Following a series of recent actions that include the divestiture of certain assets and the departure of a large portion of its staff who went on to form Key Lime Publishing, Miami-based Mango Publishing Group is in the process of going out of business. Word came in a letter written by founder Christopher McKenney and sent last night to “partners and friends.”
In the letter, McKenney wrote that Mango is currently winding down all operations, a process which should be completed “shortly.” Mango’s banks are currently liquidating the company “for their own benefit,” McKenney wrote, adding that at this point, “Mango has exhausted all cash and cannot service any debts.”
The latter remarks seem to pertain in part to complaints from some Mango authors that they have not been paid royalties in months, and in some cases for over a year, which Author's Guild director of legal services Michael Gross was able to confirm.
The concerns came to light after Key Lime was created earlier this month and launched a website featuring titles that had been published by Mango, without clearly explaining to the affected authors whether a deal had taken place between the two publishing companies, or on what terms.
In looking to clear up the confusion, Key Lime publisher Hugo Villabona wrote in a correspondence with PW that "there is no financial or legal relationship between the two companies." He added that Key Lime's work with former Mango authors would involve "brand new author agreements," and that they were also "in the midst" of acquiring brand new authors.
Prior to the letter from McKenney, seven of Mango's creditor authors had individually written to PW to report concerns about the vagueness of the business relationship between Key Lime and Mango. At least one Mango author was initially surprised by the appearance of their books on Key Lime's site, and was only given an explanation after their lawyer stepped in.
In his letter, McKenney attributed the start of its financial problems to the pandemic when the publisher took on “substantial high-interest bank loans.” Since that period, Mango has confronted “supply chain disruptions, high print price inflation, book market downsizing, losses from uncollectible accounts receivable, and more recently, even tariffs.” These conditions, McKenney wrote, “have made it extraordinarily difficult to operate as an independent publisher like Mango.”
McKenney wrote that he has been reaching out to as many authors as possible to find homes for their books with new publishers. Mango had about 600 titles in its catalog at the time it began closing down operations. McKenney told PW he isn't sure how many titles may have found new homes but said he had "signed a bunch of rights reversions recently."
“I am very sorry for this story’s ending and will always appreciate the privilege of working with you,” McKenney concluded.
McKenney founded Mango in 2014 after serving in executive roles at Publishers Group West and cofounding Mobifusion. Shortly after its launch, Mango saw a period of rapid growth but eventually entered a period of divestment, including the sale of three imprints in 2023.
