Completed on 10 March, the sale saw Unbound’s intellectual property, digital assets, and goodwill go to Boundless Publishing Group, a new company set up on 3 March by Unbound director John Mitchinson and CEO Archna Sharma.
Boundless will be a “full-risk traditional publisher,” according to The Bookseller, which was told by Boundless that “all monies owed to authors by Unbound will be honoured by Boundless IP Limited [now renamed to Boundless Publishing Group Ltd]”.
The new company has retained all existing staff, Boundless said in a statement posted to Unbound’s website. In a separate statement provided to media, it added that it has secured “committed new investors” to support the new venture.
Appointed on the day of the sale, administrators Allister Manson and Charles Turner of Opus Restructuring have now taken care of United Authors Publishing Limited, the legal entity behind Unbound.
Manson told Printweek: "Unbound entered administration after implementing a series of strategic changes over recent years, some of which did not achieve the desired success.
"Despite the directors’ dedicated efforts to secure additional investment during 2025, fundraising attempts fell short of the minimum requirement needed to keep the company solvent. As a result, a pre-pack administration was deemed the best available option, with the administrators receiving only one formal, viable offer.
"The purchaser, Boundless, includes former members of the Unbound management team who had recently joined the business. Boundless has committed to honouring all payments due to authors and has retained all the former employees."
Boundless will be led by ex-investment bank managing director and publishing entrepreneur Archna Sharma, who was appointed CEO of Unbound in January. Printweek understands that her appointment was with a specific brief to put the publisher on stable financial footing.
“This is the beginning of a bold new era,” Sharma said in a statement.
“Boundless looks forward to forging exciting new connections between authors and readers.”
Cashflow issues forced Unbound to undergo restructuring in January 2025, with Sharma stepping up as CEO to replace Wil Harris the same month.
Many authors had been unpaid since the summer of 2024, with some expressing further dismay at Unbound’s difficulties in releasing money back to crowdfunders for projects that would not be published.
At the same time, Unbound backed its hail-Mary effort, the digital publication Boundless Magazine – launched the same week that news broke of Unbound’s failure to pay authors – with £100,000 raised through crowdfunding site Crowdcube apparently to develop a “digital-first product that gives our thousands of customers the chance to engage with exclusive podcasts, newsletters & communities”.
At the same time as work was ongoing to launch Boundless Magazine – which The Bookseller reports will be run on a shoestring – authors were having to fight to get their readers’ money returned to them.
Author Brian Grieve told Printweek he had been asked personally by Sharma in a video call not to cancel his contract and thus release £13,000 back to crowdfunders on an unsuccessful campaign.
The owner of nostalgic instagram channel Ibiza Past, he had initially been approached by Unbound in 2023 to produce a book on the party island. In December that year, Unbound launched a crowdfunder for the book; by June, the campaign had settled at just over halfway on its £27,000 goal.
When it became apparent it would not reach its goal, Grieve asked to cancel the crowdfunder and return the funders’ money to them – but was persuaded by promises that Unbound would fund the rest of the publishing costs itself.
“Obviously, at the time, I thought ‘fantastic!’ – but now, considering what’s happened, I feel it was somewhat disingenuous, and they were just kicking the ball down the street. It just makes me think that [the offer] was just to keep hold of a bit of money,” Grieve said.
“We cancelled it in January. They said that the wait is 30 days to refund. I’ve heard they’ve refunded a few, but lots of people have been emailing them since January without getting a response, or their money.
“I can imagine there are a lot of pissed off people who have invested in the faith that I was going to produce this book.”
Author Tom Cox, who had published seven books with Unbound, has cut all ties with the publisher, bringing the rights back under his control. He claimed that he was still owed more than £15,000 by Unbound.
Posting on blogging platform Substack on 13 March, he said that many of his own readers had not received their own emails with details on how they would be refunded for pre-orders of his latest novel, which was due to be published this month.
In its statement, Boundless said: “Boundless will be moving forward with the majority of the Unbound projects you have supported; please check back at the end of March when our new website will be live and you will have access to your account and order status.”
Cox : “I really hope this is the case, because, being in breach of contract and having reverted rights to me, Unbound are obliged [to] refund the pledge money of everyone who supported Everything Will Swallow You.
“Although, going on the fact that they have still not paid me what they owe me, I have concerns about their ability to do this. I hope they will prove me wrong about these concerns.”
Speaking on Facebook on 19 March, he added: “Unfortunately, I am still owed (possibly significantly) more than £15,000 by Unbound (now reincarnated as Boundless).
“More shockingly, Unbound took the money of my loyal, trusting readers and now, in its new guise, has gone back on its word that the money would be refunded to those readers.
“I do not believe in staying silent about such injustice and could not live easily with myself if I did.
“If you did pledge for my upcoming novel Everything Will Swallow You, I am so sorry that this company betrayed your trust, as it betrayed mine. I am still flabbergasted that it’s all happened.”
