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Jenkins Group

cwgranny

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Hi Folks,

The Jenkins Group was mentioned in passing on another thread, but I need to know a bit more if anyone can help. Someone I know who decided to self-publish a series of children's books (and has formed a tiny publishing company of her own to do it) wanted to know if Jenkins Group was likely to be a help to a "just starting out" self-publisher of children's books.

Does anyone with way more experience with such thing than I have any advice? What I know about self-publishing tends to start and end with "not for me, thank you."

I'll appreciate any input.

gran
 

Glynn

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A Bit More Information about the Jenkins Group

The link coapaux gave is broken. At least I couldn't open it.

By coincidence, I just received an email from the Jenkins group which provides targeted media publicity programs. It appears from their web site, that they display and promote publishers' titles at major book fairs--they claim that their exhibitions have front row exposure at the entrance to most book fair exhibition areas. I can't judge what that's worth (unless they employ trolls who make passersby look at their display or be eaten by a monster)--or if it's worth the money anyway. The link below is the one in the email letter. Looks like their "home site" is called bookpublishing.com.

I think Peter Bowerman mentions Jenkins Group in his book The Well Fed Self-Publisher. BTY Bowerman's book is a "must have" for self-publishers. I'll go back and check and let you know what he says about the Jenkins Group in his book.

http://bookpublishing.com/ip/includes/cbe_2007/jgicbe_tmr_flyer.pdf
 

kristie911

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One of the owners of the Jenkins Group spoke at a book club meeting I attended last year. He had some of the books they had "doctored" (new covers etc) and they did look very nice and very professional. I don't know how well they sold or what they do exactly but they did seem legit and he was very pleasant.

Just my 2 cents...and that isn't buying much anymore!
 

soloset

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My first impression from the website is that this is a vanity press with PR trappings. May not be accurate, but that was my first impression.

Jenkins Group, Inc. specializes in the publishing of high quality books for first-time and veteran authors, corporations and organizations worldwide. Our custom solutions fit a variety of budgets and publishing timelines.

We coordinate and direct the final printing and shipping of your finished books.

I think it depends on what your friend's goals are. If she wants to pay a company to publish her books, I'd shop around -- this one looks glitzy but expensive, and you can probably find a better price.

If, on the other hand, she wants to start a company to print her own books, aren't there cheaper ways? You might want to point her to the self-pub sub-forum.

Your friend should verify that any company she picks has the distribution they claim they do, and find out how many books she can expect to sell through this company. If this is a hobby for her, she might not mind taking a loss to see her book in print, but if she's expecting to make money she'll have to crunch the numbers.

Want to sell books by the thousands? We can help you find book clubs, catalogs, and corporations through our special market sales services.

This implies that, should you decide not to take advantage of their "special market sales services" which are no doubt at a premium, you will be selling fewer than thousands.

I'm not sure how anyone could, assuming a $10,000 initial investment, make a profit if they aren't selling a lot of copies. Pardon my lame math, but at $20 a copy (assuming that's free and clear and included in the $10,000), you'd have to sell 500 copies just to break even.
 

novellabob

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[Publisher] Jenkins Group

The Jenkins Group claims to be a book publisher, although they offer various "packages" aimed at marketing and distribution for companies and individuals alike. This is at bookpublishing.com/ At a separate URL (jenkinsgroupinc/), The Jenkins Group offers ghostwriting. I'd bet my granny that if one gets a book ghostwritten by Jenkins, they refer you to their publishing division. (No offense, granny.) Conflict of interest here?
 

CaoPaux

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By most accounts, they are a vanity book packager. More about them here: <obsolete link snipped>
 
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Lauri B

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As far as I know, Jenkins Group has never claimed to be a royalty-paying publisher. They do a good job on packaging books and have had some big clients.
 

Moof!

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I get this every few days:
---------------------------------------------------

My name is Stephanie Starner-Greiner, Book Marketing Consultant for the Jenkins Group. What action have you taken to effectively promote your book? The Jenkins Group has a cost effective answer to your book promotion.

Our Targeted Media Release Packages can take your book global!

You will receive a professionally written press release and a hand selected list of media contacts pulled from the USA/Canada and your choice of up to 5 International Countries. Just $999 *with 3 distributions of your press release to each media contact- if purchased on or before December 20th.

I can help you reach BLOGS, RADIO, TELEVISION, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES and NEWSLETTERS that target your books specific market. Here's what clients are saying about our Targeted Media Release publicity service:

"Today I was contacted by two companies. Scholastic completely knocked my socks off, I didn't expect to hear from them so quickly. I am putting some jpgs together for them right now. Your follow-up guide helped a lot. I appreciate the time you've spent guiding me along this new path! Every day is a learning day, that being said by a teacher! Lots of smiles",-Joyce Ann Fernandez, author of Uno Is One

For a FREE 30 minute phone consultation, please contact me via the information provided below and be sure to ask me about Review Direct! I look forward to helping you sell more books in 2013!

Blah blah blah
---

In other words, for a princely sum, we'll spam a bunch of people on your behalf. Just what I need...