Using Pencil’s ‘Request New Version’ Tool for Dynamic Editing

Despite its roots in the 17th century, the publishing industry has changed very little in the last 4 centuries. Over 6 million books are published every year and truth be told, 99% of them end up failing commercially. This is exactly what Pencil aims to change. With our ‘Request New Version’ feature, Pencil is here to truly revolutionize the publishing industry by allowing you to write, publish, build, and amplify your work by republishing like never before.

Read on to see how this can be a game-changer for the world of literature and can truly change publishing as we know it.

Pencil’s publishing platform allows you to write, publish, and distribute your story to help you reach millions of readers worldwide. It provides you with the tools to help you self-publish and makes your work available to readers globally in both e-book and paperback formats on 400+ retailers. Pencil empowers writers to become authors.

What is ‘Request New Version’

Unlike other digital content, when it comes to digital publishing, however, the ability to edit content once published is deemed unattainable. Pencil’s ‘Request New Version’ turns books into living content using analytics and dynamic tools for book editing. Using Pencil’s platform, you can understand how your book is being read and make dynamic edits—selling the new versions across the world in both paperback and eBook format.

Why Use It

  • It allows for comprehensive feedback provided through actual engagement which helps you edit your work based on the reader’s consumption.
  • With detailed information on readership, it helps bridge the gap between a writer and their readers through absolute transparency.
  • You can access and assess information on who your reader is, what your prime audience seems to be, at what point in your work does readership seem to drop, and other such points of information through the statistics made available to you. 

When to Use ‘Request New Version’

Following are a few instances where using the ‘Request New Version’ tool can be functional:

  • Enhance script based on user feedback: Pencil encourages its writers to make use of the user statistics made available to them for their published works. Feedback and information that becomes clear on aspects such as weak points in the book that make readership drop, target audience, demographic reach, etc. can be used by writers to make changes to their script to increase the extent and reach of readership.
  • Add new content: Whether it is adding content to already existing work, or putting in content that is new overall to make the plot more relevant if you think it is important to amplify the plot or appeal of the book based on reliable feedback, you can stop distribution to rework.
  • Revise plot points or character dispositions: Readers demand accountable and responsible characters that seem real even when on-page. Especially with amateur writers, user statistics allow a reassessment of the strength of the characters devised within the book, and to make changes as per feedback. Sometimes, plot holes that may skip the attention of the writer may be identified by readers who make them known. Through the user transparency that Pencil provides, writers can ascertain such plot holes and revise them as suitable.
  • Responsible content that is rightly informed: Your views on a particular social discourse may have transformed to be more informed, or the bigoted nature of a character or of a theme of your plot may have been made known to you by your readers: you can amend your work to fit the nature of such circumstances.

How to Use it

  • When you want to withdraw any of your published works, you can put in a request for the book by clicking on ‘Request New Version’ under the Insights section.
  • Once you pick ‘Yes’ for confirmation and move ahead with your request, you are asked to list the reason for which you wish to create a new version.

You are offered four reasons to pick from:

  1. to change script based on user feedback
  2. to add content to an existing chapter
  3. to add a new section or chapter; or,
  4. ‘other’ wherein you must briefly explain your reason.

Kindly choose the appropriate reason for your request before we proceed further.

  • When you finally click on ‘Request New Version’, your request will have been submitted for review, and an email for confirmation will have been sent to your registered email ID with all relevant details.
  • Keeping in mind the logistics involved, our team personally looks at the reasons to ensure the validity of the request to then approve/disapprove the same.
  • On approval, depending on the retailers’ timeline, it can take anywhere between 6-8 weeks to delist your title from all major platforms.

When Not to Use ‘Request New Version’

  • Grammatical errors: Proofreading errors regarding spellings, tenses, and other grammatical components that become known to you after publishing.
  • New idea altogether: The nature of writing is such that it keeps changing as its writer does. When you come back to what you had written earlier even after an interval of only a day, you find yourself struck with new perspectives and ideas for the same content. While this may be the case, when you are publishing a script, you must try and ensure that you publish the best possible version of your work.
  • Terminating the agreement: In the unfortunate scenario that you choose to terminate the agreement and completely withdraw your work from being available to the public, you can write to us at connect@thepencilapp.com with the subject line: ‘<Book Name>: Request to Terminate Author-Publisher Agreement.’ Our team will connect with you within 2-3 business days to initiate the needful.

 Things to Consider When Using ‘Request New Version’

  • ‘Request New Version’ does not help you unpublish your work, it makes your published work unavailable for sale across all listed platforms.
  • Once put into motion, the complete process of delisting to stop distribution of a book can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks.
  • Though the withdrawn book will eventually become fully unavailable, it may still be available across some markets in the beginning even as you republish a modified version.
  • In case users have purchased your eBooks in the past, the file will remain as is and cannot be deleted. With this feature, you can only stop further sales of the previous version.
  • The final decision to creating a new version is left to the perusal of the Pencil Team. We hold all rights to approve or disapprove the request based on the validity of the stated reason.

Before You Publish

Here are a few approaches that can help put forward the best version of your work:

  • Self-editing and proofreading: Edit and proofread your work as many times as possible in as many ways as are helpful. Let your manuscript sit for a while and come back to it later, practising various self-editing methods can greatly help enhance the grammatical and structural quality of your work. You can read our blog on self-editing here.
  • Beta readers: In case of time and access to resources, you can avail of the service of beta readers who can give you comprehensive feedback on your work.
  • Pencil services: Along with providing a community platform to read, write, and publish, Pencil also helps its writers with both editing and designing services in case required. You can request the same here.

With Pencil, you can focus both on accommodating the extents of creative quality and commercial reach. Through user-oriented tools, Pencil is forever finding fresh ways to empower readers and writers! We are here to revolutionize the publishing world, join us?

4 Responses

  1. Dr.K.Padmini says:

    I wísh to publish my book with ISBN number.

  2. Smart Ranjeet Kumar says:

    Book name Computer duniya
    Publisher Name : Smart Ranjeet Kumar
    Google pay kab book publish hoga

  3. Abdulwahid says:

    I want to change the price book

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Close Bitnami banner
Bitnami