From the newspapers in our kitchen and magazines on our hall rack, to our swollen bookmark lists of blogs and the stack of business bestsellers on our desks — there’s simply too much to read and too little time to read it.

On the occasion we do find a moment to cozy up with a certain article — chosen mostly on the author’s reputation, the headline or the artwork — there’s nothing worse than getting 1800 words in before realizing you have little to no interest in the topic. (We’re looking at you, New Yorker.)

Well, no more. A Challenger Brand has emerged from the literary rubble to categorize, archive and highlight articles of note.

“Byliner publishes original narratives by some of the most accomplished writers working today, at lengths that allow them to be read in a single sitting,” says their site.

Since John Tayman (editor-at-large of Techland) is one of the founders, you know Byliner is more than a place to read quality long-form nonfiction. Social components allow you to follow your favorite authors, comment and recommend other pieces to be catalogued. The site also uses Ruby, the same programming language that powers Twitter, to “take advantage of collaborative filtering and data structuring to help readers easily find stories they’ll enjoy.”

Byliner Originals

All the stuff above is great — Byliner is a nifty new tool to find good reads. But what really set the site apart for us in a Challenger Brand capacity is the way it’s offering an alternative to the publishing industry.

Byliner Originals are stories between 10,000 and 35,000 words long. If you’re unfamiliar with word counts, that’s anywhere from twice as long as your average magazine feature to several chapters of a book. Most importantly, it’s a length that’s readable in a single sitting.

Between the short-form of blogging and the smoking ruin that is the traditional publishing industry — be it book, magazine or newspaper — Byliner Originals now occupies its own space.

Of course, it never hurts to attach your brand to content juggernauts like Christopher Hitchens and Mark Bittman. And while re-publishing classics like David Foster Wallace and Hemingway are good for context, there’s no better endorsement for a brand than influencing the world’s conversation, as it happened with Jon Krakauer’s “Three Cups of Deceit,” from Byliner Originals.

For Challenger Brands, there’s no better lesson. Carve out your battleground and stick a big yellow flag right in the middle of it.