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Atlas & Co. Charts a Solo Course
January 16, 2008
James Atlas |
James Atlas, the founder of Atlas Books, which partnered with HarperCollins
to publish the Eminent Lives series and with W.W. Norton to publish the Great
Discoveries series, has given the publishing company a new name -- Atlas
& Co. -- and a new purpose. The change "reflects both the collective
nature of the enterprise and our willingness to take sole responsibility for
the books we publish," Atlas said. Atlas & Co. is launching its inaugural
list this spring.
"We were very happy with our joint ventures and partnerships," Atlas
told BTW. "But I wanted autonomy, and I wanted the freedom to sign
our own books and promote them in our own way."
In the mid-'90s, Atlas founded the Lipper/Viking Penguin Lives Series. A contributor
to The New Yorker and former editor at the New York Times Magazine,
Atlas was working on a 600-page biography of Saul Bellow when he saw a need
for more concise works. "This idea occurred to me that there should be
short books by distinguished writers on great subjects -- literary, political,
and religious subjects," he explained.
In 2002, following the Penguin Lives series, which included about 27 titles,
Atlas formed Atlas Books, which partnered with HarperCollins and Norton.
Atlas & Co. will launch eight titles this spring, with another eight slated
for the fall. The list focuses on memoir, social issues, history, and biography,
and includes titles in the Atlas Pocket Classics, a series of boxed sets about
a particular place or idea. From time to time, the company will also add to
the Great Discoveries series in partnership with Norton, which will distribute
Atlas & Co. titles.
This spring's inaugural list includes "Socialism Is Great!" A
Worker's Memoir of the New China, by Lijia Zhangby, a former Chinese
factory worker who demonstrated in Tiananmen Square; Apples Are From
Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins; and Breach of Peace by Eric Etheridge,
an extraordinary collection of portraits, first-hand accounts, and original
mug shots of the Freedom Riders of 1961, which is being serialized in O,
the Oprah Magazine.
"The idea for [Breach of Peace] began when I saw, in the Times
Magazine, photos by Eric Etheridge, who'd been traveling around the country
taking photos of all the surviving participants of the '61 Freedom Ride to Jackson,
Mississippi," Atlas said. "It was so striking I had to find
him to see if we could put a book together."
Atlas' plans for his new company don't include an expansion any time soon.
"I'm going to be very vigilant about over-publishing. The goal isn't to
publish a lot of books, just books of the highest standard that we can send
out of here with a sense of pride," he said.
"There are some distinguished publishers I wish to emulate, like Sonny
Mehta. And there are distinguished houses like Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux,
and Norton that I consider exemplary models."
Atlas & Co.'s staff of five, including long-time editor John Oakes, is
housed in a "literary bunker" (actually a loft) on the west side of
Manhattan, but Atlas aims to give the company a European sensibility.
"I'm determined to create a publishing house that is in a sense European,"
he said. "I want to publish books by foreign writers. I think there's too
much emphasis on self-regard that makes us publish 97 percent of our books in
English, and only three percent in translation. I've bought books from Italy,
Venezuela, China. It's very important to internationalize this publishing house.
But it's a tough business," Atlas acknowledged. "These are all things
I want to do. It's aspirational." --Karen
Schechner
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