ibooks is dead

SFWA reported sometime yesterday that ibooks (along with its parent and/or sister company, Byron Preiss Visual Publications) had filed for immediate bankruptcy and was vacating their offices that day. The news is spreading now; I saw it on Locus's home page this morning. I'd expect a press release sometime today, but I don't know if it will say that much. (What can they possibly say? That only Byron's personal charisma and manic energy could manage to keep all of the balls in the air? From my end of the business, that's the charitable way of seeing it.)

It's tough to lose a publisher, especially one who was so devoted to SF and comics as the various BPVP incarnations were. On the other hand, they've anecdotally had trouble paying their bills for years, so it's not a big surprise.

I hope all the BPVP staffers find other work quickly -- though that's probably a vain hope, in this market and economy. But if anyone is looking for a top-tier publishing executive with more energy in his pinkie than most companies' whole staffs, you'd be wise to snap up my old boss Roger Cooper quickly.