Some stores ask for banking and tax details even when the author wants to publish a free book. That makes sense for their accounting system, not for a reader in a country the system was not built around. Arjuna Badger Press will keep a direct route open: download, read, share, and later pay the author through the rail that works where you live.
Direct distribution
No bank gate for free books
If a book is free, a reader should not need banking details to get it, and an author should not be blocked by a payout rail they do not use.
Free means free
No checkout wall
EPUB, PDF, and read-online access stay available directly from the press.
Local rails
M-Pesa and Mukuru
Readers should be able to pay through rails common in their country, not only cards.
Global rails
PayPal and blockchain
Where local rails fail, use global settlement without forcing exclusivity.
The publishing problem
The operating rule
Free editions must never require a bank account. Paid editions should support multiple rails: mobile money where it exists, remittance rails where families already move money, PayPal where it works, and blockchain only where it reduces friction instead of adding theatre.