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Nearly 30 small publishers are out of pocket after their distributor Forrester Books Ltd went into liquidation.
About 27 publishers were told on Monday that Forrester Books had gone under. The publishers have not been paid for any books sold since before Christmas.
Eight full-time staff at Forrester Books, and three independent contractors are out of work.
Forrester Books, an Auckland company, has been in business since 1953. First owned by Lothian Books Australia, it was in 1991 purchased by David Forrester, who managed it since 1969.
Mr Forrester said there were only about 10 or 15 publishers they distributed for, and all should be able to find other distributors.
"They're not going to be dead and buried, they'll lose a little bit but they'll certainly continue - all of them."
Callum MacDonald, from liquidating company Buchanan MacDonald, said he had spoken with the publishers over the past two days.
Most had already managed to arrange alternative arrangements, he said.
Books R Us owner Murray Brown said the liquidation of Forrester Books meant they were out of pocket by "thousands" of dollars.
He said his company would not need to close down, but it was a "significant" amount of money they were owed.
Joseph Romanos, from publishing company Trio, said the closure of Forrester Books would shake any faith publishers had in the industry.
"You don't know how a company's going, obviously they weren't going very well and weren't telling people." Mr Romanos said Trio were trying to get another distributor who could take the rest of their stock.
He said they were not paid last week when they were due money from book sales.
"It was the payments from December, which was a big month for publishers because it's pre-Christmas. So it was a bad month not to be paid for."
Independent contractor Grant Amos, who looked after publishers in the upper North Island for Forrester, said he was owed quite a bit of money and would need to speak with the liquidator.
"It came as a hell of a surprise."
Mr Amos said contractors were paid a month in arrears and he was last paid last month for January book sales. He said as far he and the other contractors were aware they were now unsecured creditors.
- NZPA
