After less than five months Boundless Publishing – the successor to crowdfunding publisher Unbound – has collapsed. The British company filed for bankruptcy on August 1 after a catastrophic period which enraged authors, denied them owed royalties, and had them threaten legal action to have the rights to their work returned.
Unbound, also called United Authors Publishing, was launched by authors John Mitchinson, Justin Pollard, and Dan Kieran in 2011 during the crowdfunding boom (Kickstarter launched in 2009). Its premise was to directly serve authors, bridging the gap between self-publishing and traditional distribution. Authors would crowdfund their in-progress titles on the platform, providing exclusive updates and bonuses to backers, and Unbound would serve as publishing partner to get the work into bookstores. Those who had published graphic novels on the platform include Lucy Sullivan (Barking), Reimena Yee (The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya), Raymond Briggs (Notes from the Sofa), and Cole Henley (adapting Michael Rosen children’s book You’re Thinking About Tomatoes). Comics writer Alex de Campi had also used the platform to enter the realm of prose novels with The Scottish Boy and Heartbreak Incorporated.
Unbound folded in March 2025 experiencing ongoing cashflow issues and owing £2.4 million (over $3 million) – including months of unpaid royalties to authors. Among the biggest flaws in its business model was the use of crowdfund money. Instead of being held in escrow for a project’s publication and fulfillment, contracts were phrased such that it could all be funneled to the same company account and used for general business expenses. A similarly titled new company called Boundless Publishing Group immediately took over, picking up the old company’s portfolio in a pre-pack administration for £50,000 ($66,000) but ditched the crowdfunding aspect.
Boundless comprised of Unbound co-founder Mitchinson, then-newly installed Unbound CEO Archna Sharma, and later (briefly) joined by American Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ronjon Nag. According to Publishers Weekly, at the time of Unbound’s March collapse the company owed 363 authors and agents £657,000 (~$870,000) in fees and royalties; and £391,000 (~$520,000) in unfulfilled customer preorders. And that is not counting other publishing industry partners, including suppliers and advertisers. Many of these debts were still liable.
While the new company had hoped to do right by authors awaiting overdue royalties – describing them as “goodwill payments” – CEO Sharma made the explosive decision in June to suspend them in order to service Unbound’s other debts. The end result was a huge social and traditional media outcry with authors considering legal action to retrieve the rights to their books.
In a letter to authors, quoted via Private Eye, Sharma said:
“The pre-pack process has left a substantial chasm in Boundless revenue that will take six months to close… we are determined to clear our debt to you, but this will take some extremely careful financial planning for us to maintain our position as a stable business.”
On Friday afternoon (August 1) UK time, Boundless announced its closure with immediate effect. The website is now out of commission with many authors and agents left on the flat foot – scrambling to file crucial paperwork. It is unclear if the rights of authors to their work will be restored with the collapse of the company but it is almost certain that the huge sums of unpaid royalties will never be paid.
Lucy Sullivan was one early defector from Unbound. After crowdfunding her debut graphic novel Barking in 2018 (it released in 2020), she soured on the experience and went through the process of trying to retrieve the title to move to another publisher. In 2024 it was rereleased by Avery Hill. Reimena Yee, Raymond Briggs, and Cole Henley’s books were still on the platform at time of closure.
