Business Opportunities Weblog

November 12, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Rick Rieser was halfway through his daily jog this summer when the idea for Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken popped into his brain, reports The San Jose Mercury News.

Today, the 52-year-old first-time author is preparing for a busy schedule of readings in the Midwest, toting boxes of the children’s book that was published with stunning speed via a small Silicon Valley startup called FastPencil. A creative process that often takes years — and typically fails to come to fruition — was accomplished in a few months, without a single rejection.

FastPencil, based in Campbell, Calif., is at the crest of a wave of innovation that analysts say could change the book industry much as the music industry was transformed by Napster and the iPod. The changes are challenging the gatekeeper status and distribution models of big publishing houses by creating alternative routes for authors.

The Web has been a boon for self-expression, but while just about anyone can blog, a physical book remains the dream of many writers.

Advances in digital technologies, such as Amazon’s Kindle, have created new ways to publish and consume the written word.

Writers, meanwhile, are exploring avenues such as Scribd, which is showcasing digital works known as “e-books,” and FastPencil, which bills itself as a one-stop shop to help authors create, publish, distribute and sell their physical books.

Photo by FastPencil.

In Authors, Innovation, Internet, eBooks | 2 Comments