FastPencil Media Coverage:
Shaking Up the Publishing Industry

“Taopix has teamed up with US self-publishing engine FastPencil to offer its digital print customers a route into the wider market of book publishing.”

“Here’s a question: when’s the last time you went to your local library? Maybe you dropped by and saw they had a promotion about ebooks. Or you stop by once in a while for audiobooks. The last few years, it seems like libraries have been playing catch up as books, movies, and media in general have gone digital. However, a new partnership with Fastpencil and Auto-Graphics is bringing a whole new option to libraries: self-publishing resources and content!”

“FastPencil’s platform provides aspiring and experienced authors with the technology to publish any quantity of books with ease, have control over their content, and enjoy higher margins for revenue and increased speed to market. To start, a select group of Auto-Graphics’ customers will have access to the publishing engine and over time, patrons of the 5,500 libraries working with Auto-Graphics will have the freedom and power to publish quality books.”

“Technology company Auto-Graphics has partnered with publishing platform FastPencil to bring FastPencil's book publishing engine Library Management Platform to libraries around the country. Library members will have the ability to use FastPencil’s platform to write, design, publish and sell books in print and digital formats directly through their local libraries.”

“Last week, GoodeReader reported on some concerns from librarians and patrons surrounding the surge in ebook lending from libraries, including a UK initiative to potentially make ebook lending a government mandate. The concerns raised by some parties are that the ease of ebook borrowing to handheld devices will have a dramatic impact on libraries, specifically in a massive reduction of the numbers of patrons who need to actually go to their local community libraries. But a new digital publishing partnership from FastPencil and Auto-Graphics could add another dimension of importance and usability for libraries. FastPencil’s digital publishing platform isn’t new, but working with Auto-Graphics, a leading supplier of library-specific technologies, in order to bring their publishing engine to libraries is a digital model that allows libraries to meet yet another need within their communities.”

“Fastpencil is being treated like a traditional publisher from the perspective of their B&N partners, but they are much more nimble and author-friendly. Unlike a traditional publisher, there is no “slush pile”, no rejection or limbo for works submitted.”

“Self-publishing company FastPencil is offering some of its authors who pay for its service a better chance to get their books into Barnes & Noble retail stores and featured on Nook merchandising platforms. FastPencil hopes that the offering will help set it apart from free self-publishing platforms like Amazon’s KDP. “Barnes & Noble is excited to partner with FastPencil to bring quality, independently published books to our readers,” B&N VP digital content Theresa Horner said in a statement.”

“FastPencil and Barnes & Noble have announced a deal that will see FastPencil's titles carried in Barnes & Noble bookstores as well as in Nook bookshelf merchandising. As part of the deal, FastPencil will meet quarterly with B&N buyer's and present a number of its titles. FastPencil has three imprints: Premier (for established, top-tier authors like Mercer Mayer and Steven Pressfield), Wavecrest (for mid-tier authors), and FastPencil.com.”

“If limited distribution to e-bookstores and not bricks-and-mortar retail stores, where most books are sold, is a problem for aspiring self-published authors, FastPencil has a solution. Since the first quarter of this year, the Campbell, Calif.-based self-publishing platform has been selling a limited selection of its books in Barnes & Noble, Hudson News, Costco, Target and other stores. A new partnership announced today by FastPencil and Barnes & Noble will give the self-publishing platform’s authors additional opportunities to be marketed and sold through Barnes & Nobles’s channels.”

“Self-publishing used to be the option of last resort for frustrated authors, but more and more authors are abandoning the frustrations of the traditional publishing industry in favor of the immediacy and creative control of self-publishing. Now that self-publishing and digital publishing have garnered some long overdue respect in the publishing industry, one of the last hurdles for indie authors is getting their print editions in front of browsing consumers in brick and mortar bookstores.”