
Ask HN: What business can I create around avid readers and book lovers? - thakobyan
I&#x27;ve been working on my side-project Booknshelf (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;booknshelf.com) for couple months now (recently open-sourced) but I&#x27;m having a hard time to think about the ideas that I can use to monetize it.<p>Any ideas, advice and suggestions will be appreciated.<p>Thanks.
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Overtonwindow
This is going to sound nuts, but I think people are missing bookstores,
something tangible, and the thrill of exploration. For avid readers and such
there are places like GoodReads, but I've never found anything that helps me
discover new books. I generally will surf Amazon looking at covers and titles,
then sometimes look at a few to see if they would be interesting. If you could
find a way to help people explore and find books easier would be really
fantastic.

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WheelsAtLarge
I'm one that misses book stores. I had 7 near me ten years ago. Now I have to
travel about 1/2 an hour to get to my nearest book store and that one is on
deathwatch. Discovering new books is not as fun now. I miss going out on a
whim to a bookstore to find a book and grabbing coffee or a snack. Match that
feeling and I'm in.

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Overtonwindow
I miss roaming the stacks looking for things to read. I try to buy from
bookstores whenever possible, even magazines and other things. There's a
bookstore in DC, Kramers Books, that has merged a restaurant with a bookstore.
It seems to be doing well.

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virgil_disgr4ce
Seems like you're competing directly with GoodReads, yet without the social
network element, and as such I'd expect you'll have a hard time. I don't know
how Goodreads makes money, but I'd guess some combination of 1) amazon/other
affiliate links (maybe?) 2) sponsorships.

But I can't imagine you'd ever get the kind of growth GR has gotten without
the social element, because it keeps people coming back to the site.

So my question for you is: what value are you offering? If it's just
"organizing my library," then you'd need to 1) find pain points surrounding
library organization that are so difficult that people will pay to make them
easier, and/or 2) come up with some other novel features that also do 1).

So, in other words: What problem are you solving? Who has this problem so bad
they'll be willing to pay for it? How does your app solve the problem better
than anyone else?

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jacobwg
GoodReads is owned by Amazon at this point, so if nothing else, they serve to
drive purchases to Amazon.com.

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bb88
If that's the case, then marketing one's self as an independent book site may
work out for the OP.

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ghosttie
_Accurate_ book recommendations - not what's popular, not something in the
same genre as I've read, not by the same author I've read but something I'd
actually want to read.

I think the reason this hasn't been done is that (like movies and music) books
are so complex that it's hard to tell what someone liked about one book or
disliked about another book, so it's hard to know what other books would have
that same feature.

Which is why I think ML would be perfect for this - it's good at things like
extracting common features, you just has to create one that can read and
comprehend novels :)

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piercebol
Totally agree. Would love to see something like this.

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WheelsAtLarge
You can monetize your site by adding advertising, affiliate links, finding a
sponsor, subscriptions or selling stuff directly. But as you know high traffic
is the key to success with all of them. So, you have to work to increase
traffic. That should be your goal. Monetizing comes after that.

Another possibility is to make it your show piece. You can use it to showcase
your talent and therefore increase your potential salary. This is your best
bet for now. Ask yourself, "How does this site highlight my talens?" That will
get you some immediate benefits.

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citrusx
I hate to say this, but the startup graveyard has a really huge section filled
with every company who has tried to do this kind of thing. you feel like there
should be a way to improve on something that people are already passionate
about, and that would naturally lead to high adoption. But, a lot of great
attempts have just never gotten peoples' attention.

What's more, all the things that obviously _would_ make money are probably
already saturated by something that Amazon does.

It's a real shame.

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thakobyan
By "... this kind of thing" do you mean creating businesses around books and
readers or something else?

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piercebol
This is the criticism I've heard made against Apple's reliance on analog to
inform its design of digital responses to notepads, etc. I think you'll stand
a better chance of competing against Goodreads and thus finding it easier to
monetize by thinking about a unique value that only a digital solution can
provide. One idea for a premium offering would be a curated list/book club
with a particular figurehead people like/vote for.

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garyfirestorm
A woot or massdrop like site which allows huge discounts on popular books.

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mandude
Netflix or Pandora for books?

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robertely
A library?

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tpeo
A little less dusty and more convenient alternative to a library.

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kapauldo
Netflix for physical books.

