Hi guys,
I am Oli from CompletelyNovel. I just wanted to add my two cents and explain a bit more what we do. It is something we think is quite new to the book industry. I’m sorry if this is a very long post but there are so many questions!
So CompletelyNovel is a website which uses the internet to connect parties from all over the book industry so they can use each others services easily. We are not a publishing house, literary agency or printer ourselves but all of these businesses can use the site. We believe by linking everyone together we can make the publishing process not only more efficient but really enjoyable as well. Instead of sending out endless manuscripts you can get your book out there, get feedback, ratings, reviews and even sell your work in paperback. You can then approach agents and publishers with a full proposition about your book letting them know that you have already got fans, and a proven track record of sales.
It is just early days for us but we aim to open up a whole new set of opportunities, not just for writers but also for readers and the businesses we mentioned earlier. For example, by linking everyone together
A writer can use the CompletelyNovel system to self-publish by uploading their work. Once on the site your book will link to the print-on-demand printers also on the site (currently only one - Anthony Rowe). This means your book is now available online and in print. The printer benefits by getting access to a new line of work and the writer benefits by easy access to their service. As more and more printers join the community from around the world it will give you more and more places where your book is available.
Readers are coming onto CompletelyNovel to enjoy and discuss books in a social way, they can receive recommendations for new books from the reading community, discuss books in clubs, keep up to date with their friends new reads and hear about their favourite author and publishers news. Crucially for new writers these readers will get self published books recommended alongside published books. The new self published books are available as online books (not eBooks so no one can download or copy them). The readers can read, discuss, provide feedback and buy it in paperback. For writers this provides a way to promote and sell your work and for readers a great way to enjoy and find new books.
Agents and publishers will soon be able to take submissions based on how well a self published book is doing in the reading community, they could say that they want submissions which have sold x copies or have an average rating of y. This gives them a direct way to find new talent and writers a fun way to prove they have what it takes.
We have spent a lot of time visiting agents and publishers and making sure what we are building is what they want to use. There will be a lot more opportunities to come as more and more service providers sign up.
So in a nutshell CompletelyNovel provides the tools and communication channels for the book community to efficiently use the great services which are already out there. We want our users to succeed so more people come onto the website, as more people and companies join the better the experience is for the existing community.
We make our money through adverts and affiliate sales. Every time an advert is clicked or you go through to buy a book from a shop we’ll get a little money for it. We also want to provide enhanced services for the businesses using our site which they will pay for.
There seem to be a lot of unanswered questions so I’ll do my best to answer them.
@Anna Magdalena- Are you vanity publishers?
I would like to think we are the opposite, we don’t publish things for you, take your book rights or take money from you for publishing. We aim to provide an efficient and fun way to get the most out of your book.
@M.R.J. Le Blanc- are you legit? Who is Amy?
Yeah we're legit. We are a small team of 3 people (Myself, Anna and Jon) working out of North London. CN started as a small project and the three of us decided to make it into a bigger one as we met more and more writers and publishers who wanted a better way of doing things. Sorry if there is a lack of track record for CN but it was only launched last week, hopefully there will be much more to come! Amy is an editor working for Oxford University Press, she is also a lead member of the Society of Young Publishers.
@Old Hack - Slow on dial up
I am really sorry for this, speed on slower connections is always a tricky thing when you’ve got a lot of interactive content. We’ll do our best to speed it up in the near future.
@CaoPaux - YADS
I’m afraid I’m not familiar with YADS but I’m guessing it is ‘Yet another ...’. I would like to think CompletelyNovel is unique in what we do and don’t know myself of anywhere else that does it but I’d be happy to hear your thoughts or suggestions.
@Gillhoughly - Anyone can get published
To clarify we mean getting a publishing contract with a large publishing company, you are entirely right as the definition of ‘published’ is a bit grey.
We are new and therefore portraying what we do in a few words on our landing site is tricky but feel free to use CompletelyNovel as much or as little as you want. We hope you enjoy it, the three of us have enjoyed making it and we’ll do our best to keep improving it. It is free for everyone to use so if anyone wants to give it a spin that would be great, we'd love to see you.
Cheers
Oli