FastPencil has teamed up with National Book Network in a deal that will see NBN distribute titles in FastPencil’s Premiere imprint to its accounts, while NBN publishing clients will have access to FastPencil’s publishing tools. FastPencil, which has developed a self-publishing platform for print and digital books, announced the launch of Premiere this summer. Premiere is aimed at established and “top tier” new authors and offers authors royalties that it says are three times that of average rates.
The agreement with NBN is “the final stop for Premiere in establishing it as a different option for authors,” said Bruce Butterfield, a new FastPencil director. NBN will distribute Premiere authors to all of its accounts in both the trade and special markets. Comics author Guy Gilchrist, pet book author Jim Dratfield and children’s author Angela Sage Larsen have signed with Premiere and other announcements are expected soon. The Gilchrist title, The Best of Today's Dogg, will be in stores in the first quarter of 2011.
NBN president Rich Freese said making FastPencil’s development tools available to its other client publishers “broadens the suite of services we can now offer.” Freese said FastPencil’s tools could be especially helpful to publishers looking to release a book quickly in different formats.
