Launching the Book Subscription App
Hello fellow community members,
Few months back, I was facing a personal problem of having a stuffed bookshelf. I was not able to read more, readon being I was not having space to keep the new books that I was planning to add.
My girlfriend suggested why not, share it with your friends? But as evident in past, the books I shared with my friend never came back to me.
This piqued my interest, that in India, not everyone have large house to dedicate a room for books. What do they do? I started talking to people, and the conclusion was they stopped reading. Few of them moved to Kindle, few moved to Audiobook, but are still wishing if they can read paperbacks!
The problem was big enough to be solved. I started designing the solution and here we have BookR, a peer to peer book sharing app.
At BookR, we leverage decentralised inventory model that enable the book owners to share their books with other without losing the ownership of book, at the same time getting rid of the stuffed bookshelf that give them space to add more!
Readers can go ahead and order the book they wish to read, and BookR will facilitate the pickup of book from owner and drop it to the reader, without compromising on anybody’s privacy.
We have subscription plan based on the number of books that users can read in a month, and this subscription plan pays for the logistics and maintenance of the book
Readers can now own the book without buying it, at the same time owners can now share the book without losing ownership. Isn’t it amazing?
Will not make you wait anymore, here goes the App link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.share.bookR
For all the curious, explorer bookworms, plz give the App a spin and I would love to hear the feedback from each one of you.
iOS Version will be live soon!
Seeking support from the community! We was to elevate the book reading experience across all the mediums.
Unable to download this on my Nothing phone 1.
My reading has been put on hiatus cause I have a shit ton of books, want to buy more, can't read on the phone and not every book has a good audiobook
I also don't have a good library near my place, else I'd have definitely taken membership, so this sounds good, but I have the same questions as @Elon_Musk
Also, I just signed up for the app, and the subscription model isn't clear it you're charging me per month or per quarter or what... Also, I'm assuming I take one book at a time and return it and take the next book, is there a time frame? What if it takes me 6 months to finish a book? What if the owner wants it back within those six months? What if I lose the book or go MIA or simply refuse to return the book?
Glad to know you liked the concept and downloaded the App.
We are having monthly subscriptions as of now. Returning of book is not your responsibility. Once you finished reading and mark the bolk as read, the book will be picked up from you to be delivered to another user. We control this demand and supply.
There is no time frame, as long you are subscribed to BookR, the book can be with you, what we call as pseudo-ownership.
Losing/MIA/refusal to return are extreme cases.
In future we will structure our model to ensure that the cost for these instances are taken care of. The platform will ensure that owners get their book.
I would love to have you as early adopter and seek more such feedback!
Sorry, still for a few doubts! I don't mind messaging them to you somewhere privately like TG?
So, if I take your mom thly subscription of ₹250, I take two books and then... I don't pay the next month's subscription fee, can I still keep the books till I finish reading them?
Also, I do understand that boos going MIA or not returned is an extreme case, but if I'm lending my books, I'd like to know what guarantee I have... Also, also, what if someone lends me their book, I've only read it halfway and they want it back?
Do people who share the books get some % of revenue?
This sounds so confusing. Do I still own the book? And can I get it back after some time? Also what happens when you have too many of the same books? Or some rare editions?
As a owner you still own the book. Whenever you want, you can get it back.
Too many of same book, every book is mapped to their owner and we know whose book is moving from which place.
Internally we have a inventory management that keep track of all the books.
For rare editions, we don’t recommend users to update as of now. Still building high trust product. Post that these rare editions can be shared.
I hope this clarifies?