The Questionless Books Interview: Journalist and Public Relations Expert Elana Rabinovitch

Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, The Questionless Books Interview gets a host of lit-types (authors, editors, publishers, publicists, designers, booksellers, readers, bloggers, journalists, etc.) to finish a bunch of statements about the state of literature and the "future of books".

Elana Rabinovitch's journalism career took her from a small weekly paper in Fort McMurray, Alberta to CBC Television’s The National and The Journal, to the CanWest Queen’s Park bureau, where she covered Ontario politics. In 2000, she opened her own public relations shop: Propaganda Ink. Propaganda Ink is a full service communications and public relations firm, serving the arts and culture industries in Canada as well as running political and business campaigns. Its current client roster includes the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry and the Polaris Prize.

Elana's Links:

http://twitter.com/#!/gillerprize
http://womenspost.ca

I am... small

I am known to... read occasionally

I do this in... tub, bed, couch, park

I do this because... it takes me out of myself

I do this when I... am awake

The way I do this is... very much the way everyone else does. I think.

At its core, a Writer is... voyeuristic

As opposed to an Author, who is... solipsistic

A Writer is responsible for... nothing

As opposed to an Author, who is responsible for... representing

At its core, Publishing is... a mug’s game

As opposed to Editing, which is... better

A Publisher should always... look before they leap

As opposed to an Editor, who should always... jump in head first

A Manuscript that's ready to be read by others is... nowhere near finished

As opposed to a Book that's ready to be ready by others, which is... ready or not

A Manuscript should always... be free of typos

As opposed to a Book, which should always... be readable

At its core, Bookselling is... love’s labour’s lost

As opposed to Book Marketing, which is... amorphous

The smallest unit of narrative is... .

To be a Book a thing must be... felt under your fingertips

The biggest reason to be scared of the future is... troglodytes

The biggest reason to anticipate the future is... new animals

In the future we will all... slow down

At his/her core, a Reader is... looking for transcendence