Client Distribution Service (CDS)

If distribution means getting books into the hands of sellers, circulators or readers, then a true profile of the distribution business would cast a wide net, beginning at the binding line and continuing through to the ‘long tail’ of online portals, used bookstores and curbside pushcarts. However, if distribution, from the publisher’s view, means getting books to generate sales revenue, we can overlook all of the aftermarket, recirculation and reselling channels and focus solely on reaching stores, libraries, online and catalog warehouses and—increasingly, thanks to the Internet—direct marketing from the publisher to the consumer. In the article “Deconstructing Distribution,” in Book Business’

Many independent U.S. book publishers breathed a sigh of relief after a Delaware bankruptcy court ruled in favor of the Perseus Books Group taking control of the distribution contracts for more than 120 clients of the now-defunct Publishers Group West (PGW). The New York-based Perseus Books offered to pay 70 cents for every dollar of pre-bankruptcy claims owed to publishers who were distributed under PGW, a Berkeley, Calif.-based division of Advanced Marketing Services (AMS). The bid to help bail out AMS from a pile of debt claims was approved by Judge Christopher Sontchi Feb. 19. Perseus President David Steinberger says the company began