Don’t leave your publishing business for someone else to unravel.
If you were ill, unavailable, or no longer here, could someone else find your books, your rights, your income, and your files? The Author Publishing Continuity System helps you record it all in one place, so a trusted person has a practical route forward instead of a puzzle.
What it is
A step-by-step guide and fill-in workbook for authors who publish independently or through a publisher. You record what exists, where it is kept, and who should be contacted. You work at your own pace, skip what doesn’t apply, and update it whenever something changes.
What’s inside
- A START HERE page for two readers: the author completing the file, and a successor who needs to know where to begin
- Authority routes for incapacity, death and unclear situations, keeping legal authority, platform recognition and asset decisions separate
- Records for your books, platforms, ISBNs, rights and contracts, income, subscriptions, key dates, files and backups, and people to contact
- A section for what only you know, and a place to record your wishes
- Prompts for audiobooks, print-on-demand, digital shops and social accounts
- A Handover Test, so you can check whether someone else could actually use your file
- A plain-language glossary, a professional adviser handover checklist and a final completeness check
- Successor record sheets for special cases and transfers
- Official source references with their check dates
Look inside
Real pages from the current edition. Select any page to enlarge it.
- 82 pages
- Fillable PDF + read-only PDF + Word file
- Instant download
Previews show 3 of the 82 pages.
Three files
- Editable Word edition: type and tick on screen, and save your own copy.
- Fillable PDF: complete it on screen in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Edge or Chrome, save it, and come back to it later.
- Printable PDF: a clean copy to print and complete by hand.
Long notes fit best in the Word edition, as PDF table cells hold only a couple of lines.
Please note
This is a record-keeping and planning system, not legal, tax or financial advice. It does not give anyone legal authority, replace a will or power of attorney, or guarantee that any platform will grant access to an account, that royalties will continue, or that your books will keep any commercial value. Rules and platform requirements change and vary by jurisdiction, so check current official guidance and take professional advice where needed. Keep passwords and recovery codes out of this file and store them separately.
From The Manuscript Rescue. Product and platform names belong to their owners and are used for identification only.