News The Unbound / Boundless Publishing Disaster

[AgentPete]

This topic emerged in last week’s Huddle.

Before the Huddle, I knew almost zero about Unbound, other than the generally favorable buzz that most of the publishing industry seemed to share about them.

Frankly, what’s happened is shocking and disgraceful.

It makes you wonder what other disasters are in store with this publishing model. (And in passing, what a great resource the Huddle is)

 

[Jake E]

The indie publishing sphere so full of scammers it makes every interaction I have full of suspicion. It taints everything and this is just the icing on the cake.

 

[AgentPete]

The indie publishing sphere so full of scammers it makes every interaction I have full of suspicion. It taints everything and this is just the icing on the cake.

I think you’re right to be suspicious. I don’t know what happened to Unbound, but they seem to have burnt through money. Nor do I know if their publishing model ever worked properly (does anyone here know?)

 

[Pamela Jo]

Boundless Publishing Group

Boundless Publishing Group is an independent book publishing company based in London. We are the home of unexpected stories, a place where bold ideas and brave voices thrive. Our imprints include Unbound, Neem Tree Press and Boundless Magazine.

unbound.com

I am thinking that this guys problem could be solved if he had published it as an audiobook and sold it from his youtube channel. I actually would probably listen to this guy as a narrator. He knows enough about not popping his p's and somehow his voice goes with nerd books.



So the publishers used AI for editing. This really sounds like someone applying MBA principles to publishing. So a sped up version of what is happening to trad publishing in slow motion.

Boundless' position 'morally and financially unacceptable', says Unbound co-founder John Mitchinson

Unbound co-founder John Mitchinson said he left Boundless because he "could not countenance taking another penny from a business that no longer prioritised paying its authors".

www.thebookseller.com

I would like to be albe to read this piece. So someone joins so they can brief us all on the news here?

 

[Sedayne]

I was a customer of Unbound, and so forever after, I got emails from them and now from Boundless.

I bought two art books from them - Birds and More Birds by Jim Moir. I'm a big fan of his art as well as his comedy (for which he goes by the name of Vic Reeves). I remember wondering why someone so successful in other fields, and who has had earlier books published by Virgin Books and Michael Joseph, needed to use this crowd-funded model. But I paid in advance and got my name in the back of the book for the privilege.

They were a big concern with many successful authors on their lists. Watching the video above makes me so angry that they could treat writers that way and there is seemingly no redress.

 

[Pamela Jo]

You know Pete all the authors ripped off here could form your first constellation...

 

[MattScho]

Okay, so the author crowded funded the costs of publishing, then Unbound published the books, helped with picking a cover according to the video, but also according to the vid, didn't put in much effort.
So, I know this was trendy and the future and as the vid-guy said, "Brilliant, with the crowd-funding, no book could ever lose money" but how, exactly is this model different from vanity publishing?
Bit of editorial advice? The better vanity publishers always did that.
The primary difference would seem to be that instead of the author putting up the publishing expense money and coming up with a hefty check, the author finds folks online willing to toss in a bit here, a bit there, until they reach the same amount, and then the publisher uses that money to fund the publishing bit.
I admit, very little danger of loss to the publisher. And the author doesn't lose the money. But I do wonder how the suckers who were fleeced in this arrangement will feel about supporting the next author with a similar plea.
Finding faceless others to foot the bill, instead of facing personal or coroporate debt, is only genius in the sense of running a good scam. I admit, a very good scam, for a while. but like all houses of cards, eventually a breeze comes.
PT Barnum underestimated the frequency at which suckers, and those who would prey upon them, were born.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Okay, so the author crowded funded the costs of publishing, then Unbound published the books, helped with picking a cover according to the video, but also according to the vid, didn't put in much effort.
So, I know this was trendy and the future and as the vid-guy said, "Brilliant, with the crowd-funding, no book could ever lose money" but how, exactly is this model different from vanity publishing?
Bit of editorial advice? The better vanity publishers always did that.
The primary difference would seem to be that instead of the author putting up the publishing expense money and coming up with a hefty check, the author finds folks online willing to toss in a bit here, a bit there, until they reach the same amount, and then the publisher uses that money to fund the publishing bit.
I admit, very little danger of loss to the publisher. And the author doesn't lose the money. But I do wonder how the suckers who were fleeced in this arrangement will feel about supporting the next author with a similar plea.
Finding faceless others to foot the bill, instead of facing personal or coroporate debt, is only genius in the sense of running a good scam. I admit, a very good scam, for a while. but like all houses of cards, eventually a breeze comes.
PT Barnum underestimated the frequency at which suckers, and those who would prey upon them, were born.

I would say creative people wanting to see their babies perform in the real world much resemble Gypsy Rose Lee's Ma. Stage mother's have nothing on us.

If those people get a copy of the book and contributed the price of a copy of the book-then they probably feel square. Those who pledged thousands to Brenden Sanderson were probably spending bitcoin anyway.. Money is far too imaginary these days. It's why farmland is disappearing into portfolios. The wealthy have realised the most valuable thing in the world is not gold, of which there is not enough to back all their imaginary money, but arable land with water.

 

[MattScho]

Good point, PJ. If that's what people were contributing. I don't really trust the crowd-funding model to be that straightforward.
To be fair to Sanderson, his dupes got 5 books and a ton of merch out of their donations. Gonna guess it was not quite the equivalent of the $41,754,153 he collected.
As for the authors on UnB (and frankly isn't the name a bit of a tipoff), they didn't lose money. They didn't get paid for the work. This, of course, from the perspecitve of future folks running this scheme, will look like cash left on the counter. Future versions will almost certainly have the authors putting up their homes, cars, savings as collaterial, just in case, you know.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Good point, PJ. If that's what people were contributing. I don't really trust the crowd-funding model to be that straightforward.
To be fair to Sanderson, his dupes got 5 books and a ton of merch out of their donations. Gonna guess it was not quite the equivalent of the $41,754,153 he collected.
As for the authors on UnB (and frankly isn't the name a bit of a tipoff), they didn't lose money. They didn't get paid for the work. This, of course, from the perspecitve of future folks running this scheme, will look like cash left on the counter. Future versions will almost certainly have the authors putting up their homes, cars, savings as collaterial, just in case, you know.

It was basically seldayne.
"I was a customer of Unbound, and so forever after, I got emails from them and now from Boundless.

I bought two art books from them - Birds and More Birds by Jim Moir. I'm a big fan of his art as well as his comedy (for which he goes by the name of Vic Reeves). I remember wondering why someone so successful in other fields, and who has had earlier books published by Virgin Books and Michael Joseph, needed to use this crowd-funded model. But I paid in advance and got my name in the back of the book for the privilege."

I think the way forward has to be the equivalent of rock n roll guitar and garage startups. Costs very little and anyone can do it. It is the one advantage of the digital revolution. The really shocking thing about unbound-was it was ebooks???

 

[Sedayne]

I should say, that as a customer, I think I got a good deal - a beautiful, hardback book with my name printed in the list of supporters delivered on the day of publication. It cost me no more than the cover price of the same book that I see for sale in gallery shops at places like the Arnolfini and Tate Liverpool.

 

[E G Logan]

Nor do I know if their publishing model ever worked properly

The woman who is currently heading up the surviving entity says it doesn't, and that was the problem.