Michael Tamblyn is CEO of Kobo, the global ebook and e-reader platform owned by Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto. In this episode, Michael talks about his unusual journey to bookselling, how Kobo competes against Amazon, Apple, and Google in ebook markets around the world, and the surprising truth about who reads ebooks—and what it means for the future of digital publishing.

Sanyu Dillon is President of the Random House Publishing Group and the first publisher ever inducted into the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Hall of Fame. In this episode, she discusses her career, the inside story about recent bestsellers like Project Hail Mary and Belle Burden’s Strangers, and what has—and hasn't—changed in how publishers market a book.

Sam Schwartz is the legendary former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, credited with coining the word “gridlock” during the 1980 transit strike, earning him the moniker “Gridlock Sam.” In this episode, he talks about his new novel Autokill, a thriller the New York Times describes as a “nail-biter,” about a plot to turn self-driving cars into weapons. He also discusses the claims the autonomous vehicle industry is making and why they deserve scrutiny, and how all of it fits in with a historic but ongoing struggle between the visions of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Plus, he offers a piece of advice to New York’s new mayor that anyone who cares about cities will want to hear.