Small Press Distribution Group 1

Small Press Distribution was a large-scale company that distributed books from small presses. Thie mission was to "emphasize small press values—equity, experimentation, and access" while also "connecting underrepresented literary communities to the marketplace and to each other via book distribution, events, and public advocacy."

History

Founded in 1969, originally called Serendipity Books Distribution.

Turning Point

In December of 2020, an anonymous previous employee of SPD with the handle "Damaged Book Worker" made a blog post on Medium.com calling out the toxicity they experienced while working at SPD, titled "I was terrorized out of my job by Small Press Distribution." Some of the grievances this employee had included being manipulated into physical labor despite suffering from a pre-existing disability, forced into being a "captive audience" to the executive director's personal problems and racist comments, manipulated into cleaning the executive director's house while house sitting, and being underpaid thousands of dollars for a large amount of time while working at SPD without their knowledge.

Within the blog post, the author also mentioned that when they finally left SPD earlier in 2020, the board of directors offered them a $2,500 severance check only if they agreed to sign an NDA stating that they would pay a $500 fee for each negative comment they made about SPD after leaving the company. The employee did not sign the NDA.

The manipulation Damaged Book Worker faced while working at SPD was so severe that they were afraid to share their story even months after leaving the company because of the power SPD still held over them.

Responses

There were a variety of responses among different people within SPD after Damaged Book Worker's blog went public. SPD staff published a blog post of their own echoing Damaged Book Worker's complaints of not receiving pay and of Brent Cunningham's toxic behavior. They highlighted the hypocrisy of everything that had occurred within SPD, how Cunningham's actions and use of discriminatory language were in direct opposition to the company's values. Near the end of their post, they thanked Damaged Book Worker for being brave enough to come forward with their experiences and emphasized the ways in which the company needed to change.

On the flip side of this, Cunningham responded with complete denial of Damaged Book Worker's allegations, a denial that did not serve him well in maintaining his public image or his position with SPD. The board of directors all agreed it was best for Cunningham to step down, especially after a public letter had been issued to the company demanding Cunningham resign. This public letter received hundreds of signatures within the publishing community, highlighting the shock and outrage many felt during this time. Cunningham was slowly removed from SPD. Initially, he stepped down as executive director and worked a smaller role within the operations sector of the company, a role where he could not work directly with other staff. This role was temporary and he eventually left the company entirely.

How SPD Promised to Change

Alan Bernheimer, SPD's board president, created a list of mediation tactics he thought would help the company recover, which emphasized the importance of communication from SPD staff. Under his direction, staff were given opportunities to report directly to the board of SPD, fostering a greater sense of transparency among upper and lower level employees. Staff were also part of hiring committees for interim and permanent executive directors, allowing them to have a greater voice in the company's future. Lastly, Bernheimer created a policy where two employees would report monthly to two board members to create what he called an "ongoing dialogue".

Bernheimer was incredibly optimistic about the future for SPD, making a public statement saying: “We think there’s an opportunity here, not simply to rebuild the organization, but in some sense to reimagine it; and ensure that it's doing the best job possible serving the small press community at the same time as providing a healthy and supportive workplace to everyone who works there . . . Maybe it’s presumptuous to say that we’re turning the corner, but I feel like the corner is in sight.”

While none of the board members echoed this optimism or chose to follow in Brent Cunningham's footsteps by resigning, they did release a public statement of their own: "This has been an extremely painful time for the SPD community and the board recognizes its share of responsibility for that. We’ve heard and understand the deep frustration with how long this process has taken. We needed an independent assessment of the many allegations and complaints, corroboration where available, and the implicated parties’ response to those allegations."

"SPD Next"

The biggest move new Executive Director Kent Watson made was coined "SPD Next," a big fundraising effort to improve service by moving their stock from their warehouse in Berkeley, California, to warehouses in Tennessee and Michigan. Their goal was to raise $100,000 using GoFundMe; they ended up raising over $111,000 and made the move.

Closure

Despite all of their new policies and money raised, SPD suddenly shut down on March 28, 2024.

Fallout

Then - today

We also need different positions on the issue (could either be staff experience vs board response or about the concern of destroying a toxic company and subsequently hurting lots of small presses) and possible solutions