4 ms·

Just curious about this: "I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready)." Wha

Just curious about this: "I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready)." What happens if you burn out and decide you can't finish the book? Do people get their money back or did they pay less for a beta/unfinished copy and accept that this is what they're paying for?

peterarmstrong 13y ago
[Leanpub cofounder here.] We have an unconditional 45-day refund policy. This is so readers of the in-progress book can judge whether they think it has stalled. If so, they can decide whether they've gotten their money's worth, and if not, get a refund in 2 clicks. In situations where books are abandoned after being dormant for a long time, we can't issue refunds since we literally can't. (We take PayPal and we take credit cards via PayPal Website Payments Pro, and we can only do refunds for 2 months with credit cards.) So, in these cases, it is up to the author to make things right. This happens very, very rarely though: having actual readers of your in-progress book that you will disappoint if you stop is a great incentive for you to finish.
- waqf 13y ago
  > we literally can't. This is hard to believe. Couldn't you mail them a check or something?
  - peterarmstrong 13y ago
    What I meant was that we can do a compensating transaction (say a PayPal payment etc), but that it would not be a "refund" in terms of being a refund onto their credit card.
- mfjordvald 13y ago
  If we need to issue refunds beyond the 2 months we can contact our PayPal representative and have them take care of it, chances are you can do that too since it sounds like you have a fair amount of volume.
steveklabnik 13y ago
As someone who has been writing an ebook for over a year, I've found that people are pretty appreciative when you say "Hey, I need some time off due to burnout on this book." I don't sell through LeanPub, though.

peterarmstrong 13y ago

[Leanpub cofounder here.] We have an unconditional 45-day refund policy. This is so readers of the in-progress book can judge whether they think it has stalled. If so, they can decide whether they've gotten their money's worth, and if not, get a refund in 2 clicks. In situations where books are abandoned after being dormant for a long time, we can't issue refunds since we literally can't. (We take PayPal and we take credit cards via PayPal Website Payments Pro, and we can only do refunds for 2 months with credit cards.) So, in these cases, it is up to the author to make things right. This happens very, very rarely though: having actual readers of your in-progress book that you will disappoint if you stop is a great incentive for you to finish.

waqf 13y ago
> we literally can't. This is hard to believe. Couldn't you mail them a check or something?
- peterarmstrong 13y ago
  What I meant was that we can do a compensating transaction (say a PayPal payment etc), but that it would not be a "refund" in terms of being a refund onto their credit card.
mfjordvald 13y ago
If we need to issue refunds beyond the 2 months we can contact our PayPal representative and have them take care of it, chances are you can do that too since it sounds like you have a fair amount of volume.

steveklabnik 13y ago

As someone who has been writing an ebook for over a year, I've found that people are pretty appreciative when you say "Hey, I need some time off due to burnout on this book." I don't sell through LeanPub, though.