[YADS] Inkitt

So, apparently they're agents and publishers?

Although they don't state what either the marketing or the publishing will actually involve or how it'll work.

"Who are we or any editor in the world to judge whether your book is worth publishing? We don’t think that we or any so-called “expert” is in a position to judge your work. You write your book for your readers, and the most important factor is whether your readers like it or not. That is what we measure at Inkitt.

This is why we built artificially intelligent algorithms that have the ability to analyze reading pattern data and engagement levels. This allows us to make objective and data-driven decisions regarding a story’s potential to become a bestseller. "

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And then there's this interview with the CEO where he claims Moby Dick was rejected because it had "dick" in the title. A little Googling sources that to a Cracked article where they blatantly announce they made it up.

One of their contests ended yesterday. It'll be interesting to see what comes of the winner.

Wow.

Part of me wants to say, "Well, that's not tacky at all," but I have the feeling tacky isn't the word I'm looking for. Desperate, maybe.

Hey Guys, I am new to AW and what I have read about Inkitt discouraged me. I uploaded a 6 chapter excerpt of my fantasy novel "Athanasia: The Great Insurrection" into their "Echo's of Another World" fantasy contest. I ended up winning 3rd place in the contest and got a $20 e-gift certificate from Amazon. However, it was from Amazon Germany. When I tried to use it on Amazon it didn't work. When I emailed them to ask them what the issue was, they never responded.

What discouraged me was that I put my whole book on Inkitt after the contest because I got a great review from an editor for a Publisher. From what I have read, it sounds like my book is now toxic because it was published for people to read free. Is this accurate?

About a month or two later I entered it into a contest where the winner would get there book published. It was the Hidden Gems contest. The winner was "Sky Riders, Book One: The Rising Sun" by Erin Swan. They said that they had some other books that they wanted to publish after this book and to not take your books off line yet. They posted my book as their top Staff Pick for 2 weeks after the contest. It made me wonder if mine was one of them, so I kept it up there. I took my book down on December 31st because I thought they just jerked my chain. That was when I read this thread and was discouraged. The book I submitted is the first book in a 6 book series. Would any publisher still pick up my book and the others despite the first book being on Inkitt?

As for what I know about Inkitt: They are a crowd editing site. The problem was that no one was reviewing my book, other then that one editor and my friends. There was no feedback on how to make it better or what they liked. It was so bad that they even did a contest to try to get people to write reviews for books.

They found me via Twitter for the Echo's contest and stopped after I replied to another tweet they sent me. They do send a lot of emails. To the point where it has been getting annoying. From what I understand they have grown considerably. Since I have been on the site an immense amount of books have been posted. I do believe they share some of the books on Good Reads. My wife found my book there and I had no idea. I got 9 reviews and a 4.56 overall rating and others have marked it to read in the future. I had no idea.

I saw a comment about badges. They give badges for those that place, which was a suggestion from a popular writer on the site who teaches master's level writing at a University in Texas. In the contests they take the top 10% of the books receiving the most votes, which is sad. The editor that reviewed my book read the top 10 books receiving votes. Seven of the books he called complete rubbish, including the one that received the most votes. When I entered the contests I got 115 friends to vote for me so that I could place and be read by the judges. All voters have to register on Inkitt to vote. I never got one vote that was not from someone that I did not already know. I am not sure, but they don't seem to know how to unite and engage the writers on the site. It was starting to bother me because it seemed desperate, so I pulled my book off the site.

I was also taken aback that I had to have my designer friend redo my book cover to fit their specs, which included removing all text. It made me think that they didn't build a quality site. The CEO Ali said that he has even written an algorithm to find the new best seller amongst the books on the site.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I can answer them as best as I can. I really would like to know if my book is now toxic? I really don't think many people read it other than those people on Good Reads, the judges and my friends.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure posting an excerpt of the book isn't going to kill your chances of getting it trade published.

I did put the whole book up there for about 6 months because I entered it into a contest where the winner is supposed to be published. I was told by a friend of mine who just signed a contract that it might be an issue for me.

Thomas Coutouzis said:

I did put the whole book up there for about 6 months because I entered it into a contest where the winner is supposed to be published. I was told by a friend of mine who just signed a contract that it might be an issue for me.

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It might be. It might not. You self-published the book. Agents and editors can have very different views on whether that's a problem or not. The main thing I'd suggest is to be honest about it. Also, do read up on the process of querying elsewhere on this site.

As far as the Goodreads thing goes, anyone can become a librarian on Goodreads and add books. In your case, it was someone at Inkitt who did it (I checked the record). But this is something you could have done. It's not a special service or anything. It might also take some people by surprise in a bad way, as any valid Goodreads entry can't be deleted (authors sometimes attempt to delete/blank books, but all that does is get them banned).

Thomas Coutouzis said:

I got a great review from an editor for a Publisher.

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Who was the publisher, if you don't mind sharing?

As Polenth says, the fact that you've self-published the book may or may not affect your chances with agents and publishers. Some won't take on previously published work at all, some will, and some will only take on previously published work that's proven popular or that's been extensively changed from the original version. Again, it's important that you disclose the situation to any agent or publisher you approach, especially if it's been added to Goodreads. I'd also make certain you get verification from Inkitt that any display rights you've given them have reverted back to you. They don't make it clear on the site how long they hold onto those display rights, even after you've deleted, so make sure they're not holding onto anything you intend to submit elsewhere.

