Small Press Distribution is nearing the halfway mark in its effort to raise $100,000 in a GoFundMe campaign that will allow it to overhaul its operating model. SPD executive director Kent Watson announced the plan, billed SPD Next, at the end of February, saying that the change is the best way to allow the nonprofit literary distributor to improve services for the roughly 400 presses it represents.
Under its new business model, SPD will close its Berkeley, Calif., warehouse and move shipping and fulfillment operations to Ingram Content Group and Publishers Storage and Shipping. The bulk of the funds raised will go towards underwriting the cost of moving the nearly 300,000 titles from its California warehouse to Ingram’s Tennessee facility and PSSC’s Michigan warehouse.
Watson stressed that in reaching agreements with Ingram and PSSC, SPD clients will receive more services and lowered overhead. SPD, he said, will be able to offer its publishers print-on-demand, e-books, audiobooks, worldwide distribution, and a wider availability in independent bookstores, Bookshop.org, and libraries in the U.S. and beyond. SPD will continue to provide customer service and will be responsible for taking orders, placing shipment requests, and providing metadata to the marketplace, he added. Throughout these partnerships, SPD will remain a “true independent nonprofit distributor,” Watson said.
Watson emphasized the important role SPD plays in the publishing ecosystem, especially in giving a chance to undiscovered writers. Among the authors whose first books SPD distributed ate Sherman Alexie, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Fred Moten, Maggie Nelson, and Ocean Vuong. Titles published by companies distributed by SPD have also won many of literature’s highest honors; over the last year, titles published by SPD clients won the National Book Award and were nominated for three Lambda Literary Awards and longlisted for eight PEN Literary Awards.
Diane Goettel, executive editor of Black Lawrence Press, said she believes SPD Next will help her business grow. “Choosing to distribute our titles through SPD is one of the best business decisions that I have ever made,” Goettel said. “Their staff is populated by efficient and enthusiastic people who care about the presses—and, by extension, the books and authors—that they represent. I’m very excited about SPD Next.”
The implementation of SPD Next is the most aggressive move Watson has made to reinvent the distributor since he was named executive director last year. His appointment ended an 18-month period of uncertainty for SPD following the levying of a number of allegations against its former leadership team that resulted in an internal audit and, ultimately, the resignation of SPD executive director Brent Cunningham.
“If you are an author, are a part of a small, medium, or large publisher, or a book industry professional, you know the importance of independent publishing. Independent publishing offers some of the most groundbreaking literature in the marketplace,” Watson said. “If you have ever wandered into a corner bookstore or favorite library and felt the emotional lift of pulling out a newly found author’s book, cracking it open and taking it home to enjoy, then I kindly ask you to support SPD Next.”
