A 2paragraphs Interview with Ryan Chapman, Associate Director of Marketing at Atavist Books, founded by publisher Frances Coady, IAC’s Barry Diller, and producer Scott Rudin
Q: You recently left one of the world’s largest publishing houses–Penguin, where as Marketing Director you worked with bestsellers like Michael Pollan, Zadie Smith and Nate Silver–to join the emerging publishing/software company Atavist. Why?
A: Why did I join Atavist Books? I know the books will be great from publisher Frances Coady’s bona fides, and the Atavist team has shown how to effectively apply startup thinking to longform journalism. And nobody’s saying, “We do it this way because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
Corporate publishers have the advantage of tight supply chains, national sales forces, and an institutionalized need for scale and efficiency. None of these engender an environment of experimentation. At least not the kinds of experimentation I feel the publishing industry should be engaged with. As we head into 2014, Atavist Books looks to be perfectly positioned to publish authors the way readers in 2014 want to discover and read them.
More 2paragraphs interviews with Rick Moody, Jonathan Galassi, Bobbie Ann Mason and others.
