Exclusive: Unbound faces 'financial uncertainty' as authors wait for delayed payments

Crowdfunding publisher Unbound’s new CEO has expressed her "deepest regret" after authors and freelance contributors reported missed and late payments for their work.

Suppliers, investors and freelancers have been left unpaid after Unbound failed to raise enough money in 2024, leading to cash flow issues. The company has now undergone an internal restructure, with some jobs made redundant and others given reduced time commitments. It has also ceased commissioning new titles.

The Bookseller has heard from authors and others working with Unbound, who have been waiting to receive royalties and other payments owed to them by the company. They have voiced concerns about whether they will receive payments from the publisher, reporting that payment dates have been moved repeatedly.

Meanwhile, the publisher has appointed a new CEO, Archna Sharma, who was formerly the chief executive of Neem Tree Press, which was acquired by Unbound on 26th September 2024. Sharma replaced Wil Harris, who had been CEO of the publisher since 2022 and remains a director on the board. A new chairman, Hugo Drayton, has also been appointed.

In response to an approach by The Bookseller, Sharma said: “I want to express my deepest regret for the delay in royalty payments and the financial uncertainty that our authors, freelancers, suppliers and investors have endured. I want to assure everyone engaged with Unbound that we are working extremely hard to clear our debts and honour the trust you have placed in us."

Sharma and Drayton both invested money into the company last year but Unbound confirmed these investments have not been sufficient to cover costs, and the publisher is looking for further investment to deliver a new plan for the business.

Sharma continued: "I know I have been entrusted with an iconic brand, and I am deeply committed to ensuring its success. I look forward to working with John Mitchinson and the wider team to not only stabilise but reimagine what this company can achieve. With plans to strengthen our core publishing business and explore innovative digital and direct-to-consumer initiatives, I believe Unbound can emerge stronger and more connected to its community than ever.”

Unbound has also confirmed to The Bookseller that the company recently underwent an internal restructure, which involved some roles being reduced and others made redundant. New commissioning has also been suspended until further notice. Unbound told The Bookseller it was expecting investment in the fourth quarter of 2024 but "a lesser sum was raised at that point" and when cash flow issues became apparent, the company “ceased any new hires”.

Unbound was launched in 2011 by publisher John Mitchinson, Justin Pollard, and Crap Towns (Quercus) author Dan Kieran, and was widely considered as revolutionary for its crowdfunding approach to publishing new titles. Although Kieran left the business in 2022, and Pollard stepped back in 2014 because of caring responsibilities, Mitchinson has remained at the helm.

Mitchinson said: “Authors are at the centre of what Unbound does and this has been the most difficult period in our 14 year history. I’m deeply sorry for the distress and anxiety the delay in payments has caused our amazingly loyal authors and suppliers. But I firmly believe Archna Sharma has what it takes to lead Unbound out of its current difficulties. Since we first started working together last year, I have been hugely impressed by her vision for the business, her energy and her deep understanding of the publishing process. I welcome the chance to work with her to build an ambitious new version of Unbound."

Author Tom Cox said he has been waiting for money from Unbound for more than six months, despite being told that this payment would arrive on various occasions. “Meanwhile, additional payments due have failed to materialise, and I know of other Unbound authors who are in the same position,” he wrote in a Substack post in December.

Speaking to The Bookseller, Cox, who has still not been paid by the publisher, said that writers should not be “shouldering the financial burden” of the company, also pointing out the “frighteningly large” sums of money authors have to crowdfund in order to publish their books with Unbound. “I do not like to think about how my readers, who supported me only on the assumption that I would be paid for my books, probably feel now they know what is going on,” he added.

An author who published his book with Unbound in early 2024 said that he received the only sales update he has had from the publisher in March, and a profit statement in May. After not receiving any payment by July, he said he reached out to Unbound: “I was then informed that the company could not pay its authors because they had not received ‘promised funds’ that they had reportedly earned through fundraising.”

The author, who wished to remain anonymous, was given different dates for when the “payment issue would be resolved” in August. In November, he said he received another email about Unbound moving to a new payment system, to which he claimed he did not receive any login information, and he has still not been paid by the publisher.

Others reported attempting to get clarity on their author statements over long periods, trying to figure out whether they were owed royalties by Unbound. “The most important issue is that once you’ve agreed your author statement they don’t pay up on time anyway," said one author, who requested to remain anonymous and is owed several thousand pounds by Unbound. “I, like other authors, have been waiting months to be paid and it’s still not clear whether we will be paid.” 

Anastasia Miari published her cookbook Grand Dishes: Recipes and Stories from Grandmothers of the World, written with Iska Lupton, with Unbound in 2021. “I was appalled, disappointed and so disheartened as a young author to see that I had raised nearly £30,000 in crowdfunding and had a book that was selling really well but, a year after publication, I still hadn’t seen a penny of all the hard work and passion that had gone into it,” she told The Bookseller. 

Echoing the concerns of authors, a freelancer working with the publisher, who has been anonymised, has been waiting to be paid for a job since December. They were told that the delay for the payment was due to “serious cash flow” issues, and raised concerns about being hired in October 2024.

The Society of Authors (SoA) confirmed that Unbound authors were told that payments would be “delayed because of a cash-flow crisis” in December, and that the situation has not yet been resolved.

“We are supporting a number of members who have contacted us about their contractual rights and would remind all authors that in the event of non-payment they are legally entitled to interest (at 8% above base rate plus penalty fee – see Chasing late payment – The Society of Authors),” said Sarah Burton, deputy chief executive and head of the Advisory Team at the SoA.

If you want to get in touch about this story, please send an email to melina.spanoudi@thebookseller.com.