A few days ago I posted about the crisis in the independent publishing world. Well, I'd like to show you a little more of what's happening and why you should be buying yourself some indpendent literature right now.

The following is a letter written by Tristan Taormino that was cross-posted at Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog. (Neither site is work safe - and I'm posting this letter with Tristan's permission)

How Corporate Bankruptcy Affects Independent Publishers and Authors

Several people have written and asked me about the recent bankruptcy filing in the publishing world and how it affects authors who are published by small, independent presses, which includes me and many writers who write on sex, GLBT issues, gender, and other alternative or taboo subjects. Here's my shot at an answer:

Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) is the parent company of Publishers Group West (PGW), and PGW is the distributor of Cleis Press. AMS filed for Chapter 11 on December 29, 2006. PGW will not be paying Cleis Press any of the money it is owed for the previous four months of sales. That means that Cleis Press will not be paying any of its authors, including me, any of the money we are owed for four months of sales of our books. Eventually, once all court battles have been exhausted, someone may see some fraction of the money, but we've all basically been told not to hold our breath.

This means that sales of all my Cleis books from the busiest time of year (fall and winter) have basically vanished. If you bought one of my books from a store or from amazon.com during that time, that money went to AMS and is frozen by the courts and will eventually probably help pay off AMS' $43 million debt to Random House (you can guess where independent publishers are in the pecking order). This especially impacts sales of Best Lesbian Erotica 2007, since, based on past performance, more than half of the copies that are sold of a BLE title until it goes out of print are sold in the month of
December (because that is the release date and because of holiday sales). A good chunk of my income comes from the royalties I receive from Cleis, since all of my books except two are published by them. Like many small press authors, I receive a small advance for each book and count on the royalty payments. In the case of BLE, I use the advance to pay contributors and I do not see any money until after the book sells enough to earn back the advance.

What does this all mean? Well, if you support my work and want to to buy any of my books, I am asking you to buy them from my website, puckerup.com or directly from the publisher, cleispress.com. Please encourage everyone you know to do the same. And that goes for other authors who are published by incredible independent presses like Avalon, Goofy Foot Press, Grove Press, RE/Search, Seal Press, Soft Skull, Thunder's Mouth, and many others. This will increase cash flow at a time when it's really needed since, while the situation has been temporarily fixed going forward, those four months are gone.

If you'd like to read more about this situation, which I obviously only briefly summarized, check out:

Indepedent publishers affected by this crisis

AMS Bankruptcy Roils Book World: Big & Small Publishers Affected

Media Bistro Coverage

OK, so you're probably asking, "why should I give a shit?" Fair enough...

So many people are feeling powerless in this big, scary world. This is the power we have, our consumer dollar. Pennies on the dollar of stuff bought in big, corporate chains go to the artists. And it's these artists who have the courage to not sell out - to create their art and share it in a more progressive manner. This is not just for literature, but any consumer product - food, clothing, music, furniture, whatever. This is a way you can help create change - Go buy some smut, Goddamnit!"

On another note...another post on Rachel's blog...the post where she's explaining her recent firing as the Village Voice sex columinst (I've thought the Village Voice has been going downhill the past few years anyway). Well, her description of what sex is to her...well, let's just say that when I finished reading it, the only thing I could do is say, "damn".

Labels: independent publishing, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Tristian Taormino