How publishing startups use tech tactics to thrive in the digital era

Book publishing startups have picked apart every piece of the publishing stack and reimagined it for a digital world. Hackathons and crowdsourcing are two pieces of this new puzzle.

By Tori Funkhouser | February 2, 2016, TechRepublic

From content creation to manuscript acquisition to distribution to sales, publishing startups are combining traditional book publishing and tech startup tactics in fascinating ways to reinvigorate and reimagine book publishing. These book startups pride themselves on retaining much of the quality of a traditional publisher, while solving key problems with traditional publishing: high overhead, low tolerance for risk, and slow time-to-market.

By mixing crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe and Indiegogo with traditional publishing tactics, some startups give readers a direct say in what gets published, and, in doing so, prove to themselves that the book they publish will earn money.

Two notable examples are Unbound and Inkshares — publishers with custom web platforms on which writers pitch their book ideas to a community of readers who support the book by funding it. Unbound editors choose the goal each book idea must hit, while Inkshares commits to publishing any book that gets at least 250 pre-ordered copies.

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