The founders of an aerospace company have launched (pun definitely intended) Factorial Books, a new digital publishing company based in London. They promise five-day submission reviews and a 50-50 revenue split (no advance). You can email your manuscript directly to the publisher, no query required. Take a look.
Their site says, “No special requirements. No finicky instructions about margins, spacing, or fonts, no need for a cover letter, an extract, an outline or a synopsis. No diary entry for when submissions open. Whatever format you have, we can read it. Make sure that it is your own original work, that you own the copyright, and that you send a complete, novel-length manuscript in a single attachment.”
Elsewhere, they note the company will use a “venture capital model, investing resources in around 100 books annually and hoping for two to three hits.” Learn more from Publishers Weekly.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
