Penguin Publishing is poised to enter the highly competitive market of digital self-publishing. The company today has finished their acquisition of US based Author Solutions for $116 million in cash. Author Solutions will “continue to be run as a separate business” and will be “integrated into Penguin’s back office and technology infrastructure.”
Author Solutions may be a good fit for Penguin, but will continue to run as an independent company. The company mainly solicits manuscripts from authors, provides editing and marketing services, and publishes the books in print or digital format. The company generally requires writers to pay, though it does offer free services through its Booktango product. Over 150,000 people have published with the company since they unveiled their services back in 2007. Their current staff features over 1,600 employees, most of whom are located in Bloomington, Indiana, and the Philippines.
Penguin is expected to cherry pick the higher performing authors under the Author Solutions imprint and hopefully create the next 50 Shades of Grey. They also will have full access to their self-publishing data and metrics.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
