DOZENS of authors face deepening uncertainty over their future after troubled publisher Freight Books revealed plans to sell the company.
It is understood proposals are only at an early stage for the Glasgow publisher but it is claimed potential buyers have come forward.
Under plans by sister company Freight Design the business will also be advertised on Publishing Scotland website for an “investor or a buyer” this week.
Read more: Jeremy Corbyn rallies cheering crowd in Glasgow city centre
Writers at the leading independent book publisher, which lists Irvine Welsh, below, and Janice Galloway among its authors, have been assured marketing, selling and producing of their work continues.
The future of the firm that only two years ago took over Glasgow rival Cargo Publishing was thrown into question after co-founder Adrian Searle suddenly quit in April.
Fellow co-founder and director Davinder Samrai, who set up the business with Mr Searle, has said existing contracts would be honoured.
Robbie Guillory, interim managing editor of Freight Book, told authors: "The first piece of news is that following some expressions of interest in acquiring Freight Books, we are exploring that opportunity further by posting a notice on the Publishing Scotland website to see if any other interested parties reveal themselves, either as an investor or a buyer.
Read more: How Craig Whyte's QC Donald Findlay had the fraud trial jury laughing
"We just wanted you to hear it here first rather than from a third party.
"The article will probably be posted in the next 24-48hrs.
"Meanwhile, we continue as normal, and I’ll certainly not be stepping back from my efforts at marketing, selling and producing.
"I’ve been meeting with as many authors and booksellers as possible over the last two weeks."
Mr Guillory was brought in to help steer the firm after Mr Searle left.
He said: "I’m pleased to have now got contacts for all our authors, and feel in a much better position than I was three weeks ago, with a good overview of matters and a keen understanding of what needs done."
Read more: Jeremy Corbyn rallies cheering crowd in Glasgow city centre
Mr Searle said earlier that "after differences over strategic direction, and after six years as publisher at Freight Books, and eight years as a director of Freight Design, with much regret I have decided to leave the business I own jointly and resign as a company director to pursue other interests".
The firm said work continues and that the title A Drink of One’s Own, a cocktail book, won Chairman’s Award at the Scottish Design Awards, adding that reviews have been positive, their social media streams are being boosted and three new titles are being published in July.
Next month the firm is also publishing the winner of the Dundee International Book Prize, The Cure for Lonely by Jessica Thummel.
Read more: How Craig Whyte's QC Donald Findlay had the fraud trial jury laughing
The firm has previously published fiction, poetry, non-fiction and humour and it is the home of multiple award-winning authors including Ms Galloway, below, Dilys Rose and Kirstin Innes, while Trainspotting author Mr Welsh is listed as a contributor in the futuristic IDP: 2043.
The 2015 Saltire Society Publisher of the Year winner's first publication was in 2002 and was an anthology about Scottish football called The Hope That Kills Us.
Among recent awards, Ms Innes' Fishnet won the Guardian Not the Booker Prize, Ms Galloway was shortlisted Saltire Scottish Book of the Year 2015 for Jellyfish and Ms Rose is a Canongate Prize, Society of Authors’ Travel Award and double Scottish Arts Council Awards winner.
Read more: Jeremy Corbyn rallies cheering crowd in Glasgow city centre
Freight Design, was a triple-award winner at the Scottish Design Awards 2016 and whose clients include Scottish Power and the Citizen's Theatre, while Gutter was shortlisted for best magazine in the Saboteur Awards in the same year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here