As reported here last week, independent publishers all across the west coast are in financial disarray, the result of a distributer filing for bankruptcy in August. The most notable of these is McSweeney’s, a publishing house founded by Dave Eggers that has published work from Nick Hornby, Michael Chabon, Lydia Davis, David Byrne and dozens of others.

In hopes of alleviating the strain, the company has put on a massive sale: 30 percent off new titles, 50 percent off the backlist and an eBay auction featuring such items as a hand-painted apology letter to your boyfriend/girlfriend by the multi-talented Miranda July, or a tour of the Daily Show set by the multi-talented John Hodgeman. You can read the MediaBuzz article about the situation here, but for a more in-depth analysis of the whole situation, I suggest you turn to our friends at Salon.com, who have recently posted this article, which explains everything in far more detail than I could muster.