FastPencil wants to help aspiring authors write and publish their books

July 15, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

fastpencil_logoLiving in San Francisco, almost everyone I meet is convinced they’ve got a brilliant novel or memoir buried inside, if only they had the opportunity to write and publish it. With the launch of a new startup called FastPencil, those wannabe authors (no offense — I’m one of them) may be running out of excuses.

The Campbell, Calif. company wants to provide a comprehensive solution for writing and publishing a book. The site is built around a social network of writers, editors, reviewers, and others; it offers a Guided Collaboration tool to help you find potential collaborators, chat with them, ask for feedback from others, and more. Other features include automatic chapter formatting and blog importing. Then, once the book is written, FastPencil can publish and distribute it for you, getting the book listed on Amazon, sold for the Kindle, and even stocked in brick-and-mortar bookstores.

There are many other collaboration tools out there, not to mention self-publishing sites like Lulu.com. But co-founders Steve Wilson (the chief executive) and Michael Ashley (the chief technology officer) say that by using technology to bring all these elements together, FastPencil makes the process much easier, and is also able to publish books for a much lower cost than traditional self-publishing — you can your very own novel in your hands for as low as $10. The concept should resonate particularly with “momtrepreneurs” (i.e., women with families who also want to start their own businesses), industry experts who want to share some of their knowledge, and religious faith-based collaborators, they say.

“FastPencil is going to grow the size of [the self-publishing] market tremendously,” Ashley says.

The company has raised just under $1 million in angel funding, and plans to raise another round in early 2010. Future revenue opportunities include opening a market where editors, writers, and others could offer their services for hire.

If companies like FastPencil and competitor WEbook succeed, there could be some big changes on the literary scene. Almost everyone thinks they can write a book, but these companies will help us discover — should they?

fastpencil-screenshot

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Donna
    Is FastPencil taking a cut of an author's publishing? Are they charging for services that an author can do for himself (getting a bar code number, an ISBN, etc.)? How many bells and whistles are they trying to attach, so that your $10 book ends up costing $40? What is their minimum print run? What is their turnaround time? How do they respond to and deal with problems during the process? How do they compare, technically and ethically, to their competitors? And why were none of these points, and more, addressed in an article about a new company?
  • "And why were none of these points, and more, addressed in an article about a new company?"

    Because an article addressing all of those points "and more" would be two to three times as long as the current one, and 10 times more boring? This isn't meant to provide a guide to everything you need to know before becoming a FastPenci customer, it's an overview of the company's concept, features, and business plan.
  • manchesterescorts
    Great post, very informative. I think a lot of people will find this very useful.Keep post in coming future as well!!!
  • This is cool and looks very interesting and useful..
  • GeekMBA360
    I like what they're trying to do, but I'm not convinced that they'll be able to provide enough value to justify whatever fees they charge authors.

    I just launched a premium report, which was created, reviewed and launched in the "cloud" using free tools. I used Google Doc to create the report, share it with collaborators for reviews, revisions and comments. And then made it available for sales on Scribd.com newly launched Digital Bookstore. I've my own blog, which I announced the report to my blog reader.

    I could do all of those easily using my existing, free infrastructure. And it's NOT that hard at all. Plus, large players such as amazon.com, lulu.com, or even scribd.com, will have a huge advantage in term of distribution.

    GeekMBA360
    www.GeekMBA360.com: Career Insights at the intersection of technology and business.