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Will Atkinson has outlined practical steps for Atlantic Books to return to profitability following his appointment as m.d. and publisher, describing its 2012 results – which saw a £5.1m loss on a turnover of £6m – as "spectacular".
Atkinson, who has been with Faber for 20 years, most recently as sales and marketing director, saying the opportunity of taking on his new role was "unique". "It's the kind of job, leading a large independent publisher, that doesn't come up very often, and though I have been very happy with Faber, I had to go for it," Atkinson said. "It is the right time to take it forwards, with Allen & Unwin the majority shareholder. I've worked with them for 10 years, and discussed with them how we can take Atlantic forwards. There's no point me going in there without investment, but Allen & Unwin haven't got involved to leave it in stasis."
Describing Atlantic's 2012 losses as "spectacular", Atkinson said: "It's a pretty impressive piece of paper to look at, and the results for 2013 when they are released may not look that look clever. They are a huge improvement from 2012 though, and 2014 is so far looking extremely encouraging. Mistakes have been made, investments were made that didn't come off. The task now is to look at the books that are coming through and see what is right for the market.
"In the last 14, 15 months, we have seen the mid list books that used to sell 7,000 or 8,000, now selling 2,000 or 3,000. That's not just for Atlantic and independents, it's across the board. The question is how to address that and make the most of that middle ground so it is profitable and not unprofitable."
Asked about whether existing contracts for books would be cancelled, he said he could not comment as he is not yet an Atlantic employee.
However Atkinson said there would be more "cheerleading" for Atlantic's commercial imprint, Corvus. "It's a strong list, and with e-book sales and successes becoming more transparent, I think we'll be banging the drum for it a lot more," he said.
He also said he would look to develop partnerships and build a strong Christmas offering. "Canongate do Christmas very well," Atkinson said, "and Profile have brilliant connections with people like The Economist. Faber has links with QI and the Guardian which are very successful, so the question is, what is Atlantic's partnership?"
Speaking about the Independent Alliance, of which Faber and Atlantic are both members, that it would be "steady as she goes". He said: "It carries on being very useful and successful, and will keep on doing that."