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Book Country Relaunches With Closer Integration With Sister Company Author Solutions

book_country_logo[1]The Random Penguin Solutions feeder tank online author site Book Country was relaunched this morning. The site now offers more services, better support for more genres, and plans to launch an ebookstore where authors can sell their content.

Book Country now supports over 60 genres including several nonfiction categories as well as a wide and nuanced variety of fiction genres like YA mysteries, SF, romance, fantasy, and even the latest trendy and hip genres like new adult.They have also recently added an interactive genre map showing many of the categories of content that are now supported:

book country genre map

This site initially launched in April 2011, and it has since grown to include over 8 thousand members. The site reports that over a third of its membership is outside the US, and that its membership rolls have grown by a third in 2013 alone.

In addition to broader support for content,  Book Country has added other new features like a private messaging system so members can collaborate out of the public eye.  There’s also a new tool that will let members upload or create their own cover image.

And then there are the features being provided by Author Solutions (ASI). That firm was bought by Penguin in 2012 for $119 million, and it has since been integrated into a number of Penguins operations around the world, including Book Country.

ASI is providing a number of services to Book Country members, including editing, cover design, and promotional features such as book stubs (gift cards for free downloads of a particular e-book). Book Country’s CS dept is also staffed by Author Solutions, giving the Bernie Madoff of publishing an excellent opportunity to upsell authors new services and overpriced publishing packages.

Book Country is also planning to launch an ebookstore in the near future. Authors can distribute their work through Book Country via one of several publishing packages (prices range from free to  $399). The lower tier packeges earn an 85% royalty on ebooks sold through the store as well as 85% of net revenue generated elsewhere.

More Reading

  • Book Country: Now Opening New Territory (Publishing Perspectives)
  • Book Country Launches Revamped Site (PW)
  • Ether for Authors: Are Publishers on a Tightrope with Author Solutions? (Publishing Perspectives)
  • Penguin’s Book Country plans store where self-published authors can sell their ebooks (paidContent)

 

 

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Writing Community Book Country Hits New Milestone – 10 Thousand Members | The Digital Reader July 27, 2016 um 1:28 pm

[…] has gone through a number of revamps and reorganizations in the past 3 years, with the last adding closer integration with Book Country's sister company, Author Solutions. This vanity press services firm was tapped to […]


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