Pen It Publications

[Cassio]

Does anybody have anything to share about this Publisher?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[CMBright]

Does anybody have anything to share about this Publisher?

Thanks,
Bob

Could you edit to include a link to the website for the publisher in question? That would help our members find it and answer you.

And if you could head over to the New Members forum and start an intro thread, we can begin to get to know you.

 

[Janine R]

From the home page of their website:
“On May 25, 2022, Pen It! Publications, LLC stopped operating and sold all of their assets only to DOGGONEFILM LLC dba Pen It Publications. This means that no liabilities or commitments outside of the book contracts moved forward and those only moved forward from 5/25/22. Accordingly, any verbal or written agreements that were made with Pen It! Publications, LLC were accepted on a case-by-case basis by the new company. Plus, any payments made to Pen It! Publications, LLC are also not relevant or the responsibility of the new company.”

Nothing shows up on a search for “DOGGONEFILM LLC dba Pen It Publications”.

This contains a reference to the acquisition:

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ebookfairs-com

 

[mrsmig]

Researching this press is giving me a weird deja vu vibe, but I can't find a prior thread on them in the Bewares index, so here goes:

First, website is here: Pen It Publications

Pen It! Publications was a mom&pop company which was initially founded by one couple in 2010. Its assets (website and books, as near as I can tell) were then sold to still another couple, Kenney (Kenneth) and Jolene Myers, in May 2022. The new owners dropped the exclamation point from the company name and are doing business as Pen It Publications. While the parent company appears to be Doggonefilm LLC, which is based out of Katy, Texas, I can't find a listing for Pen It in that state's corporation register.

The website bears the usual small press red flags, e.g. mediocre to awful covers and the stated expectation that the author will shoulder some of the promotional burden (although the website seems to equate "marketing" with "promotion"). And here's where the deja vu part comes in: they require their authors to use a platform called ebookfairs.com to run said promotions. (I KNOW I've run across this model before.) Pen It also requires their authors to use ebookfairs to find their own ARC readers. Here's a catch: if an author can't get enough ARC readers prior to publication, Pen It can put the brakes on publishing. From their "Our Process" section:

The publisher may or may not move forward if the author hasn’t accumulated enough ARC’s. The reason for this is making sure you have readers that you can reach out to when the book publishes is an important part of the early success of a book. If no effort is made to use the ARC program the publisher may reset the schedule until this step is complete.

Here's another catch: while membership in ebookfairs is free for readers, it's NOT free for authors. It's $10/month ($100/year if you want to pay in advance), and the press expects you to run virtual book fairs through the site at least once a month - meaning you have to keep on paying to promote your book.

AND HERE'S THE REALLY BIG CATCH: ebookfairs is owned by Kenney Myers. So in addition to requiring their authors to do the promotional legwork, Pen It is charging them for the privilege of doing so.

Stay away.

 

[Brigid Barry]

No conflict of interest and whatever it's called when you create your own clients. Nothing unethical at all...

 

[Janine R]

it's NOT free for authors. It's $10/month ($100/year if you want to pay in advance), and the press expects you to run virtual book fairs through the site at least once a month - meaning you have to keep on paying to promote your book.

This is interesting. Pen it seems to have about 384 author photos, so if all are now with ebook fairs, that's a potential passive income of over $38,000 a year.

 

[lizmonster]

So I zipped on over to ebookfair.com to see what their books were like.

As it happens, they're holding an "All Things Fantasy" book fair today. Readers can vote on the ones they like. It's not clear to me what's in it for the authors, except the publicity of being part of the book fair.

Which...hm. There are 10 books on the list. 4 appear to be children's/middle-grade books, based on the covers. As all but 1 of the links go to Amazon US, I'm assuming this is primarily a US-based venture, so I took a look at the Amazon rankings of each of the 10 books. The highest was ranked at a little over 1M - a cute-looking children's book. The next highest was at about 1.5M - a "dark fantasy" with (IMO) the best cover of the adult books in the batch. Not terrible rankings, if they sustain them - 1M is ~2 copies a month; 1.5M is ~1 - but if Amazon's their only or primary retailer, there's room for improvement there.

