Pentian is a New Crowdsourcing Platform for Publishing

A few months ago I launched thrillsandmystery.com, a website for crime/thriller/suspense/horror/mystery/adventure writers to test the waters with their short-form fiction, and build buzz for their other work. The idea was that a fraction of a story would be placed in a vetting  forum where readers could get a taste and suggest ways to punch the story. The story would then move to a contest page, where a bigger sample of the now re-worked story could be voted into an anthology based on story merit. The idea being that if readers were emotionally invested in a story, they’d want to read the conclusion, so the stories with the most promise – the most merit – would advance.

So obviously I am a believer in the crowd-sourcing model of publishing. I like the idea that readers – fans – should be allowed the opportunity to dictate what floats to the top. For years we’ve been wedded to this old-school idea that publishers, agents, producers, and other corporate players should be in charge of dictating to us what we find entertaining. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes they hit the ball out of the park. But just as often excellent, potentially ground-breaking work winds up languishing on the slush-pile.

Which is why I’m going to tell you about a new site and service called Pentian. Now I have not tried this service myself, so this is not a testimonial. I am also not receiving any kind of financial compensation, so this is not an ad. This is just me letting you, my fellow authors, know about something else you might want to consider as part of your overall publishing strategy.

The way Pentian works is similar to gofundme or indiegogo or kickstarter, only those who decide to help fund a project are treated as publishing partners and they share in all future royalties. Here’s how Pentian describes their service:

Pentian crowdsources publishing with a great twist: backers share in future royalties and Pentian operates as a publisher, insuring the success of the books with worldwide print + digital distribution. and production. There is NO cost to the authors; once a book is successfully crowd-funded, Pentian does the rest.
 Pentian has had stellar success with over 180 books published in Spain & South America in the first 9 months, and recently soft-launched in the USA (with 3 American books funded already!) 

If you have a novel you have been shipping around to agents and publishers with no success, perhaps Pentian might be something you could consider. It will give you all the same cred that publishing a book with a trad publisher offers thus avoiding the still present though dwindling stigma associated with self-pubbing, although you would sacrifice the control and potential profitability self-publishing still offers – but does not guarantee.

Should you decide to go the Pentian route, use this promo code when you sign up; UA69. I personally get nothing from it, but you will receive a 10% boost in your funding goal leaving a mere 9/10 of your publishing costs unfunded and up to your fans, friends, family, and future business partners.

Good luck. http://pentian.com