Jonathan Karp has risen from covering Ivy League football at The Brown Daily Herald to president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the world.

Karp, who graduated from Brown in 1986 and did a stint as a reporter at The Providence Journal, recently announced plans to step down from the top job at Simon & Schuster. So I asked him to answer a few questions about his remarkable career.

Q: First, congratulations on your run as chief executive at one of the world’s most prestigious publishing companies. The industry has changed dramatically since you started. What’s one prediction you have for where things will be a decade from now?

Karp: I fearlessly predict that the average book will be shorter. My caveat is that extraordinary books will still be as long as the author wants them to be. Since most authors consider their books extraordinary rather than average, perhaps page counts won’t be much that much lower, but I can envision more readers rewarding brevity even more in a world of podcasts, hyperlinks, and video on demand.
 
Q: Is there a notable author who stands out as someone you enjoyed working with more than anyone else?

Karp: I have worked directly with four authors this year as an editor or co-editor: Barry Diller, Jeffrey Seller, John Irving, and Kamala Harris. They are all exceptional individuals. I can say with complete accuracy and sincerity that each experience was exhilarating and illuminating.
 
Q: Let’s go back in time to your days at the Brown Daily Herald, where you were editor-in-chief and once proclaimed that you’d like to be Steve Garvey’s vice president. What were some of your favorite stories that you covered when you were at Brown?

Karp: When writers visited Brown to speak, I loved covering their speeches. I was a big fan of Nora Ephron after reading her essay, “A Few Words About Breasts,” and when she appeared at Brown, her talk was full of quotable and hilarious material. Ditto for playwright John Guare. I covered budget meetings, the student council, and a protest outside the university president’s house after he shut down one of the fraternities. And the Brown football team. It was exciting to sit in the press box with the professional sportswriters.
 
Q: You ended up as a reporter at The Providence Journal before moving on to Miami. What made you move from reporting to editing?

Karp: I read "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro and "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam. Their books were so much deeper than anything I could imagine reporting that I wanted to be a part of the book world. I thought it might be a better way to learn about good writing. I only intended to stay in the publishing business for a year or two, but I liked it a lot and stuck around.
 
Q: Last question: What’s next for Jonathan Karp?

Karp: Dinner!  There’s always dinner to look forward to, especially on the nights when there’s rigatoni.