Can Authors Equity truly share success with its authors?

A quick glance at Authors Equity

There’s a tangible shift happening in several markets, and it appears to be away from legacy corporate structures and more focused on the individual—no, the human elements of business-customer relations (in this case, writer-reader relations). Substack serves as a prime example of the ascendant desire to subscribe to key individual voices in a particular field of interest. As these lines between indie and industry are blurred, the hybridization begins.

Hybrid publishing has been around for a long time but has taken off in the digital era due to the democratization of publishing. I’ve tried to distance myself from the “hybrid publisher” label since it’s often framed in a negative light (and, in some cases, for good reason). Independent authors must be wary of scams and being taken advantage of by services that overcharge or lack transparent business practices. However, despite this uphill battle, many hybrid publishers have paved the way for new forms of publishing to be welcomed into the mainstream.

My company, Storyletter XPress Publishing, was founded on the idea that emerging authors deserve more compensation for their hard work and that even with the rise of self-publishing, there can still be services tailored to writers who want to focus more on writing and less on all of the other stuff. I realize that this concept isn’t new but has mostly been shunned or discredited by Big Publishing, likely because it disturbed the status quo and because, until the last decade or so, it was much more challenging to get a professional-looking book to the wider market independently.

When you’re a single-employee startup, it’s hard to convince yourself that you’re on the right path, that it’s what people need or want, that maybe it’d be easier not to pursue something that will require a large investment of time, energy, and money to get going. Then along comes possible confirmation that the thing you were working on does have value and that the highest echelons within the industry see the writing on the wall and are moving in a similar direction.

Hybrid publishing has always been as legitimate as traditional publishing, and here’s proof that there’s no stopping the tide once it begins to rise.

Authors Equity is a new publishing company founded in March 2024 by former CEOs of the largest publishing houses in the world. It aims to team up with freelancers to produce books with a profit-sharing model that favors the author (reportedly 60-70% royalties), like how some hybrid publishers currently operate. Not much is known about the specifics of their business model, but let’s dive into what we do know.

Their core principles are as follows (as seen on the website):

Aligned Incentives

Our profit-share model rewards authors who want to bet on themselves. Profit participation is also an option for key members of the book team, so we’re in a position to win together.

Bespoke Teams

We’ve assembled a wide network of creative talent – from within and outside publishing – that we can tap for projects based on an author’s unique goals, needs, and ambitions.

Flexibility and Transparency

Every author brings something different to a project, so we approach every project differently. By shaping the process and strategy alongside each author, and making decisions together, we’re able to act in the best interest of that book.

Long-Term Collaboration

Too often, even the very best publishing talent has too little time to invest in helping an author develop their ideas and their audience. This bandwidth pressure can translate into saying “no” a lot. We’re deeply committed to trying for “yes”: to giving books room to breathe and supporting individuals and teams with the space they need to think big and think differently. We’re in it from day one, and for the long haul.

Madeline McIntosh is the former U.S. CEO of Penguin Random House, who stepped down in 2023.¹ Nina von Moltke is the former president and director of strategic development for Penguin Random House U.S. And Don Weisberg is the former CEO of Macmillan. They’re also financially backed by James Clear, Louise Penny, and Tim Ferriss, prominent authors who will publish directly through Authors Equity.² The credentials and experience here are nothing to balk at, but will it work?

Author Alyssa Matesic recently outlined some possible concerns surrounding this proposed business model:

• Will the freelance rates for editors, artists, publicists, etc., be competitive and comparable to wider industry standards?

• Will this format mostly suit already established authors, or will they be able to suit debut authors as well?

• Will the lack of an advance affect writers’ ability to produce the books they want to produce?

Since some traditional publishers have been caught using A.I. art for their covers, freelance payment rates are probably the least of my worries, but I don’t see how freelancers wouldn’t be in control of their own rates. As for promotion and advances, indies are already forced to manage themselves on that front without the help of traditional publishers, and the existence of Authors Equity doesn’t mean that traditional options are removed from the equation. If an author needs an advance to write their book, they could still attempt to go the traditional route like before.

The sudden emergence of Authors Equity, backed by industry veterans, proves there are gaps traditional publishing fails to fill. At the very least, it’s adding more options for authors to get their books published. And the more opportunities we have to do that, the better.

I’m eager to hear your thoughts on this new publishing company. What are the pros and cons of hybrid publishing that you’ve seen? Is it indicative of a greater shift that will change publishing as we know it? Comment below.

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Additional reading from SXP

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1. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-01-31/penguin-random-house-us-ceo-madeline-mcintosh-to-step-down

2. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/94507-three-publishing-veterans-form-a-new-house-authors-equity.html