Archive for the ‘Website’ Category
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Read the full article at ShoestringMag.com
Book lovers lament that “no one reads anymore,” but four websites are proving that millions of people worldwide do still crave the tangible tome — they’re just getting smarter about how they acquire them.
We’re not just talking about Google eBooks and Amazon Kindles here, we’re talking about real, book-smell-smelling books with a spine and the seriously active social communities who love and are willing to share them — both in review and in the pulp.
BookSwim.com
Like many a college student, recent grad, or otherwise cash-poor bookworm, George Burke has logged some serious hours lurking in Barnes & Noble cafes, reading book after book for free — and, luckily for him, that lead him and his co-founder to the idea for BookSwim. “Realizing the value of the books we’d burned through and that we didn’t pay a cent for them — and looking around the cafe at others reading books just to put them back — it struck us that THAT was the business plan we should start,” Burke said.
BookSwim launched in May of 2007 on a similar “Netflix” rental model, only for books instead of movies. Plans start at $9.95 per month, a “one book at a time” plan for occasional readers, and BookSwim also offers a de facto try-before-you-buy service, allowing members to purchase (at a discount) the books they’ve read and loved enough to own.
“We take care of all the shipping and the books arrive directly at your home, so there’s no need to pay for gas or postage,” Burke said. “I think most of our members are readers who wish they had more time, but because of everything that’s going on in their lives, they have a tough time justifying to themselves the time spent going to a library or bookstore. So they rely on BookSwim to rent most if not all of their reading material, whether classics or new releases, eliminating the need to schedule an extra trip around store hours. And if time is money, well, we practically make all of our readers millionaires.”
Buying secondhand or vintage gifts or acquiring things by swapping is soaring in popularity for some people — and is actually expected to increase this year, according to BrandWeek — so sites like BookSwim are trying unique approaches for luring in holiday shoppers, like “free $10 gift cards to friends and family.” For more information on their special offers and their partnership with Restaurant.com, check out BookSwim.com………
So, what are these book-loving startup-junkies reading?
………..”Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel is a book my CTO Nick Ruffilo just handed to me. It’s about leveraging the interconnectedness between people to pass a message that will resonate with friends, and friends of friends, and so on. He won the book, coincidentally through one of the hundreds of GoodReads giveaways, which represents an effective viral distribution channel employed by this book. I thrive on books like this, so it shouldn’t take long to read… especially since he placed sticky notes on the important pages for me. :-)” ~ George Burke, founder of Bookswim.com
Read the full article at ShoestringMag.com
Posted in Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Friday, November 6th, 2009
Read the whole article at FOX Business
Are your business struggles knocking you down? Before you consider wallowing in those daily dilemmas, tap into the determination of five entrepreneurs who found a way to succeed despite the most trying professional and personal hardships.
……George Burke, BookSwim.com, Newark, NJ
George Burke, 28, started his online book rental business with his best friend in 2007. The setbacks started early. First, they paid a consultant to draw up the specs of their business model, but never saw any results. They were out $1,500 and still had no plan.
After finally cobbling together a Web site, the company started operating with a little help from his partner’s parents, the basement of their home became the center of operations. That is, until the township’s zoning board learned of the home-grown operation and forced them to move. Not long afterward, Burke’s partner decided he wanted out of the business.
“First, moving into a warehouse compared to a rent-free basement was a scary prospect,” Burke said. “At the same time, my partner and I are negotiating the terms of him leaving. I had a real fear that there was no way I could do this on my own.”
Meanwhile, Burke’s chief financial officer unwittingly let bills “slip by,” which led to the company losing its line of credit. Burke slipped into a depression. After hitting rock bottom, he underwent hypnotherapy to conquer his fears and give it another shot. He then hired the right people to help him run the business.
Today, he has eight productive employees. He worked out a deal with his former partner, who now receives a portion of monthly revenues. In 2009, revenues are expected to top $1.5 million.
“I challenge myself to make sure this thing works,” Burke said. “You see these rainbows of hope and doors that open but it’s a matter of having the confidence to walk through them. Seeing small successes really keeps me going.”
Read the whole article at FOX Business
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Read the article and listen to the podcast at MediaBistro.com
 Will people pay to rent books? Since 2007, one company has tried to build that new model.
Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was Chip O’Brien, director of customer service for Bookswim–a rental service for books. The company hopes to change reading the same way Netflix revolutionized the movie rental business. During the show, we discussed the delayed eBook release of Sarah Palin’s memoir and the struggle to determine a fair price for digital books.
Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “Most people have felt the difficulty of getting to the library or the bookstore. Most new bestsellers retail for 27.95 and you can spend three months on the library wait list. People say, ‘This is a great idea, I can’t wait to get started.’ People come to us with a lot of excitement.”
