Teleidoscope

Tue, Jan 09, 2007

Bad Times for US Publishers

Posted at 3:36 pm MST to Current Events

There is word on the web of small book publishers laying off their entire staffs, and large book publishers in meetings to discuss their options and worry greatly about thier cash flow.

The biggest distributor in the country AMS (Advanced Marketing Systems) went into Chapter 11 at the end of December, and took its subsidiary Publishers Group (which served the smaller publishers) with it. This puts the publishers' income for September through December into limbo, and apparently the unsold books in the distribution chain are also stuck. And on top of that, the contracts in place will make it difficult for some (or most?) publishers to make alternative distribution arrangements.

Assuming there is someone to make the arrangements with: hard-copy book distribution has gotten very monolithic in recent years.

Some relevant links (which have links to still more links): BoingBoing and Mediabistro and another Mediabistro.

Just what the publishing industry (and all the authors, who won't get paid until the publishers get paid) doesn't need.

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