Book Club Discount - Get a 20% retail discount on purchases of five or more same-title books or ebooks purchased for your book club! Email us and we'll tell you how!
Affiliate Publishers feature your advertising link here! Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)...
LINKED LIST OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Click on the links below to find answers to the questions listed, or scroll down and browse at your leisure...
BUYING OUR BOOKS
OUR BOOK RATINGS (Content Warnings)
PROS AND CONS OF EBOOKS
OUR PRIVACY POLICY
OUR NEWSLETTER AND GROUPS
ABOUT US
CONTACT US
PAID SERVICES WE OFFER
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
How do I buy books from Penumbra Publishing? Books published by Penumbra Publishing can be bought directly from our web page. Select the format you want and click the ADD TO CART button to the left of the format listing. Once you have made all your selections, you can click any VIEW CART button to see your total selections. You can click CONTINUE SHOPPING button or RECALCULATE button if you want to change quantities or delete an item. When you are ready to check out, click one of the PAYMENT buttons listed below.
PAYMENT can be made in one of three different ways:
- PAYPAL ACCOUNT. If you have an existing PAYPAL ACCOUNT, you can click the PAYPAL ACCOUNT button. You will be transferred to PayPal, where your payment will processed as it usually is through PayPal. Once your payment is confirmed, you will be sent back to our web site, and you will receive an email confirming your purchase.
- CREDIT CARD PROCESSED THROUGH PAYPAL. You do not need a PayPal Account to use this payment portal for your credit card payment. PayPal acts in our behalf as a merchant account to process your payment. You would enter your payment information on PayPal's site as you would any other secure checkout site. You will receive payment confirmation receipt and email confirmation of your payment and be returned to our site.
- CREDIT CARD PROCESSED THROUGH GOOGLE CHECKOUT. (Coming soon!) If you already have a Google Checkout Account, you may want to use this option. Google Checkout is similar to PayPal in that Google acts in our behalf as a merchant account to process your payment. You would enter your payment information on Google's site as you would any other secure checkout site. You will receive payment confirmation receipt and email confirmation of your payment and be returned to our site. If you do not have a Google Checkout Account, it is fairly simple to set one up during the checkout process. Just remember to keep your information so you can use your Google Checkout Account at other online merchants who offer this payment option to process your credit card payment.
Our books are also available from popular online merchants like Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com, as well as available for stocking in popular chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. If you don't see our titles stocked in your local bookstore, ask your bookseller to stock them! They can also be special-ordered for you through local bookstores.
From time to time we offer books by other authors and small independent publishers on our web site. Please note we do not sell these books direct, but offer the link where they may be purchased.
What do Penumbra Publishing’s book ratings mean? Penumbra Publishing wants to help readers make informed buying decisions regarding the books we offer for sale through our web site. To do this, we provide a rating description at the end of each book description. Rather than use catchy terms like spicy or steamy that may not encompass all content aspects, we simply note content we feel may impact reader purchasing decisions. Content covered in the rating statement may include the following:
- Sexual content. Excessive or explicit sexual references or descriptions of sexual activity are noted, and the level of content is assessed, if present.
- Violence. Explicit or excessive violence is noted if present.
- Language. Profanity, vulgar or obscene phrases or references, and the frequency of such content, is noted if present.
- Religious references. Content that may be offensive to deeply religious readers is noted if present.
- Other content. Any content that does not fall within the prevalent categories above and is deemed to be potentially offensive or objectionable to some readers will be noted if present. If no objectionable content is noted, a general assessment of appropriate reader groups will be noted.
What are some pros and cons of buying an ebook? Penumbra Publishing offers authors the opportunity to publish their books in print format as well as electronic book format, whereas many online or small independent publishers offer only ebooks, and seldom offer titles in print. Penumbra Publishing solicits affiliate small publishers to list their books with us so we can offer readers a greater variety of books in multiple formats that give more pricing choices.
Some advantages of ebooks (electronic books) compared to print books...
- Ebooks oftentimes cost less than paperbacks or hardback books.
- Most online stores allow you to shop and buy 24 hours a day.
- There’s no shipping cost.
- You usually get your ebook immediately after you pay for it.
- Less storage space is needed to keep your library.
- Most handheld electronic readers allow you to take several ebooks with you (some reading devices can hold hundreds of books).
- Depending on the native electronic format you purchase, you can read on several different devices, including your phone, computer, palm device, as well as specialized readers. Some devices allow you to change settings like font size and other attributes that can enhance your reading experience. Newer devices allow multi-format reading and color enhancement, especially good for magazine-style reading or web viewing.
- Technological advances allow for increasing versatility with constantly expanding newer features and more attractive pricing.
