Behind the Scenes at Stardust Press
Author Earnings, Subscriptions, Merchandise, and Future Plans
Hello, readers and friends!
When we reach our official launch date on August 5th, this newsletter will start adhering more strictly to the intended fiction release schedule. In the meantime, my goal is to bring you all up to speed!
Now that we’ve introduced our small press and our current cohort of resident authors, I’d like to take you through a quick tour behind the scenes. We’ll pull back the curtain on author earnings, subscription tiers, merchandising, and some plans we have for the future.
Let’s dive in!
Author Earnings
Resident Authors
This detail in particular is one that many have asked about. Our policy is simple: resident authors at Stardust Press get an equal share of all earnings. Period.
The only time that this isn’t the case is if an author chooses to opt out of payment, which is exactly what Leanne Shawler has done. Due to Leanne’s generosity, the other three resident authors will earn a third of all revenue instead of a fourth.
Short Story Authors
Currently, authors will not be compensated for having their pieces featured in our monthly short story showcases. As an author myself, this reality makes my eye twitch a bit. I’m not fond of the pats-and-Scooby-Snacks-in-lieu-of-payment model.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to start making money before we can spend it. However, it is very much our intention to switch to a paid model as soon as humanly possible. Stay tuned, financially exploited authors!
Subscriptions
Free Tier
Free subscribers gain access to all resident serials, short story showcases, and other publication segments.
Paid Tier
Paid subscribers will eventually gain access to past and future releases of traditional novels. In the meantime, the paid tier is purely an act of generosity to our resident authors.
Merchandise
We have merch! In keeping with our paid subscription policy, all earnings from merchandise will be divided equally between our resident authors.
Visit our Redbubble store to shop for Stardust Press stickers, pins, and hats.
Future Plans
Publishing
Eventually, we’d like to start publishing books. That’s the goal of any small press, after all. Once we gain our footing, we hope to start releasing both print and digital speculative fiction novels and themed anthologies!
If you want to support indie authors through a publisher that’s already underway, check out
’s Storyletter XPress Publishing. SXP is releasing an anthology called Take Me There on July 17th, which I’m eagerly awaiting.’s Samak Press is another speculative fiction publisher that’s fresh on the scene. In addition to publishing, Samak Press offers a range of author services.Media
At some point, we’d love to launch a podcast. The current vision is to interview indie authors and have casual conversations around all things speculative fiction. This is nothing new, but it’s something I personally can’t get enough of as a listener. Here’s our standing title: We Are All Stardust. Corny, right?
I hope this gives you a better idea of who we are and what we hope to become. Whether you’re a reader or a writer, I’d love to hear which of these things most excites you. What else would you like to see from Stardust Press in the future?
Happy reading, everyone!
Love the podcast title!
This is so awesome 👏 Love to see more indie presses thrive and adapt. Thanks for the shoutout!