Della Watson

ALT is with great sadness and a profound gratitude for the amazing literary community we have served that we must today announce that Small Press Distribution (SPD) is closing its doors, after more than five decades of distributing books for hundreds of independent publishers of small press literature and bringing thousands of writers to market. We know this news is both sudden and devastating. SPD’s closure is effective immediately. Years of declining sales and the loss of institutional support from almost every foundation that annually supported SPD have combined to squeeze our budget beyond the breaking point. This is despite the tireless efforts of a world-class nonprofit staff to raise new funds, find new sales channels for our presses, and exit our expensive Berkeley warehouse. SPD lost $125,000 in grants over the past year from institutions that supported us historically. SPD exhausted every avenue in seeking emergency funding and loans to avoid the shutdown.