• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

[Publisher] Inkubator Books

themindstream

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Messages
1,011
Reaction score
194
Saw these guys tweeted about by an established author I follow, figured I would start a thread. Hope it helps someone.

Inkubator Books
Website: https://inkubatorbooks.com/
Call for submissions: https://www.writing.ie/resources/submissions-call-inkubator-books/
Seeking: Crime, mystery and thriller manuscripts, 60-90k words

"Based in Dublin, Inkubator Books is a brand new digital publisher specialising in genre fiction – crime, mystery, thrillers. We launch our books exclusively on Amazon through its KDP Select program, which allows us to participate in Kindle Unlimited, a huge subscription service that Amazon offers its readers."

(...) "So who are Inkubator? The company was founded by Brian Lynch and Garret Ryan, both professional writers. Brian works in TV, mainly in the UK and Europe, and has over 70 produced credits across a range of genres. Garret (publishing as Mike Sheridan) has written several post-apocalyptic bestsellers which he has successfully launched on the Amazon platform."
 

writera

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
368
Reaction score
126
Location
Cali-Dreaming
Stumbled on these guys and came here to check them out. Was glad to see they had a thread - but there's not much info here, just the original post which is over 5 years old. So I thought I'd post too like the above poster and see if anyone knows more and also add some of my own thoughts from lookng through their website.

They remind me a bit of UK publisher Joffe Books, at least from the outside. Not sure how fair the terms are (45 percent - is that net/gross?). Books covers are decent, if a tad generic (though they are genre-appropriate). If they're only publishing via KDP, that's a bit limiting and something any author could do themselves. So I guess you get book cover design and editing in exchange for 55 percent of the profits. They also say they do marketing, but how much?

One thing that gives me pause - and is a bit of a red flag imo - is this bit from their FAQ page (link - https://inkubatorbooks.com/faqs/):

"What about film and TV rights?

Inkubator reserve the right to negotiate film and TV rights on behalf of the author for the term of the contract. We will keep 25% of all revenue earned from any such deal."

I wouldn't like that personally. I want to keep all my film/TV rights. One of their co-owners works in TV according to the OP on this thread so maybe that's why they've added that.

Also, they definitely don't go beyond Amazon, as they state here:

"Do Inkubator go ‘wide’, i.e. do you sell books on platforms other than Amazon like Kobo, Apple, etc?

No. We believe that the Kindle Unlimited subscription service offers an opportunity that is too lucrative to pass up, so we only release books through the Amazon store. In rare cases, we may also do limited print runs through services like Ingram Sparks."

Again, I think this is limiting and something we can just do ourselves.

They also offer something called a "Writers Room" (development/ideas, I'm guessing) that sounds a bit iffy (though another FAQ question seems to indicate it's optional and they're okay if you're not into it). Might be another flag, though there's not a lot of info about it.

Has anyone submitted to them? Or what do you think based on their site/books, etc.?
 
Last edited:

writera

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
368
Reaction score
126
Location
Cali-Dreaming
Not much more to report here - but from a quick glance, some of their books do have what looks to be fairly high sales ranks or at least quite a lot of ratings on Amazon (maybe the sales ranks themselves aren't that high and it's just the number of reviews/star ratings that are high), but is that just because they're enrolled in Kindle Unlimited? Or are they actually selling well?
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,708
Reaction score
9,673
Location
USA
One of their authors has twenty titles published in the last ~five years. (Rapid release.)

In KDP select, self-publishers earn 70% royalties. Inkubator offers 45% (they take a slice of the 70% royalties).

iow, Inkubator looks like a service to me ... nothing wrong with that ... the decent sales of some of their books, I think, rely in part on the author writing prolifically, to a known audience (thriller, suspense, etc). Inkubator may provide additional marketing (? like ads) and probably does (?). For some authors this could be a good fit.

This is what it looks like to me.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: writera

FirePrince

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 9, 2023
Messages
129
Reaction score
86
Location
UK
Their books have good covers, really have good sales and reviews, I would presume but this is what threw me off when I considered them for submissions;

If you are a new author and don’t have an agent, that’s okay. We love to discover exciting new voices and launch them into the world…

To me this signified that they are more likely to reply to an agent than to a new author submitting without an agent, so you might not get response from them? They didn't even mention their respnse time on the submissions website which looks to me like they ONLY accept agented submissions. The ellipsis after the sentence summarises the whole thing. I didn't submit to them, so I had no idea if they would respond or not, but to me, they are more likely NOT to respond or consider your work if unagented.
 

Brigid Barry

Under Consideration and Revising
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
8,816
Reaction score
14,045
Location
Maine, USA
Did someone actually see sales figures from the company, or...?
 

FirePrince

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 9, 2023
Messages
129
Reaction score
86
Location
UK
I took a look and their home page is an appeal to authors.
Definitely agree. Smooth website and the covers (despite the fact that they are thrillers) are very good looking. I got attracted mostly because I write thrillers.