Former PRH, Macmillan executives launch new profit-share publishing venture

In the US, three former high-level staff from Penguin Random House (PRH) and Macmillan have launched a new publishing company, Authors Equity, reports Publishers Weekly.

Former PRH US CEO Madeline McIntosh, former Macmillan CEO Don Weisberg, and former PRH US president and director of strategic development US Nina von Moltke are co-founders of the company, which ‘will operate outside of traditional publishing business models, offering no advances but paying authors a high percentage of a book’s profits’. McIntosh is Authors Equity CEO and publisher, von Molte is president, and Weisberg is senior advisor. Several other former PRH staff have roles at the new company.

Authors James Clear, Tim Ferriss and Louise Penny are among the five authors who are investors in the company, and an announcement from the publisher said Clear would publish future books with Authors Equity. Ferris and Penny said they would continue to be published by their existing publishers but were investing in the business. Said Penny: ‘It’s time for a new way of doing business, where the author is [at the] top of the pyramid.’ Ferriss said he hopes the new venture ‘sets new precedents in an age-old industry that’s ripe for innovation’.

Authors Equity’s stated core principles include ‘aligned incentives’, with the publisher stating that its profit-share model ‘rewards authors who want to bet on themselves’. As well as authors investing in their work, ‘profit participation is also an option for key members of the book team, so we’re in a position to win together’.

Other core principles include ‘bespoke teams’, ‘flexibility and transparency’ and ‘long-term collaboration’. Of the latter, the publisher stated: ‘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.’

Category: International news