Why does a small press write its promise down before it earns it?

A small press writes its promise down before it earns it because a promise nailed up where it can be checked is a hypothesis, not a boast. Ours promises an input, a method, and nothing else. The score is kept separately, in public, and it is not revised after the fact.

Most presses promise outcomes. Bestsellers, transformations, a book that changes your life. We promise what we will do, not what will happen. Every chapter passes a gate before it moves. Before a book ships, the house writes down what it expects the book to do. After it ships, the house keeps score against that prediction and does not touch the prediction.

That last part is the whole design. A press that keeps honest score of its own judgment gets better. A press that grades its own homework does not.

These notes are where the score gets kept in public. One question a day, answered plainly, when there is something to say. One email when a book ships. Nothing between.

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