Sites we love: Unbound

What could be more brilliant than being able to play a part in publishing a book that you really want to read?

This is the premise behind Unbound, which brings authors and readers together to get books funded and produced. "Books are now in your hands," they say, but that's really just the start.

Authors do a filmed pitch and write a bit about themselves and deliver an extract from the book. Interested readers pledge money, which buys them different levels of access: you get your name in the book of course, but £10 might get you a copy of the e-book and access to behind-the-scenes news, while £150 on Jennifer Pickup's 100% funded debut novel Unbelievable (jealous? Us? Nice work, madam!) gets you a tour of locations from the author herself, as well as a ton of other goodies.

Some of the other authors who've already got 100% funding include Kate Mosse, Terry Jones, Mrs Stephen Fry and, a DS favourite, Shaun Usher and his Letters of Note. Authors only have a certain amount of time to reach 100%, after which time the money is returned to the readers and, um, that's it for that particular book.


I have particular interest in QI and Sunday Telegraph caricaturist Adrian Teale's Gin Lane Gazette reaching full funding, partly because I've pledged, and partly because he designed the amazing jam labels I commissioned for my mother's Christmas present.

To say that Domestic Sluttery and our readers love books would be an understatement of such magnitude that it would require a digger's worth of metaphors to do it justice. To be able to play a part in getting a book you'd love to read publish is just marvellous. Have a browse through what's up for grabs, then go forth and pledge!

Unbound (website) and Unbound on Twitter