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Live on Zoom · Two days · Book your weekend
Leanpub Book Weekend
Publish in-progress on Sunday and win $300 toward Ultra Author, more than your ticket cost. Guaranteed.
Two days live on Zoom with Leanpub's founder. Your book goes public on Saturday and you publish it, in progress, on Sunday. When you do, you win $300 off a year of Ultra Author — it's like getting the entire weekend for free!
(Also, one month of Ultra Author comes with the weekend ticket, so if you upgrade, you actually get 13 months of Ultra Author...)
Leanpub Book Weekend 1
Saturday–Sunday, October 3–4, 2026
7:00 am – 2:00 pm Pacific, both days
Leanpub Book Weekend 2
Saturday–Sunday, October 17–18, 2026
7:00 am – 2:00 pm Pacific, both days
Both days, wherever you are
- Pacific
- 7:00 am – 2:00 pm
- Eastern
- 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
- UK
- 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm
- Germany
- 4:00 pm – 11:00 pm
The weekend
Two days. One published book.
Saturday, within the first hour, your book's landing page is public. By lunch, the whole book is outlined. Sunday at 11:00 am Pacific, everyone publishes in-progress together.
What you leave with
Published in-progress on Sunday, and set up for finishing successfully after
Public in an hour
Your book's landing page is live within the first hour on Saturday, with a public commitment to publish on Sunday.
Outlined by lunch
The whole book outlined by lunch on Saturday, with GhostAI set up and your first pages written before the day is done.
Published on Sunday
At 11 am Pacific on Sunday, everyone looks at where their book is, prices it together, and clicks publish.
A month of Ultra Author
The real membership for 31 days, starting an hour before your weekend: ten times Max's AI usage, and Studio.
Office hours, as a member
Ultra Author's office hours run after each Book Weekend day, at 2:30 pm Pacific. Your month is already running, so you're in them as a member.
$300 toward Ultra Author, if you publish
Publish during the weekend and you win $300 of credit toward your first year of Ultra Author, and the Books Die Alone shirt.
In the ticket
What your ticket includes
Two days live with Peter Armstrong$297
Saturday and Sunday, live on Zoom. Your book's landing page is public in the first hour, the whole book is outlined by lunch on Saturday, and on Sunday everyone prices their book and clicks publish together.
One month of Ultra Author$99 value
The real membership: ten times Max's AI usage, Studio, and Ultra Author's office hours (it starts 1 hour before your weekend begins, so your AI usage is fresh, and runs for 31 days: the weekend, then 29 days after it). It's a paid month of Ultra Author: go on to Ultra Author monthly before it ends and it counts as your first monthly payment toward the 1:1 calls and the member prices on Publish on Amazon and Leanpub's AI services.
The Sunday Guarantee
Publish your first version on Sunday, or choose either a seat at a subsequent Book Weekend — whichever one fits your calendar — or a full refund. Move your weekend free up to 24 hours before it starts.
Who it's with
Live with the founder of Leanpub
Peter Armstrong founded Leanpub and runs every Book Weekend himself, live on Zoom, both days. Each weekend is capped at 20 authors.
Who it's for
You're an expert with a book that's unfinished or unstarted: a draft, an outline, a folder of notes, or the thing people keep telling you to write. The standard path is GhostAI in the Leanpub browser editor. If you're technical, GhostAI in Claude Code is there too — optional. "In progress" isn't an apology here. It's the point: the book goes public on Saturday, gets its first version on Sunday, and you keep publishing after.
The month in your ticket
What's in Ultra Author?
Your ticket includes one month of Ultra Author, our top author membership. Here is everything it includes.
Included in Ultra
Ten times the AI usage of Max
Enough for heavy usage of the GhostAI skills and Leanpub's AI Studio, on every term.
Office hours: at least 24 over the next 12 months
After every Book Weekend day, at 2:30 pm Pacific for 60 minutes, with recordings. At least 2 per month. Valued at $3,600 a year.
