Now On Substack
Rewriting the Publishing and Media Landscape
Publishing has this habit of telling writers what isn’t possible, so we built the company we wished existed.
When we were trying to name this company, we kept coming back to fingerprints. Everyone has one and yet no two are alike. We believe writing works the same way. Anyone can learn to put words on a page, but the way you do it, the things you can’t stop noticing, the stories you can’t leave alone, that’s yours and nobody else’s.
So naturally, we called the company Soulprint, because that’s what we want to publish. Not a genre. Not a trend. The unique stories each person carries, the ones nobody else could write.
This is us…
That’s the two-minute version. But we want to share with you the longer one, including why we’re launching a Substack.
You see publishing has this habit of telling writers what isn’t possible. “You can’t publish a book that fast.” “You can’t reach readers that way.” “You can’t take a chance on a story that doesn’t fit the formula.”... Well not to brag, but we’ve already done all three. Our first book went from finished manuscript to printed copies in months, not years (if you’re not shocked by this - you should be). Instead of pushing sales pitches for our books, we’ve created quality content that invites people into the conversation organically. We’ve thrown out the tried-and-true template and gone after projects that don’t fit neatly into one safe, established box.
And the part that really gets to us... the money. An author gives years of their life to a book, gets back a payment that reflects nowhere near the amount of work that went into it, and then discovers the truth: once the book is out, you’re mostly on your own.
So we built the publishing company we wished existed. Our deals are 50/50, and no, not just the money. The work and the risk are also split down the middle. And the book is a beginning, not a finish line. A story might start on the page and become a podcast, a series, a workbook, a room full of people. We publish people, not formats, which means wherever the story needs to go, we want to take it there.
Who do we publish? Healers. Truth tellers. Rule breakers. Misfits. Changemakers. Those who have stories worth telling that gatekeepers want to silence. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many followers you have. What matters is whether your story needs to exist.
Everything we’ve described here — the deals, the numbers, the decisions about whose story gets a chance — these conversations usually happen behind closed doors. And that secrecy is half of what keeps the industry broken. Writers can’t ask for better when nobody shows them what’s possible.
We’re doing it differently. Every week on Substack we will be sharing something real: the process behind our books, pieces directly from the four of us founders, honest lessons on the craft of writing, and our take on the stories we’re all being told - and the ones nobody’s willing to publish. If you write, what we post will make you better at it. And if you’re just here to read, you’re welcome too.
We’re serious about books. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
If publishing has ever felt like a locked room, this is the door open.
Oh, and if you’re wondering who “we” actually are: you’ll meet all of us properly this week. One founder, one piece, every day.
Robin, John, Hilary & Tarah