Swimming Kangaroo Takes Time-Out
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Posted by Colin Harvey Apr 21, 2009 |
On Monday, I received some unexpected news from the publisher of Future Bristol. I'm writing my own reaction to it, which I'll post tomorrow.
Meanwhile, this is the message:
"Swimming Kangaroo Books will declare a Time-out on submissions for the remainder of 2009. We will proceed with the books we have in production --but we will not start producing any new books until after the 1st January 2010.
With the collapse of the economy last summer, SK has seen huge losses that are on-going. The publishing industry as a whole is suffering. Sales are down, stores are closing, and the market is growing continuously tighter. The returns are killing us—we may net $1 from a book we sell in-store, but when it’s returned, it costs us about 75% ($11.24 for a $14.99 book) of the retail price of the book—and our bookstore sales come nowhere near the cost of returns. 2009 is looking no better. Since I fund SK entirely from my own pocket, this cannot continue. I cannot, in fairness to my family, continue to take such losses as we have had, particularly as we have uncertainty over our [day] jobs.
This is why I'm declaring this Time-out for the remainder of the calendar year. All of the books we have published and those released between now and the rest of the year will continue to be sold and marketed the way they are now. The only thing that will change is that no new books will enter production.
During this Time-out, we will watch the economy closely, hoping to see some upturns, watching to see if our new marketing programs work, and researching and looking at more marketing strategies. We'll also look at our business model --particularly returns-- and whether we need to change some of it. And we'll look at best practices to see what we need to change for SK to succeed."