Creator and Publisher of the 'For Dummies' Brand of Bestselling Books Joins FastPencil Board of Directors

CAMPBELL, Calif., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- FastPencil (http://www.fastpencil.com) revealed today that award-winning entrepreneur and publishing pioneer, John Kilcullen, has joined the company's Board of Directors. Kilcullen, the creator and publisher of the popular "For Dummies™" brand of how to book series that has sold more than 100 million copies, brings his creativity in brand-building and managing start up publishing companies to actively assist FastPencil in developing its new imprint, maximizing the flexible and lucrative publishing solutions offered by the next-generation publisher.

"The publishing industry is undergoing rapid changes driven by incredibly powerful and useful digital and social media technologies. Today, authors are eager to leverage those tools for more control, improved speed to market and real time transparency throughout the publishing process. FastPencil provides all of that as well as unparalleled simplicity and perhaps most importantly, a compelling percentage of gross revenues to offer a new path for proven and up and coming authors," said John Kilcullen. "I am thrilled to be working with FastPencil to provide bestselling authors and content providers, in addition to writers of all experience levels, with an imprint and publishing package that offers an exciting new business model."

"Whether you are a top-selling author or you are conceptualizing your first book, FastPencil is dedicated to providing writers with the simplest and most direct way to publish their book and get it in front of readers," said Steve Wilson, FastPencil Founder and CEO. "We are excited to add a whole new layer to our services and propel FastPencil to the next level of publishing by adding an industry visionary such as John Kilcullen to the team."

John Kilcullen is the Founder and CEO of Brand Revolution LLC, a brand management consulting company in Kenwood, Calif. collaborating with digital media and entertainment companies to create innovative growth strategies. Kilcullen, formerly president and publisher of Billboard, the Bookseller and Kirkus Reviews and senior vice president and group publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and Backstage also served as founding member and chairman/CEO of IDG Books Worldwide Inc, where he launched the "For Dummies" series. Under his leadership from 1991 to 2001 the "For Dummies" series sold more than 100 million copies in print in 29 languages and featured a dozen of popular titles that regularly made the best-seller lists of USA Today, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He also acquired Cliffs Notes, Frommers.com, Websters New World Dictionary, Howell House and published two bestselling New York Times columnists Marc Bittman and David Pogue. IDG Books Worldwide was the fastest growing independent publisher achieving over $240 million in revenues in 10 years and grew from 5 employees to 705 employees with affiliates in Australia, Canada, India and Singapore.

FastPencil provides authors with an end-to-end solution that strips out the cost and complexity of traditional publishing. FastPencil enables authors to sell more books and maintain complete control of content creation, price, distribution decisions and sales activity every step of the way. FastPencil's relationships with thousands of book and eBook retailers ensures that each of their authors' books are available to the broadest possible audience and the write-once, publish anywhere approach guarantees their books can be read anywhere today and in the future.

FastPencil Features:

• Free book writing tools
• Professional book design templates
• Import manuscripts, turn blogs to books or write collaborative stories
• Connect and share through Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo and MSN
• Author concierge services including consulting, design services and formatting
• Collaborate with your book creation team, personal network of friends or industry professionals
• Integrated self-publishing wizard for step-by-step assistance
• Print on Demand or to eBook formats
• Wide distribution including iBookstore, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About FastPencil

FastPencil is leveraging the disruptive trends of self-publishing, social media, print-on-demand and eBook distribution to deliver a new unified online service that streamlines the book publishing process offering more control and higher margins for authors. The FastPencil writing and publishing service enables authors to create books online, collaborate, publish and distribute from one engaging, simple, cost-effective solution. For more information please visit FastPencil.com.

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FastPencil is a registered trademark of FastPencil, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

SOURCE FastPencil