Hello and welcome to a brand new blog feature! 🌟

In this new series, we’re grilling Exact Editions’ publishing partners for insight into their role, their publication and the future of the publishing industry (as well as a few lighter-hearted questions too, fret not!)

First up is Michael Schmidt, founder and editor of literary magazine PN Review. You can find both on Twitter here:

Michael: @4Michael7

PN Review: @PN_Review 

So without further ado, on with the interview!

The Interview

1) What’s your role within the magazine?

I am one of two equal editors but being the magazine’s founder and the senior party, I am the more equal editor. Andrew Latimer and I put the magazine together every two months.

2) What drew you to the magazine publishing industry?

Chance: I was interested in poetry and a poetry magazine at Oxford called Carcanet was up for grabs. After three years that magazine turned into a publishing house but I found I could not run a publishing house without the exploratory tool of a magazine. As with a snail, the magazine is the horn and feels the way.

3)  If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

It would be green asparagus. Or raw cauliflower. Or raw onions with mayonnaise. The snail again, with its hungry exploratory vegetarian horn.

4)  If you weren’t working in publishing, what would you be doing?

Lying in the sun, or banking.

5) Do you have an all-time favourite magazine issue?

The next issue of PN Review is always my favourite. We are almost at 250, so it’s been a long chase.

6) If you could live in any city, where would it be?

Oaxaca, Mexico, where I actually have a house share… not too far from Santo Domingo. It’s a lovely and still a relatively calm city, and the people are about as nice as any people I have ever met.

7) What do you think will have changed in the publishing industry in 5 years?

The e-book will be almost dead; the audiobook will be everywhere, magazines will be accessed primarily on line, there will have been a huge and I hope successful backlash against OA… in other words, business almost as usual.

Many thanks for taking part Michael! Although I think I’ll give the raw onions and mayonnaise combination a miss for now…

Want to take part? Publishers can contribute by contacting us on publisher@exacteditions.com.