In 2014, Book in a Box was founded as an innovative professional book publisher. The name was quickly changed to Scribe Media, a company that rose to prominence and peaked during the pandemic years before suffering a back-breaking betrayal and financial collapse last year.
This article explores the drama of the initial rise and fall of Scribe Media and how an ambitious entrepreneur and author saw an opportunity in the chaos — and has since revived the Scribe Media brand as a new company with inspired leadership and a fresh lease on life.
Like Icharus: The Rise and (Initial) Fall of Scribe
Scribe Media was at the top of the publishing world in 2021. It had $21 million in gross sales and was scaling to five times that number. The brand was able to do this through a creative, tech-savvy path it provided for professional authorship.
Its team had created a cost-effective path to publication that saw success in the first several years of its existence. Cost savings aside, it was clear that authors found value in the quick turnaround and the ability to retain all their rights and royalties by publishing their books through Scribe Media.
In 2023, Scribe faced a crisis triggered by ethical failures that led to bankruptcy and a loss of trust in the company from all of its stakeholders. This collapse resulted from mismanagement by the company’s former CEO, who, as Scribe co-founder Tucker Max pointed out in his personal explanation of the event, was going through the loss of his mother and was upset with the departure of co-founder Zach Obront. Both founders had moved on to work on other businesses by the end of 2021.
New Management
Exacerbating the issue was new internal management. One executive, in particular, changed core processes that were key to the company’s initial growth and industry-leading success. These internal shifts eroded service quality and led to unnecessary hires, which drained profitability.
As the financial and operational struggles mounted, pressure pushed certain leadership individuals to make unwise decisions. Investment money wasn’t reported properly, and financial concerns were not communicated correctly to the leadership, investors, owners, and potential buyers. This snowballed into the former CEO’s illicit behaviors, ultimately leading to broken trust and a complete internal collapse.
On April 12, 2023, Scribe couldn’t make payroll. On May 24, the company laid off 86 employees, and shortly after, it defaulted on two loans. Things looked grim — and due to the layoffs, the issue was now a public one, too. Authors started calling to check in, including a fellow named Eric Jorgenson.
Like a Phoenix: The Rebirth of Scribe Media
Eric Jorgenson published two books with Scribe. Now he’s the CEO.
His successful book, “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant,” has seen over five million copies distributed since publication. Jorgenson is also no stranger to tech startups. He oversaw growth and product development at the online marketplace Zaarly before its multi-million dollar acquisition and runs an early-stage technology investment fund called Rolling Fun.
When he saw the struggles unfolding at Scribe Media, Jorgenson realized that there was far too much value at stake to simply let the entire project die. Too many people had sacrificed too much to let the actions of a couple of individuals throw it all away. He started looking for ways to revitalize the company.
This started with gathering a team and putting together a plan. Along with his own resources, Jorgenson got the support of the long-term holding company Enduring Ventures (an investment group run by entrepreneurs committed to smart investments and thoughtful stewardship to build beautiful businesses). The founders of Enduring Ventures, Sieva Kozinsky, and Xavier Helgesen, were on-site within two days. They studied the situation and quickly came up with answers.
The first was to start a new company that could absorb many of the laid-off workers. This would keep them employed serving the authors desperate for support in a tough situation. Together, Kozinsky from Enduring Ventures took over interim management, too, and eventually, they purchased specific assets from Scribe Media in an attempt to honor the best parts of the company and preserve them.
New Support
In the words of Jorgenson, “The purpose of this transaction was to preserve what made Scribe Media special and refocus on the original vision through strong management and a focus on delivering exceptional service.”
By August 2023, the new infusion of support had re-established the Scribe Media name. Eric Jorgenson was formally appointed as the new CEO (up until that point, Kozinsky had functioned as the interim executive), and the company began its journey toward recovery.
As far as internal staff is concerned, Jorgenson and his team were intent on retaining existing talent. As a result of their leadership and the dedication of the Scribe team, they did. Many people hired before the drama unfolded are still working there.
For instance, Scribe’s current VP of Operations, Erica Hoffman, and Head of Sales and Strategic Partnerships, Rikki Jump, have been with the company since 2019 and 2018, respectively. Mark Chait was one of the first full-time members hired and continues to serve as the Executive Editor.
There are many other examples — and to be clear, these are well-established professionals with established resumes. Chait, for example, came from executive editor positions at HarperCollins and Penguin and used to rub shoulders with celebrities like Jerry Rice, Sean Payton, and Brittney Griner.
New Company Culture for Scribe Media
The seasoned team was once again working with authors and publishing books. A new company culture was in place, and there was a structured response to the damage created by the previous iteration of the company. They beefed up the team again, including a healthy stable of writers, editors, designers, publishers, marketers, and project managers — both full-time and freelance — that could handle the workload that Scribe had previously managed.
It is no understatement to say that Scribe Media has earned a rare second chance at existence. The team was able to work together to re-establish the once-dead company, rehabilitate its image, and provide a complete turnaround, saving jobs, restoring profitability, and creating hope for a future that is once again bright.
Deeper Lessons, Thoughts, and Takeaways From The Scribe Media Journey and Rebirth
Jorgenson, his partners, and a few team members saw an opportunity amid a company’s collapse. All the while, the inspiration here comes from how they handled the acquisition. The initiative was thoughtful, empathetic, and long-term-oriented. It took the well-being of past employees and customers into account and sought to rehabilitate past success rather than cut ties and make a quick buck — which is why it worked.
Before long, authors began re-approaching the resurrected brand by the hundreds. Since August of 2023, over one hundred books have been released, all published by the team at Scribe.
“Tucker Max and Zach Obront built a strong foundation at Scribe Media,” Jorgenson said, “I’m personally grateful to them for Scribe Media and the opportunities it creates for authors. Our goal is to honor the strong roots of Scribe Media’s professionalism and expertise in publishing.”
The new CEO added the secret sauce that made this risky project work so well: “We are focusing on the fundamentals: being excellent service providers to our authors and great partners to our collaborators.”
The revival and growing success of Scribe Media has shown when business leaders show a deep sense of responsibility and a willingness to do something well consistently, no amount of bad press can hold back their brand.
The Road to Recovery
Scribe Media recovered from near disaster by focusing on transparency, accountability, and strategic financial restructuring. Trust was particularly important, too. “Priority one was rebuilding trust,” Jorgenson explained, “and that started with the Scribe team itself. If the team felt in step and clear on our vision, that confidence comes through to our authors.” The new CEO added that this also meant lots of 1-1 conversations with staff, authors, and investors, as well as being open about both challenges and opportunities.
Emphasis was also put on “walking the walk” rather than merely “talking the talk.” Transparency and reliability were technically company mottos under the former CEO’s mismanagement, and Jorgenson knew that his new leadership had to differentiate from that old example. He had to demonstrate those values through his own actions in leadership — that is what earns trust.
As far as addressing the past damage of the previous company (which is often referred to as “Old Scribe”), Jorgenson’s new company could not make up for the lost services from past financial mismanagement. Nor was his new company directly responsible for it. Nevertheless, the new team worked at cost with authors affected by the previous collapse. They helped them get their projects across the finish line with minimal additional investment.
Scribe Media is not just recovering from its recent collapse. It is emerging stronger and showing that this new iteration under Jorgenson is more than capable of fulfilling its potential. It is a powerful example of how to turn adversity into opportunity. When the right leaders are willing to roll up their sleeves, they can set into motion a new vision that impacts the lives of many.
