McSweeney’s Friday: Bankrupt distributors and $$
‘Kay, M’sF went on a short hiatus (who am I kidding? It’ll probably go on another one after today). Recent events have made it necessary to pull M’sF out of semi-retirement.
McSweeney’s seems to be in a bit of a pickle. Their distributor went bankrupt a number of months ago, forcing them (and all the other small presses that used the distributor’s services) to switch to a new distributor. The news guys seem to be working out well. However, the bankruptcy enabled the defunct distributor to simply cancel profits that it owed the presses. That sucks.
For some odd reason the financial loss is hitting McSweeney’s now. That’s why now more than ever they need money. This is a temporary setback, one that was 100% out of their control, and once the storm blows over it’ll be business as usual. To help the storm blow over, please consider popping by the McSweeney’s store and buying something.
I’ll recommend the McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern bundles, particularly the #11/#12 bundle and the #13/#14 bundle. I’ll also recommend two books: The Better of McSweeney’s and Ben Greenman’s Superbad. You actually can’t go wrong with most of their stuff. I will say Samuel Johnson is Indignant by Lydia Davis and McSweeney’s Outlaws, Noisy Blobs, etc. book didn’t impress me, though. You can’t win ‘em all.
[UPDATE: It looks like those two bundles are sold out. Individual copies of the books are available.]
If you don’t wanna help, no biggie. I just figured I’d bring this up. (Note to my Utah friends: McSweeney’s publications tend to be Rated R. You’ve been warned.)
