On a playful note, since I've seen a couple "YC reject" tagged launches, I thought I'd label mine "YC wasn't-even-submitted".
In any case, the idea comes from something that Phillip Greenspun wrote, which sums up what I think of some (but not all) business books:
"This book illustrates a fault in the publishing industry. If you have
a 50-page idea it is too long for a magazine. But it is too short for
a book. So if you wanted to get it distributed before the Web came
along, you had to drop in words until you reached 200 pages."
I wanted to create an open and collaborative site for business book summaries. There are already sites out there that charge between 100-200 USD a year for a stream of summaries, but that has two problems:
- Of course, it prices many people out of the market.
- More importantly, I want to create a place where people can discuss these books. Reading something is only part of learning. Going out and actually doing something is probably the best way, but being able to discuss ideas is also pretty helpful.
So... the result was this site, which I put together pretty quickly. I had fun adding a few summaries (I found that writing down what I'd learned from a book forced me to think about it a bit more), got a few friends to add others, and here we are.
By signing up for the site and working on a summary or two, you get a link back to your own site, as well as a link to your amazon wishlist, with encouragement to visitors to spring for a book or two for people who have worked on high quality summaries.
Constructive comments/suggestions/whatever more than welcome!
I spent some time navigating around and I have a few suggestions:
- You make me scroll too much, why not put ratings/voting on the right, instead of having them "downstairs"?
- I'll say this again: you need a designer.
- Too much data at once: why not have two tabs for each book? (summary/discussion) Similar to wikipedia.
- You can start a small marketplace right away: give people "offer this book for sale" option.
Designer: You're right, of course. I'd like to have someone to work with, but I can't pay right now, so it'd have to be someone coming on board to work on this and other sites for equity. I'd like that, but even then the person needs to be a good fit. Anyone here is welcome to get in touch with me and talk. Beyond that, thank you for the specific discussion points. That helps my "engineer-visual-design" brain target concrete things that I can improve.
- Moving the ratings/voting up is probably a good idea.
- A separate page for the discussion might risk making it invisible - the scenario I envisage is someone coming to the site, seeing a comment and feeling a need to respond to it because it makes sense, or is wrong, or needs responding too in some way. But if that's all burried under a 'discussion' link, it might not be so easy to find. Of course you're right that it doesn't (can't really) jump out at you right now because it's at the bottom of the page...
- book marketplace: I'm not convinced - that's Amazon's business, and I have no hope of competing with them. I do have a shot, I think, at creating a place for people to come and discuss the books, because their review/comment system doesn't really foster that kind of interaction, and I'm targeting a niche that is small/concentrated enough that I have a chance at prevailing.
Speaking of Phillip Greenspun and books, he writes outstanding Amazon reviews. His profile page is an excellent resource for anyone looking for random books to peruse.
In any case, the idea comes from something that Phillip Greenspun wrote, which sums up what I think of some (but not all) business books:
"This book illustrates a fault in the publishing industry. If you have a 50-page idea it is too long for a magazine. But it is too short for a book. So if you wanted to get it distributed before the Web came along, you had to drop in words until you reached 200 pages."
I wanted to create an open and collaborative site for business book summaries. There are already sites out there that charge between 100-200 USD a year for a stream of summaries, but that has two problems:
- Of course, it prices many people out of the market.
- More importantly, I want to create a place where people can discuss these books. Reading something is only part of learning. Going out and actually doing something is probably the best way, but being able to discuss ideas is also pretty helpful.
So... the result was this site, which I put together pretty quickly. I had fun adding a few summaries (I found that writing down what I'd learned from a book forced me to think about it a bit more), got a few friends to add others, and here we are.
By signing up for the site and working on a summary or two, you get a link back to your own site, as well as a link to your amazon wishlist, with encouragement to visitors to spring for a book or two for people who have worked on high quality summaries.
Constructive comments/suggestions/whatever more than welcome!