Flutterby™! : Black Books in trouble 2002-06-14 21:17:27+00

Black Books in trouble

2002-06-14 21:17:27+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Speaking of publishing, Bill Brent, of Black Books just sent around a heart-felt plea for help. His distributor, LPC group, is in bankruptcy, and this means Black Books is not only out the money it already hasn't been paid, but may be sued by American National Bank to deliver more books even though they haven't been paid for those already delivered. If you've been eyeing anything, this would be a good time to buy from the publisher directly. If you need an editor or writer, he's available. If you can arrange a venue for fund-raisers, he'd like to hear from you.

If helping Black Books is of interest to you, even if it's just having enjoyed a Perverts Put Out! evening, email me and I'll forward his message to you.

As far as I know, while a bankruptcy can wipe out prior debt, except in special cases such as leased properties, it doesn't keep contracts alive unless payments are guaranteed. Brent may have to eat the losses from prior deliveries but they'll be required to pay in full for anything he's forced to deliver after the filing date. Because of the circumstances, he could almost certainly demand payment on delivery, and I don't think any court would object to that provision.

I'd sure like to see payment on delivery work; it would, at least for the moment, usurp the stranglehold distributors have over small publishers. The distribution methods are the bane of small publishing. You need the avenue to get into bookstores (Black Books finally made it to the east coast just last year) yet operating in arrears is risky to the life of the publishing house. If your distributor goes belly up, it could easily put you out-of-business.

Two or three years ago, another distributor went bust. I think it was Diamond Distributors and it nearly took one or two erotica publishers out with them. (Circlet Press, for one). Now they've finally just arighted themselves, only to have LPC do the same.

Buy the books directly from as many erotica publishers (or other small press entities) as you can right now. They might not be here for much longer.

Debra (P.S. Dan, send me the notice. For some reason, I'm not on Bill Brent's mailing list. I thought I signed up, but I'll have to double check.)

My impression of Chapter 11 is that it certainly keeps the contracts with debtors of the defunct company alive. Since Black Books

still has contractual deliveries to make, LPC's creditors can sue Black Books

and other suppliers.

As I said, unless payments are guaranteed. Debts generated after the filing and supervised by the court get priority over any older debts. In other words, if they go completely down the tubes, and the assets are sold off, you get dibs.

If this isn't secure enough for Bill Brent, he should go ahead and break the contract. But if the company doesn't have the assets to pay Mr. Brent, then I doubt they'll have very much to pay a lawyer to sue him with.