04/05/2024
On Thursday, March 28, 2024, ELJ Editions, along with hundreds of other small presses, received a troubling email (here) from Small Press Distribution (SPD) stating that they were immediately shutting their doors. There was no prior notification, no warning signs, no exit strategy. SPD had been one of our most important partners and our primary distributor for the past 10 years, under ELJ Publications/ELJ Editions from 2014-2017 and ELJ Editions from 2021-2024. They had been responsible for all aspects of our wholesale distribution to venues such as Amazon, Ingram, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org, as well as libraries and book and mortar stores, and we relied on their services to keep our press running outside of direct press sales. Part of their distribution services included marketing to these venues, a feat hard for micro/small presses. While ELJ knows our books are sitting in a warehouse in Michigan, it is unclear when we will have access to those books and whether we will receive the payments accrued over the past six months due to us from SPD, leaving us and all the other presses in a dire situation. Luckily, ELJ does have modest quantities of many of our titles in a warehouse in Pennsylvania we can continue fulfilling orders in the short-term. In the interim, we are vigorously pursuing immediate contracts for distribution, have contracted to fulfill orders directly to Amazon, and continue to sell books to bookstores and via direct order through our website. But what’s more, once we find a new distribution partner, the immediate cost to transfer books between warehouses is more than we can bear.
ELJ Editions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that simply cannot sustain a loss of this magnitude, nor can our authors and contributors. That is why I am reaching out to you today. To all our ELJ Editions authors, to past contributors of Emerge Literary Journal, to those who have purchased a book through ELJ Editions and have supported us in countless ways in the past, to this of you that would hate to see the loss of just one more small press bringing to you the titles the large presses just won’t gamble on, we could use your help.
As a literary nonprofit, ELJ Editions has done its best throughout the past 11 years to showcase emerging and marginalized writers, and for most of those years, we’ve faced an uphill battle to sustain our efforts. The escalating costs of paper, production, and distribution, make it increasingly challenging for us to continue to bring our books to bookshelves and losing the one entity that helped make that happen has been devasting to us, as it has been to our authors. ELJ Editions has a deep commitment to representing a spectrum of voices. It is our belief that our differences make us stronger and enrich our lives. Bringing innovation and creativity across the literary community is what keeps me moving the press forward. Knowing that there are words to be written and read. Knowing that people will be well after having written or read them. That is our passion. That is what ELJ thrives on. We will move forward. We just need a little boost.
On the slight chance that we will receive all or part of the monies owed to us from SPD, we plan to reinvest your donation to the literary community by increasing contributor honorariums and author advances.
We understand ELJ Editions is not the only publisher in need of urgent support, and for that reason, we are grateful for any contribution you can make.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Be Well. Write Well. Read Well.
On Thursday, March 28, 2024, ELJ Editions, along with hundred… Ariana Den Bleyker needs your support for ELJ Lost Its Distributor: Help It Get Back On Its Feet
