About this episode

Madeline McIntosh discusses the need for a radical overhaul of the book industry and her new venture, Authors Equity.

The book industry has a problem, and it isn't a lack of content. Madeline McIntosh spent decades navigating publishing's biggest upheavals, from the e-commerce revolution at Amazon to leading Penguin Random House as CEO. Now she's betting that the whole model needs to be rebuilt from scratch. She joins Rapid Response to explain why she walked away from one of the most powerful seats in publishing to co-found Authors Equity, and what a small startup can do that a global giant simply can't. McIntosh also takes on AI's limits as a creative force, explains why BookTok is rewriting the rules of the marketplace, and makes the case that in an age of scale, hyper-focus might be the most powerful competitive advantage of all. Visit the Rapid Response website here:  https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

More episodes of Rapid Response

• The race no one can win: AI’s anti-human crisis, with Aza Raskin · June 2, 2026 · 39 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Rapid Response podcast page.