A priority queue with Len
For a LAUNCH video about your book, and an interview on the Leanpub Podcast.
Your video and your support email handled first
Ultra Author members go to the front of Len's queue for a LAUNCH video and a podcast interview, and to the front of the line at vip@leanpub.com.
Member prices on Publish on Amazon and Leanpub's AI services
Publish on Amazon is $999 instead of $1,499, and every Leanpub AI service has a member price too, from the day your membership starts.
Four 30-minute 1:1 calls a year
With Peter or Len: one for each quarter you've paid for, all four at once on the annual term. Valued at $1,200 a year.
Bingeable AI UsageQuarterly and annual only
Your AI usage a month at a time, and your next month whenever you want it: click Binge and it's yours, all quarter or all year.
Also included in Ultra
- Two months on The Shelf a year, the bookshelf on the Leanpub homepage
- VIP author support by email, at vip@leanpub.com
- AI Support: instant suggestions when your book or course has generation failures
- GitHub and Dropbox sync, so you can write on your own computer
- Google Analytics, InDesign export and the Leanpub API
- Unlimited previews and publishes (Mini has 20 a month)
- Custom themes for your books
- Print-ready PDF export
- Up to 100 books and courses (Free has three books and one course)
- Our Minimal, Visual and Source editors, and Upload Mode
- The same royalty rate as every Leanpub author membership
- Coupons, bundles, tracks and all our other marketing features
- Support through the Author Forum or by email
The win
Publish on Sunday and win $300 toward Ultra Author, more than your ticket cost.
The win is for publishing. Publish a version of a book you own during your weekend, from the start of Saturday's session to 11:59 pm Pacific on Sunday, with the book's landing page public at the deadline. A new version of a book you already have out counts.
$300 toward Ultra Author
Credit toward the first year of a paid Ultra Author membership, good until 2 pm Pacific on Wednesday, October 7, 72 hours after your weekend ends. It is credit toward a membership, never cash.
The Books Die Alone shirt
Earned by publishing. Tick the box when you book and, once you've published, the fulfilment provider emails you for your size and address. It ships free worldwide, subject to the provider's shipping availability.
Ultra Author is $99 a month or $997 a year: ten times Max's AI usage, plus live help with your book. Publish on Sunday and $300 comes off your first year.
- $997 a year becomes $697 for your first year.
- $269 a quarter becomes $194 for your first four payments.
- $99 a month becomes $74 for your first 12 payments.
Book your weekend
Pick your weekend
One payment of $297. Your seat is held the moment you pay, and your month of Ultra Author starts an hour before your weekend.
Saturday–Sunday, October 3–4, 2026
7:00 am – 2:00 pm Pacific, both days
$297 USD
Enter your email to get started
Already have a Leanpub account?
The Sunday Guarantee: publish your first version on Sunday, or choose a seat at a subsequent Book Weekend or a full refund. Move your weekend free up to 24 hours before it starts.
Zoom link will be emailed to you before the weekend, and will be added to your Leanpub library in the events page.
The Sunday Guarantee
Published in-progress on Sunday. Guaranteed.
Here's the deal. You book your weekend. On Saturday your unpublished book landing page goes public. On Sunday at 11 am Pacific you publish your first in-progress version, together with everyone in the room. And if you don't publish on Sunday — for any reason at all — you choose what happens next.
1
Publish on Sunday
The whole room clicks publish together at 11 am Pacific. Your book is live, in progress, with a real landing page and a real price.
2
Or take a subsequent weekend
Didn't publish? Pick a seat at any subsequent Book Weekend with seats — whichever one fits your calendar, not just the next one. (Can't make your weekend at all? Move it, free, up to 24 hours before it starts.)
3
Or take a full refund
Or ask for a full refund instead. Your call. We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, which we call The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee: within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
We can make this promise because the weekend is built to get you there: public in an hour, outlined by lunch, published on Sunday. The guarantee is what it costs us if it doesn't.
