‘We Want To Make Magic Artifacts’

The minds behind Hungry Minds are just that — hungry. Their insatiable appetite to innovate, disrupt, and surprise knows no bounds.

“I don’t believe in focus groups when you want to make a really good product, because it should be a little bit controversial,” says Timur Kadyrov, co-founder of the rising publisher and successful veteran entrepreneur of a global escape room franchise. “It should be new for people and if you ask them beforehand, [they’ll tell you that] they never like new things. They like what they’re used to. If you want to make a great product, you shouldn’t ask anyone if they like it or not.”

“You need to surprise them,” agrees Vsevolod Batischev, fellow Hungry Minds co-founder and one of Kadyrov’s former escape room franchisees. “The right question for a focus group is, ‘Do you want to be surprised?’”

So far, that rebel philosophy has served them well since they launched Hungry Minds in 2021, which hit the ground running with one of the most successful publishing Kickstarter campaigns of all time. The company’s debut title, The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization, racked up just over $2 million in pledged backer funds. “We were hoping to collect something like $200,000 – $300,000,” admits Kadyrov. “We thought that would be enough to make a book, and were totally surprised when we got our first million.”

The idea for The Book (a hefty, comprehensive, and stunningly-illustrated tome that now retails for $119 a pop) began during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic when Batischev found himself locked down in Japan. While walking around one day, he began to wonder if human civilization was reaching its final act. Was this the chilling doomsday scenario Stephen King had imagined in The Stand? “I realized we were completely useless at this point,” he remembers, adding that it only felt prudent someone should “write book on how to rebuild civilization, just in case.”

To that end, he called up Kadyrov with an offer of partnership. “In my mind, he was the only person with whom I could make this product,” says Batischev, who believes The Book’s runaway sales can be chalked up to two important factors: mitigating pandemic-era anxiety and triggering a nostalgic reaction in backers. “At least people had a manual if the worst came to pass,” he muses. “[In addition], people all over the world have these warm memories from childhood of looking through encyclopedias. It [gave them this] feeling that the world is an amazing place. We made the same thing, but for adults.”

“It’s not just a book, it’s an artifact,” chimes in Kadyrov. “We want to make magic artifacts, so when you hold it in your hands, you can feel something beautiful — or maybe a little bit mystic.”

In other words, they want to “turn ordinary into extraordinary,” emphasizes Hungry Minds co-founder and managing partner Artur Stelmakh. The publisher’s flagship “artifact,” which comprises more than 400 parchment-like pages of instructions on how to restart pretty much every aspect of human society (from oyster farming to perfume production) cost around $600,000 to make, all told. That included working with preeminent illustrators and technical experts from all over the world (one of them being “the main editor of Popular Mechanics“) to make sure every aspect — images, text, layout, and even paper type — was perfect. “[Our books are] only handmade,” says Batischev. “I’m so sorry for our artists every time because I know how difficult it is to make even one illustration.”

Despite the Kickstarter success, however, mainstream publishers and third-party marketing agencies continued to balk at The Book’s retail price, wanting to compromise its length and beauty in order to save a few dollars. Rather than capitulate, Kadyrov and Batischev decided to open Door Number 2. Thus, Hungry Minds was born. “We knew that if we make it as this big, heavy, beautiful [product], we could make people really desire it,” the former explains. “If you really want it, it doesn’t really matter how much it costs. If you have the money, you can buy it. So we decided to open a new company.”

“Generally, in the world, no one is selling a book for $119,” echoes Batischev. “In Germany, we were told that 3,000 books sold at that price in a year would be fantastic. We sold 10,000 in two months.”

Emboldened by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to The Book, the team set to work on its sophomore title, a companion piece entitled The Last Book, or Anthem to Humankind (described as a diary-encyclopedia hybrid of world history by apocalyptic survivor Noah Kaplan), which has raised over half a million in crowdfunding sales. “It’s our first attempt to make a story,” says Batischev, citing the youthful and vicarious thrill one can derive from reading the private journal entries of another person. “It’s this childish feeling that you’ve revealed the mystery of something.”

Hungry Minds is a completely virtual enterprise with an international staff of international employees, though there are team-building “work-cation” trips to the idyllic shores of Bali twice a year. Unlike their more traditional competitors, the overall business model of Hungry Minds places a greater emphasis on e-commerce rather than brick and mortar stores, drawing in potential customers through Google and social media. “Even if [other publishers] say they know how to sell online, they usually just sell wholesale to Amazon. That’s most of their digital strategy,” Stelmakh says. While they have struck deals for The Book to appear at major retailers like Waterstones in the United Kingdom, the team remains “super-selective” about what physical locations will carry their products,” says the managing partner. “We don’t have a goal to be presented in many stores.”

Such selectivity also applies to the number of projects the company takes on at a given moment. “The main distinction between us and classic publishers, is that we are really focused on one project [at a time],” Kadyrov continues. “WAe can really dig into it and understand why people like it, how we can sell it, what type of advertising is working. Big publishers just can’t afford it.”

The third book currently in production is known as The Black Book, a collection of unmade inventions sourced from obscure patents filed all over the world; a fascinating ode to the limitless power of the human imagination. Batischev references the famous quote from Thomas Edison: “I will not say I failed 1,000 times, I will say that I found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” The Black Book adheres to that line of thinking, subverting “the perspective” on these supposed failures. “It’s not about mistakes, it’s about creativity.”

“Creativity” is the operative word here. Regardless of their general publisher designation, the ravenous architects of Hungry Minds want to be known beyond the world of reading. Indeed, they’ve already branched out with a luxury puzzle depicting an cephalopod-inspired city (aptly-dubbed Octopolis) that received early rave reviews from social media influencers. “We decided we can do whatever,” Stelmakh says. “It should just be extraordinary and top quality. I think it took us one year to make this puzzle. We were changing the design, we were changing the quality of paper … … we really tried to make the best product possible in every detail.”

“I always want to try something new,” concludes Batischev. “I consider ourselves like [King] Midas, the guy who touched something and turned it into gold. Not in terms of money, but in terms creativity and beauty. We want to touch as many products as possible.”