

Ask HN: How can I "test" this idea? - ziikutv

Hello,<p>I have been hanging out on reddit.com/r/startups as well as Onstartups for a while now and I thoight I should give in to HN. It is a very interesting community and I would really value your feedback.<p>http://bit.ly/10xNPsS
My idea is to allow users to discover books. Many people say thay they do not remember the full title of a book that they saw. Sometimes they remember certain words such as "Lord","Fly", or "slaughterhouse". Sometimes they do not even remember that! However, I believe humans can rememver objects, shapes and colors much more than words. My "application" would allow users to come on the website, entere colors, words, objects that they remember seeing on the cover, perhaps summarize the book's story (all fields are optional) and even narrow it down by categories if they are confident in the book's genre.<p>So, if user described a white horse illustration on a red book with yellow titles and one word "rye", they would see a cover of possible books on of which would be "Catcher in the Rye".<p>Plot summary would work a bit differently but I do not think my explanation of that algorithm is related to the question.<p>I already know that this isn't a million dollar idea. Rarily do people look for books online. On Goodreads.com however, there are more than 12000 posts about users describing the plot trying to figure out the name of the book. I feel like I want to pursue this idea mainly to gain valuable experience. I have many other more "vaiable" ideas but I feel like this is a good start as there are less variables for me to worry about.<p>My plan is to contact publishers and ask for their opinion about this. Whether they would think it's worth it to submit keywords for possibly getting more sales is anyone's guess.<p>Do you guys think I can gain experience from success/failure from this idea? How else can I get keywords (colors, objects etc)? Any other general feedback? I asked my friend about this who has experience with Ruby on Rails but he is not interested, where else can I find potential tech cofounders (please refrain from suggesting forums)? I am looking to learn Django this summer once my University semester is over but I need someone with experience. I can handle design and other aspects of course!<p>Thanks! Very excited to see what you guys have to say.<p>- bhargav.
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27182818284
This situation happens so often my local library makes fun of it.

<http://i.imgur.com/O2v3hTi.jpg>

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soneca
great picture! A great validation that the OP has a real problem...

One general feedback, I think you should try hard to create the database that
would fuel your search.

I can imagine something like a gamified data creation. Imagine a "Draw
something", but instead of drawings there are books covers and titles. You
give a book to two users, with this form:

Describe the plot of this book(in 20 words) Describe the cover of this book
(in 10 words) Describe the style of this book (in 10 words) Describe the
audience of this book (in 10 words)

One answer, the other try to guess. Am I gone too far? :)

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pedalpete
I'm currently trying to remember the name of a book I saw in a book store so I
can buy it on Kindle, so, in some ways, I'd say you would have a user today.

HOWEVER, what are you really offering here? Do you REALLY think you can do a
better job of search than google or amazon? That is absolutely what you are up
against.

I think the idea of contacting publishers to ask their opinion is useless.
They'd say 'yes', if it meant more sales, this is a dying industry, they want
anything that 'might' help them.

Keyword search is likely not a good idea. How well do people remember the
color of a book, or how good are they going to be at describing what was on
the cover.

You've got a potential market, but I think you're going about it the wrong
way.

What about an app that lets a user take a photo of a book, and then you match
that to where they can find the book online?

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ziikutv
"What about an app that lets a user take a photo of a book, and then you match
that to where they can find the book online?"

I have thought of that but if they have the picture they could easily drag
that on to Google images and find the book. Also, they have the title of the
book in the picture that they took and just searching the title would get them
the book. Hence, no need for me.

I do see it as an additional feature however!

Thanks for your feedback.

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sideproject
Wwwwaaaaiiitttt.....

before you go on, as soon as I read "allow users to discover books", I need to
ask you these questions...

* I go to Amazon to "discover" or find details on books - those that I don't know AND those that I know * Then I go to bookdepository * But there are a number of sites that does this "social, book discovery - share what you know etc" - goodreads, shelfari, i dream books, etc.

So my questions is....

* why is yours any different to the above? * is there a KILLER feature you have which none of the above has? * is the killer feature in demand? * Ben Horowitz suggests entrepreneurs to make a product which is at least 10x better than the current incumbents. Is yours going to be 10x better than ones that are out there and have been out there for a long time?

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ziikutv
I already mentioned that Goodreads has more than 12,000 posts about people
wondering what book they know of. However, these are 12,000 UNANSWERED books.
Social book discovery is not INSTANT.

My killer idea is that they search objects, colors, perhaps plot and provide
other input and get book covers as results, they can pick the one that was
indeed the book they are looking for and click buy (Amazon or other Affiliate
redirect).. _Chaching_

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AznHisoka
It's extremely hard to make anything worth shouting about thru Amazon
affiliate program, especially if u're promoting books.

~~~
ziikutv
I am doing this to learn. If I earn enough money to buy a pizza a month, I'll
be happy.

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b0ttler0cket
(b0ttler0cket):

Bhargav,

I want to start out by saying this is a cool idea. Other people have commented
that it's not necessary or that you're building a platform on an industry
that's beginning to decay. These positions might be true, but think about this
as a first step. You already know this is not the prize idea, so where could
you go from here? I'm curious to think of what you could come up with. I
already have a few ideas in mind. Let's see if they're similar.

~~~
ziikutv
Exactly! I have other ideas that could potentially earn me millions but why
would I risk more to _LEARN_ the same thing? I think this idea has virtually
no startup costs (if I do not have VAs, its just hosting and domain name). If
I do the development on my own too. I prefer having a tech-cofounder though!
Anyone of you who know Django, get in touch?

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ziikutv
P.S: Please first read this document, you guys have mentioned somethings which
I have already touched upon in this document <http://bit.ly/10xNPsS>

