A few weeks back I had a really stimulating conversation with Craig Mod, the bookmaker, writer, photographer and author of Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir, which was February’s book of the month at Curious Reading Club.

One thing I mentioned in our chat was that Craig actually has had a profound impact on my career, in a way he probably doesn’t remember and certainly didn’t expect. Maybe 15 years ago I bumped into him at a party in a back yard in Brighton, and he suggested we try crowdfunding to get Matter off the ground. Indeed, he was an early cheerleader for the project, and wrote about it as a flagbearer for the idea of “subcompact publishing.”

That’s a trend that has had its ups and downs, but you only have to look at Substack (urgh) and other platforms to see that it really taps into something we’ve seen develop in the media environment for most of a generation now. I think the prospect and necessity of subcompact publishing become more true as we’ve seen big media fragment and decline.

Anyway, that piece of advice led to a decision, and that decision led to a lot of complicated things, but it absolutely changed the course of my life in a positive way.

In our conversation we discussed all manner of things: writing his book, making books, mentors, men and women, the comparisons between Japan and America, even the yakuza… there’s really a lot in there.

I hope you enjoy the full interview.