoming novel, The Master’s Muse. Brubach contends that fiction which imagines the lives of “real, usually famous people” aren’t novels at all, but a sort of lesser form, “custom-made for a culture fixated on celebrity.” Examples she cites are Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife: A Novel and Ann Beattie’s Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life. I assume she would include Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife and Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank, two recent books in the category that have captivated many readers.

If I were in charge of the world of publishing, my first edict would be Honor Thy Booksellers. Forget those pie charts showing bookstore sales on the wane, those bloggers or twitterers with adoring followers, the number of books Amazon can sell in a single click of its mighty mouse. Independent booksellers are the single most powerful cog in the publishing continuum and should be celebrated as such. Publishers’ reps, librarians, legitimate book reviewers, and literary critics are not far behind.