IMHO: Authors Equity Is for the Elite, Not for You

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Last week, a new publishing company launched—Authors Equity—that offers authors 60 to 70 percent of profits from book sales but no advance. While it is a bona fide publisher of the highest order and will undoubtedly do its best for each book and author (and live up to its name), I can’t help but classify it in my head as a publishing service, not a traditional publisher. I don’t mean that as a criticism, only as a better way of framing its purpose.

When I think of a traditional publisher, I think of a company that makes an author public in a way that they’ve never been public before—taking some amount of risk in the process. These days, it’s easy to be cynical about that purpose, for good reason. Big and small publishers alike fail to adequately support every book they publish; traditionally published authors don’t necessarily achieve a more public presence than they had before.

Still, though, the hope and the dream is there—for author and publisher alike—that the publisher will discover and break out a fresh talent.

Authors Equity seems designed to help well-known or successful authors profit better from book sales. I find nothing wrong with that, especially since, for some authors, it’s their direct reach to readers that’s moving copies, not the publisher. Authors Equity co-founder Madeline McIntosh said in connection with the launch that some authors have more power than publishers and are instrumental in the success of their books. Thus, they deserve more control and more reward.

It’s bestselling authors who are among the investors in Authors Equity. They include:

  • James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, which remains on the New York Times bestseller list years after publication. It has sold more than 15 million copies and is published by PRH. Clear’s email newsletter alone reaches 3 million people.
  • Tim Ferriss, author of five number-one New York Times bestsellers; his business podcast is often ranked number one on Apple and has passed 900 million downloads. Most of his books are published by PRH.
  • Louise Penny, a Canadian author of mystery novels (one of her publishers is Macmillan). Penny is the author of multiple number-one New York Times and Globe and Mail bestsellers. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year five times, including four consecutive years (2007–2010), and the Anthony Award for best novel of the year five times, including four consecutive years (2010–2013).

If I were any of those authors, I would be demanding better royalties from my traditional publisher. And maybe they’ve been able to negotiate better deals. But wouldn’t it be nice if there were a service that would just do the fiddly, complicated bits of book publishing, then pass you 60 to 70 percent of the profits, leaving you to do what you really want to do? Which is not administer the publishing, sales, or distribution, or oversee the life-draining details. Not everyone wants to be Brandon Sanderson and establish a warehouse with full-time employees who manage customer service, shipping, and fulfillment.

Authors Equity has just six employees, but look at who they are:

  • Madeline McIntosh, who was chief executive of Penguin Random House (PRH) and left in January 2023; she now sits on the board of Simon & Schuster, which will distribute Authors Equity titles
  • Don Weisberg, the former chief executive of Macmillan, who departed the company in 2022
  • Nina von Moltke, former president of strategic development at PRH
  • Robin Desser, who spent more than 30 years at PRH and left in 2022
  • Carly Gorga, an editorial executive who spent about 15 years at PRH
  • Andrea Bachofen, who headed Random House’s author services group before leaving for Amazon

Some have criticized Authors Equity for announcing they will use freelancers to support the publishing process—rather than having full-time employees. Jeff O’Neal writes at Book Riot, “Is this good for publishing? I doubt it. Freelancers are not the same as full-time professionals. They generally don’t have the same institutional knowledge, longevity, and commitment of full-timers. But they are cheaper.”

Let’s be real here. The James Clears of the world will work with exactly the editors and designers they want, and those people will be paid top dollar. This isn’t about “cheaper”—this is about bespoke publishing arrangements where the author calls the shots. And an existing employee of the publisher is not always who a top author wants to work with. They may have their own people they trust and prefer. (And need I even mention: Many desirable, experienced, and committed professionals prefer to work independently. Like myself.)

The Authors Equity website and announcement echoes language I’ve heard elsewhere—at Bloom Books (under Sourcebooks). I just ran an in-depth look at Bloom Books last month, in which Sourcebooks CEO Dominique Raccah described a bespoke publishing process that’s author driven. Bloom isn’t calling the shots; they’re collaborating with already successful authors to achieve whatever their goals are. It’s the same philosophy expressed on the Authors Equity website, where the company lists the principle of “bespoke” teams and notes, “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.” They’re focusing not on quantity of titles, but the right titles, like Bloom Books and Sourcebooks more generally. Remember that Bloom Books started when McIntosh was still at PRH; she and Raccah had conversations about a new imprint to serve E.L. James.

Criticizing Authors Equity for not offering advances misses the point. Badly. This company looks primed to serve authors who have confidence in existing demand for their work; they are not the sort of authors who need the publisher to generate demand. It’s meant for authors who care about earning as much as possible on the back end. They don’t need an advance to feed their children; they’re already doing well.

Will Authors Equity take on unknown authors? Oh, sure. I bet a few of them will roll in every year. It’ll be fascinating to see what Authors Equity can do with such authors and, perhaps more tellingly, who they choose. Let’s not forget: They will still be gatekeeping, curating, or making calculated business decisions—pick whatever description suits you. When you’re handing authors this much control, you have to choose people you’re excited to work with and that you trust. These are authors who probably know their readership—or know how to spread the word, at least. An Authors Equity author won’t assume the publisher knows more than they do; they would not ask “Why didn’t you run a full-page New York Times ad?” or complain “Why didn’t Barnes & Noble take my book?” Authors Equity doesn’t want whiners or supplicants. They want proactive authors who are likely entrepreneurial at heart and problem-solve their way to success.

Bottom line: Authors Equity appears likely to skim the best off the top of traditional publishing houses and give those authors a collaborative, high-paying arrangement. Look at who the team is: They clearly have the relationships and ability to do this. The question I’m left with is: Where do authors go when they’re not entrepreneurial and need a publisher to help them launch and establish demand for their work? What is their fate? So far that model is still “hope and pray”—hope and pray the publisher will do the job of a publisher: really make the author and her work public in a new and exciting way.

Further reading on Authors Equity

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