After Sunday
What happens after Sunday
On Sunday you're a published author with a book in progress and a month of Ultra Author already running. Book Weekend authors stay on for that day's Ultra Author office hours at 2:30 pm Pacific; with the month in your ticket, you're there as a member. Keeping Ultra Author is how you keep writing, finish and launch.
See Ultra AuthorFrequently asked questions
FAQs
What if I don't publish on Sunday?
That's the Sunday Guarantee: publish your first version on Sunday, or choose either a seat at a subsequent Book Weekend — whichever one fits your calendar — or a full refund. You choose from your Book Weekend page.
What counts as publishing?
A successful publish of a book you own, made during your weekend: from the start of Saturday's session to 11:59 pm Pacific on Sunday, with the book's landing page public at the deadline. Most people publish together at 11 am Pacific on Sunday, but any publish inside the weekend counts. A new version of a book you already have out counts too, and there is no minimum length. Every ticket holder for that weekend is eligible.
What is the $300 credit, and when does it expire?
Publish during your weekend and you win $300 of credit toward the first year of a paid Ultra Author membership. It comes off the annual price once, or is spread over your first four quarterly payments or your first 12 monthly payments. It is issued after your weekend's deadline passes, and it is yours if you start your membership within 72 hours of your weekend ending, by 2 pm Pacific on the Wednesday after it. After your first year, your membership goes back to its usual price, and we'll email you before it does.
Is the credit cash?
No. It is credit toward an Ultra Author membership. It can't be paid out, and it can't be used on anything else.
What happens to the credit if I refund my ticket?
Refunding the ticket cancels a credit you haven't used. A credit you've already spent on an Ultra Author membership is left alone.
How do I get the shirt?
Publish during your weekend. When you book, tick the box that lets us share your email with the shirt fulfilment provider, who emails you for your size and address; the Books Die Alone shirt is released after the weekend to everyone who published. No tick, no shirt, and your booking goes through either way.
What happens when my month of Ultra Author ends?
It ends, 31 days after it started: it starts an hour before your weekend begins, so you arrive with a fresh month of AI usage. Nothing renews and nothing is charged. If you were on another Leanpub membership when you booked, your account goes back to it by itself.
I'm already a Leanpub member. What happens to my membership?
Nothing. Your plan and its billing carry on, and you have Ultra Author on top for the month. If you're already on Ultra Author, the ticket's month adds nothing to it.
I have a Book Workshop Pro Ticket. Does it count?
Yes. The $79 you paid for the Pro Ticket comes off the Book Weekend ticket automatically when you're signed in. This ticket's own month of Ultra Author starts an hour before your weekend, whether or not the Pro Ticket's month is still running.
Do I need a finished draft?
No. Book Weekend is for a book that's unfinished or unstarted: a draft, an outline, a folder of notes, or the thing people keep telling you to write. The book goes public on Saturday, gets its first version on Sunday, and you keep publishing after.
What are the hours, and where does it happen?
Live on Zoom, 7 am to 2 pm Pacific on both days. The Zoom link is emailed to you before the weekend and added to the events page in your Leanpub library. Ultra Author's office hours follow each day at 2:30 pm Pacific, and with the month in your ticket you're in them as a member.
Can I move my weekend?
Yes. Your Book Weekend page lets you switch to any other Book Weekend with seats, free, up to 24 hours before yours starts — and we email you a week out to ask whether the date still works. After that, if you want to reschedule, contact hello@leanpub.com and let us know what happened: we're a bootstrapped startup with limited event spots, so we'd really like to avoid late cancellations.
Published by Sunday.
Pick a weekend and book it. Your seat is held the moment you pay.
Book your weekendLeanpub authors love Leanpub.
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The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earned over $15 million writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Write and Publish on Leanpub
You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!
Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.
Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.