I’m getting in touch to let you know that Pioneers Press is at a crossroads. The meritless lawsuit that Microcosm Publishing has brought against us is crippling our distro. Our lawyer is asking for more money to continue our defense, and our bills are going unpaid. We’ve struggled with how to present this information because we know it’s a turn-off to get pleas for help like this. But we also want you to know that we are at a critical point. We’ve been barely scraping by for a while, but this week we’ve reached an all-time low: the utilities have begun to be shut off and we are short on rent for the farm. As Pioneers Press sales have been the sole support for the animal rescues of the Hard Fifty Farm, it’s crucial that we not continue on this path.
We’ve decided to deeply discount a bunch of our stock in hopes that we’ll be able to keep the lights on and pay down invoices. Depending on how that goes, we will reassess to see if it’s feasible for us to keep the distro side of Pioneers Press running while we try to fight the lawsuit. If we’re able to save our distro (with your help!) you can still expect changes in how we operate, as we challenge traditional distribution and publishing models in search of new and better ways to support independent writers and publishers.
We still believe in indie publishing and even if Pioneers Press goes down, we have every intention to keep writing, keep publishing, and keep fighting. But man, it would sure be great if we could keep up the fight with Pioneers Press!
We’ve got some great stuff on our site right now, and we hope some of you will take advantage of this sale to start (or grow!) your own zine libraries or distros. Up the distros!
Thank you so much for your ongoing support, in all its varied forms!
<3 Jessie Duke, Pioneers Press
http://pioneerspress.com/catalog/subject/save_our_ship_sale
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