[eZine] Fresh.ink

It sounds as though they are planning on being a service provider, only with beta-readers, not editors. But there's no sign of how anyone gets paid. Are the beta-readers doing it for fun? Paid by the writers? 'Cause I don't see that Fresh.Ink is paying anyone.
Or for that matter, who's paying Fresh.Ink.
So, either they are planning on mentioning who gets paid what after people sign up, or it's sort of a fancy hobby.

This is strangely similar to SofaNovel out of the Philippines. They have a no fee contest, cash prizes (in Philippine pesos), but the catch can be the prizes are really for editing services/YADS.

$7,500.00 is a lot of cash to lay out just to be altruistic to desperate writers, but I suspect they will offer "services" instead down the road and the price of the services will exceed the prize. (Get service A, worth 1000 bucks for only 500.00 of prize money!

Of course at some point one will need to subscribe. That's what the other place has for both readers and writers.

This is phase 1 of building our author reader matching platform - we want to change the way authors get feedback and iterate those critical final drafts. Our vision beyond phase 1 involves playing a hand in connecting authors with legitimate, reputable literary agents, and helping authors opting for the self-publishing route to monetize their work. But right now we’re heads down on building the best possible feedback platform for authors and readers alike.

Click to expand...

Soon as I see the "we want to change" trope, the bells start clanging. If this worked, there would be a lot more places for it, but they state they are trying to build a mailing list. I expect that's the main goal and at some point, they will add on something that will funnel money from writers and into their bank.

I do not know ANY legit, reputable literary agents who would want to see anything from a place like this. They have their hands full with submissions already on the desk from writers smart enough to follow their guidelines.

The founder, Matt Brindley, is a software developer and marketer. https://fresh.ink/about Nothing wrong with that. The founder of BenBella Books came from marketing, but he's into selling books, not setting up a mailing list. Maybe Brindley likes to read and his wife likes to write, but he apparently has no practical publishing experience. If his wife ever sold anything, I found no links, her name isn't even mentioned.

And just to be snarky, I found the website danged near impossible to read with its microscopic font.

I suggest stepping back, waiting a year, and then see what's going on.

It's like that Doctor Who episode, "let somebody else try first."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa74e8oAvIM&list=PLWVV_vWGo3iQbTRSnHgYVjesp8VJRKTnN&index=4

Soon there will be an acronym for attempted monetized beta-reading sites... like YADS is for display sites. I think Inkspand was the closest to being successful

I posted a novel on there. I got matched around 20 times, but no one opened it afterward, so I have no idea if anyone else had better luck.

Any follow-up on this? Paul Lamb.