The publisher as protagonist

On a winter night just over nine years ago, Morgan Entrekin trundled home to his apartment in New York's West Village. Ordinarily, he would have remained with friends until dawn, carousing at the annual Christmas bash hosted by Bret Easton Ellis, a writer he discovered and who has remained a close friend.

But on this evening, Mr. Entrekin - the iconoclastic head of Grove/- Atlantic Press - had a manuscript to read. A colleague, a first-time editor, felt strongly that it was worth developing, and Entrekin had promised that he would tackle it overnight. He didn't mind just popping into the Ellis party for a Perrier and then heading home.

"I didn't hesitate," Entrekin says. "I was looking forward to reading it."

The following morning, Grove/Atlantic scraped together $100,000 to land "Cold Mountain," a first book by an unknown named Charles Frazier. It was the largest offer the small independent publisher had ever made. This epic story of a Civil War soldier's journey home went on to win a National Book Award and sell more than 1.5 million copies in hardcover. The book - ultimately adapted for the screen to become the Hollywood hit that premièred last month - earned for Entrekin and Grove/Atlantic the honor of publishing what was, at the time, the bestselling literary fiction debut in the history of American publishing.

It was a tactical move by a man who may be more bookworm than swashbuckler, despite a reputation for being a fixture on the social circuit. Elisabeth Schmitz, Grove/ Atlantic's subsidiary-rights director and the editor who recommended Frazier, says she and Entrekin always joke that at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany every year, she works the day shift, while Entrekin covers nights. And Entrekin, often characterized in the '80s as a hard-driving playboy-publisher, is said to have inspired a character in Jay McInerney's 1984 book "Bright Lights, Big City."

Today, his legendary silvery-brown ponytail has been trimmed to a bob. And his bohemian looks are accented by wire-rimmed glasses, a blue oxford shirt, tawny corduroys, and a sweater vest that he slips off and on as the temperature in his office rises and falls.

Social skills remain central to his success. In an industry dominated by big, corporate publishing houses, Entrekin and Grove/Atlantic have cultivated a personal approach that makes the house something of a throwback, many observers say. Entrekin meets unorthodox author demands, accepts input from writers on everything from tour dates to jacket art, and offers unflagging devotion. And he provides a visible, accessible face in a time when book publishing doesn't have many faces or personalities.

"He's an old-fashioned publisher whose list is built around him and his particular tastes," says George Gibson, publisher of Walker & Company, a family-owned press whose authors include Gay Talese and Isaac Asimov. "And long may [his house] flourish, because he really does have a real skill at both picking books and bringing them to the public."

Entrekin sees his approach as essential. "The nature of this publishing house is such that it needs a personality," he says. "We need to be out there more than some of the people that have [the resources of] a giant corporate machine. What we depend on is more of the personal relationship, from literary agent to author to bookseller."

Entrekin himself has always read voraciously. However, his younger brother Hugh, an attorney in Nashville, Tenn., claims no one would have called him bookish growing up. Morgan, he says, was outgoing and athletic, a fleet short-distance runner and nimble soccer player. (In the '80s, he took up croquet and excelled at that as well, placing fourth in a national doubles event.)

Even after 26 years in New York, Entrekin thinks of himself as a Southerner. He still calls Nashville home and speaks with just the trace of an accent - the occasional "y'all" while leading a marketing meeting. He returns to the South often to visit friends and family.

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