Publishing Talks Interviews Thad McIlroy-Future of Publishing

Publishing Talks started as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. It was great fun talking with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

In the past few years, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing and bookselling in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me. I have had the pleasure of speaking with visionaries and entrepreneurs, editors, publishers and others who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues in the book business.

I really enjoy the opportunities to find out about the boundless creativity that motivates so many of us in the book business, and I also really enjoy talking to others in the business, who like me, have tried to make sense of it all in some way or another. That’s one of the reasons I have frequently sought out other publishing consultants, gurus, and observers over the years, to talk about various topics in publishing. Sometimes it is about the history of books, but more often during the past almost twenty years of this series, conversations have centered on change and the future of publishing.

And that brings me to Thad McIlroy, a publishing consultant and author whose aptly named website is The Future of Publishing. As you can imagine, Thad and I had a great time together, and I hope you will enjoy hearing what he has to say, especially about emerging technology. Thad is a really smart guy who understands publishing from multiple perspectives.

AI discussions cannot be avoided at this point. My current thinking is that the version of AI we have now (LLMs) is not going to be the AI technology that will eventually take over our world. In the meantime, human creativity is still valued and it would surprise no one if there is a massive backlash against this technology before too long, especially as it is applied to the creative arts. Would love to hear what listeners think, so feel free to comment.

Here’s what Thad sent me as a working bio: “Writing and publishing are in my blood—my father was an author and broadcaster, and Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows) was my third cousin. I began as a bookseller in Toronto, then founded Virgo Press (1977) and co-founded book distributor Beatty & Church (1979). In 1985, I created what I believe was the first trade book using desktop publishing technology.

Now based in San Francisco, I’m an electronic publishing consultant, and author. I co-founded Publishing Technology Partners and serve as contributing editor at Publishers Weekly, focusing on AI and innovation. My latest book is  (2024, re 2025). I’ve authored dozens of books and articles exploring publishing technology, metadata, and industry transformation.”

Thad’s current interests are focused on AI. Here is a recent post of his on Onix 3 (if you’re not in the book business, this piece may be a bit in the weeds for you, but if you are in the business and care about data, search and findability, this matters – alot.)

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Carla Malden: Playback (a novel)

Playback (A Novel) — Carla Malden — 9781644284872 — Hardcover — 216 pages — Rare Bird Books — Published August 12, 2025 — $28 — ebook versions available at lower prices

Time travel fiction is among my favorite literary genres. I’ve been reading time travel novels avidly since I was a kid. I am sure the first one I read was HG Wells’s Time Machine, probably before I was even 10 years old. And I’ve since read many more. Time and Again by Jack Finney and If I Never Get Back by Daryl Brock are two of the best books I have ever read, so good that I have read each of them more than once. Now I can add Carla Malden’s Playback to my running list of time travel favorites.

When I was offered this book to read, I had no idea of the subject. I wanted to read it simply because Carla and I have known each other since we were children, and long ago, our parents were friends. I’ve read Carla’s work in the past and knew that she is a terrific writer, but I did not know what this book would be like. As it turns Playback was a welcome treat. It’s a wonderful book.

I also did not realize that Playback is the sequel to Carla’s previous novel, Shine Until Tomorrow in which her main character, Mari Caldwell, finds herself time traveling from her modern life as an unhappy 17 year-old to San Francisco in 1967 and the extraordinary period of the Summer of Love. In that book, she becomes an influential figure in a nascent rock and roll band’s story of success.

Fortunately for me, one does not need to have read Shine before reading Playback in which Mari, now 34, travels back in time once more—this time to the fall of 1967, when in a whirlwind of activity, her life is changed again.

Previously, she experienced and believed in the idealism of the sixties but now she feels only disillusionment. She’s been divorced from what she thought would be a fulfilling marriage and she’s stuck doing photography work she does not care about. She’s disappointed in life and particularly does not feel she is doing right by her daughter. Playback takes Mari back to the Haight-Ashbury of 1967 at just the moment in her life when she needs it to be restarted. It’s an adventure story that unfolds her inner being in surprising and meaningful ways.

Playback captivated me, and brought me back to my own past in many ways. Carla’s characters are fully drawn, she deals well with the anomalies and intricacies of the concept of time and how changes in the past alter the future without making too big of a deal about it and distracting us from the emotional core of the book. I did not want it to end, and of course now I want her to write another book to finish Mari’s story and complete a trilogy.

It was great fun for me to talk to Carla about her book, her characters and the two novels that tell Mari’s story, and also to revisit the touchstone place and time that has meant so much to our cultural history. Whether you lived through the sixties or just have heard about it in stories and books, Playback will take you there and like Mari, you will find yourself torn between staying or returning to your own life, maybe changed for the better as she was.

Carla Malden was born and raised in Los Angeles. She worked in film production and development and then as a screenwriter. Working with her father, Academy Award winning actor Karl Malden, she co-authored his critically acclaimed memoir When Do I Start? Carla has written features for the Los Angeles Times, and her previous novels include Search Heartache, Shine Until Tomorrow, and My Two and Only. She is a member of the Board of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

Author website.

Rare Bird (publisher) website.

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