Another ebook distributor offering ‘100% royalties’ to self-publishers and owned by a traditional publishing house has followed Pronoun’s closure this week with its own decision to shut up shop after opening just eight months ago.
Type & Tell, which is owned by Scandinavian publisher Bonnier, set up shop in the UK in March this year offering 100% royalties to authors (net of retailers’ commission) who distributed their ebooks through the service.
The idea was to offer a range of editorial and marketing services to authors, which would presumably pay the bills. The company’s publishing packages ranged from costing authors £199 at the bottom end to a whopping £3,399 for the T&T Pro deal.
It obviously didn’t have enough takers for its packages but it’s still difficult to explain why a company with the financial backing of a publishing giant like Bonnier would call it a day after a few months. In fact, Type & Tell never actually got out the beta phase before closing. Don’t these firms know it takes time to build trust and business, particularly in the tech area? Even Macmillan stuck it out for nearly a year and a half before pulling the plug on Pronoun.
Macmillan admitted in its ‘Epilogue’ to Pronoun users that it had failed to meet the challenges of the self-publishing business but Bonnier’s adieu doesn’t give any clues about why it’s binning off Type & Tell.
Still, it’s a reminder that if a deal looks too good to be true then it probably is.
December 9 is the final day for Type & Tell users to download their files from the Book Editor and November is the final month of distribution.
It’s been a good week for ebook distributor Draft2digital which has been operating successfully for five years with an excellent service for self-publishers and just a few days ago announced new distribution through Amazon’s Kindle stores.
Here’s the ‘Dear John/Joan’ letter from Type & Tell:
Dear Type & Tell User,
It is with great regret that we have to announce that Type and Tell UK will cease trading at end of 2017.
This has not been an easy decision. It is a very sad moment for everyone in the Type & Tell team. We set out to create a new kind of self-publishing service — a place where authors could write, make, print and publish with ease and with professional help. We’ve enjoyed working with you on your projects and sharing your dreams.
Type & Tell UK will officially close on 20th December 2017. For those distributing their books with Type & Tell, the final month of distribution will be November 2017.
All users can download their files for free from the Book Editor as Word documents. Please do this before 9th December 2017 — after this date your T&T Dashboard will no longer be available.
Our customer service centre will remain fully operational until 5.30pm on our last day of business – which will be on 20th December 2017 — so if you have any enquiries about your files or require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@typeandtell.com.
On behalf of Type & Tell, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing us as your writing and self-publishing platform, and for the loyal and continuous support you have shown us over the year we have been trading.
Yours sincerely,
Jon Watt
Country Manager, Type and Tell UK
There are a couple of discounts on offer for Type & Tell users as Reedsy is offering 50% off services via https://reedsy.com/loves/type-tell while Ingram Spark is offering free set-up cost and annual fees with the promotion code ‘GETPUBLISHED’.
If you’re looking for ebook distribution, I would recommend Draft2digital although Smashwords is also an option. If you want to publish a print book as well, then the Ingram Spark discount deal would be useful.
If you need further details about the T&T shutdown try the Type & Tell website closing info.
Draft2digital adds Kindle to ebook distribution options
Ebook distributor Pronoun shuts down as Macmillan pulls the plug