We are Bertrams' 'collateral damage', say indie publishers

Independent publishers have expressed their frustration at a lack of communication from Bertrams over unpaid bills, with some owed as much as £15,000.

Bertrams was put up for sale by owner Aurelius last month. Turpin Baker Armstrong will be appointed administrator if a sale does not materialise.

Little Toller is owed almost £16,000, and is relying on its distributor Central Books to temporarily cover the shortfall.

"Central Books has been incredible," said publisher Gracie Cooper. "Our March sales dived, we made £300. I got an email from Central on the 8th April telling me that they were going to withold the money that Betrams owed them, against our sales. Bertrams currently owe us £15,816. It's a lot. That's 2,128 books which they haven't paid for. They were supposed to pay Central at the end of February. We're so lucky that they have been so supportive, they haven't clawed it back from us yet, which means I've been able to pay salaries."

Though Little Toller has recently published the smash hit Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty, Cooper said they wouldn't see that money until September, and were relying on the upsurge in e-commerce, local support and an Arts Council England fund.

An email sent by Central Books indicated that payments from Bertrams had been late "for over a year" and emails addressing discrepancies were going unanswered. "Nobody got in touch from Bertrams," Cooper said. "We've had no information.This is a major hit for any publisher."

Galley Beggar confirmed it is owed just under £10,000. Sam Jordison, co-director of the press, told The Bookseller he was was very grateful for the emergency funding he received from Arts Council England. "ACE really stepped into the breach, but it would have been really, really bad for us," he said. Like Cooper, he applauded his distributor. "Turnaround has been doing everything it can, they've been so supportive," he said.

"Bertrams was obviously having trouble last year, but things started to get better. The reason we've been hit is because they haven't paid their December dues. It's pretty outrageous. We've heard nothing from them and it really feels like they've strung us along quite a bit."

Diane Slaney disclosed that Nottingham-based Candlestick Press is owed "a five-figure sum".

"Any likely stock returns won’t even make a 10% dint in the figure owed, and of course we don’t know in what condition the stock will be returned to us and whether it’s still saleable," she said. "This means that a very large quantity of our pamphlets has already been sold on from Bertrams, with the income from those sales received by Bertrams but not passed on to us. If we hadn’t been in good financial shape as a business before lockdown, this additional cashflow pressure would have wiped us out. The impact on us is still immense - it’s delayed our publication schedule by at least six months and curtailed our investment in marketing and personnel.

"I imagine that this is an extra strain and worry being shared by many independent publishers right now. It would be good to know what was going on in the minds of management and shareholders at the end of last year when Bertrams was already in difficulty, long before any hint of a global pandemic. We have unpaid invoices going back to November 2019. Could this sorry situation have been avoided with more transparency and collaborative help across the industry?"

Donna Ravenhill, owner of Dandy Booksellers, contacted The Bookseller after not hearing from Bertrams since April. Ravenhill has said she is owed just over £6,000 by the wholesaler for an order of maps. She said: "I sent him [Bertrams c.e.o. Raj Patel] emails, and didn't hear anything. I am angry about the way they've dealt with this. Keeping communication open would have been the one good thing they could have done. We work really hard for our money and this business is bloody hard."

Bertrams has yet to respond to a request for comment.