2 of the books have no Amazon US ranking at all, which (at least according to my self-pub sources) means they have not sold a single copy through that outlet.

So I guess I wonder what authors are getting for their $10/month, in particular what they're getting that they couldn't get elsewhere.

 

[Helix]

Their process is a bit confusing to say the least.

So there's Step 1 Reviewing, Step 2 Contracting, Step 3 Editing:

[Their emphasis]

Authors – Work directly with the editors and make timely changes to their books under the direction of the editor. The editors will do any content and story-level edits, line and proofreading. Please note that no more changes to the content will be made after this point without resetting the schedule and starting over. There are no additional proofreading opportunities by the author.

Note: All front and back matter must be provided and edited during this step as a part of the manuscript.

The editors have the authority to determine when the content of the book is done.

Step 4: illustration (optional)

Then Step 5: Beta Readers

Beta Readers are people who read the manuscript before it is sent to the Cover Designer to work on the cover. They will come back with suggestions and edits which the author and editor will take into consideration.

After the manuscript comes back from the beta readers this is the final chance for any minor proofreading edits.

No more changes can be made to the book content without resetting the schedule.

The content is considered ready to be released, including acknowledgements, if any books by author, what’s next, sneak peek, connecting with the author and about the author and dedication + copyright page.

This seems...late.

 

[CMBright]

Their process is a bit confusing to say the least.

So there's Step 1 Reviewing, Step 2 Contracting, Step 3 Editing:

[Their emphasis]



Step 4: illustration (optional)

Then Step 5: Beta Readers



This seems...late.

Are they saying they will treat any manuscript altered by so much as a single keystroke after the Step 3 Editing pass as a new manuscript that they will review and possibly refuse to write a new contract for?

That if the in-house editor misses a typo or introduces one, a writer can't change the manuscript to fix it without triggering that new review, contract, edit clause?

That if the writer changes so much as a single keystroke of the manuscript based on the beta reader, it will trigger that new review, contract, edit clause?

Because the way I read the relevant quoted passages in your reply, a writer could have a manuscript go through the four steps and if they changed so much as a keystroke after the beta reader in step 4, that resets to reviewing and a new contract.

Did I misunderstand the 1) review, 2) contract, 3) edit, 4) beta reader steps? I had to have misunderstood, right? Reviewing and contracting can't be for a new contract with the old one null and void if the writer changes something after the editor or because of beta reader suggestions.

 

[Helix]

It's not a process that makes a lot of sense to me.

In addition to all that, where's the money? Do they offer advances? What royalties do they pay? What's in it for the author?

 

[DW Simpson]

This is interesting. Pen it seems to have about 384 author photos, so if all are now with ebook fairs, that's a potential passive income of over $38,000 a year.

 

[DW Simpson]

So, as a Pen It Publications would-be author, with a book approved by the editor and supposedly waiting on a cover designer, I received an email from Kenney Myers, owner of PIP, on April 2, 2024, part of which I quote below:

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to sustain Pen It Publications existing catalog.

In the coming weeks, you will be hearing from us, either as an offer to stay with us at Pen It in our new capacity, which we will share fully upon the offer, or to regrettably release you from your contract without penalty. Those that stay with us will continue to have eBookFairs as our main marketing platform. eBookFairs is constantly expanding and new partners in the industry are being added to benefit authors. Those staying, we do expect you to utilize this growing marketing platform to help get your books out there.

Regrettably, we will be greatly reducing the books in all stages of publication from already published, to those waiting in the queue and those currently being worked on. If you would like to cancel your contract now without penalty, please contact us and we would be happy to release you from your contract. Otherwise, you’re welcome to wait for the impending offer.

It has been 7 weeks since I received this email, so I do not know what the "offer" will be. My book is in the queue now. What I do know is that if I stay, I will have to pay $10 a month to participate in the eBookFairs. At this point, I am leaning on backing out.

I will post again to inform you of the "offer" or release--which if they do it, they do not pay a penalty for wasting nearly two years of my time.