Publishers Weekly reports today that Uglytown, the LA-based small press that turns out some of the best-looking books I’ve ever seen, is temporarily suspending operations until Spring 2006, when they will release HUNG OUT TO DIE by Brett Battles. The "hiatus" is blamed, in part, on the bankruptcy of
Bookpeople/Words Distribution.
[Tom] Fassbender said
UglyTown has been plagued by cash-flow problems after the Words bankruptcy in
2004 and the house’s switch to PGW for distribution."It’s been hard on smaller publishers," said Fassbender about the soft market
conditions. "We’re slowing down our plans. Bookstores are just not ordering
titles in the quantities we expected." Fassbender said he was pursuing a number
of financing possibilities for the press. Founded in 1998, UglyTown has
published about 14 books.
I’m truly sorry to hear about this. The guys at Uglytown love the mystery genre and it shows in the fine product they put out (including works by acclaimed authors like Victor Gischler, Gary Phillips, Nathan Walpow and Sean Doolittle). Here’s hoping that Uglytown comes back stronger than ever.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….. we need a charity fundraiser stat! OK, who wants to work on some type of event to help the gents out???
Distributor bankruptcy is a company-killer. Best of luck to them.
Yow. That’s a bitch. As a writer who’s had 2 small presses go under on him before publication, I understand the problems–I feel their pain, though at the time it was my own that I felt more. A little distance gives me sympathy for the publishers. And UglyTown’s done some amazing books. I dare anybody to read the first paragraph of Victor Gischler’s “Gun Monkeys” and not consider buying that book.
Best,
Mark Terry
That’s too bad, especially after they manage to launch Vic and Sean, as well as giving Eddie Muller a new home.
I’d heard rumblings about this at Bouchercon and had hoped they’d find themselves a buyer or somehow get things turned around with PGW.
Damn, almost makes you wonder if the Black Mask could have got off the ground in this day and age. I was looking forward to what seemed like the new publishing home of Eddie Mueller and the new version of his book, “The Distance.”
It would be nice (though it will never happen) if the McPublishers of America chipped in and rescued Ugly Town.
I’ll admit I haven’t bought much they’ve done, but I still am very sorry to hear about this. I’ve met them at various times, and they’re great guys. Hope this is just a temporary set back.
Mark
Hope the situation turns around for them quickly. Tom and Jim are such cool guys, its a shame that they are having a hard time of it.
No offense, but why would the “McPublishers” do that? Why would they care whether Uglytown folds or not? They are competitors. It’s in their best interests to see Uglytown fail.
“No offense, but why would the “McPublishers” do that? Why would they care whether Uglytown folds or not? They are competitors. It’s in their best interests to see Uglytown fail.”
Yeah, a little misguided daydream on my part. I was thinking along the lines of when George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola pitched in their weatlh and saved Paul Schrader’s “Mishima, A Life in Four Chapters.”
Or when Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Bill Cosby saved Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” from the death kneel of some unfavorable studio execs. So maybe someone who is in power at a McPublisher could remember what it was like to create something meaningful and different, and help them out in exchange for a small percentage of the company.
I’m in the middle of “Lost Stories” by Dashiell Hammett http://www.emerybooks.com/ls-hardcover.htm
which has works that haven’t been published since they first came out in the pulps, including his first short stories. Some of his early works don’t quite stand the test of time but they provided insight into the greatness that would come.
H.L. Mencken via the magazine “The Smart Set” gave him a chance. As well as “nurtured Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Eugene O’Neill, Ezra Pound, and many new writers.” Where will future Hammetts come from if they don’t have publishers like Ugly Town to give them a chance?
I realize that this a pipe dream because publishers are facing a diminishing audience from other media as well as audiences tastes gravitating toward safer, known fare, etc…
Not to mention this fantasy could devolve into a Miramax-Disney debacle.