Craft publisher Martingale announced yesterday that the company will be closing in mid-2023.
CEO and president Jennifer Keltner said in an email, “Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Martingale has been operating in a state of constant change. We’ve shifted resources as necessary to manage supply chain disruptions, paper shortages, double-digit increases in freight costs and printing, mandatory shutdowns, a shift to remote work, and more.
Through it all, our skilled team of employee-owners has gone above and beyond to pivot to a remote work model, to control costs, and to consistently problem-solve, all while creating stellar, best-in-class content for quilters.”
“Unfortunately, with continued cost pressures across the supply chain, and a shift in how consumers seek and purchase content, the Martingale Board of Directors adopted a formal resolution to dissolve the company by mid-2023.”
Martingale, which was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington, is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan company (ESOP) meaning employees own shares in Martingale. According to Keltner, “an orderly wind-down means that the assets will be divided between the participants who own stock in the company. For many, that equates to their retirement savings.”
Authors reflect
Many prominent designers have published books with Martingale over its 40+ year history. Bag pattern designer Sara Lawson authored Big City Bags published by Martingale in 2013. Lawson says about her time working on these titles, “I really enjoyed my time with Martingale. They really made me feel special – for my first book, they photographed me with the bags for the pages within the book, and my mom got to go with me on this trip. They took me on a tour of Martingale and also drove us to visit quilt shops in the area.”
“It was an amazing experience, and I’m so grateful to my editor and all of the staff there,” Lawson says.
Quilt pattern designer Linzee McCray says the news of the closure also saddens her. “it’s a tremendous loss,” McCray says. “Martingale fills a particular niche well—I’ve had quilt patterns in several Moda books and they reprinted my book, Feed Sacks: The Colourful History of a Frugal Fabric, originally published by UPPERCASE, as well. In each case they’ve been lovely to work with at every level—responsive, kind, helpful, and fun—and I will miss working with those folks. There’s nothing like holding and paging through a print book—the digital world is no substitute.”
About the authors, Keltner said, “Martingale authors can be proud of the high-quality books that we produced together for more than four decades. As we close the business in an orderly process, we do so with our heads held high and our reputation for top quality intact. We have greatly appreciated our partnership with our talented authors, and our many loyal customers, business partners, and shop owners.”
According to the New York Times this week, 2022 has been a challenging year for the publishing industry and publishers are worried about what 2023 may bring.
Crochet designer Stacey Trock published three amigurumi books with Martingale including Modern Baby Crochet which came out in 2014. In reaction to the news of the closure, Trock commented, “Martingale’s model was to publish books according to a fairly standard template, which allowed them to be published quickly and sell them through big box stores. Unfortunately, this mass market approach left little development of brand or differentiation.”
Learn more about Martingale in our 2016 podcast interview with Jennifer.
Abby Glassenberg
Co-founder
Abby co-founded Craft Industry Alliance and now serves as its president. She’s a sewing pattern designer, teacher, and journalist. She’s dedicated to creating an outstanding trade association for the crafts industry. Abby lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Sad sad day for the industry 😞
Absolutely sad day for Quilters like me who love the quality of the quilt books that I have purchased over the past 30 + Years of Quilting. Sadly I understand the economy has just created so many problems that can’t be overcome. Martingale – you will be missed.
It’s tough times for so many industries. A testament to the times. Very sad.
⁸I want to create some of these patterns on my YouTube channel, but I can’t seem to an email for me to obtain permission. Any help will be most helpful
You could contact the authors directly since the publisher has gone out of business.
I can’t think on one quilter I know who does not have at least 2 or more books published by Martingale. Times truly are a-changing. Thank you, Martingale, for all you have done and given us over the years.
Wow. That hurts.
How unfortunate that the public learned of Martingale’s closing here, without giving Martingale the opportunity to make this announcement themselves.
Hi Kim, Martingale sent out an email to their clients a day and a half before this post was published. I reached out to CEO Jennifer Keltner for further comment for our article and she emailed me back right away with the comments included here.
I appreciate your clarifying this. Martingale is a company with a good deal of integrity, creativity, and dedication to their authors and customers, and they deserve the utmost respect for their contribution to the industry for nearly 50 years.
Can you please tell me who will own the rights to the authors of future books? Have you transferred them to another company or just released those authors? My question simply is, will we ever see more books from people such as Kim Diehl, etc?
I think that popular authors will continue to write books. Regarding Martingale authors publishing new books with a different publisher, my guess is that each author is doing their own thing so maybe you could reach out to your favorite authors to inquire?
Abby, do you have any knowledge about the copyright issues regarding past published books by Martingale? Did they return automatically to the authors or did one of the other craft publishing books purchase the copyrights?
So sad my sewing room won’t have a Martingale calendar for 2024.
While I understand the complexities of publishing, I am nevertheless sad that this company will become a thing of the past. I own many many publications from Martingale and That Patchwork Place. I am so glad I got into quilting in the early 80’s so I have lots of their publications to look through. Please know that your work has been enjoyed by many and inspired new and old quilters with your excellence in publishing. I will miss you!
This is so sad. I own so many Martingale books in my Quilting Library. I reference them often. They were well published books. This pandemic has destroyed so many amazing businesses. I wonder how this publishing industry will weather.
I am so sorry to hear that Martingale is closing its doors. I have purchased so many books (Including PDFs) and Martingale has been my go to source. Its a sad day for the crafting consumer.
I am trying to purchase from their site, but can’t seem to get past the sign in as a guest page. It tells me I have not filled out the information and it is missing. Everything is greyed out and I can’t go any further. Do you have any information on how to purchase?
It may be that ecommerce is no longer available.
I am able to access their ebooks at this address, as of today.
https://www.shopmartingale.com/quilting/quilting-books/contemporary-quilting/
As a recent discoverer of Martingale publications I am very disappointed to find they’re closing! Of all my quilting books these and MSQC’s Block magazine are the ones I love to look through and make from. There’s the feel of family in them – the practical, possible, yet artistically satisfying. Thankyou for the joy you’ve given me. So sorry you’re shutting down. All the very best to all concerned.
Was this inevitable? I know that there is a shift to e-publications, though.
I’m from Switzerland and relatively new to quilting. When I knew that Martingale would close down mid 2023, I was eager to buy a few of their books as used copies. They’re stunning, and I will keep my eyes open for more titles. However, yesterday my husband gifted me with another (new) publication form Martingale, not knowing that he actually bought what I consider to be a future rarity.
I’m glad to now these outstanding books, but very sad Martingale had to go out of business.
What about all the e books we had purchased and usually could go back to print? I am unable to find any links now to access my purchases…
Is there any way I can get my digital downloads from Martingale?
This is so sad to hear of their closing. I will be hoarding all my quilting books from Martingale .
Well, that’s a bummer. I am trying to find the correct knitting pattern for Baby Bright afghan that was published in 2007. So what a person to do with questions like that???