If you, like many, are a fan of Carrie Fisher (otherwise known as Princess Leia of the Star Wars universe) and her vibrant Twitter feed, you may have spotted her tweet mentioning Go the Fuck to Sleep, the 2011 smash hit from Akashic Books.
It’s safe to say the Force has been with Akashic these past few months. Days before Fisher’s Tweet, Go the Fuck to Sleep went platinum, making it Akashic’s first title to sell over one million copies. This past September, Senior Editor Ibrahim Ahmad was featured as one of Publishers Weekly’s 2015 Star Watch Finalists.
In the publishing world’s version of the American Dream, Ahmad started at Akashic as an intern
at age 17. He quickly moved up the ranks to become one of Akashic’s four core staffers. Beginning with very little publishing experience, Ahmad proved that he had a natural eye for editorial work. As an intern, he fought to acquire Boy Genius by Yongsoo Park, exclaiming “F— YEAH!” in black sharpie on his reader’s report. Akashic went on to acquire and publish the book, which was a finalist for the Asian American Literary Awards.
As Senior Editor, Ahmad took on the biggest challenge of all when he spearheaded the marketing and publicity campaign for Go the Fuck to Sleep. The title hit every major #1 bestseller list before it was even published. It was an unprecedented level of media attention for the small press.
“[It] was a crash course in publishing that simply cannot be taught,” Ahmad says.
Though Ahmad jokes about the large number of gray hairs that the reception to Go the Fuck to Sleep gave him, the book’s success provided Akashic with not only confidence but also a much-welcomed financial stability. The beginning of 2016 ushers in two new titles from Akashic: Chasing Water, a memoir by Olympic gold-medalist Anthony Ervin, and The Book of Harlan, a novel about two African American musicians imprisoned in Nazi Germany.
The [literary] Force is strong with this one. Congrats, Akashic, on all of your star-studded success!
