over 9 years ago

Connect our past to the future

A note from Steven Rosenbaum, CEO of Magnify.net, a video curation, publishing, and monetization platform. Steven will also serve on the judging panel of the BookSmash Challenge.

I wanted to reach out and let you know how excited I am to be one of the judges for BookSmash — I know you're hard at work thinking about how the right technology could enhance or even invent the future of the book.

Here's why I'm involved. I think reading matters — a lot. Books aren't simply objects to be collected, shared, and set on a shelf. They're the ideas that connect our past to the present, and in many cases point us toward the future. Ebooks are powerful game changers — and the numbers don't lie. People are reading them — more and more every day.

The Association of American Publishers' recent report shows that revenue for ebooks for some of the biggest categories grew by 41% in 2012. Ebooks now account for 23% of trade publishing revenues. The first year that the AAP tracked ebooks, in 2002, the format made up only 0.05% of sales revenue. Adult fiction and nonfiction, children’s and young adult and religious ebooks raked in more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2012. That's serious cash.

The idea behind the BookSmash Challenge is to engage and excite readers of ebooks. The idea is that you can break the binding and lead the way to new ways to read books, discover authors and engage in their stories. As an innovator, you have the opportunity to disrupt reading and drive book discovery. What an honorable pursuit: bringing more readers to more books.

The book is ready for more innovation. I look forward to being wowed by yours.

- - -

Have a question?

See the FAQ, post it under Discussions, or email support@challengepost.com.

#BookSmash

Join the conversation with #BookSmash on Twitter, and help spread the word about this challenge by sharing with your network!