When a Publisher Closes Doors

A number of you may heard that Visual Print Enterprises, or Visprint, the publisher of my books, will be closing its doors in 2021. They will no longer be accepting new manuscripts, and will be focusing their efforts on releasing their last batch of books and selling off old stocks.

My final project with them will be Zaturnnah sa Maynila Part Three.

The reason for their closing is simple enough--the owners are retiring. While we can say that this reason is not enough to close a company--after all, the owners can simply pass the baton--we have to take it for what it is. Another publishing house is closing, one less channel for new books to see the light of day.

Many have said that Visprint has made a significant mark in the Philippine book industry, as its portfolio boasts of a powerful roster of authors. And as Dr. Isagani Cruz once said, Visprint has one of the best publishing contracts around. I'm not so worried about the authors, though, as they will surely be able to find new homes. Hopefully they'll be able to get similar if not better contracts with other companies.

What does call my attention is the latter part of Visprint's statement in their Facebook post...

"...mas hihikayatin naming ipanawagan ang #SaveFilipinoAuthorsKomikeros. Pangalagaan at pahalagahan natin ang bagong henerasyon ng mga alagad ng sining sa larangang ito--ang mga manunulat at komikero.

Hindi na sapat na basahin lang sila, mahalagang maging katuwang din tayo sa pagpapalaganap ng kamalayan tungkol sa kanila at kanilang mga akda. Pag-usapan, punahin, kilalanin ang iba't ibang uri ng akdang nababasa ninyo."

This has been an oft-repeated appeal of many authors, shared many times over on social media, but hardly practiced. And, as these things go, support beyond a sad emoji always comes too late if ever at all. As the old saying goes, "Grass is useless to a dead horse."

I don't want to be a dead horse.