MISSION
Extraordinary Books (EB) is a not-for-profit publisher with a radical mission: to disrupt the publishing industry and return it to what it was meant to be – a place for passion, not profit.
Today, six conglomerates dominate global publishing. They own once-independent houses founded by pioneers like Allen Lane, Victor Gollancz, Sylvia Beach and George Weidenfeld – people driven not by shareholders, but by ideas, creativity and courage. That spirit has been buried under profit margins and marketing formulas. EB exists to dig it back up.
What We Stand For
We reject the closed doors of mainstream publishing. No agents required. No ‘unsolicited submissions’ rejections. No algorithms dictating which voices get heard. At EB, if you have an extraordinary book, you are welcome.
We reject the myth that publishing is a one-way transaction. Authors are not clients; they are partners. That’s why we split profits 50/50. And because EB is not-for-profit, our share goes straight back into supporting new authors, not into executive bonuses.
We reject the closed doors of mainstream publishing. No agents required. No ‘unsolicited submissions’ rejections. No algorithms dictating which voices get heard. At EB, if you have an extraordinary book, you are welcome.
We reject the myth that publishing is a one-way transaction. Authors are not clients; they are partners. That’s why we split profits 50/50. And because EB is not-for-profit, our share goes straight back into supporting new authors, not into executive bonuses.
We seek titles that are singular in terms of authorship, content or approach. No one else could write this book.
We publish books based on their distinctiveness, full stop.
We welcome niche or unconventional books, and works that defy categorisation, drawing from different fields, voices, genres or cultural frameworks to create something truly new.
We don’t chase trends or try to cram books into rigid boxes. If your project doesn’t seem like a fit anywhere else, it might be perfect for us.
We’re driven by values, not profit margins. We were founded to resist industry consolidation and give authors an alternative to the standard publishing model – one that’s fair, bold and uncompromising.
To be clear, the company is not for profit: Extraordinary Books’ lack of a profit imperative frees us to take risks and pursue exceptional books. Our drive for profit on behalf of the books / authors themselves, on the other hand, is unwavering: we want all our authors to do phenomenally well, and to this end we pledge equal marketing resources per title, across the board.
Our profit-sharing model is simple, transparent and author-friendly. Once a book starts generating income, we first deduct any direct, invoiced costs related to its production and promotion (such as editing, cover design, printing and marketing campaigns). After those costs are recouped, the remaining net profit is split 50/50 between the author and the publisher.
Authors will always know exactly where they stand, and there are no hidden fees or confusing royalty tiers – just a straightforward, equal partnership in the book’s success.
Of course; we are committed to publishing unique books regardless of whether or not authors are well placed in terms of platform, but whatever advantages an author brings with them will be factored into the marketing of their book for maximum success.
To begin with, our editorial team will review the 500-word summary of your work submitted by you or your literary representative. Projects that present as truly unique will be passed to the editorial collective, and read by a number of reader-assessors whose experience and preferences align with the book’s subject, themes, style, etc. Their assessments will be fed back to the editorial team, and a decision will be made then.
As part of our mission to democratise the publishing process, we combine the work of experienced commissioning editors with input from the collective, which comprises carefully profiled readers of all backgrounds united by a passion for books. This structure helps us discover and support singular works.
Everyone is welcome. A detailed application form will be made available on our website; until then, email info@extraordinarybooks.co.uk and write EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE in the subject heading.
At Extraordinary Books, our mission is to publish books driven by ideas, creativity and courage. We place creativity and human experience at the heart of all we do. In recent years we have seen an explosion in the development and use of AI across our industry, and as this field continues to develop, new challenges and opportunities are constantly emerging. Part of our role as an independent publisher is to protect and encourage the growth of our industry, and we have felt the pressure to provide a conclusive judgement on whether AI harms or helps our work. We believe such binaries are reductive and expect our position to develop as more possibilities and risks of this new technology emerge.Â
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With that, we feel strongly that AI should be used responsibly and should not be a replacement for human brilliance, curiosity, and creative talent. We have set out some guiding principles which govern our approach to the responsible use of AI at Extraordinary Books:
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Extraordinary Books is driven by human ideas and creativity. We are firmly against the use of AI as a replacement for human creativity. AI may not be used to replace the creative work of an individual, be that writing, translating, or otherwise generating content. You may not use AI to generate your submission or in any other way replace the creative work of a human author.
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No AI generated content may be submitted to Extraordinary Books for publication.
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AI may be used as a tool for research and brainstorming, collating your ideas or discovering new information.
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You must disclose any use of AI tools beyond research and brainstorming to us immediately.