Customers are rallying around a business which has been left £40,000 out of pocket – putting its future on the line.

Galley Beggar Press launched a GoFundMe campaign on Wednesday morning, which has already raised more than £30,000.

The Norwich-based independent publishers have been left with a "black hole" in their accounts after one of their creditors went into liquidation.

Owners Eloise Millar and Sam Jordison said it was the sort of money that they "never normally play with" but had taken the order of 8,000 books because they were the sole publisher of Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, Ducks, Neburyport.

MORE: Beales stores at risk as company puts itself up for saleNow more 1000 customers have spared anything they could - from hundreds of pounds to a couple of quid - to keep the husband and wife team in business.

Mr Jordison said: "This was a real passion project. It all began when a manuscript we loved fell into our hands, and we wanted to put our principles of publishing done right into practice.

"When we went to bed last night we were wondering if it was curtains for us. We had bills to pay, we had an author we'd promised to pay early royalties to, and we didn't think we could afford to do that and keep the business going."

But customers have been happy to back the city centre business, writing on the page that independent publishers must survive for "the good of culture" and thanking them for years of service.

Mr Jordison said: "I know it's what people always say when this sort of thing happens, but it is just overwhelming. We can't say anything but thank you to the people that have backed us - that people believe in us this much is amazing.

"This means we can now pay the royalties to our author and keep publishing the books we love."

The pair launched the business in 2012, and have published two or three books a year since.

"We simply publish the manuscripts we fall in love with," Mr Jordison explained.

The pair published the critically acclaimed Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman earlier this year, and also publishes work by a number of local authors.