Publishers fail to indentify talented authors
As we’ve seen many of our friends’ great stories get turned down time and time again from publishers we decided to take a closer look. The results were astonishing: if many agents and publishers would have had their say worldwide bestsellers like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Patrick Süskind’s Parfum and many more would not have been published either. Harry Potter was even turned down twelve times – most of the people we know would have given up trying long before that. At the same time too many books are published that nobody reads; this amounts to about 3 million trees that are being cut down annually just for the paper of returned books of the US alone.
Self-publishing fails to create relevance for readers
As print-on-demand publishers, an alternative to the traditional publishers, clearly are not a very attractive option to new authors either with sales of just two copies per book published on average, we decided something had to change fundamentally to open new ways for authors to reach their readers. As Scott Bradner once said on the internet you don’t have to convince anyone that something is a good idea before trying it: traditional publishers have to try to predict the potential of a new manuscript carefully as substantial investments are involved with publishing a book. More often than not those projections are completely wrong. Those investments don’t exist for publishing on the internet or print-on-demand. As the limited momentum of print-on-demand proves, however, it is not sufficient to simply make these manuscripts available.
quillp makes manuscripts relevant to readers and supports publisher's predictions
To attract the attention each manuscript deservers, it needs to become relevant to readers. This is why we built quillp as an integrated platform for readers and authors: readers can express their preferences in books through their personal libraries and find new books and manuscripts from established and new authors matching their taste; authors can connect directly with their readers and find supporters – what better way of convincing a publisher than many enthusiastic readers?
Limitations of the publishing industry as of today:
Traditional Publishers: Traditional publishers have to invest quite some money to publish your story, so unless you can convince the decision-maker on their ends, your story is not going to get through. As it is very difficult for an editor to predict what all those readers out there really want all by himself, the track-record of publishers is quite poor: on one hand 70% of all books published turn out to lose the publisher money; yet, on the other hand, J. K. Rowling wouldn't even have published Harry Potter (rejected by twelve publishers). History shows that a few decision makers (agents, editors) are very unlikely to judge the potential of your manuscript correctly.
POD: The internet has the potential to unlock creativity and give you direct access to your readers in completely new ways: as Scott Bradner once said, you don't have to convince anyone else anymore that something is a good idea before trying it. Everybody can publish print on demand (POD) books at almost no cost or post their manuscripts in online platforms.
But do these options really solve your problem as an author? Not really: as your manuscript is likely to get lost in a sea of obscurity, nobody is going to bother to spend their time on reading it, let alone spending money on purchasing it without having had the chance to gain some insights that make it relevant to them. Aside from lacking a mechanism of relevant discovery, print on demand publishers and online platforms to date fall short on another aspect: they don't have the powerful marketing machine that traditional publishers can offer once your book is published. The results prove it: on average a print on demand book sells just 1.8 copies - certainly not the type of success you envisioned for your manuscript. So if you are the next J. K. Rowling and you limit yourself to print on demand, chances are you're never going to be found by a wider audience in a pool of obscurity and nobody is going to push your book.
Result: The result: with
traditional publishers as well as with
print on demand publishers the discovery of your manuscript is merely a matter of chance - with a large probability that you end up in the wrong pile.
quillp: Here is where quillp comes in: together with you we can revolutionize publishing. We acknowledge the strengths of traditional publishers in marketing your book to a global audience; we acknowledge the strengths of print on demand publishers in giving you direct access to a limited audience of readers, enabling you to serve niche interests at a very low cost. But like so many great authors out there we are also frustrated about how poorly both are doing in predicting the potential of a new manuscript. With your support we want to revolutionize the process of discovery by systematically taping into the wisdom of crowds to determine which way of publishing is right for you: if you are the next J. K. Rowling and find thousands of supporters on quillp, you will be able to attract publishers for a mass market publication; if you are catering a niche interest that's just fine too as quillp readers will be able to purchase your book as a print on demand title or ebook just the same.
Readers
Show the books you loved to your friends and the world - and find new books you will like.
Often recommendations for great books come from the people whose judgement you trust: your friends. And what better way of getting to know someone else better than browsing through their bookshelf?
With quillp you can browse your friend's libraries to discover new books that might interest you as well and find new friends by comparing your library and favourite books to theirs.
You can also discover and support new authors you might like and with your vote help them to find a publisher. And why not pull your own manuscript out of your drawer and put it up on quillp? Everybody has a story to tell - and maybe you are the next big
author just waiting to be discovered.
Authors
Upload your manuscripts, find an audience, attract publishers.
Limitations of the publishing industry as of today:
Traditional Publishers: Traditional publishers have to invest quite some money to publish your story, so unless you can convince the decision-maker on their ends, your story is not going to get through. As it is very difficult for an editor to predict what all those readers out there really want all by himself, the track-record of publishers is quite poor: on one hand 70% of all books published turn out to lose the publisher money; yet, on the other hand, J. K. Rowling wouldn't even have published Harry Potter (rejected by twelve publishers). History shows that a few decision makers (agents, editors) are very unlikely to judge the potential of your manuscript correctly.
POD: The internet has the potential to unlock creativity and give you direct access to your readers in completely new ways: as Scott Bradner once said, you don't have to convince anyone else anymore that something is a good idea before trying it. Everybody can publish print on demand (POD) books at almost no cost or post their manuscripts in online platforms.
But do these options really solve your problem as an author? Not really: as your manuscript is likely to get lost in a sea of obscurity, nobody is going to bother to spend their time on reading it, let alone spending money on purchasing it without having had the chance to gain some insights that make it relevant to them. Aside from lacking a mechanism of relevant discovery, print on demand publishers and online platforms to date fall short on another aspect: they don't have the powerful marketing machine that traditional publishers can offer once your book is published. The results prove it: on average a print on demand book sells just 1.8 copies - certainly not the type of success you envisioned for your manuscript. So if you are the next J. K. Rowling and you limit yourself to print on demand, chances are you're never going to be found by a wider audience in a pool of obscurity and nobody is going to push your book.
Result: The result: with
traditional publishers as well as with
print on demand publishers the discovery of your manuscript is merely a matter of chance - with a large probability that you end up in the wrong pile.
quillp: Here is where quillp comes in: together with you we can revolutionize publishing. We acknowledge the strengths of traditional publishers in marketing your book to a global audience; we acknowledge the strengths of print on demand publishers in giving you direct access to a limited audience of readers, enabling you to serve niche interests at a very low cost. But like so many great authors out there we are also frustrated about how poorly both are doing in predicting the potential of a new manuscript. With your support we want to revolutionize the process of discovery by systematically taping into the wisdom of crowds to determine which way of publishing is right for you: if you are the next J. K. Rowling and find thousands of supporters on quillp, you will be able to attract publishers for a mass market publication; if you are catering a niche interest that's just fine too as quillp readers will be able to purchase your book as a print on demand title or ebook just the same.