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Small Press Distribution (SPD) was a non-profit literary arts organization that stored books through Ingram and Publishers Storage and Shipping. [1] SPD abruptly closed in March 2024. [2]
SPD was founded in 1969 by Peter Howard of Serendipity Books and Jack Shoemaker of Sand Dollar Press. The fledgling organization provided small-scale distribution services for only five publishers. Initially called Serendipity Books Distribution, it was renamed Small Press Distribution by the late 1970s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the organization periodically assembled the new titles of their publishers into printed catalogs, thus providing a link to underground literature for writers and readers around the US.
By 1980, SPD was distributing the books of about 40 small publishers; by 1990, the number had grown to 330. SPD once distributed books for approximately 360 publishers. [3] SPD became an official 501c3 non-profit in 1996. SPD announced their closure on their website on March 28, 2024.
In December 2020, SPD was under fire after a former employee posted an anonymous article on Medium [4] with allegations of wage theft and discrimination based on race and gender, [5] leading to an open letter calling for the resignation of executive director Brent Cunningham. By 2021, the majority of SPD staff, as well as multiple former staff members, attested to labor issues at SPD-including misconduct by multiple members of SPD leadership, wage violations, retaliation, and intimidation. Two of the former workers who attested to such labor issues had been asked to sign NDAs. [6] [7] [8] In March 2021, the organization announced the pending departure of Brent Cunningham after internal investigations commissioned by the board of directors. [9] SPD's Board President has stated that 5 total employees had been underpaid. [10] The board of directors have not publicly responded to the allegations of wage theft.
In 2023, SPD had fundraised over $100k in order to implement new operations. [11] In February 2024, they publicly stated they moved over 300,000 books from its warehouse to Ingram in order to cut costs. [12] A month later, it announced on social media and its website that it was shutting down effective immediately. [13] [14] When SPD closed, many publishers publicly stated SPD didn't provide them owed money from previous payment periods. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in New York City, an India publishing office in New Delhi, an Australian sales office in Sydney CBD, and other publishing offices in the UK, including in Oxford. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz. The publisher's name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or enlightenment.
Thomas Anthony John Rubython is a British author and publisher with an interest in business and motor racing.
Hachette Books, formerly Hyperion Books, is a general-interest book imprint of the Perseus Books Group, which is a division of Hachette Book Group and ultimately a part of Lagardère Group. Established in 1990, Hachette publishes general-interest fiction and non-fiction books for adults. A former subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, it was originally named after Hyperion Avenue, the location of Walt Disney Studios prior to 1939. Hachette took over a 1,000 book backlist when Hyperion was purchased from Disney in 2013 with 250 bestselling novels, including Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
James L. Nelson is an American historical nautical novelist.
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont.
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Baker & Taylor, a distributor of books to public and academic libraries and schools, has been in business for over 190 years. It is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and currently owned by President & CEO Amandeep Kochar. Before being acquired by Follett in 2016, Baker & Taylor had $2.26 billion in sales, employed 3,750, and was #204 on Forbes list of privately owned companies in 2008.
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Bookpeople was an employee-owned and operated book wholesaler and distributor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It operated from 1969-2003. Bookpeople was one of the major forces behind the renaissance of independent publishing that occurred during this period. The business provided a wide range of hard-to-find titles to bookstores throughout the U.S. and the world. It also played a major role in the development of New Age and radical political publishing and bookselling. It was not related to The Book People, a U.K. publishing concern, or BookPeople, an Austin, Texas bookstore.
Kristin F. Cast is a Nigerian American author of young adult books and graphic novels, best known for the House of Night series and Sisters of Salem series, written with her mother, P. C. Cast.
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Readerlink Distribution Services, is a publisher and distributor of books based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Readerlink is the largest distributor of books to mass merchandisers in United States, and the largest distributor of hardcover, trade and paperback books to non-trade channel booksellers in North America. Servicing approximately 66,000 storefronts in the United States, Readerlink distributes approximately one out of every three consumer trade books sold in the country. As of 2016, the company has distribution centers in Clearfield, Utah; Denton, Texas; Romeoville, Illinois; Salem, Virginia; and Winder, Georgia. Dennis E. Abboud serves as Readerlink's President and CEO.
Blue Star Press is an American publishing company that specializes in adult nonfiction, children’s books, games, and gift products. The company publishes titles under two imprints: Blue Star Press and Paige Tate & Co. It is headquartered in Bend, OR, with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Austin, TX.
Gallery Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster which houses the imprints Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Scout Press, Gallery 13, and Saga Press.
RBMedia is an audiobook publishing company with sales globally. Headquartered in Landover, Maryland, it claims to be the largest audiobook publisher in the world.
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