Panther Publishing seeks buyer after lockdown struggles

The founder of an indie press is seeking a publisher to take over his business, with the pandemic and the stress of operating the company single-handedly putting its future in jeopardy.

James Griffiths, director of Wales-based Panther Publishing, has said he is unable to continue to run the company's day to day operations while also working full-time, especially after the financial uncertainty caused by lockdown. 

He has said the business will not continue with him at the helm, and has appealed to the indie publisher community on Twitter to get in touch with suggestions. "What has caused it is stress, uncertainty and panic during the pandemic, along with myself being the sole operator, and being unable to juggle it all due to me working a full-time job," he told The Bookseller.

The press specialises in crime, mystery, thriller and horror novels, and has published authors including J S Strange. When starting up the company, Griffiths hoped to dedicate all his time to the press, and to make a living out of it, which has not materialised. "Our authors have huge talent and potential, and our mystery novels sell well, but I'm afraid of their future, especially because they are serial novels," Griffiths said.

He hopes an indie publisher will step up to take the press on, and wants to avoid closing down completely at all costs—though it may be a last resort. 

"The ideal outcome would be either another indie press taking on our authors and their stories, developing them with attention that I am struggling to give, or for an indie press to take on Panther as an imprint, so that Panther survives with its identity, but looked after by someone else."

For now, all signed books will remain in place and the authors will be paid, but no new titles will be signed.