For Publishers
Thank you for your interest. We are not adding any new publishers in 2017.
Weightless Books is a one-stop DRM-free ebooksite for interesting independent presses.
Formats: We are happy to sell whatever DRM-free ebook formats you prefer: PDFs, EPUBs, audiobooks, etc. We can sell just a PDF (e.g.) or many formats (e.g.). EPUB is our most popular format, followed by MOBI, PDF, and far behind LIT.
Upload/Delivery: Once you have signed on with Weightless we send you a spreadsheet for your titles. When we receive the spreadsheet (and your files via Dropbox, etc.), we will check it over and add them to the site. Files are requested at least two working days before the publication date. We are working on accepting ONIX feeds. We are also signed on as a retailer through Ingram’s CoreSource ebook distribution program.
Schedule: We release new titles every Tuesday. Monthly magazines are released on the date requested by the publisher, usually the first of the month.
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: Paid within 30 days after the end of each quarter by either PayPal or check.
- Tax ID: Before we pay royalties, we will send you a W9 to get your tax number (SSN for sole props., EIN for LLCs, etc.) for your 1099 Misc which we send out in January.
- Sales and promotions: Sales are of course very popular and we are happy to run promotions for individual presses. Subscription drives go over very well, too.
Fees: There are no set up fees.
DRM: We don’t do DRM.
Links/Buttons: The most successful publishers on Weightless link to this site, mention Weightless in ads, on Twitter, etc. You can either use the isbn or title to link to titles on Weightless. We have Paypal-style buttons available for use. Affiliate links are also popular.
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
Hi there,
Do you accept books directly from authors? I see there was a small section of books like this, but I’m wondering if you accept ebooks directly uploaded from authors, where Weightless would be the vendor and there’s the royalties for sales, etc.
Sincerely,
Wayne Haroutunian
Wayne, we do not, sorry. We may at some point but it is not something we have the interface or size to do properly, thanks.