Read the article and listen to the podcast at MediaBistro.com
Posted in AUDIO CLIP!, Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Read the article at About.com
If you’re like me, you love to read about pregnancy. With every pregnancy, I’ve spent hours pouring over pregnancy books, enjoying details about what my baby is doing or how to best care for myself in pregnancy or my baby once she or he was born. The problem is that books can get expensive! So here are some ideas on how to save money on those pregnancy and breastfeeding books:
* Used Books. These are typically very well preserved and cost very little compared to the new books. This can even be as low as a quarter for a book, depending on where you buy them. Used books can be found in used book stores, yard sales, library sales and even maternity and children’s consignment stores.
* Borrow. You can consider borrowing books both from the library or from friends. If you find a book that you love, then you can consider purchasing it for yourself. There are also some online book rental companies, like BookSwim.
* Trade Ins. If you have a ton of books on any topic, consider going to a bookstore that offers a trade in. You might trade in two books for one or get a monetary store credit but look at it as decluttering and saving money. How cool is that?
Read the article at About.com
Posted in Blog, Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Read the article at PhillyBlubs.com
There’s Chegg.com for text books, but did you know about BookSwim.com for other books? It’s an online subscription service similar to Netflix, where you can rent, read and return books as quickly as you can turn the pages.
The service starts at low as $10/month.
You can get everything you need, from The Time Traveler’s Wife to that textbook for your chemistry class. Whatever you need, it seems like they have it.
For someone who goes through books as fast as I do, this could be a serious way to save some cash.
Read the article at PhillyBlubs.com
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Read the full article at EcoLibris.net
Forbes.com is running the second round of the 2009 Boost Your Business competition. On the line: $50,000 in cash, and $50,000 in advertising on Forbes.com. 20 semi-finalists remain and among them are our partners and friends at BookSwim.
BookSwim rents books like Netflix rents movies, with the convenience of free home delivery and best-sellers guaranteed in stock. As you may remember we collaborate with them in their special offering of gift cards - a tree will be planted with Eco-Libris in honor of every gift purchased.
You can read more about BookSwim on Forbes.com, where you can find their 500-word write-up and watch their 30-second “elevator pitch” video. You can also read what they intend to do with the prize once they get it.
BookSwim is a great green business and we warmly recommend to vote for them!
The vote itself is very simple and can be made at http://boost09.perfectprize.com/voting/. Please don’t forget to confirm the link that gets sent to your email otherwise your vote won’t count. Make sure you uncheck any boxes so you don’t get spam.
VOTING ENDS SEPT 30!
Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
Read the full article at EcoLibris.net
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Monday, September 7th, 2009
Read the full article at LJWorld.com
Exercise your mind, expand your vocabulary, and savor language with a renewed interest in literature. And read a book for less with these tips……
……BookSwim.com
Book Swim offers plans that allow users to take out multiple books at a time. The $19.95 basic monthly fee still permits readers to check out as many books as they choose. You aren’t locked into a contract and have a read-to-own option. Through Book Swim’s college textbook service, students can save up to 60 percent on books ordered online……
Read the full article at LJWorld.com
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Click to vote for BookSwim at Forbes.com
BookSwim.com rents books like Netflix rents movies, with the convenience of free home delivery and best-sellers guaranteed in stock. An estimated 12% of Americans (36 million) read one or more books each month, one-third of which read at least three books, monthly. The largest single segment of BookSwim members is women (80%), ages 26 to 40 (36%).
To date, BookSwim has delivered books to nearly 12,000 members. In BookSwim’s rental model, members pay a monthly fee of $15 to $40 for unlimited use. Books are reused, spreading the initial purchase cost over multiple members and creating net profit. Launched in 2007 with a $6,000 investment of personal cash, BookSwim is now funded by reinvested operational cash flow, boasting $900,000 of revenue in 2008.
BookSwim’s only purported competitors (Booksfree.com and Paperspine.com) don’t stock hardcovers, the medium in which new releases and best-sellers are almost exclusively available, whereas these titles make up the bulk of BookSwim’s rentals. Even public libraries often have difficulty keeping new releases in stock, offering waiting lists for the few copies that a tight budget allows. BookSwim guarantees new releases and bestsellers to be in stock and imposes no due dates or late fees.
BookSwim co-founder George Burke has grown BookSwim from an idea to a thriving enterprise in the past two years. He has added to his management team officers with over a decade of experience each, including restructuring Scholastic at Home; managing four successful start-ups exited for a combined total of $200 million; former COO of BMG ($1.1 billion company); executive vice president of BookSpan ($700 million company).
The next level for BookSwim is to increase year-on-year membership by 50%, growing community and enabling additional revenue streams. BookSwim will use $50,000 of advertising to sell Forbes.com readers discounted holiday gift cards. Since most Forbes.com readers are not in BookSwim’s target demographic, the space is best used to enable readers to help make members of friends and family who are.
