New Book Publisher Promises Authors Creative Control and Profit Sharing

Discover Authors Equity: A groundbreaking book publisher offering authors creative control and profit-sharing, redefining success in today's publishing landscape.

on Mar 07, 2024

New Book Publisher Promises Authors Creative Control and Profit Sharing | Frontlist

The Authors Equity company provides popular writers with backend income similar to that seen in the film industry, sometimes known as profit participation.

Authors Equity, a new book publishing firm, intends to give popular authors more creative power and a larger share of revenues.

The enterprise, founded by industry veterans Madeline McIntosh, Don Weisberg, and Nina von Moltke, offers an author-centric approach that prioritises backend remuneration, as is characteristic in the indie film industry.

"Authors Equity has taken the best elements of traditional publishing and combined them with a fresh approach that works perfectly for authors who want to succeed in today's market," Atomic Habits novelist James Clear, who is investing in the company, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Louise Penny, author of the best-selling Inspector Gamache novel series, has also invested in the company. The notion of "aligned incentives" supports the new profit-sharing model for authors who may prefer to renounce traditional publisher advances or other fixed contract rewards, such as a portion of each book's sale price. Instead, the authors would wager on downstream earnings once the original production expenses were recovered.

"Publishing does not have to be a zero-sum game," McIntosh, co-founder, CEO, and publisher, said in a statement. Profit participation in book publication has traditionally been done by indie or smaller firms, but the launch of writers Equity demonstrates how the approach is being adopted by larger publishing companies that serve best-selling writers.

McIntosh, a former CEO of Penguin Random House U.S., elaborated on the partnership underlying the Authors Equity book publishing model.

Weisberg, the former CEO of Macmillan Publishers, will serve as a senior advisor to the firm, which will be led by Nina von Moltke, the former head of strategic development at Penguin Random House U.S. Simon & Schuster will distribute Authors Equity and provide production help for some works.

The company has agreements in place for a slate of fiction and nonfiction books, and the first titles will be announced in the coming months, according to Authors Equity.