Thinklings' Guide to Frequently Asked QuestionsYou can read our basic answers below, watch our video series, see what we've published, and read this blog post for more details. |
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FAQ
Q: What do you publish?
A: We want quality speculative-fiction novels for middle grades, young adult, and adult. For more detailed information, read this Thinklings blog post.
Q: What are your publishing guidelines?
A: These can be found at the top of the submissions page.
Q: Where do I submit?
A: The form is at the bottom of our submissions page.
Q: Do you accept previously self-published work?
A: Yes. With every book we publish, we put it through a couple of rounds of light copy-editing, always tracking changes and allowing writers to accept or reject them after careful consideration. Writers can ask us questions any time during/about the process, and our editors will ask them questions if anything needs to be clarified. This process is to better bring out the writer's voice and eliminate hindrances to it. After the copy-editing stage, our proofreader goes through the Word document and then the printed proof-copy. So any book we put out is guaranteed to be polished to the highest standard.
Q: What kind of publisher is Thinklings?
A: There isn’t anyone else out there like us. But, since people like to be able to name things, people often call us “indie” or “small press.” Thankfully, no one has confused us with the predatory vanity presses. Everyone knows we aren’t traditional, so that must leave one of the other two: indie or small press. But...we’re not either of those. So we had a big brainstorming session to settle on specific nomenclature for our type of publisher. Our idea has always been that we want to make a publisher that can handle the needs of the modern writer. We realized: the publisher for a modern writer would be a modern publisher! So Thinklings is a modern publisher for the digital, mobile age. More details in this blog post.
Q: What is speculative fiction?
A: Read this blog post and/or watch the video at the top of this page.
Q: What do you offer your writers?
A: We provide (for free!) our Platform in a Box all-in-one marketing guide, two rounds of copy-editing, two rounds of proofreading, cover design, and book design. We also want to foster a spirit of community among our employees and authors, so we're setting up an authors-only area. We're all in this together, and we're here to help our authors out, not strand them in uncertainty!
Q: Can I hire you to make my book better?
A: You can work with Jeannie, our CMO, in her capacity as a literary consultant, but Thinklings itself is a publisher. We feel it is a conflict of interest to be both book doctors and publishers. It would be super easy for us to decline writers, charge them a ton to fix the book, and then publish it. This is predatory. But we won't stop you from working with any of our staff members in their freelance careers. You can check out our staff page to see all the expertise and follow our other side gigs. Because it's 2020 and we all have them, right?
Q: Does it cost me anything?
A: We will never charge our writers for anything! As we stated above under "What kind of publisher is Thinklings?" we are not a vanity press. Our Platform in a Box is completely free to our published authors. The editing and design that we provide are figured into the company budget.
Q: I found a mistake in one of your books!
A: While this is not a question but rather a statement, we understand what you mean. Yes, books have mistakes. We publish high-quality books, not perfect books. And we want to know if our readers have found mistakes. Books can be read 5 billion times and typos still found. Case in point: The KJV Bible. Every year professional editors make it a hobby to reread the book and find typos. They keep finding them. If you believe you've found a mistake in any of our books, social media, emails, websites, etc., please let us know by emailing us! The more eyes, the better the book.
Q: Do you provide marketing or am I doing it all?
A: We believe in a joint effort! We help you and you help us. It's not good sense for either of us to do all the work. You need your sleep and leisure time, and we need ours! That's why we created Platform in a Box (read more details about it in this blog post). It's free to our authors.
Q: Can I get Platform in a Box even if you don't publish my book?
A: Partially. We're in the process of editing Platform in a Box and making it into an e-book that will be available on Amazon. This will be a pared-back version without some of the valuable author-specific details, cover animations, and extra goodies, but it will still have lots of helpful information.
Q: Where are your books available for purchase?
A: For right now, just through Amazon. In the next year, that will change.
Q: Can you tell me if my book is good?
A: No. Sorry. We don't give out critiques. With the volume of submissions we receive and our other duties, we simply don't have the time.
