Down & Out Is Dead & Gone

If you click over to the Web site of publisher Down & Out Books, you’ll find a short notice offering nothing but bad news:

For 15 remarkable years, Down & Out Books proudly published nearly 1,000 titles, collaborated with over 500 talented authors, and earned more than 50 prestigious awards. Today, however, we must announce the closure of our operations.

We extend our deepest gratitude to the gifted authors who entrusted us with their stories and to our loyal readers who brought those stories to life through their passion and support. Your unwavering dedication has been the heart of our journey, and we are profoundly grateful for every moment.

Founded in 2011, Down & Out was based in Tampa, Florida, and led by editor-publisher Eric Campbell. In a long-ago interview with the blog Mystery Playground, Campbell explained that he’d been an early investor in Ben LeRoy’s Tyrus Books, but “when the company was sold [in November 2016 to Simon & Schuster—which killed the Tyrus imprint just six month later], I still had a burning desire to be involved in the publishing business. Rather than join another established publisher, I decided I wanted to see if I could do something on my own.”

Down & Out went on to release a plethora of crime, mystery, and thriller works from writers as varied as Patricia Abbott, Richard Barre, Eric Beetner, Sarah M. Chen, Tony Black, Michael Bracken, Mark Coggins, Jim Fusilli, David Housewright, Marietta Miles, Jerry Kennealy, and Josh Pachter. (At least for now, this page features all of the Down & Out authors and editors.) It issued the 35-“episode” e-book series of novellas titled A Grifter’s Song, created and edited by Frank Zafiro, and published half a dozen issues of Down & Out: The Magazine (August 2017-December 2020), an excellent quarterly edited by Rick Ollerman and with regular contributions from yours truly.

The house was reportedly shuttered due to serious sales declines, which made it financially impossible to stay in business.

Author Reed Farrel Coleman (who had a short story in the debut issue of Down & Out: The Magazine) posted this tribute on Facebook:

I read the news today, oh boy. Down & Out Books is closing shop and that’s bad for all of us with writing careers. I’ve known Eric Campbell, the head honcho at D&O, for decades. At the very beginning of D&O, I contributed a short story to what I believe was their first anthology and my work has appeared in other anthologies published by them.

I hope this isn’t too much of a financial burden for Eric. I’ve always known him to be a good guy. The closure of even a small publishing house has negative ripple effects, some obvious, others not. It leaves authors whose books were scheduled for future release by D&O scrambling to find new publishers in a field of shrinking options. It hurts authors already published by D&O. Once the stock from current print runs sell through, those authors will have no way to furnish books to stores, conventions, or other events. The less obvious damage is how it effects authors trying to keep their heads above water.

During a long period of my career, small houses like Bleak House, Tyrus, and Busted Flush kept my new books available and my name out there. I doubt I would have landed on my feet and gotten the Robert B. Parker Jesse Stone gig and the chance to write Gus Murphy books if those small houses hadn’t enabled me to keep my career alive.

We offer our best wishes to Eric Campbell and all of the authors affected by this sad turn of events.

UPDATE: As part of Down & Out’s shutdown, the company said it was withdrawing its numerous titles from distribution channels, ending further payments, and allowing publishing rights to revert to the authors and editors responsible for its books—most of which fell into the crime-fiction category. Now In Reference to Murder brings word that “Jay Hartman, with Misti Media and its various imprints, has offered to republish the orphaned titles as the schedule allows.”

READ MORE: “Down and All the Way Out,” by Dana King (One Bite at a Time); “Down & Out Books Closes Its Doors After 15 Years of Championing Crime Fiction” (The Romance Studio).