Translations are automatic convenience copies. English remains the source edition.
Independent, evidence-led intelligence for writers who would rather know how the industry works than hear how it ought to.
“Your book will pay the bills.”The income lie — read the file →
№2“Real writers never pay to publish.”The history lie — read the file →
№3“A deal proves your book is good.”The status lie — read the file →
№4“You’ll see it on bookshop shelves.”The shelves lie — read the file →
The publishing conversation has a fact problem.
One says a traditional contract validates the work. The other says any author investment invalidates the deal. Both replace analysis with identity.
We audit the parts that matter: money, rights, labour, reach and risk.
“Money flows toward the writer.” Four words that saved thousands of authors from fraud — and now stop thousands more from reading their own contracts. A fair trial for publishing’s most quoted rule.
Click a claim. Leave with questions worth asking.
Compare who pays, who controls, who works, who reaches the market and who carries the downside.
Compare the modelsA publisher’s list is its only unfakeable document: it shows who trusted the house, who stayed, and who never came. A catalogue made entirely of unknowns is telling you something. Listen.
The house pays for everything and knows how to sell books. In exchange it takes your rights, your schedule and most of the revenue per copy. The full trade-off, itemised.
The author invests, the company must still behave like a publisher. Eleven public criteria decide whether a hybrid deal is professional co-publishing or an invoice wearing a catalogue.
New files land daily. No newsletter, no tracking — just the same evidence, wherever you already read.
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