Fictionwise, Inc. is an independent eBook and AudioBook publisher and distributor with sales of over one million units per year. We contract electronic rights to previously-published fiction and nonfiction works and sell them as eBooks or AudioBooks, and we also distribute eBooks and AudioBooks from other quality publishers.

Requirements

Fictionwise partners with publishers who can provide 25 or more titles by at least five different established, professional authors. We are seeking works in virtually all categories, including nonfiction (see our categories on the left side of this page). Fictionwise only publishes titles in the English language, and we ask publishers to *not* submit classic works that are commonly found in the public domain such as Twain, Verne, Dickens, Melville, Poe, etc.... Public domain authors and titles do not qualify toward the minimum requirement.

Publishers must own the electronic rights to their titles, and have them available in the electronic file format .RTF for eBooks and .mp3 for AudioBooks. All versions of Microsoft Word can save files as .RTF.

NOTE FOR ALL PUBLISHERS: Fictionwise has a program to host your company's web site and generate royalties in addition to sales of your titles at the Fictionwise.com web site--review the section below on Branded Stores.

Fictionwise has over a million members and sells over one million units per year, making us one of the top eBook distribution companies in the world.

Fictionwise helps readers find your titles. Our ground-breaking Promotheus(TM) technology can actually steer readers to your eBooks. Using artificial intelligence techniques, the Fictionwise web site finds patterns of reader likes and dislikes, in effect creating a neural map of each user. We then send suggested stories to the reader via email or as a notice when they log into the site. After reading a story, a customer can rate the story to tell us if they liked it. By matching together groups of people who like and dislike similar titles, we can predict with a high degree of accuracy how a given customer will react to a story they have not yet read. This allows readers to broaden the authors they read with some level of confidence that they won't waste time reading a story that they won't like.

What types of eBooks are sold at Fictionwise?

Fictionwise sells MultiFormat (unencrypted) eBooks, which are available for download in 13 formats:

eReader [-er.PDB]
Adobe [.PDF]
Microsoft [.LIT]
Palm Doc [.PDB]
Rocket/REB1100 [.RB]
Franklin [.FUB]
Hiebook [.KML]
Sony Reader [.LRF]
Isilo [-IS.PDB]
Mobipocket [.PRC]
Kindle [.MOBI]
OEBFF Full VGA [.IMP]
OEBFF Half VGA [.IMP]

All partner publisher MultiFormat eBooks at Fictionwise have printing disabled.

What does it cost to publish at Fictionwise?

There are no up-front costs, hosting fees, or annual charges for publishing eBooks or AudioBooks at Fictionwise. A $15 production fee is taken from the first royalties of each eBook to cover the cost of converting the source file into our 12 unencrypted formats. There is no minimum time requirement for how long an eBook must be for sale--publishers can request an eBook to be taken offsale at any time for any reason--if an eBook never sells $15, publishers do not owe us the difference. AudioBooks are not charged a production fee.

Are ISBN numbers required?

No. Fictionwise does not require ISBN numbers. Publishers who already have ISBN numbers for their titles can include them inside the eBook files and also submit them to be displayed on the publisher royalty report.

My company publishes magazines or serialized novels. Can we set up subscriptions?
Fictionwise does sell subscriptions for magazines and serialized novels, but we only do so after one year of issues have been published on time at Fictionwise. A magazine or serialized novel must prove long-term on-time reliability before we assume the risk of having to refund subscription fees for late or undelivered issues.

Does Fictionwise sell Secure eBooks?

Yes, but only through one of our encrypted eBooks suppliers. Fictionwise sells secure (encrypted) eBooks in Adobe Acrobat, MS Reader, Mobipocket, and Palm Reader formats through Lightning Source, Overdrive (Content Reserve), and Mobipocket. If your company only sells secure eBooks, then please contact them. We do, however, strongly urge you to consider selling MultiFormat eBooks--buyers have fewer problems with MultiFormat eBooks and generate better sales than secure eBooks.

What type of publisher contract does Fictionwise have?

The standard publisher contract is a 5 year non-exclusive agreement, publishers receive 50% royalty on gross sales, and royalties are paid quarterly either by check through the (snail) mail or via PayPal. After a title is online, publishers can purchase any or all of the 12 eBook files from the Royalty Report page, for $5 each, to use however they wish.

If your company meets the requirements to sell MultiFormat eBooks at Fictionwise, please register (for free), then submit a New Publisher Request.

Branded Stores

What is a Fictionwise Branded Store?
The Fictionwise Branded Store is a customizable, template-based website utilizing Fictionwise's eBook content, bookshelf, shopping cart and search functions. The program was developed for partner publishers to sell their own eBooks (plus any of the other 30,000+ titles in the Fictionwise system) on their home web site without the hassle of managing eBook production, online transaction processing, or customer support.
http://www.pdabookstore.com is a Branded Store.

What's the setup fee, and what percentage of sales do I earn?
There is a one-time Branded Store setup fee of $1000, and you get to keep 10% of the sales.

Do I control what titles are for sale, and what's on the home page?
Yes. A Branded Store is, in effect, your store with our content. You control what titles are available for sale and can make changes as often as you wish. You also control what titles the home page displays. You can choose to include or exclude any of the categories. This is all done through the administration interface that is protected by your LoginID and password.

Where are the Branded Store web site files actually located?
We configure the pages with the your company's colors and graphics so it looks like a site you designed. Nobody has any reason to suspect a Branded Store web site is on the same machine as Fictionwise.com.

Do I need any technical expertise to manage a Branded Store?
No. There is a Branded Store administration tool that lets you control which titles appear in your Branded Store. A sales report page lets you choose a date range to view sales numbers. The Branded Store can be customized in a number of ways, including choosing what categories appear in the left navigation bar, and what titles to display based on a number of different parameters including by Publisher, Author, Wordcount, or you can select titles individually. All of this is all done through the easy-to-use administration interface.

