(A rather big build-up. Sadly, what follows just does not do it justice. To make up for this. I have included some covers left over from last posting. Yea, disappointing text and leftovers! )
When last we left the story of pulpdom, things were looking bleak indeed, with the last pulp publisher of note appearing to be headed for oblivion. Should Dorchester publications (or Media or whatever it’s calling itself) close it will take down not only a genre house paperback publisher, but all of the remaining color pulps still in existence. This would be a very bad thing. In our closing act, the inept publisher of the Dorchester imprint was shuttled aside for new blood in the form of a man by the name of Robert Anthony.
I do not wish to disparage Mister Anthony. I am sure that he is good to pets and loves children. My last comment about him was that he seemed more like an accountant than the leader of America’s last remaining pulp house. I stand by that assessment without apology, although I do not know Robert Anthony at all.
Nor does it seem that the world of publishing will know of Robert Anthony for long. If it’s possible, he’s actually a more dubious fit than what I disclosed.
The following is taken from Bob’s online achievement life: “Bob joined Backe in 2003 as the Chief Financial Officer, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in financial and operations management.” “Prior to Backe, Bob was the President of The Blue Sky Financial Group, which provides businesses with consulting services on operational strategies and business development, plan and assist in re-organization of corporate debt, and to augment current senior management in the form of interim COO and CFO positions.“ “Bob was also the Controller for one of the largest investment management organizations in the United States, Federated Investors, where… (h)is expertise in business operations and technology was the basis for the consolidation of multiple business lines providing for record growth and highly efficient operations.”
From what I can figure out, Blacke was some kind of ‘we can make you viral’ agency, Blue Sky was Bob’s consulting DBA and Federated Investors is the actual job Bob was downsized out of. It’s tough all over.
Curiously missing from Bob’s downhill career slide is any mention of writing, reading or even owning any books: Bob may run a tight ship, but in his free time he lets loose with all kinds of adventurous sports—from motocross to snowboarding, or as he puts it, "anything extreme."
Again, not to disparage Bob, but he’s a temp. If Bob is the best they can do, Dorchester is indeed done as a going publisher of any kind.
Things are not even good in the land of American Media, that other last vestige of what had been Bernarr MacFadden’s publishing empire. Remember I said that they seemed to be heading into oblivion.
“By November 2010, American Media had a debt load seven times the value of the company, which drove it into bankruptcy.” The firm emerged from bankruptcy court with a confirmed plan of reorganization yesterday. Beyond turning various bond holders into shareholders for the second time in its haphazard existence, the newly forged firm will forge ahead still 100 million dollars in debt. And it’s the entire firm, not just the magazine publishing arm or the supermarket distribution arm, that emerges so in the hock this time.
In keeping with an idiom favored by all CEOs of firms about to emerge from giving their creditors the high hard one, American Media’s smugly states that he is looking forward to making some more acquisitions and hopes to help other publishers do for their firms what he has done to his. I am not making this up.
Not to be overly gloomy here, but it looks like what remains of the pulp era will be deader than a doornail in under eighteen months. I will cry when that happens, but not out of shock.
If it’s any consolation to Frank Munsey or Bernarr MacFadden, their old nemesis the A&P supermarket isn’t doing so well, either. “Recent coverage of the A&P bankruptcy has alluded to its era of dominance in grocery retail describing it as the Wal-Mart of its day.” As I mentioned in my last missives on this subject, A&P and its rival National ultimately failed, however the concept of supermarkets won out. Like American Media, this A&P is a serial filer. The current A&P is not really the same company as the old, but rather a super-regional which picked up the logo during its long slouching efforts to snag store names brain damaged east coast shoppers can recognize. The firm was no more the A&P than Macy’s is Marshall Fields. As I recall, the firm took the A&P name after the last trip to bankruptcy, wherein it emerged GM-like, having shed several of the brand names it spent a small fortune collecting. In any case, this is bankruptcy strike two for the New A&P and failure four for the A&P brand. (Suggested new name: Failure 4 & More)
For my final spleen venting, there is Toyota. Persons who watch TV may note that this year’s Toyotathon sales event features no new models or actual product claims. Rather, the commercials have been splashed with cameo celebrity appearances by… Erik Estrada and Fabio. What a message! Toyota: For Those Whom Life Has Truly Passed By.
That’s not to say Toyota doesn’t have any news to tell. Far from it: “Toyota Motors Corp. agreed to pay $32.4 million for failing to disclose two separate defects in its vehicles in a timely fashion, U.S. regulators said.” “The fines of $16.05 million and $16.375 million, for failing to report problems with gas pedals becoming entangled with floor mats and potential cracking in steering relay rods, respectively, are the maximum fines allowed by law,” The New York Times reported Tuesday. Sales are way down, too.
Next Time: Dubious X-Mass Appeals
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