The Author Bill of Rights

Every marketplace says it is author-friendly. We wrote it down and made it the product.

01

Keep 80% of every sale

Flat rate. No delivery fees, no price bands, no fine print. Ebooks and audiobooks alike.

02

Get paid weekly

Stripe pays out every week — not 60 days after the end of the month. Your money, fast, straight to your bank.

03

No exclusivity, ever

Sell everywhere, including your own website. We will never ask you to delist anywhere else.

04

Own your readers

Readers who opt in are YOUR audience. Export your list any time. It leaves with you.

05

Human review before takedown

No robot ever terminates your account. Written reasons, a real appeal path, and your files are always exportable.

06

Big samples that sell

Full first chapter minimum, up to 30% — your call. Samples are salespeople, not leaks.

07

One price, published, paid once

$99 per book — one time — for a finished ebook and a fully narrated audiobook. Never again for that book. No annual fee, no subscription, nothing to cancel. Books.by charges $299 every year and sells no audiobooks at all. ACX charges $1,600–$3,200 a book, or half your royalties for life.

08

Your rate is locked to the day you join

If the standard rate ever changes, yours does not. Grandfathering is written into the author agreement, not promised in marketing. Any change is announced 30 days ahead and applies only to new signups.

09

Leaving is free, so we have to keep earning it

Export your books, your metadata and your reader list at any time and owe us nothing. There is no exclusivity and nothing to cancel. The best protection against a platform raising prices later is that walking away costs you nothing — so it does.

10

AI-welcome, reader-transparent

AI-generated and AI-assisted work is welcome. A simple provenance label keeps readers in the loop.

11

Terms that cannot ambush you

Public, versioned terms. Any change is announced 30 days before it takes effect.

Author onboarding is open in private beta. The Founding 50 get the 85% rate locked for life and free full audiobook conversion on every book they ever publish with us.

Open the Author's Desk