Atavist Books, a multiplatform book company formed by media mogul Barry Diller, chairman of the IAC/InterActiveCorp, film producer Scott Rudin, and former Picador publisher Frances Coady in September 2012, will shutter at the end of the year.
"While we are very proud of the quality of the titles produced by Atavist Books to date, we have identified that the market for highly innovative enhanced full length literary e-books still heavily relies on a print component and has yet to emerge," said a spokesperson for IAC, who confirmed the news, first reported yesterday.
The venture will wind down its operations, and no longer publish any titles after December 31, 2014, according to the spokesperson. Its assets will be folded into IAC and Atavist Books partner, the Atavist, a multimedia startup specializing in long-form journalism.
Atavist Books launched in March 2014 with its first title, Sleep Donation, a novella by Pulitzer finalist Karen Russell.
For its part, The Atavist just closed a new round of funding last week, according to co-founder Evan Ratliff, and is "stronger on both the editorial and software fronts than we've ever been."