The $50,000 cash prize will be used to hire a new junior developer (at $40k/year) charged in the first year with developing and managing added-value and new-member-generating projects, including: Applications for Facebook, iPhones and other smart phones, mobile version of BookSwim.com; member points/rewards program, book buy-back program, Platform enabling book clubs to rent in bulk and an interface to manage book clubs; Twitter functionality to search and request titles in BookSwim’s catalog, Twitter contest giving away an iPhone (or comparable gadget) each day for one month to tweeters who help build BookSwim awareness through hash tags and deep-linked URLs, other community-building imperatives.
BookSwim will also spend money on prizes for aforementioned Twitter contest, ad space on GoodReads.com (the preeminent social network for readers), $400, victory dinner; the small staff deserves a token of appreciation for all they do.
Click to vote for BookSwim at Forbes.com
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, VIDEO CLIP!, Website | No Comments »
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Read the full article at iStockAnalyst.com
Resolve to start this school year with a dedication to leisure reading. Exercise your mind, expand your vocabulary, and savor creative language with a renewed interest in literature. Take a pause. Read a book for less with these insider book tips……….
……….BookSwim.com - Book Swim offers plans that allow users to take out multiple books at a time. The $19.95 basic monthly fee still permits readers to check out as many books as they choose. You aren’t locked into a contract and have a read-to-own option. Through Book Swim’s college textbook service, students can save up to 60 percent on books ordered online…………
Posted in Website | No Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Read the full article at Go Frugal (FreeShipping.org)
‘Tis the season to be reading. With school starting just around the corner students are getting ready to shed the summer lazies and get back to academic business. Resolve to start this year with a dedication to leisure reading. Exercise your mind, expand your vocabulary, and savor creative language with a renewed interest in literature.
According to Maryanne Wolfe author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, “when you read you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language—when you watch a film or listen to a tape—you don’t press pause.” Take a pause. Read a book for less with these insider book tips.
Online Book Rentals
Thank you, Netflix, for pioneering the inexpensive media rental frenzy. With your blazing trail, you squashed Blockbuster late fees and introduced a new, less hectic way to enjoy entertainment. Book lovers who can’t seem to break the Barnes & Noble spending sprees will delight to know that book rental online is just as simple with many options from which to choose……
……BookSwim.com
Book Swim offers plans that allow users to take out multiple books at a time. The $19.95 basic monthly fee still permits readers to check out as many books as they choose. You aren’t locked into a contract and have a read-to-own option. Through Book Swim’s college textbook service, students can save up to 60% on books ordered online…….
……Library
More than once I’ve racked up a $20+ late charge on checked out books, so it appears I’m not responsible enough to call the library a free service. Depending on funding in your area the local library has a wealth of new audio, video, and print titles. Inquire about getting on a list for the new releases to avoid bugging the librarian once a week. Keep in mind that many titles stay in circulation for several years or decades–review the publication dates fro technology books, and all non-fiction in general, before checking out.
Read the full article at Go Frugal (FreeShipping.org)
Posted in Blog, Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Read the full article at Trendwatching.com
……The rise of rental or borrowing services catering from everyone from fashionistas to environmentalists has even spawned a marketing buzzword: the “transumer.”
It’s a lifestyle that’s “less about treasure and more about pleasure,” according Reinier Evers of Trendwatching, an Amsterdam-based market-research firm that coined the term.
It almost seems anti-American to rent, rather than buy; a look at the popular reality TV show “Clean House” is a testament to Americans’ love of accumulating stuff. But Evers says that in this global recession, people are warming to the idea of renting, and not buying, certain goods — because of cost or space considerations.
From rented Chanel sunglasses to the auto-sharing service Zipcars to fractional ownership of a jet to movies from Netflix, the pickings are good for transumers.
“It’s kind of a sister-cousin concept to materialism, which is attachment to possessions. Transumerism, coming from the term transient, it’s more ‘I don’t want to be attached to the possession’ more ‘I’m attached to the experiences,”‘ said Alexandra Aguirre Rodriguez, assistant marketing professor at Florida International University.
In recent years, many more companies are renting things at all levels: Wear Today, Gone Tomorrow rents designer clothes (A $495 Vera Wang rents for $49 a week, plus a $10 cleaning charge), Rentobile leases the latest in cell phones and irent2u rents almost anything (think ladders and power tools) in a Craigslist-like setting.
There’s even a Web site devoted to high-end transumerism. UK-based FractionalLife.com is a portal for those seeking to share Ferraris, art, holiday homes and even racehorses.
FIU’s Rodriguez says she expects the trend to continue once the economy recovers.
“I don’t think this is a trend that will go away, simply because it is about collecting the experiences and the stories,” she said……..
…….Rentals also reduce the amount of natural resources spent on producing an item, says Eric Ginsberg of Bookswim, a New Jersey-based book rental company………
Read the full article at Trendwatching.com
Posted in Press & Media Clippings, Website | No Comments »
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Booklovers who can’t afford the latest best-seller will love today’s hot link.
