For Publishers
Weightless Books is a one-stop DRM-free ebooksite for interesting independent presses. We are not open to all publishers or to individual authors yet but are slowly adding more publishers as we build the site. If you would like your books added, please email us. This page is a work in progress. Feel free to email us with any questions.
Formats: We are happy to sell whatever ebook formats you prefer: PDFs, epubs, etc. We can sell just a PDF (e.g.) or many formats (e.g.). PDFs are most popular, followed by epub, mobi, and then lit.
Upload: We are working on accepting ONIX feeds. In the meantime, once you have signed on with Weightless we will send you a spreadsheet for your titles. When we receive that (and your files), we will check it over and add them to the site. We are signed on as a retailer through Ingram CoreSource.
Schedule: We release new titles every Tuesday.
Reports: You will receive a publisher log in to the site where you can see sales in real time.
Payment:
- Individual titles: publishers receive a 50% royalty on the net sales.
- Subscriptions: Publishers receive a 75% royalty on the net sales based on how many issues were delivered in that period. (i.e. We do not pay for issues until they are delivered.)
- Aborted subscriptions: If you decide to stop publishing a magazine, we reimburse subscribers for the value of their remaining issues (see FAQ). Because PayPal does not officially allow refunds after 60 days, we subtract the reimbursement fees from the publisher’s royalties.
- Royalties are paid within 30 days after the end of each quarter by either PayPal or check.
- Sales and promotions: 2 or 3 times a year we might do a sitewide sale. These have been very popular, we find they mean more income for everybody, and most publishers have been happy to participate. However, if you wish to opt out, please let us know when we sign you up. We’re also happy to run promotions for individual presses (subscription drives go over very well).
Fees: There are no set up fees.
DRM: We don’t do DRM.
Links: Linking to your titles here from your site is easy. You can either use isbn or title. We have Paypal-style buttons available if you’d like to use them.
11 Responses to “For Publishers”
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I wish you the best of success with your indie eBook site. I have been self-publishing for over 20 years and it’s great to see more independent avenues open up.
Joe Chiappetta
Silly Daddy comics
Star Chosen sci-fi novel
Hi!
Are you considering adding any ebooks using DRM, or will you always be totally DRM free?
Thanks!
best, Julie
Hi Julie,
we’re going to stay DRM-free to keep things simple for the readers.
Cheers,
Gavin
I’m confused about exactly what “publisher” means in this context. Suppose a single author has some titles they wrote and have ready to go as epub or whatever. Can that individual then be in a publisher relationship with Weightless?
Dino,
Yes they can, though we haven’t done it much yet. See our (very small thus far) Direct From Author category or author/publishers such as Counterpoise and UnWrecked Press.
um…..small question (with explanation): I’m not well known (“hardly on sales” unknown) and I publish a space dragon magazine on Smashwords. If I publish new issues on a weekly (or irregular) basis and if one person buys a subscription, can newer subscribers that sign on later get access to back issues? Sorry if it sounds confusing.
Normally when someone buys a subscription from us it means they get the current issue and those after it, not any back issues. We do sell each issue individually, which would allow people to get back issues separately if they wanted. Alternatively, if you set up your magazine as a terminal subscription a la The Rifter, customers can choose to start their subscription from the very first issue. This, however, would mean you’d have to set a limit on the number of issues that come with that subscription and then start a new one later on.
I hope that makes sense.
How does one set up an account to be able to sell subscriptions?
Silvia,
It’s not automated yet – you have to email us and we set one up for you. Hang on, I’ll send you a copy of our submission spreadsheet.
Hey guys, I know you’re not open to other publishers at this point, but when you are, would you distribute e-zines that are free of charge? Thanks for your time & great website.
Hi Sam, we are open to slowly adding publishers but we can’t spend our time on free distribution, sorry.
Best,
Gavin