Be Your Own Publisher

Are you looking for a business that will lose money but win acclaim?

Do you want to be invited to trendy cocktail parties in New York City? Gain access to the homes of the publishing elites in the Hamptons?

And here's the key question---do you want to be in a position to publish your oft-rejected manuscript under an imprint that was once the standard-bearer of the small, independent press?

MacAdam/Cage is for sale.

Founder David Poindexter has found himself in a precarious position, in which his business has lost so much money that it is no longer tenable. There have been rumblings for some time, with rumours of financial difficulties and assurances that the debts were settled, but a new lawsuit is apparently the straw that broke the publisher's back.

Penguin (they've been quite lawsuit-happy these days, haven't they?) filed suit against MacAdam/Cage for absconding with the e-book rights to Girl In Hyacinth Blue. It's not that Penguin is seeking all that much money, but when you're skint, you're skint.

Mr. Poindexter hopes that an interested party will come forward, someone like him only fifteen years younger. And fifteen years less jaded by the harsh reality of the publishing world.

A small press has a small reach, and it takes financial backing to support a staff that can get a publisher's catalog into the brick and mortar stores. Then there's the brave new world of digital publishing, which falls outside of the old-time business model that has held publishing in its grasp since the 1930's.

All you need is money, and you can pick up MacAdam/Cage for yourself. You can take on the task of acquisition editor, selecting what sort of book you'd like to become known for.

Maybe you'd decide that your own manuscript wasn't good enough. Maybe you'd expand into more romance and mystery, two genres that sell well but aren't exactly the sort of literary fiction that MacAdam/Cage has been known as. As for erotica, well, the company's logo could be viewed in a different light if necessary.

With enough money, you could do what you wanted.

Except earn a good return on your investment.

You'd make more by tucking your cash into a savings account at the local bank.