Is a good story worth something? JP Watson thinks so.
A few years ago, I made a new friend in Birmingham-born writer JP Watson. He is probably most well-known for being the founder of The Pound Project which has sold thousands of books to more than 100+ countries worldwide, is known for paying authors an equal share and a former winner of The Bookseller's Futurebook Startup of the Year award.
The company started with a frustration with the industry and has grown into a really incredible place that allows writers and creatives to thrive. The Pound Project is a publisher but it’s also a movement. It cares about the environment by only printing what is sold, and cares about authors getting paid. The tagline says it all: “small change, one story at a time”.
In 2018, I published a book called Sabotage through The Pound Project. Back then, the money was raised via Kickstarter, and we had over 1,300 backers and raised over £10k+ to bring the book to life. It felt new, exciting and really creatively fulfilling. Following that project, I got a book deal to turn Sabotage into a slightly longer book with publisher Hodder & Stoughton.
Publishing with The Pound Project, from my perspective as an author, is such a fun and joyful experience. I wrote about all the surprising joys of indie publishing here including the financial share (50:50 split), the creative control, the transparency and a whole lot more.
This year, I published a new book with The Pound Project called A Year of Nothing, a short memoir split across two books chronicling my burnout year underground. We got press in The Guardian, i, ELLE, Australian TV plus tons more and sold 3,000 copies. It proved that there is a market for smaller books and we had a ton of fun doing it.
ps. If you missed out on the publication of A Year of Nothing, make sure you’re following The Pound Project and The Hyphen newsletter in case it is ever re-released (which it might be!)
Things discussed:
My original interview from 2018 with JP Watson on Ctrl Alt Delete podcast
Sign up to The Pound Project newsletter (and stay tuned for A Year of Nothing re-release)
Find out more about A Year of Nothing here.
My article on The Hyphen: “The surprising joys of indie publishing”.
Dolly Alderton speaking on the Amazing if podcast (celebrating the Pound Project’s Gremlins book)
A piece about “Enshittification”
How ‘Fuck You Pay Me’ is empowering creators
Hope you enjoy the episode!
Should you independently publish your book?