Q&A with The Readerie
POSTED BY stephanie ON March 22, 2012
Imagine a service like Netflix for e-books. Or a social media savvy library, where there’s never a wait and authors/publishers actually stand to profit each time a book is loaned.
If the library + online retailers had a baby, it might be The Readerie, an upcoming service for the renting, reading, and sharing of e-books.
I learned about it last week at IBPA’s Pub U conference in San Francisco, where I got to meet Arnie Yew, one of the creative minds behind Readerie.
Here’s basically how it works. Rent an e-book and when you’re finished, it goes in your personal Readerie. Tell your friends about the book and if they rent it through your personal Readerie, you earn points for badges plus a cash reward for every rental. Think they’re on to something?
We asked a Arnie a few questions for the blog to get you in on the ground floor. He happily obliged, and even extended a special in-the-know industry invitation. Read on.
Q: We’re intrigued. Tell us more.
A: Readerie is an e-book rental platform that monetizes the pass along, so authors and publishers get paid every time a reader shares an e-book and his/her friends read it.
For a majority of authors, it’s tough to make a living at what they love. By actually allowing an e-book to be passed along, Readerie helps them tap into a reader’s social network to create actual distribution and revenue.
Q: Alright, that’s the corporate version. What’s the real reason you created it?
A: Truth be told, I’m just a book lover who couldn’t afford to buy every book on my wish list. When I tried borrowing an e-book at the library, there was a waiting list! For a digital file?
Not knowing better, I came up with my own solution. That initial concept, with mucho input from supportive publishers, authors and partners, developed into Readerie. My goal is a more open, mutually profitable system that benefits authors and readers. And I finally get to read any book I damn well please (without going broke).
Q: Ok, when can we play with it? And more importantly, when can we get our clients in on it?
A: We’re planning on a public beta launch at the end of Q2.
We’d like to ask for help with our private beta test which will go live on April 3. We’re looking for a few published authors to submit a title or two to help us test out the rental portion of the system. It’s an invite only private beta with invites going out to selected publishing and tech industry people. We’ll split the rental fee 70/30 with 70% to the author.
If you’re interested, contact Arnie Yew at arnie@readerie.com.
For more, visit their landing page at Readerie.com. Find them on Twitter at @Readerie.
Tags: ebook sales, eBooks, Readerie
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