Verso Kickstarter campaign: pledge today!

For more than fifty years Verso has been an essential radical publisher, publishing landmark books by Benedict Anderson, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, Mike Davis, Norman Finkelstein, Nancy Fraser, Walter Rodney, and Edward Said.

Our world is changing quickly, from environmental collapse to the rise of right-wing political movements and new economic crises. What has not changed is Verso’s 50-year commitment to radical publishing – publishing books that challenge capitalism, patriarchy, and imperialism, and provide a glimpse into the radical future we can build together.

Since its founding Verso has been supported by book sales, allowing us to remain independent as the larger book business has been taken over by international conglomerates.

But Verso now faces an unprecedented threat to its existence. In July we were informed that our UK distributor of many years, Marston Book Services, along with its parent company United Independent Distributors and its other subsidiaries, was beginning the process of filing for bankruptcy. The company entered administration on July 25, impacting not only Verso but a long list of independent publishers.

Publishers contract with book distributors to store their books and ship orders bound for  bookstores, libraries, and individual customers. Crucially, book distributors manage billing and collection, paying their client publishers for sales each month.

At the time it entered administration, Marston owed Verso nearly £1 million for book sales stretching back to January. Marston suspended shipping our books at the end of July, having laid off most of its staff, effectively severing Verso’s access to the UK market. Though Verso invested significantly in acquiring, editing, printing, and marketing books it published in the first half of 2024 it has received virtually no revenue for these sales in the UK.

The collapse of Marston is a major blow to Verso. We are asking any comrade who has the ability to consider making a pledge in support of Verso and our Autumn 2024 list, which will be published as we navigate this crisis.

REWARDS!

We are offering backers of this campaign an array of rewards: print and ebook book bundles selected from our Autumn 2024 publishing list; Verso merch including bookmarks, limited-edition Comrade pins, t-shirts, and tote bags; and more. We will also add more rewards throughout the campaign, so please check back for more reward offerings.

Verso Kickstarter campaign: pledge today!

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