PublisherRevenue Guide

The business behind
independent publishing.

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Calculator / Plan the business

How much depends on one stream?

A revenue mix can look diverse and still depend heavily on one source. Try a simple shock while holding your monthly costs constant.

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Reference photograph: a calculator, not a publisher’s financial records. Annie Spratt / Unsplash ↗
Illustrative inputs / USD · Edit to explore · No inputs sent or stored

Your assumptions

01 / Set the inputs
Try a scenario:
Revenue retained by your publication.
Use the same revenue basis across streams.
Subscriptions, memberships and donations.
Affiliate, product and service revenue.
Events, licensing, grants or another stream.
Applied only to the selected stream.
Include all relevant costs and valued labor.

Pin these inputs, then edit to compare.

How to read this result

Original revenue = sum of the five streams. Lost revenue = selected stream × reduction percentage. Stressed revenue = original revenue − lost revenue. Both contribution figures subtract the same costs.

Largest stream share = largest stream ÷ total revenue; it is undefined when total revenue is zero. This is a concentration measure, not a resilience score.

Only one stream changes. Costs, correlations, traffic, capacity and payment timing stay fixed. Compare like revenue bases and put any remaining fees in costs once.

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The research behind the workings

Keep the context close.

A clearer view of the business

The Revenue Letter.

One useful model. One question worth asking.
A considered note for independent publishers.