Often considered the original self-publishing guru and consultant, Dan Poynter, passed away on Tuesday of this week after a long illness. Poynter was 77 and best known for his book The Self-Publishing Manual, first published in 1979. He was a passionate advocate of quality self-publishing long before the impact of digital technology in the book…
Smashwords Inks Distribution Deal with Gardners Books UK
Self-Publishing platform and e-book distributor Smashwords has agreed a deal with the largest wholesaler in the United Kingdom, Gardners Books. Gardners powers the online ebook store operations of over 400 small and medium-sized booksellers throughout the world. This service is part of its white label ecommerce and fulfillment services. Smashwords announced the agreement in a blog post earlier this week. On…
Mybestseller in top 10 of Deloitte Fast50 Tech Awards
Dutch self-publishing platform and white label solutions provider Mybestseller has entered the top 10 of Deloitte Fast50 Tech Awards. The Deloitte Technology Fast50 is an annual competition of the 50 fastest growing tech companies in the Netherlands. From the press release: Mybestseller, one of the European market leaders in self-publishing, has reached a ninth position…
Pronoun Launches its Digital Book Publishing Platform
Last May TIPM reported that Pronoun (formerly Vook) intended to launch a digital book publishing platform. Well, today that publishing platform went live. Vook originally launched in 2009 as a digital content creation platform for e-books. Over the past year Vook has acquired boutique e-publisher Byliner and e-book data analysis engine Booklr. Rebranded as Pronoun,…
Author Solutions and Alliant University Launch Academic Press
Author Solutions, fresh from having two recent lawsuits against it dismissed, has this week continued its long-term strategy of partnership agreements with the announcement of Alliant Press. The new imprint is in partnership with Alliant International University and will be operated by Author Solutions’ iUniverse imprint. Alliant is a private, independent university offering graduate study in psychology,…
Second Class Action Lawsuit Against Author Solutions is Dismissed
The second class action lawsuit against Author Solutions, a self publishing service provider, was voluntarily dismissed yesterday, September 14th, in the state of Indiana. The news comes after last month’s decision by Judge Denise Cote to ‘discontinue without prejudice’ a similar case filed by two authors in the Southern District Court in New York. Both parties agreed to end litigation…
Self-Publishing Review (SPR) Launches Hybrid Publishing Service
The Self-Publishing Review (SPR) has launched what it describes as a ‘hybrid publishing house’ this week. And what exactly is that you might ask? ‘A traditional on-demand publishing model without the gatekeepers,’ says Henry and Cate Baum of SPR. Kwill Publishing House is targeted at authors who want to focus on writing and leave book production and marketing to the…
Reedsy Launches Global Author Survey
Reedsy provides an online marketplace to help connect authors with freelance publishing service professionals. It launched in 2014 as a new startup and opened its marketplace to authors that November. This week Reedsy founder Ricardo Fayet contacted TIPM to tell us about a new global survey it has designed, coded and launched. Fayet explains: The idea is to shed a bit…
Kobo Begins Development of Expanded Publishing Services
Kobo e-book retailer is currently developing new expanded author services for its self-publishing platform Kobo Writing Life (KWL). In a posting on the KWL blog on Monday, the e-book retailer explained a new feature that had appeared for authors on their account dashboards: Many of you have noticed a new “Author Services” tab popped up in…
Author Solutions Lawsuit is Discontinued & Settlement Reached
Judge Denise Cote has ordered the lawsuit filed by two authors (originally three) in April 2013 ‘discontinued without prejudice’ when she was informed earlier this month that both parties had reached a settlement. This follows on from Judge Cote’s decision in July to deny class action status to the plaintiffs because certification requirements had not been met and that…