Whether you’re a published author or dream of becoming one, you may wonder what happens if your publishing company closes. The answer depends on your publisher.
Here are three scenarios based on the type of company you partner with in publication.
The Publishing Company Gets Bought
Like every other type of company, publishers get bought and acquired. As Publishers Weekly reported in 2022, the biggest publishers are now bigger than ever. There are also fewer of them, courtesy of merges and acquisitions.
What happens if your publishing company closes because of this? You become an author with the new company. But that’s not the whole story.
According to BookRiot.com, there’s no guarantee that authors of merged companies get to stick around. When two publishing houses merge, the new company ownership tosses all the titles into a pile and decides which titles to keep. Author contracts also get reevaluated. They may even be renegotiated.
If you’re working with one of the big publishing companies, this can be good news or bad news. If new management sees value in you and your work, you may wind up making more than before. Then again, you may take a pay cut, or your book may be taken off the roster.
The Publishing Company Closes and Simply Disappears
Mergers aren’t the only reason a publishing company closes. Many publishers simply run out of cash and give up the ghost.
In these cases, authors can be left out to dry. This happened recently with Dog Ear Publishing.
An article on WritersWeekly.com explains that the company finally admitted defeat “After more than a year of countless complaints about unpaid royalties, unanswered correspondence, and far more.”
But that’s not the only time this has happened. Other companies have met the same end. When these companies do die off, they tend to not have a transition plan. They may not give authors any direction. As a result, authors wind up confused about who owns the rights to their books. And they have no way to access royalties.
What if Argyle Fox Publishing Closes?
Argyle Fox Publishing is a bit different. If our publishing company closes, our authors keep moving forward as before.
What about us makes the difference?
We choose books to publish that we like, and we put authors in complete control of the publishing process.
Want access to the illustrations used in your book? No problem. Want the interior design files so you can print them at home and hand them out as free samples to your friends? You’ve got it! You maintain total copyright and rights over your work every step along the way, so everything we produce on your behalf belongs to you.
That’s not all that sets us apart. Part of our publishing process involves creating your own account with IngramSpark, the world’s largest wholesale book distributor. We use them to print and distribute your book. (Most companies like us do the same. They just don’t tell you this.)
By creating your own IngramSpark account, you’re empowered to:
- Order copies of your book at wholesale prices (no need to go through us)
- Receive royalties directly to your bank account (we never take a cut of your book sales)
So, what happens if our publishing company closes? Nothing much. Our authors continue to sell books, order books, and receive royalties, without missing a beat.
Open to Your Book Submission
Want to maintain control of your publishing destiny? Submit your manuscript for consideration.