Thanks everyone. I will definitely do that.

As for the editor, his name was Mir Plemmons, but the publisher he worked for was never disclosed. The only reason he read my book was because it was in the Top 10 (voting). I am pretty sure he was British. He stated that he was an editor for a publisher and that was it. Inkitt seems to have some relationships with publishers, but I am not sure who.

Thomas Coutouzis said:

As for the editor, his name was Mir Plemmons, but the publisher he worked for was never disclosed. The only reason he read my book was because it was in the Top 10 (voting). I am pretty sure he was British. He stated that he was an editor for a publisher and that was it. Inkitt seems to have some relationships with publishers, but I am not sure who.

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That editor seems to have done editing for a couple of small presses. One looks to be a micropress that started up last year. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd guess that's not what you assumed when Inkitt said they had connections to publishers. The vagueness is precisely to make you think they mean big publishing houses who only usually look at agented submissions. But big publishing houses don't need Inkitt to find books. Small publishers will let you submit directly, so you don't need to wait for them to find you on a display site.

Don't trust vagueness. It's usually a way to imply something is more impressive than it is, without directly lying about it.

Polenth said:

That editor seems to have done editing for a couple of small presses. One looks to be a micropress that started up last year. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd guess that's not what you assumed when Inkitt said they had connections to publishers. The vagueness is precisely to make you think they mean big publishing houses who only usually look at agented submissions. But big publishing houses don't need Inkitt to find books. Small publishers will let you submit directly, so you don't need to wait for them to find you on a display site.

Don't trust vagueness. It's usually a way to imply something is more impressive than it is, without directly lying about it.

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Yes, that was not my expectation. Good Research! Thank you for the lesson.

I emailed them this morning asking what "a commercially reasonable time" means. Hopefully, they will get back to me soon. If not, then I will go into the writing forums on Inkitt that they are a part of and ask them in front of all the writers.

When I find out, I will let everyone know.

Here is the reply. It appears that it is only a couple of days. See explanation below.

Hi Thomas,



Thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear you leave, but of course we respect
your decision.

The cited section of our Terms of service is only in place for the standard
technical requirements of running a content based web service. A few days after
deletion, when the cache is updated, your story will be guaranteed to be gone
from the platform, and our rights to display it will be terminated. Basically,
if you don't see your story on Inkitt, we no longer hold the rights either.

To avoid data loss, we keep a secure, non-public backup of all content for 30
days, but this does not affect any of your publishing plans.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any further questions.



Best,

Mihaly Borbely

Head of marketing

Does the Rebecca Friedman Literary Agency know Inkitt's using their name in connection to another contest? This one's aimed at romance writers. A publishing deal and $500 prize for the winner. Here's the link: inkitt.com/swoon.

What bothers me most is they oh so politely ask me to do their damn job for them by spreading the word on social media. As if I don't have eleventy million other things to do as a SP author. I'm so annoyed I could spit.

BTW, this fantastic opportunity is brought to you by Mihaly Borbely.

I have an email in to RFA, asking about it. Got a response of 'we're checking up on that'. I'll post results.

If there is a business link, I'd urge caution before people pile on criticism. RFA may simply have been pulled in by slick ad copy. I have seen at least one respected genre author who promoted Inkitt without knowing what they were.

Confirned. Rebecca Friedman is judging the Swoon contest.

Huh. Ain't that something. RF is a good agency for romance writers. I'd think they'd be too busy to get involved with this sort of thing.

As per Filigree's Rule, I am now refraining from future comment on Inkitt and RFA. It's pointless effort.

I was just spammed by Inkitt on Wattpad.

Im reporting them, although I'm sure they will create another new account and start all over.

I just got spammed by them on All About Romance. I'll report it.

Thomas Coutouzis said:

The book I submitted is the first book in a 6 book series. Would any publisher still pick up my book and the others despite the first book being on Inkitt?

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This isn't directly related to your Inkitt problems, but I offer it as friendly advice from one writer to another: it's not a good idea to write a series before you sell the first book. Because if the first book doesn't find a home, the rest of them are already down the drain.

When you're querying for the first book, you might or might not mention that you think it has series potential. But I wouldn't bring up the existing sequels unless they ask.

Log ago, I learned this. I'm hoping to spare others the same experience.

Yeah. I just got a tweet from a Twitter account called @strikinglit5 and signed by "Linda". Wanting to know if I want to enter their "Grand Novel contest". The rules are on the right side of the page and include such fabulous promises as "The contest winner will get a publishing offer with the following terms:

• The author receives 85% of net earnings if the license is sold to an A-list publisher (e.g. Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, MacMillan or HarperCollins)
• In case the A-list publishers don't pick it up, Inkitt will publish the novel and the author will receive 50% of Inkitt's net earnings."

So many red flags. This isn't the first time they've contacted me on Twitter either, but last time it was for a different contest that only required the opening chapters and I ignored it. (At the time it looked more like a competitor to WattPad, but this is a little different.)

I got a tweet from them the other day too! I figure getting Inkitt spam is a sign that I have finally Arrived as a Writer.

Aggy B. said:

I just got a tweet from a Twitter account called @strikinglit5 and signed by "Linda". Wanting to know if I want to enter their "Grand Novel contest".

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Just got the same loving invitation from Linda. This time the account was @superbbookmark