About Altamira

last updated: September 20, 2023

The purpose of our publishing company is to deliver the right words to the right people at the right time. We see that as the purpose of publishing in general. But many publishers have become disconnected from their fundamental purpose.

For example, most publishers take so long to print a book that you can't use it to inspire time-sensitive action.

As another example, big publishers often publish ghostwritten books, sadly being untransparent about it. Readers think they're getting ideas from one person—but they’re really getting ideas from someone else.

We see more problems with the status quo in publishing. But instead of just talking about it, we want to show how things could be better.

Here are 4 capabilities we believe are essential to delivering the right words to the right people at the right time.

  • Printing

  • Concision

  • Audience targeting

  • Speed

PRINTING matters because without the analog format, your ability to deliver the words is severely constrained. We’ve observed that many great ideas are available online, but people don't read them there—precisely because of the format. Digital media doesn't have the gravitas of a physical book, and people don't dedicate the same amount of attention or thought to it as they do with print publications. The deeper your message, the bigger this problem becomes. (P.S. — the numbers show that print is here to stay).

CONCISION means delivering the right words, and only the right words. Many books are artificially long—most modern nonfiction books could've been a 10-page blog post. One reason why this happens is that publishers put minimum word counts into their contracts with authors, usually 60,000+ words. At Altamira, we think 15K to 20K words is a sweet spot, especially for nonfiction.

AUDIENCE TARGETING means producing a book that is tailored to the right people, not necessarily the most people. Many publishers have allowed their overhead costs to grow so much that they can't justify publishing a book that only reaches a few thousand people.  But it's a mistake to assume that a book is only worth publishing if tens of thousands of people will buy it immediately. A few thousand of the right people can easily move the world—and it can be both meaningful and lucrative to reach those people with a targeted message. For example, we published Breakfast With Pops in partnership with an investor who was writing for others in his industry. If just one of the people within that highly targeted audience brings him a great investment, he could make many millions from our collaboration.

SPEED matters because a book is a powerful tool for connecting with people and moving them to act. Most publishers take 4+ years from the time you sign a book deal to the first pressing. But 4 years is an eternity now! If you want to use your book to advance your career, network with people in your industry, or inspire action, the right time for your book to come out is much sooner than most publishers can promise. Altamira takes 2-3 months to print the first run of a finished manuscript, compared with 18 months at a traditional publishing house.

To explore working together, email ellen@altamira.studio.

TEAM

Founder Ellen Fishbein is a poet who built a B2B writing business as a student and helped grow a B2C media startup to 30M readers before starting Altamira Studio.

Co-founder Samuel Nightengale is an award-winning screenwriter who was previously a systems engineer at Palantir Technologies.

Co-founder Dr. William Jaworski is an analytic philosopher, published author, professor of 20+ years, and leading expert in the field of Philosophy of Mind.