Why Leanpub
Publish Early,
Publish Often
Leanpub was founded by an author with a different idea about when, and how often, to publish. These are the pieces that make the argument: why books die, why they should be published while they are being written, and what we are building for the people who write them.
Talk · 2026
Books Die Alone
Why most books die unread around chapter three, what a first version actually needs, and when to put it in front of readers. A free live talk from Leanpub's founder, and the written version on the page.
Watch or read
Essay · 2026
Leanpub at Sixteen
The mission has not changed in sixteen years; the ambition has. Why Leanpub is changing a number of things at once, and how every one of them connects to serving authors at an order of magnitude larger scale.
Read
Essay · 2026
The Most Painful Compliment
A compliment people who love Leanpub kept paying it, why it landed like a punch in the gut, and what the founder decided to do about it.
Read
Essay · 2024, updated 2026
AI Services
How AI fits Leanpub's mission to serve authors, readers and learners, and the services we are building because of it. Updated as the services evolve.
Read
Essay · 2022, updated 2026
Imagine a world...
“Imagine a world where authors could make money writing books.” Twelve years after Leanpub launched with that line, what it had become, and the changes that followed.
Read
Talk · 2013
The Lean Publishing Definition
Lean Publishing in one sentence, presented to a room of publishing-industry experts at the Tools of Change conference in New York, with the talk on video.
Watch or read
Essay · 2010
The Lean Publishing Manifesto
The original case for publishing your book early and often, while you write it. The reason Leanpub exists, and why it is called Leanpub.
Read
Finish it. Then launch it.
A book that never gets finished dies in a folder. A book that gets finished and never gets launched dies on a shelf. Leanpub has one answer for each.