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Faber’s sales and marketing director Will Atkinson is to join Atlantic Books as managing director and publisher on 1st October.
Atkinson joins the independent publisher just two months after Atlantic founder and chief executive Toby Mundy left, and eight months after Allen & Unwin became the publisher's majority shareholder. Atkinson said he planned to grow the business, ensuring that a “maximum readership is found and made for each one of Atlantic's writers”.
Atkinson has been with Faber for 20 years. Stephen Page, chief executive of Faber, said he wouldn’t rush to recruit for Atkinson’s role but would spend some time thinking about how to adapt the position to suit the needs of a modern publisher. Page said: “When someone is in place and doing an excellent job, you tend to not make changes. But I am going to spend a little bit of time thinking about. We’ve got strong people here, and though this is a challenge, it gives us the opportunity to look at things afresh.” Page said he expected to be able to outline his plans in early September. He said he respected Atkinson’s decision to make the step-up, adding that Alantic was “in an interesting place, and backed now by strong and ambitious shareholders”.
The move continues the considerable overhaul at Atlantic, which has struggled since its Man Booker triumph with Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger in 2008. Results filed at Companies House, covering the year to end December 2012, showed losses of £5.1m on turnover of £6m, caused by "lower turnover, higher costs of sales . . . and financing costs." Allen & Unwin took over as the majority shareholder in January, when the company received "substantial" funding from shareholders. In a restructure at the same time, Peter Roche joined Atlantic as non-executive chair, as did a new finance director, while editor-in-chief Ravi Mirchandani left, and three further roles were made redundant.
Roche led the recruitment of Atkinson. Roche said: “At Faber, [Atkinson] has demonstrated an unrelenting enthusiasm for independent publishing tempered with an unparalleled zeal for negotiating the best deal. I've admired Will's work for many years and believe he is the perfect person to head up Atlantic Books.” Atkinson said: “I know that the opportunity at Atlantic, as part of the Allen & Unwin family, is profound and unique. In its first 15 years it has developed a reputation for publishing wonderful books and world class writers. It has impeccable credentials of editorial excellence and originality. The job is to harness those qualities with drive, professionalism and passion, so that a maximum readership is found and made for each one of Atlantic's writers. Being one of the few independents of any size in the UK, Atlantic is already significant; and it will grow. The prospect of leading this new chapter in Atlantic's history with an excellent team and strong ownership is absolutely thrilling.”
Page added: “At Faber we are, of course, very sad that Will is leaving us, but can only be pleased for him and excited by what he will achieve with our friends at Atlantic. Will has been at Faber for over 20 years in a variety of roles, and in each his intelligence, good humour,generosity and hunger for success have made an invaluable contribution to the business. He has been an exemplary ambassador across the industry and the globe, and we'll all miss him very much - despite seeing a great deal of him as a member of the Alliance! An announcement will follow shortly about our own plans at Faber but first and foremost we wish Will all the success he deserves in this next challenge.”
Page said that Faber remained committed to to its services division, including Faber Factory, which Atkinson ran. “We’ve been thinking about the publishing business since I joined in 2001. We’ve had a quiet period in terms of bestsellers, but our list for 2015 is extremely strong. We are a literary publisher, so we have to think about things differently. We have made a lot of investment in the business over the past two years, and we are sitting here calmly, and continuing to look forwards.”