Independent California publisher Catapult Book Group has been sold, and its staff will be let go as of Oct. 30.
Founded by Elizabeth Koch and Andy Hunter, the publishing group includes the imprints Catapult, Counterpoint Press, Soft Skull and Hawthorne Books. Its published authors include Wendell Berry, Susan Straight, Vanessa Hua, Nawaaz Ahmed, Gary Snyder and many more.
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In a statement obtained by Publishers Weekly, the Catapult Workers Collective said that workers had been told of the company’s intent to sell earlier this year while voting whether to unionize, and that the union had since been notified that “continued employment with the prospective buyer is not an option.”
Novelist Tod Goldberg, who published his Gangsterland series for Counterpoint Press and has another book contracted with them, called the news “heartbreaking and devastating.”
“It’s the end of what I view as an institution of West Coast publishing as we know it,” said Goldberg during a phone conversation. “I mean their backlist, I think, has sustained the company for a very long time … so clearly whoever is buying it recognizes the real value of this vibrant, still-selling backlist.
“But inevitably, it won’t be the same.”
As an author, Goldberg said, the publishing house was a rarity, praising the work of Dan Smetanka, his friend, longtime editor and Catapult Book Group senior vice president and editorial director.
“Dan’s desire to celebrate the rich history of Southern California writing was fundamental to his success,” says Goldberg. “If you went somewhere and a Counterpoint or Catapult or Soft Skull book is being celebrated, Dan Smetanka was going to be there, and that’s hard to replace. I think that’s impossible to replace.”
“I think what made Counterpoint special is the personal attention you received. You might not have received the largest advance in the history of American publishing from Counterpoint,” says Goldberg. “But you were treated like you did.”
The novelist praised the dedication of the company’s small but devoted staff.
“You knew these people,” says Goldberg. “Every author spoke directly to the head of publicity and the head of marketing, Megan Fishmann and Rachel Fershleiser, respectively … You talked to [creative director] Nicole Caputo.”
Goldberg’s comments were seconded by Gina Frangello, author of “Blow Your House Down,” who shared a statement she’d posted on Facebook.
“I edited and promoted my first Counterpoint book while going through chemo and there is no one else I would have wanted in my corner more than Dan Smetanka, who both held me creatively and held my feet to the fire like I was still ME, and helped me to still be me,” she wrote. “We are all in mourning today because Counterpoint was about more than ambition and success.”
Goldberg, who’s been published by several different imprints, said as a young writer coming up he’d hoped to have the kind of personal, hands-on experience he’d read about in the biographies of great authors.
“You got that at Counterpoint,” he says. “And it’s a rarity.”
Company representatives, as well as the CWC, did not respond to requests for comment.
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