Comic publisher in financial distress: Edition Moderne raises money
Edition Moderne is in financial difficulties. The Zurich-based comic publisher is therefore launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise 100,000 francs by June 23.
The publishing house is "currently in financial distress and in urgent need of support," writes Berlin press officer Filip Kolek in a statement Wednesday.
The Crowdfundig campaign is entitled "Too Big To Fail" - with a question mark and an exclamation mark. It applies to a publishing house that is considered a pioneer in the field of comics and graphic novels not only in Switzerland, but also in Germany and Austria. "In 2000, for example, the publisher made a significant contribution to the establishment of comics in the German-speaking world with the German translation of "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, writes Kolek.
Highly decorated
Edition Moderne was founded by David Basler in 1981, and when he retired in 2019, he handed over the publishing house to a team led by graphic designer Julia Marti and graphic designer Claudio Barandun.
2021, the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association SBCV named Edition Moderne Publisher of the Year. The avant-garde had remained, the SBCV justified the award at the time. There were also other awards, such as the German Youth Literature Prize, two Swiss Children's and Young People's Book Prizes, and the City of Zurich's award for special cultural achievements to David Basler.
Rising costs
The new team has given the publishing house a new profile and restructured it. This primarily involved digitizing the back office; in addition, new and younger authors were added to the program.
This transformation takes time and is costly. In addition, production costs have recently "risen rapidly. The publishing team itself cites the high wage costs in Switzerland, the expensive Swiss franc compared to the euro, and inflation as key factors. The 2020 to 2022 financial years could be summarized as follows: "We can report stable sales figures, which almost compensate for even increased production costs, but not the amount of work that was and is necessary for this. (SDA)
