Fast Pencil

bektamun · 08-19-2011, 01:39 AM

Just wondering if anyone has heard of used this service. Fast Pencil

Experience with them, good/bad? Advice or feedback?

Anke Wehner · 08-19-2011, 02:45 AM

No experience, but just looking at the website, I don't like them.

a) They pretend Amazon and Kindle are different things.
b) Since a) already makes them look dishonest, the way the "testimony" under the "Sell" box almost-quotes the "Sell" box makes me suspicious they made it up themselves.
c) You have to pay $150 for them to publish on 4 platforms plus their own, which they pretend are 5 by pretending Amazon and Kindle are different things.
d) I get the impression they are mostly interested in upselling services, including charging you $49 if you'd like to change the price of the book. Seems like you even have to buy your own ebook copy if you want to see if formatting turned out OK...
e) They take a 20% cut (example calculations for ebooks at the bottom here))

Smashwords AFAICT takes a smaller cut, and certainly distributes to more ebook retailers (including Kobo, which I see as important because they don't limit sales to the USA).

I guess if fastpencil actually does good work with the editing services and such, that might be worth it - it would save you work looking for an editor and formatter yourself - particularly if you are confident about selling a lot of books. But I have no idea about that.

bektamun · 08-19-2011, 10:57 PM

Anke, I wasn't overly impressed with Fast Pencil myself. But I didn't want to dismiss them as an option without doing a little investigation.

Among the several forums I'm involved, no has heard of them let alone used them. At this stage I'm fairly sure I'll be going with Smashwords.

Appreciate you taking the time to look and comment.

08-19-2011, 01:39 AM	#1
bektamun Member Posts: 10 Karma: 25000 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	Fast Pencil Just wondering if anyone has heard of used this service. Fast Pencil Experience with them, good/bad? Advice or feedback?

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08-19-2011, 02:45 AM	#2
Anke Wehner Addict Posts: 249 Karma: 177956 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Germany Device: PRS-650	No experience, but just looking at the website, I don't like them. a) They pretend Amazon and Kindle are different things. b) Since a) already makes them look dishonest, the way the "testimony" under the "Sell" box almost-quotes the "Sell" box makes me suspicious they made it up themselves. c) You have to pay $150 for them to publish on 4 platforms plus their own, which they pretend are 5 by pretending Amazon and Kindle are different things. d) I get the impression they are mostly interested in upselling services, including charging you $49 if you'd like to change the price of the book. Seems like you even have to buy your own ebook copy if you want to see if formatting turned out OK... e) They take a 20% cut (example calculations for ebooks at the bottom here)) Smashwords AFAICT takes a smaller cut, and certainly distributes to more ebook retailers (including Kobo, which I see as important because they don't limit sales to the USA). I guess if fastpencil actually does good work with the editing services and such, that might be worth it - it would save you work looking for an editor and formatter yourself - particularly if you are confident about selling a lot of books. But I have no idea about that.

08-19-2011, 10:57 PM	#3
bektamun Member Posts: 10 Karma: 25000 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	Anke, I wasn't overly impressed with Fast Pencil myself. But I didn't want to dismiss them as an option without doing a little investigation. Among the several forums I'm involved, no has heard of them let alone used them. At this stage I'm fairly sure I'll be going with Smashwords. Appreciate you taking the time to look and comment.

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