Rick Rieser was halfway through his daily jog this summer when the idea for "Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken" first popped into his brain.
Today, Rieser is a first-time author 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, is at the crest of a wave of innovation that analysts say could disrupt and "democratize" 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. Rare are the blog-to-book breakthroughs of such authors as Julie Powell, whose blogging homage to chef Julia Child led to a book and a film.
Advances in digital technologies have created new ways to publish and consume the written word. Innovations ranging from the print-on-demand technologies by Hewlett-Packard and Xerox to the advent of Web-connected e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader are changing the way books produced, distributed and read. Speculation abounds that Apple is working on its own e-reader.
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.
At the very least, these startups represent a low-cost alternative to conventional vanity publishers. And they could help writers execute end-runs around publishing houses to achieve mainstream success.
Writers are excited by the trend. Jennifer Jacobson, a San Jose public relations professional, is an unpublished fantasy novelist who has posted works of fiction online. When her novel was rejected by publishing houses in the 1990s, she explored self-publishing options.
"Most companies wanted thousands of dollars," Jacobson recalled. "Some of them want me to join expensive memberships and pay for authors workshops." She passed.
While her literary dreams remain unfulfilled, Jacobson recently was able to add "author" to her résumé with the publication of the business book, "42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business," part of a series of "42 Rules" guidebooks conceived by tech marketing guru Laura Lowell, available as e-books and paperbacks published with print-on-demand technology.
Whatever an author's preference — how-to guides, poetry, cookbooks, family heirlooms — FastPencil promises to help people "connect, write, publish and sell" their books. Its Web site includes a variety of book templates as well as social-networking functions to enhance collaboration and provide writers with feedback for works in progress.
FastPencil's customers can publish a single copy of up to 100 pages for $10 as a personal keepsake or pay more for large commercial print runs that can be distributed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and FastPencil's own fledgling operation.
Rieser, who lives in Ohio, engaged illustrator Daniel Seward, a Chico resident, via FastPencil. He also is using it to help market his book.
FastPencil founders Michael Ashley and Steve Wilson hope "Percy," an uplifting tale about a chick's self-confidence, can catalyze their business. The Scribd Store, the San Francisco startup's new e-book marketplace, was jump-started this spring by "The Sower," a satirical biotech thriller by Kemble Scott about a man who has curative powers that can be delivered only through sexual contact.
Scott, who had a regional bestseller with his 2007 debut novel "SoMa," turned to Scribd after a major publishing house — he declined to say which — offered him a contract for "The Sower" that was, he said, "absolutely criminal."
Typically, only big-name authors can command big royalties from publishers, who justify their relative stinginess with little-known authors by citing their financial risk. The high amount of waste in traditional publishing is exhibited in discounted "remainders" at bookstores.
Scott opted to sell "The Sower" as an e-book in the Scribd Store for $2, roughly twice the price of a typical song download on iTunes. The deal gave Scott 80 percent of the revenue and enabled him to publish the finished novel instantly, ensuring that pop-culture references would be fresh.
"If I were publishing it the usual way, I'd have to wait until 2011 for the book to come out," Scott said in an article in Publishers Weekly. "An e-book also allows me to add topical references, making a novel set in the present feel absolutely current. The novel includes references to swine flu, Susan Boyle and TheDailyBeast.com."
The novel's digital debut attracted considerable media coverage and three conventional publishers contacted him. He signed with Numina Press, a boutique publisher in Marin County, to rush out the physical first edition of "The Sower." Recently, a Kindle edition of "The Sower" was released at $4.99.
Physical books, Scott predicted, won't be fully replaced by e-books because only a fool would take an e-reader to the beach, risking damage from sand and water.
Scribd has no interest in publishing books on paper, said Trip Adler, its co-founder and CEO, but rather aims to be "a hub" of digital distribution to whatever electronic device the reader chooses. Scribd has struck a distribution deal with Simon & Schuster.
FastPencil is tilted toward the paper medium. Its story begins with the rejections Ashley's mother encountered when she sought a publisher for a young adult novel she had written for his daughter.
Ashley, a serial entrepreneur and avid surfer who was then busy running his Santa Cruz startup SurfMaps.com., took control of her manuscript. The project, he said, helped him appreciate the radical changes in publishing since the 1990s, when he and his wife spent $8,000 to self-publish "Crayon Soup," a guide to family-friendly dining in Santa Cruz County that lost money but provided a tax write-off for dining expenses.
Ashley succeeded in producing 100 copies of his mother's novel at a modest expense. She was moved to tears. It was at Christmas, as other relatives besieged him with their own literary dreams, that Ashley sensed a big wave on the horizon, and the idea for his next startup took shape.
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