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A lot of business models in e.g. publishing and the music industry already are ISAs, better known as equity; the offer is something like "We'd like to invest $20k into your book at a $5k pre-money valuation. Btw our terms have, let's say, a wee bit of structure."
This is re-using approximately accurately some startup financial jargon which is designed to be opaque for the purpose of pastiche, so I'll explain what that just said in words that are a little more generally well-known.
The publisher (which is analogous to an investor) is offering the author a payment of $20k for equity (ownership) of the book. In this approximation, the publisher has offered $20k for 80% ownership.
The term "structure" here means "there are material strings attached."
The term "structure" here means "there are material strings attached."
For example, in an investment in a startup, even an 80% owner very rarely gets to dictate managerial decisions (short of replacing management).
Publishers generally get control over pricing, really important marketing decisions (cover design, who they choose to sell to, etc).
Publishers generally get control over pricing, really important marketing decisions (cover design, who they choose to sell to, etc).