Q: Did you fall from heaven?
A: No, we flew in with an umbrella. ;)
A: We want quality speculative-fiction novels for middle grades, young adult, and adult. For more detailed information, read this Thinklings blog post.
Q: What are your publishing guidelines?
A: These can be found at the top of the submissions page.
Q: Where do I submit?
A: The form is at the bottom of our submissions page.
Q: Do you accept previously self-published work?
A: Yes. With every book we publish, we put it through a couple of rounds of light copy-editing, always tracking changes and allowing writers to accept or reject them after careful consideration. Writers can ask us questions any time during/about the process, and our editors will ask them questions if anything needs to be clarified. This process is to better bring out the writer's voice and eliminate hindrances to it. After the copy-editing stage, our proofreader goes through the Word document and then the printed proof-copy. So any book we put out is guaranteed to be polished to the highest standard.
Q: What kind of publisher is Thinklings?
A: There isn’t anyone else out there like us. But, since people like to be able to name things, people often call us “indie” or “small press.” Thankfully, no one has confused us with the predatory vanity presses. Everyone knows we aren’t traditional, so that must leave one of the other two: indie or small press. But...we’re not either of those. So we had a big brainstorming session to settle on specific nomenclature for our type of publisher. Our idea has always been that we want to make a publisher that can handle the needs of the modern writer. We realized: the publisher for a modern writer would be a modern publisher! So Thinklings is a modern publisher for the digital, mobile age. More details in this blog post.
Q: What is speculative fiction?
A: Read this blog post and/or watch the video at the top of this page.
Q: What do you offer your writers?
A: We provide (for free!) our Platform in a Box all-in-one marketing guide, two rounds of copy-editing, two rounds of proofreading, cover design, and book design. We also want to foster a spirit of community among our employees and authors, so we're setting up an authors-only area. We're all in this together, and we're here to help our authors out, not strand them in uncertainty!
Q: Can I hire you to make my book better?
A: You can work with Jeannie, our CMO, in her capacity as a literary consultant, but Thinklings itself is a publisher. We feel it is a conflict of interest to be both book doctors and publishers. It would be super easy for us to decline writers, charge them a ton to fix the book, and then publish it. This is predatory. But we won't stop you from working with any of our staff members in their freelance careers. You can check out our staff page to see all the expertise and follow our other side gigs. Because it's 2020 and we all have them, right?
Q: Does it cost me anything?
A: We will never charge our writers for anything! As we stated above under "What kind of publisher is Thinklings?" we are not a vanity press. Our Platform in a Box is completely free to our published authors. The editing and design that we provide are figured into the company budget.
Q: I found a mistake in one of your books!
A: While this is not a question but rather a statement, we understand what you mean. Yes, books have mistakes. We publish high-quality books, not perfect books. And we want to know if our readers have found mistakes. Books can be read 5 billion times and typos still found. Case in point: The KJV Bible. Every year professional editors make it a hobby to reread the book and find typos. They keep finding them. If you believe you've found a mistake in any of our books, social media, emails, websites, etc., please let us know by emailing us! The more eyes, the better the book.
Q: Do you provide marketing or am I doing it all?
A: We believe in a joint effort! We help you and you help us. It's not good sense for either of us to do all the work. You need your sleep and leisure time, and we need ours! That's why we created Platform in a Box (read more details about it in this blog post). It's free to our authors.
Q: Can I get Platform in a Box even if you don't publish my book?
A: Partially. We're in the process of editing Platform in a Box and making it into an e-book that will be available on Amazon. This will be a pared-back version without some of the valuable author-specific details, cover animations, and extra goodies, but it will still have lots of helpful information.
Q: Where are your books available for purchase?
A: For right now, just through Amazon. In the next year, that will change.
Q: Can you tell me if my book is good?
A: No. Sorry. We don't give out critiques. With the volume of submissions we receive and our other duties, we simply don't have the time.
Q: Did you fall from heaven?
A: No, we flew in with an umbrella. ;)
