Dymocks to close D Publishing this month

Monday, 4 March 2013 Books+Publishing

Australian bookselling chain Dymocks has announced that it will close its self-publishing platform, D Publishing, at the end of this month.

D Publishing said in a notice on its website that it will close D Publishing on 25 March. Authors are no longer able to upload new manuscripts on the D Publishing website and current account holders have until 25 March to complete their books before the D Publishing website is disabled. BRW reports that D Publishing employees Caroline Witts and Ryan Willmott have been made redundant and will leave Dymocks at the end of March.

Dymocks managing director Steve Cox told Books+Publishing that upon closure of D Publishing, all authors’ rights for their works will revert to them. Cox said the company is also working with Dennis Jones & Associates to give D Publishing authors an opportunity to enter into new distribution arrangements with Dennis Jones & Associates. Cox said many authors have ‘reacted positively’ to this opportunity as it will mean their books will continue to be distributed to Dymocks stores, as well as other bookstores.

Cox told BRW that deciding to close D Publishing was ‘a difficult decision’, but Dymocks has ‘decided to focus on areas that are core to what we do’. He said that Dymocks ‘learned a lot’ about the self-publishing market through the venture ‘but unfortunately the constraints of the platform and business model meant we couldn’t fulfil the vision’.

Cox said that these constraints relate to both the technology behind the D Publishing platform, as well as the level of demand in the market for self-published books and the presence of international competitors. ‘We felt there was a gap in what we were delivering and what we would like to deliver and to close that gap would require significant investment,’ said Cox.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Dymocks launched D Publishing at the end of 2011. D Publishing amended its author contract a number of times following its launch, after the initial contract attracted criticism from some members of the publishing industry.

Category: Local news