Being an indie publisher is a bloodsport:

To hire good artists is to invest in the full potential of a story – I commissioned 171 illustrations last year – but aesthetics have economic weight. To keep a book accessible is to risk eroding margins. To price it profitably is to restrict its reach.

And then there is the unease.

I have woken up at 2 am and stopped the press because I dreamt I had missed a comma.

In a founder-led setup, there is no buffer between editorial and financial responsibility. The stress peaks after publication. A title may not move; it may sit in storage; it may be returned. The distance between making a book and its discoverability is not a function of quality.