More Details Of Ark Press Ownership Emerge After Bizarre Joint Livestream With Baen Books Where D.J. Butler Calls Talk Of Peter Thiel Involvement "Bullsh**"
The saga of Ark Press has been one of interest to sci-fi and fantasy publishing ever since it was revealed its origins came from PayPal founder Peter Thiel investing in publishers with his investment group. While DJ Butler, the face of the publishing house, tried to obfuscate about the company’s investors, the group’s ownership was confirmed.
Ark Press made waves early on when it announced that it would be peeling away an urban fantasy series from bestselling author Larry Correia. Such made many speculate as to the financial viability of Baen Books as the company will be losing at least a portion of Correia’s output in the future when the company relied on its book sales to carry much of its company in recent years. Furthermore, the editorial team of Ark Press is comprised of three Baen Books editors who left the company, making the endeavor one that gutted the back end and forced Baen to bring up new editorial staff.
Business-wise, the writing is clearly on the wall: Baen Books is in trouble. While Toni Weisskopf tried to reassure her fans that the company was going well when speaking in an interview saying she had plans for the next two years of publishing, it appears they don’t have much talent coming up behind Correia to fill in the gaps for revenue.
Bizarrely, DJ Butler decided to pretend that Ark Press is somehow not a direct competitor to Baen Books in public appearances. He went on multiple live streams with book-related YouTube channels to assure he was only on friendly terms with Baen, which is odd considering they poached Baen’s biggest author and peeled off from the company with its editorial staff.
On a more recent livestream, Butler went on with Baen Books Editor In Chief Toni Weisskopf to try to make a show of solidarity. Butler went hostile, bizarrely swearing about the situation and calling any talk of Peter Theil “bullsh**,” while assuring he had never spoken to the man. He barely let Weisskopf speak in the interview, making it seem like he spoke for her in one of the strangest, most uncomfortable hours of a book interview on YouTube. In that hour, however, Butler also said he was fortunate to have investors, muddying his apparent messaging on the topic.
Meanwhile, Butler had his mods ban Fandom Pulse from his Discord, which he’d been using to promote Ark Press as their Discord, for speaking about Passage Press, which is Thiel-owned and a sister company owned by the same group. Ark Press also promptly blocked us on X, an odd move considering this is the most-read blog in science fiction and fantasy and about the only media outlet that will promote Ark Press’s work. What reason does Butler have to hide all of this information?
Soon after these events, Butler made a video announcing a $10,000 cash prize for a publishing contest where authors will have to write a full novel to the chosen theme. A daunting task, though a large amount of money that Ark Press is clearly throwing the weight of their investors around early on.
In the contest, however, Ark Press gave some information. The address listed on the contest is 2355 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039, which is the address of Foundation Publishing Group, LLC.
This LLC owns the trademark for Passage Press, confirming what Butler already told Fandom Pulse that they and Ark Press are owned by the same corporate group. The Company’s CEO is listed as a Los Angeles hipster from the arts community, Daniel Lisi, who also follows Ark Press on X.
Lisi runs multiple publishing ventures, including Chapter House Publishing, which he’s been operating since 2020, as well as having worked for different gaming ventures, which indicates his connection with tech and perhaps how Thiel’s investment group came on board. Meanwhile, Passage Press’s publisher, Jonathan Keeperman, has recently been appearing on major mainstream media like the Charlie Kirk show, showing his connection to the Trump campaign as it’s starting to come together.
It's all been confirmed that Fandom Pulse was accurate in its initial reporting, which begs the question as to why Ark Press and DJ Butler, in particular, are so hostile about having this information known. It is of note that Butler is a lawyer by trade, as his work in fiction prior to Ark Press does not make him enough money to do this as a full-time job, and the way he phrased having never spoken with Peter Thiel from the lens of a legal professional may be technically true, but obfuscates the facts of the situation.
One would think Ark Press would be overjoyed to get a good amount of press attention, especially with their $10,000 competition being announced. However, they’re determined to hide the man behind the curtain making the entire operation go. Without Thiel’s investment, they would be just another small press hardly worth mentioning, but with the involvement, it becomes an interesting political counterculture story.
What do you think of Ark Press being confirmed as part of this greater web of right-wing publishing? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Larry probably put them up to it, or at least egged them on.
The assemblage is confusing on the part of Ark Press and its publishing group. The impression is that Ark Press and Butler are attempting to straddle the fence and appear "nice." A better way to draw interest, writers, and customers may be to stop being nice and trying to fit in: intend to break the power of SFWA and their fellow travelers, then besiege and reduce Tor to ruins by good market service. That financial backing, with time and patience, can make Ark Press the major (and surviving) player in the market. One reader's opinion, one who's tired of the mediocre to bad writing that flooded the market.