When you start a small business, it's hard to know what success--or failure--looks like.In 2011, I started a book business with my best friend called Emily Books. We were qualified to start a business in some ways, not so much in others. We had some expertise in our field: We'd both worked at the intersection of publishing and tech for years, and we wanted to start an online bookstore that sold a small collection of books and allowed readers to subscribe and receive a carefully chosen book per month automatically. Our idea was that this would provide an online version of what we loved about shopping at independent bookstores: the great taste and careful curation of expert booksellers, which no algorithm can replicate. We had no management experience, though, and had never created a PowerPoint presentation or written a business plan. We also, probably more importantly, had no ambition to found the kind of startup that barrels toward acquisition or IPO. We wanted to test waters, grow organically, and pivot on a dime in response to customers' needs like a startup, but we also wanted to stay independent, avoid gimmicks, and build a sustainable business that would stay true to its core values.Read Full Story Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#stay independent
#stay true
#core values
News Corp. (NWSA) for the first time publicly detailed bribery by a journalist at its now-defunct News of the World, telling a court that a former editor agreed to pay a prison guard to get a story about a child killer. Matt Nixson, a features edit ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#prison guard
HarperCollins has acquired an account of this year's Libyan conflict by Sky News reporter... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The BBC's award for short fiction is to turn international for one year to celebrate the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short fiction
The idea of "social reading" has been around for years, but there's a cluster of new companies trying to make it actually work. Two of these startups, Subtext and Findings, launched Oct. 25. Another, Readmill, built around sharing clips/excerpts, is currently being tested. Subtext, for example,... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#share books
#social reading
#lets publishers
#launch titles
#reading experience
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 14:52 Digital publisher Andrews UK has released the first 3D video-supported ebook onto the market through Apples iBookstore. The company has included a six-and-a-half minute 3D film within the ebook A Dream of Christmas 3D, a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#apples ibookstore
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 11:01 Headline has acquired the next book by Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling, with the Sky Sports football pundit moving with his editor Jonathan Taylor from HarperSport. Publishing director Taylor bought world... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 02/11/2011 - 08:23 Ebury has acquired a memoir written by Shane Spall, wife of actor Timothy Spall, describing their journeys on their boat The Princess Matilda, and his battle with acute leukaemia. Publisher Jake Lingwood bought UK,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir written
#laetitia rutherford
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 10:36 Pan Macmillan has acquired a collection of short stories from bestselling crime and thriller writer Peter James, with publishing director Wayne Brookes buying UK and Commonwealth rights through agent Carole Blake at Blake... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short stories
#collected stories
#blake friedmann
#macmillan plans
#released digitally
#physical edition
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 08:30 Waterstone's is set to publish a print and ebook anthology to celebrate the shortlist for the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. The high street bookseller will publish the titles on 4th March next year, and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#4th march
Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 08:10 Author Nick Hornby wants to establish a national network of story centres for children, following a successful first year for the Ministry of Stories in Hoxton, London, which Hornby co-founded with Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#nationwide network
Publication Date: Mon, 26/09/2011 - 11:59 Broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg is to join the judging panel for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for a second year in a row. Bragg will be joined by actor Ian Hart, playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi, novelist Joanna Trollope... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#judging panel
#matthew evans
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 23/09/2011 - 10:45 Canongate has bought a collection of stories by a US marine and veteran of the Iraq war. Senior editor Francis Bickmore pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights to the untitled collection by Phil Klay through by Cathryn... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#iraq war
#phil klay
#cathryn summerhayes
#eric simonoff
#andrea walker
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 14/09/2011 - 08:55 Authors including Neil Gaiman and Ian Rankin will collaborate with the public in a short story "Tweetathon" organised by the Society of Authors. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ian rankin
#short story
Publication Date: Mon, 12/09/2011 - 08:45 Stories from Jon McGregor and M J Hyland have been shortlisted for the sixth BBC National Short Story Award, announced on Friday evening (9th September) on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jon mcgregor
#front row
Publication Date: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 19:30 Stories from Jon McGregor and M J Hyland have been shortlisted for the sixth BBC National Short Story Award, announced this evening (9th September) on BBC Radios Front Row. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jon mcgregor
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Wed, 31/08/2011 - 14:45 The Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scottish indie Cargo and US publisher McSweeney's are to team up on a four-volume collection of stories from authors including Roddy Doyle and Ali Smith. Fifty authors are to take part... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ali smith
#alan warner
#jackie kay
#michel faber
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 26/08/2011 - 08:48 Penguin is reissuing its collections of short stories for adults by renowned children's author Roald Dahl. The rejacketed paperback versions, priced £8.99, will be reissued in four batches, beginning with Someone Like... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short stories
#1st september
#27th october
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 25/08/2011 - 07:00 The Orwell Prize is to blog George Orwells hop-picking diary entries, which went on to form part of his novel A Clergymans Daughter. Starting today, the political writing award will post a daily blog 80 years to the day that... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#orwell prize
#form part
#starting today
#diary entries
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 09:21 American crime writer Karin Slaughter has written a digital-only short story exclusive to Amazon, with all the proceeds going to benefit libraries. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 10:20 Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired a collection of stories by Nathan Englander, one of the New Yorker's "20 Writers for the 21st Century", whose previous works have been published by Faber. Editorial director Arzu... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#21st century
#arabella stein
#anne frank