About Rare Bird

Rare Bird operates as Rare Bird Books and Rare Bird Lit, two Los Angeles–based book industry firms founded by former Book Soup marketing and publicity director Tyson Cornell. Rare Bird Books, the publishing wing, is a PGW-distributed independent publisher of approximately fifty+ books each year in multiple formats, including print, ebook, audiobook, and limited edition. Rare Bird Lit, the services wing, is a boutique marketing, promotions, and design firm specializing in book industry services for major and independent publishers, authors big and small, and other organizations.

Mission

Since being founded as a home for authors and publishers seeking new ways of publishing and marketing books that deserve to be read, Rare Bird has made a commitment to dedicating itself to being a leader in: a) developing, designing, and publishing great works that exceed the overall expectations of what just words on a page can provide; b) working with authors and publishers as a cohesive unit rather than adversarial opponents; and c) expanding the limits of what books can offer the world.

Meet the Team

President and Publisher—Tyson Cornell oversees all aspects of publishing, acquisitions, and general business operations. He started Rare Bird after nine and a half years as marketing and publicity director at Book Soup bookstore in West Hollywood, California, working with thousands of legendary authors, and major political and cultural figures, including: Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, Gore Vidal, Lauren Bacall, John Updike, Isabel Allende, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Maya Angelou, Hunter S. Thompson, and over 15,000 others. He studied Ethnography at UCLA and Cal State University, Northridge, and is now approaching his eighteenth year in the book industry.

Sales and Marketing Director—Julia Callahan oversees all aspects of sales, distribution, marketing, and author relations. Prior to joining the Rare Bird team, she worked for four years as Tyson Cornell’s marketing and publicity assistant at Book Soup where she helped coordinate thousands of events each year, notably The Doors’ 40th Anniversary, Ralph Steadman, Tony Curtis, and many others. Before that, she worked as an associate at Paramount Studios on The Dr. Phil Show and Star Trek. She grew up in Santa Cruz and has a BA in English.

Editorial Director—Guy Intoci oversees all aspects of the editorial and production departments. Before joining Rare Bird in 2017, he was the editor in chief of Dzanc Books. He began his career as an editor at MacAdam/Cage Publishing after earning his degree in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, and also served as editor in chief of MP Publishing. Over the last decade he has worked with countless authors, ranging from some of the most promising and exciting debut writers to New York Times Bestselling authors and Pulitzer Prize winners, including Kirstin Allio, Rick Bragg, Robert Coover, William Gay, Jac Jemc, Charles Johnson, Lee Martin, Josip Novakovich, Jack Pendarvis, Nic Pizzolatto, and George Singleton.

Editorial and Design Manager—Hailie Johnson manages the day-to-day duties of editorial and design and associated tasks, working closely with authors and Rare Bird staff on Chicago Manual of Style, interior and cover corrections, as well as many other crucial aspects of the publishing process that brings books to publication. A Los Angeles area native, Hailie has a BA in Communications from UCLA.

Publicity Manager—Jessica Szuszka manages task-oriented aspects of publicity at Rare Bird. In addition to Rare Bird, Jessica works closely with the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international not-for-profit volunteer educational organization devoted to the research and re-creation of pre–seventeenth century skills, arts, combat, culture, and employing knowledge of history to enrich the lives of participants through events, demonstrations, and other educational presentations and activities. Jessica has a BA in English from the University of La Verne.