Some disadvantages of ebooks compared to print books...
- You need a storage/display device to keep the book and read it.
- Some devices are hard to read in strong light conditions.
- Batteries or AC cords are required to keep your device powered up.
- You cannot legally give or sell your electronic copy of a book to someone else. Copying a book file and transferring it to someone else to read for free while the original file stays resident on your device is a direct violation of copyright laws (akin to making copies of a print book and giving those copies to others while retaining your original copy). However, Amazon now has a 14-day 'lending' program in place for most ebooks sold on their site. Some ebook traders and resellers contract with ebook publishers to allow ‘trade-ins’ of ebooks for exchanges.
While some readers enjoy the pricing and convenience of electronic books, others still prefer printed books. Penumbra Publishing offers both formats for books we publish, allowing readers to decide which formats they prefer.
How Penumbra Publishing uses your information when you sign up for an account, make a purchase, join a group, or subscribe to a newsletter. Penumbra Publishing’ privacy policy is to collect and retain information that is only required to complete sales through our website. We do not process credit card payments directly and therefore will not gather or retain credit information. Penumbra Publishing will not retain customer names, addresses, email addresses, or phone numbers except for the purpose of order fulfillment and follow-up customer service. We retain past purchase history for our customers so they can review their purchases and refer to them as needed. Customers will not be contacted except in the process of completing orders or resolving problems with orders. Customer contact will include order and shipment notification via email. Phone numbers are gathered as backup in case email fails. We reserve the right to retain customer information for archive purposes but will not distribute this information to others except in the process of order fulfillment. We urge all customers to set email spam controls to allow communication from our web site so that emails do not end up in a spam folder.
We will not send notifications of future book offerings unless the customer selects this option on our web site. Site visitors who subscribe to our newsletter will be contacted by email periodically when our newsletter is distributed to our email subscriber list. A list of email addresses will be retained for newsletter distribution. Users may unsubscribe at any time. We suggest customers set email spam controls to allow communication from our web site or email address so that emails do not end up in a spam folder.
NEWSLETTER, BLOGS, AND USER/COMMUNITY GROUPS:
Newsletter. Currently our newsletter is on hiatus, and we are promoting our books through our blog at http://www.penumbrapublishing.blogspot.com to announce news and contests and book debuts. You can also find us on TWITTER at twitter.com/penumbrapublish and FACEBOOK at Penumbra Publishing. We invite you to follow our blog and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter too. Our contests/news/special events page on our web site also will list information about author appearances, signings, and giveaways, as well as other newsworthy events
What online groups are available from Penumbra Publishing? Currently Penumbra Publishing hosts an active online group for our published authors to chat and share information. A Yahoo account is required to join, and membership is by invitation only.
In the near future, we plan to reactivate our reader chat group where authors can interact with readers. Please email us for more details.
Currently our moderated critique group for unpublished authors who need help with their writing is on hiatus. More information will be forthcoming soon - please email us for specifics.
Our Business, Our Staff. Penumbra Publishing is a small independent online publishing company offering great books for our readers in both print and ebook format. We are a royalty-paying publisher. Our goal is to put quality books into the hands of readers at affordable prices while rewarding authors for their talent and effort by paying royalties. The members of our small in-house staff work diligently to build Penumbra Publishing as a thriving business. Our authors understand that promoting their writing careers also means promoting and supporting their publisher, and many who are capable and able to provide volunteer assistance help with the growing business demands of Penumbra Publishing. We also have dedicated friends and book lovers who provide assistance when they can. In recognition of this valuable service, we are pleased to list the following individuals and their current roles within the company:
Acquisitions/Editing, Author Liaison: Patricia Morrison
Promotion/Sales: Leslie Dyer
Production Management: Judith Pilsner
Business/Contracts Management: Katrina May
Web Management: Inga Lee
We would also like to acknowledgement author Walter Knight for his prolific work as an author and his tireless efforts in effective promotional methods and sharing his knowledge with fellow authors. Thanks, Walt!
Production Services and Book Promotional Listing Opportunities. Authors and independent publishers looking for affordable book production services (cover creation, book formatting, editing) can use our paid ala carte services. Free book promotion and publisher promotion/partnership opportunities are also available on a limited basis. Please email us for more details.
Employment Opportunities. We have no openings for full-time, part-time, or contract employees at this time; nor do we have any freelance opportunities available. However, if a future need arises, we will post openings on our web site or actively solicit to fill these positions in appropriate venues.
Mail:
Penumbra Publishing
4450 Meadowland Drive
Murfreesboro, TN 37127
Email:
penumbrapublishing@gmail.com
Our apologies, but we are unable to accept inquiries by phone at this time.