FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Questions about writing, publishing, ARC campaigns, pricing and the Cabins Press Reader app, answered in one place.
Getting started
- Cabins Press is one platform for writing, formatting, marketing and selling books, so authors do not have to piece together a stack of separate tools.
- It is built for authors who want to control their own audience and sell independently of publishers and retail outlets, authors juggling too many separate tools, and authors who want their manuscripts kept away from AI.
- No. The editor, formatter, website and store are all built into Cabins Press, so there is nothing separate to install or configure.
- Yes. Your author website and store can run on a custom domain you already own.
- Yes. You can list a book you have already published in your Cabins Press store as an ebook, a signed copy, a bundle or merchandise, and buyers get the ebook in their Cabins Press Reader library.
Pricing
- Yes. Cabins Press is in a free beta through December 31, 2026. The platform fee only kicks in on sales above $5,000 in a month.
- No. You can sign up and start using Cabins Press without putting a card on file.
- It's 3% of your sales in a month above $5,000. Sales below that threshold aren't charged a platform fee.
- The free beta runs through December 31, 2026. Existing authors will get advance notice before anything changes.
- Yes. Stripe's own processing fee applies to each card payment, separate from the Cabins Press platform fee.
Rights and AI
- No. Manuscripts never touch a language model. No AI. Ever.
- Yes. Cabins Press never asks for any rights to your manuscript, and the book stays yours.
- No. Cabins Press does not resell your data, and that commitment does not change.
- No. Cabins Press is not venture-backed. It is a grassroots company funded personally by its founders and builders.
ARCs
- You launch an ARC campaign with a reader cap, and Cabins Press handles the signups, delivery and reminders for early reviews so you do not need a spreadsheet.
- Each ARC copy is watermarked and tied to a reader cap, with downloads tracked. Reviewers read it inside the Cabins Press Reader app instead of downloading an unprotected file.
- Yes. You set the maximum number of ARC readers when you launch the campaign, and Cabins Press stops new signups once that cap is reached.
Selling
- Ebooks, signed print copies, bundles and merchandise, all through your own storefront.
- Cabins Press formats your book into a print-ready file and fulfills print orders through the BookVault integration.
- Every ebook a reader buys from you appears automatically in their Cabins Press Reader library, with no manual delivery step.
Reader app
- Cabins Press Reader is the free e-reader app where readers keep the ebooks they buy from Cabins Press authors and read the ARCs they sign up for.
- Yes. Cabins Press Reader is free to download and free to use, with no premium tier.
- Yes. Readers can bring in EPUB files from any marketplace or author that lets them download their books.
Still have a question?
Write to hello@cabinspress.com and a person will answer.