long-standing association with the Economist. Atlantic doesn’t
have any such relationship, but should and must.
Literary fiction is a long game. An independent–because it does
not have to make market-rate profits–should have the time to
grow authors and be patient through their low-profitable
growing phase. If you are buying high quality books
publishing should be a good business; but it won’t make money
every year, and it is complicated. Good quality will out and by
definition is longer lasting, so you build backlist. As importantly,
it can provide monster hits from a low base. Just one hit can
make a huge difference to the fortunes of a small business. This
year we have published the film tie-in to Wild. It has been on
the bestseller list since January. It won’t be transformative, but
its success has made for a good cash position, galvanised the
company and restored much needed confidence.
And finally, we need to have some fun. This sounds superficial,
but it is not. It is a good measure of success, energy and
engagement. Publishing is a passion business, which requires
extraordinary faith in what we do. Our writers certainly need
that from us, and building a home with passion and enthusiasm
for writers is an important goal for any publisher. ■
With Corvus making sustained and regular profits for the
business, the Atlantic publishing can maintain its place on the
high ground of literary fiction and quality non-fiction. This is
where the identity of the publishing company lives. Publishing
quality non-fiction is hard, but good, work. Major writers and
major brands are not on the whole published by the independent
sector. That tends to be a money game, in which we cannot
compete. We have a different feeding pool. This tends to be non-brand, non-obvious publishing. The future for every independent
is therefore clear. Publish to cover the overhead i.e. keep it very
small. And, crucially, have brilliant editors who can dream up
ideas, go to potential writers with them and fashion brilliant
books from there. It is no coincidence that most people running
independent businesses have an editorial background because
the business stands and falls on editorial excellence and flair.
Medium-sized businesses are very good at partnership. They
have to be because they don’t own everything around them.
We are naturals at the give-and-take that is required to make a
relationship work in the long term. Faber publishes “QI” as a
bedrock for their annual Christmas offering. Its partnership with
the Guardian delivers strategic value for both businesses. Profile
has sold millions of their New Scientist books, and also has a Will Atkinson is Managing Director and Publisher of Atlantic Books.
