Graphic Arts Center Publishing filed for liquidation in a Portland, OR federal bankruptcy court last Friday. The filing says that sales fell from $10.3 million in 2008 to $5.1 million for the first eight months of 2009. Last year’s sales were helped by their distribution relationship with Epicenter Press, which published Kaylene Johnson’s biography of Sarah Palin. Former board member and bookseller Michael Powell tells the Oregonian, “They’re having a hard time like everyone else. They did every cost cutting thing they could do.”
The two largest creditors listed were Ingram, which give the publisher a $1.5 million loan, and Silicon Valley Bank. Graphic Arts emerged from a bankruptcy reorganization in April, 2007, and at the time they said Ingram had become a minority shareholder in the company and provided a “significant investment,” and Ingram Publishers Services is their distributor.
Oregonian
In other news from Ingram Publishers Services, the distribution unit has renewed its relationship with O’Reilly Media and will expand the scope to include O’Reilly’s recent partnership with Microsoft Press as of November 30.