One of my first conversations at Indigo was about the digitization of books, and when the ebook would 'happen'. It's hard to believe that was almost 3 years ago now. We kept looking at the size of the ebook market, which was tiny and not that exciting. But then we started paying attention to the consumer instead of the market, and our resounding conclusion - people are reading differently (already).
People are reading on screens, more frequently, and in shorter sessions. They expect to be able to engage with the content, the author and other readers. They expect to be able to sample, not unlike browsing in a physical store. They are increasingly time starved, and time slicing - being able to access media, and discover what they want, anytime & anyplace.
This idea is what gave rise to Shortcovers, a new digital destination we are launching in a few weeks. Shortcovers is a place to come and find your next great read, from your existing mobile phone or web browser. Consumers will be able to find books, magazines, newspapers and more....to discover their next read.
Our intent was to build something different, not just another ebookstore. Our intent was to build something, not just for the avid reader, but for anybody who wanted to find their next great read, and get it instantly, from their existing device.
We are nearing our launch of Shortcovers, and last week we gave a preview of it at CES in Las Vegas. The response was extremely positive. Now all we have to do is launch :)
Check out our Shortcovers blog
