# Atavist Magazine > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Atavist_Magazine > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Atavist_Magazine.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atavist_Magazine > Source revision: 1352460639 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Multimedia publishing platform Not to be confused with [Atavism](/source/Atavism) or [Atavista](/source/Atavista). For the Otep album, see [Atavist (album)](/source/Atavist_(album)). Atavist Magazine Editor Seyward Darby Categories Longform Frequency Monthly Founded 2011 (13 years) Company Automattic Based in Brooklyn, New York, United States Language English Website https://magazine.atavist.com/ ***The Atavist Magazine*** is an American publication based in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), New York. It features longform and investigative journalism. It was founded in 2011, through Silicon Valley funding by Jefferson Rabb, [Evan Ratliff](/source/Evan_Ratliff), and [Nicholas Thompson](/source/Nicholas_Thompson_(editor)).[1] In 2018 the paper was bought by [Automattic](/source/Automattic), who currently owns it.[2] *The Atavist Magazine* is unique as instead of publishing multiple articles, every edition of *The Atavist* only has one longform story. Despite being a magazine, *The* *Atavist Magazine* does not have a physical form, instead sending each edition through email, which is sent monthly. ## History *The Atavist Magazine* started as an idea between Jefferson Rabb, [Evan Ratliff](/source/Evan_Ratliff), and [Nicholas Thompson](/source/Nicholas_Thompson_(editor)), after a few drinks. After raising 1.5 Million[3] in seed money from [Silicon Valley](/source/Silicon_Valley), the first issue of *The Atavist Magazine* was published on November 1, 2011. The first edition was the story "Piano Demon" by [Brendan I. Koerner](/source/Brendan_I._Koerner), who had previously worked with *The New York Times* and *Wired*. "Piano Demon" was about the life of [Teddy Weatherford](/source/Teddy_Weatherford), a jazz musician.[4] Due to the magazine not being in print, *The Atavist Magazine* was only available on iPads, Kindles, or Nook e-books.[3] Along with the magazine, Creativist Software was also launched by the founders, which has been used by [The Paris Review](/source/The_Paris_Review), [Pearson, ⁣](/source/Pearson_plc)The [Christian Science Monitor](/source/The_Christian_Science_Monitor) and [Vice](/source/Vice_Media).[1][5] In the beginning of 2012 the multimedia Brightline, later known as *Atavist Books,* was launched in partnership with [Barry Diller](/source/Barry_Diller), [Scott Rudin](/source/Scott_Rudin), and [Frances Coady](/source/Frances_Coady).[3] The first publication was the [novella](/source/Novella) "Sleep Donation" by [Karen Russell](/source/Karen_Russell). The book is about a fictional world where [insomnia](/source/Insomnia) is fatal, and a growing problem throughout the world, with private corporations harvesting sleep.[6] The novella was well received.[7][6][8] At the very end of 2014 *Atavist Books* was shut down with its assets being folded into either *The Atavist* (At the time the parent company of *The Atavist Magazine*) and [IAC](/source/IAC_Inc.). This was despite the recent success of the book, "The Trials of White Boy Rick" by Evan Hughes.[9] Overall, *Atavist Books* published 2 books and 4 novellas.[9] In 2015, after failing to raise enough money, *The Atavist* had to cut its staff in half. To try to increase profitability, *The Atavist* shuttered down their [native apps](/source/Native_(computing)) in favor of a website.[10] In June 2018 *The Atavist Magazine* announced that they were being acquired by [Automattic](/source/Automattic), the developer of [WordPress](/source/WordPress). This was due to a lack of funding.[11] ## Anthologies Love and Ruin: Tales of Obsession, Danger and Heartbreak from the Atavist Magazine[12] ## See also - [Online Magazines](/source/Online_magazine) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) David, Carr (2012-05-20). ["Maturing as Publisher and Platform"](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/business/media/the-atavist-matures-as-a-publisher-and-a-platform.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 2024-12-10. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-:2_2-0)** Mullin, Benjamin (21 June 2018). ["WordPress.com Owner Buys Atavist, Maker of Subscription-Offering Publishing Software"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordpress-com-owner-buys-atavist-maker-of-subscription-offering-publishing-software-1529597700). *[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal)*. Retrieved 22 June 2018. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:1_3-2) ["The Atavist Is the Future of Storytelling"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220528132346/https://www.inc.com/jill-krasny/the-atavist-profile.html). *Inc.com*. Archived from [the original](https://www.inc.com/jill-krasny/the-atavist-profile.html) on 2022-05-28. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Koerner, Brendan I. (1970-01-01). ["Piano Demon"](https://magazine.atavist.com/piano-demon/). *The Atavist Magazine*. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["How Atavist is winning over publishers"](https://digiday.com/media/atavist-winning-publishers/). *Digiday*. 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_6-1) ["Book Review: "Sleep Donation: A Novella""](https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/book-review-sleep-donation-novella). *Columbia Magazine*. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Jordison, Sam (2014-05-08). ["Karen Russell's Sleep Donation is not a new paradigm, it's just very good"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/08/karen-russell-sleep-donation-new-paradigm-atavist-publishing). *The Guardian*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-3077](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Terminal Tossing and Turning (Published 2014)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20230909115042/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/books/karen-russells-sleep-donation.html). 2014-04-02. Archived from [the original](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/books/karen-russells-sleep-donation.html) on 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:4_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:4_9-1) X (2014-10-21). ["Atavist Books to close up shop"](https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-atavist-books-to-close-20141021-story.html). *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Atavist cuts half its staff and searches for a sustainable path as funding dries up"](https://www.niemanlab.org/2015/12/atavist-cuts-half-its-staff-and-searches-for-a-sustainable-path-as-funding-dries-up/). *Nieman Lab*. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Mullin, Benjamin. ["WordPress.com Owner Buys Atavist, Maker of Subscription-Offering Publishing Software"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220628105211/https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordpress-com-owner-buys-atavist-maker-of-subscription-offering-publishing-software-1529597700). *WSJ*. Archived from [the original](https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordpress-com-owner-buys-atavist-maker-of-subscription-offering-publishing-software-1529597700) on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2024-12-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** McQueen, K. (2017). Love and Ruin: Tales of Obsession, Danger, and Heartbreak from the Atavist Magazine. ## External links - [https://magazine.atavist.com/](https://magazine.atavist.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Atavist Magazine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atavist_Magazine) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atavist_Magazine?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.