There is such thing as a vanity press. This has that element, too. There is also going into the casino with your money to the house and they give you tokens to play in the house. There is another aspect that as an investor you are allowed to sit at the table. Skin in the game.
It's brilliant.
I've been publishing since 1988 little zines and other nonsense. To me this is better than anything I could have dreamed up. The whole punk fanzine movement was DIY. Do it yourself. You paid to print and you sold zines to buy beer. Or you took the risk of printing zines at the office at night while no one was there.
True story.
My dad let me use the xerox machine to do my zine. His boss found out and was pissed. However, years later his boss actually did his own poetry book in a similar digest fashion and told my dad to give me a copy.
I actually planted a seed.