The Bookseller.com

19th July 2008

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Talks continue over Friday Project

12.03.08 Tom Tivnan

The insolvency firm guiding The Friday Project (TFP) through its sales process has confirmed that HarperCollins is in talks with the blogs-to-books publisher and that talks have also been had with all the major players in an attempt to dispose of its assets.

Panos Eliades, a partner at Panos Eliades, Franklin and Company, said: "We are in the process of negotiating with HarperCollins about which authors they want to take over and which books and royalties. We are only talking with them about part of the business. Some authors I don't think they'll want, and we will look to other publishers."

HarperCollins would not comment on the discussions.

Although documents filed at Companies House said TFP intended to go into administration from 25th February, Eliades said the publisher was continuing to trade and would only go into liquidation next week after a meeting of creditors.

Eliades said TFP had been in talks with all the major players to dispose of its assets. "They've tried Random House and all the big publishers. They have a duty to try to sell it at the best possible price," he said.

In a directors report, TFP reported a loss of £724,023 for the year ending 31st December 2006 up from a loss of £81,534 the previous year. It cited the inability to raise extra capital in summer 2007 as the reason for the disruption of frontlist production, and not being able to reprint backlist. It cited that, combined with lower than expected trading in Christmas 2007, as reasons to cease trading.

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