Bloodhound takes on Panther's authors as press closes

Bloodhound Books is to take on four authors from a Welsh independent press, which is closing due to constraints caused by the pandemic.

In August, James Griffiths, director of Wales-based Panther Publishing, said he was 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, and appealed to the indie publisher community to get in touch.

Bloodhound Books, an independent fiction publisher based in Cambridge run by Betsy Reavley (pictured), has agreed to take on authors including W D Jackson-Smart, J S Strange and Brian Gee and will publish eight of their titles in 2022.

"I'm really happy that Bloodhound Books and Betsy have offered to re-home our authors," Griffiths said. "When I started Panther, my motto was to champion the unknown. When Covid hit I realised I could no longer take Panther where I needed to take it, and I knew I couldn't close Panther and leave the authors without support. I'm looking forward to seeing where Bloodhound Books take our authors, and the future developing careers our Panther authors will now have with a leading publisher. 

He went on: "I couldn't think of many others to be so generous to help us in our time of need, and I couldn't think of a better publisher for our authors to flourish at. I know they are in safe hands, and I will be following their careers just like everyone else. As for me, I'm not sure what is next. I hope I will be able to return to the world of publishing, but it depends if anyone will have me. If not, I will always think fondly of the job I did running Panther. Independent publishers and writers need a lot more credit than they get."

Bloodhound will be republishing the first of the Panther books in March next year, in a new rebranded format. Reavley, director and founder of Bloodhound Books, said she was "thrilled" to welcome the authors to her list.

She said: "Bloodhound Books is always on the hunt for new voices, and when the opportunity arose to be able to help both James and the people he published, we simply couldn’t turn our back on them. The publishing industry is not always easy to navigate. Since Covid reared its head the the playing field has become more crowded and tougher than ever before."

The press has previously taken on authors from other struggling presses, having taken on over 30 authors from Urbane Publications earlier this year when it ceased operating. 

Reavley said: "It has been an extremely busy year for us and we hope that 2022 will give us the continued opportunity to support the careers of the talent we publish. I wish James the very best of luck with his future endeavours and would like to thank him for putting his authors first."