Does Fictionwise design my Branded Store website?
Yes. You just give us your logo and any other graphics, and tell us what colors you want.

What domain name will my Branded Store use?
You can use your own domain name like memoware does:
http://www.pdabookstore.com
--or you can use the default URL for branded stores like EPIC does:
http://store.fictionwise.com/epic

Is there a Branded Store contract to sign?
No. There is no printed/signed contract, you simply agree to the terms of service displayed in the site administrator pages.

Can I have more than one domain name for my Branded Store?
No. Only one domain name per Branded Store is allowed. You can, however, point other domain names to your Branded Store home page (this is called 'forwarding'), but the domain name in the address window will default to your primary one after it is forwarded.

Do Buywise Club members get their 15% discount at my Branded Store?
No. Buywise Club discounts are not available at Branded Stores.

Can I change the domain name on my Branded Store
Yes. You can change the domain name on your Branded Store without a fee. Submit a support ticket and let us know your new domain name. We strongly recommend against doing this, however, unless your company changes names and rebrands itself .

Can I create my own promotions?
No. But Branded Stores are automatically included in any promotions happening at Fictionwise.com.

How and when are royalties paid?
Royalties are paid each quarter either by check through the (snail) mail or via PayPal, approximately 45 days after the end of each quarter: 1Q ends March 31, 2Q ends June 30, 3Q ends September 30, 4Q ends December 31. The Branded Store royalty payment is separate from the Fictionwise Partner Publisher royalty payment, so if your company has a Branded Store and is also a partner publisher, you will recieve two royalty payments.

Are the prices at Fictionwise.com the same as on my Branded Store?
Yes. Your Branded Store gets its prices from the same database as Fictionwise.com, so when a price changes there it also changes on your Branded Store.

How do I get my royalties deposited to my PayPal account?
Submit a support ticket and let us know you'd like your Branded Store royalties paid to your PayPal account. Be sure to include your PayPal email address.

Why didn't I recieve a royalty payment last quarter?
Check your sales report from the last quarter to see if your Branded Store earned a royalty payment of at least $25. If the royalty payment due is less than $25, we hold on to it and add the royalty for the next quarter--when the total royalty amount reaches $25, the payment will be issued.

I'm interested in setting up a Branded Store, what do I do?
Submit a support ticket indicating you'd like to proceed with a Branded Store, and you'll be contacted with details.

AudioBooks and AudioBook Publishing at Fictionwise

I want to publish AudioBooks, what should I do first?
You can either contact an AudioBook production company to get your titles recorded as AudioBooks, or if you are experienced in computer audio and AudioBook production in general, you can record them yourself. When you have a sample .MP3 file ready for review, you can submit it for approval.

Does Fictionwise recommend an AudioBook production company?
No. As a retailer of AudioBooks, Fictionwise has no experience in recording AudioBooks, meaning that we don't make them, we just sell them. This being the case, we can't recommend an AudioBook production company, but you can probably find listings of AudioBook production companies with the appropriate search terms at Google or any other search engine.

Can I record my own AudioBooks and submit them for approval?
Yes, but we strongly recommend you first invest the time needed to learn how to produce quality AudioBooks on your computer. There's a lot more to it than clicking "Record" and speaking into a microphone.

I've decided to record my own AudioBooks, what should I do next?
We recommend you find a textbook or some other source of information about recording audio on your computer and the production of AudioBooks in general. We can't recommend a specific title, but there are plenty of good sources available on the internet and in print. We can recommend some very good open-source (free) computer audio programs such as Audacity [http://audacity.sourceforge.net] and Kristal [http://www.kreatives.org/kristal], and we have heard good things about Adobe's Audition [http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html] We also recommend you use a USB microphone--USB is better for high quality audio transfer to the computer. You will also need a large hard drive, as audio takes up a lot of room!

What is the criteria for determining if my AudioBooks qualify for publication at Fictionwise?
When we recieve a sample .MP3 file from a publisher interested in selling AudioBooks at Fictionwise, we listen to it and determine if the quality is good enough to satisfy our customers. The criteria is pretty simple: Is the audio level too low to hear the narrator? Is the audio level too high and causing distortion? Is the narrator speaking clearly? Is there background noise or other interference? Is the introductory music or sound effects pleasant and appropriate ... in general, is there anything about the AudioBook that would produce a complaint from a paying customer. Fictionwise reserves the right to decline requests to publish AudioBooks.

I'm ready to record my titles as AudioBooks, what type of files do I need?
The three files needed are: a high-quality 96kbps .mp3 file (or files), a "standard quality" 32kbps file(s) and a sample .mp3. We deliver the 96k and 32k files to the customer in zipped format. If there are multiple files for a particular title, they are zipped together in 100MB chunks (for 96k) and 40MB chunks (for 32k). If you have multi-part files, please provide a .m3u playlist file to go with them. If you merge the files into one continuous file, we ask that you keep the file sizes down below 100MB (96k) and 40MB (32k). The sample .mp3 is not zipped, and we've been using a running time of about 3 minutes maximum at 96K for a sample, although you can use other lengths and bit rates if you prefer.

I have a sample .MP3 file ready to submit for approval, what do I do?
Register as a Fictionwise member, then submit a support ticket letting us know you are interested in becoming a AudioBook partner publisher and wish to submit a sample .mp3 file. We'll reply with instructions for submitting the file.

Is there a fee for publishing AudioBooks?
No. The publisher is responsible for creating AudioBook files, so the production fee is waived.

Is the royalty for AudioBooks the same as for eBooks?
Yes. Both eBooks and AudioBooks are contracted at a 50% royalty rate.