Bookish, the book retailing website founded by book publishers Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster to compete with Amazon (see "Book Publishers Launch Bookish"), was sold to new online retailer Zola Books less than a year after launch, according to the New York Times.
The site was getting respectable traffic, with undisclosed sales. But if the publishers’ attempt to vertically integrate, at least in a shared way, was unsuccessful, the new owner represents vertical integration of another sort: Zola was formed by literary agents, according to the report.
Zola raised a $5.1 million funding round, and acquired the Bookish site for its recommendation engine as part of its strategy to be a source of recommendations and social networking in conjunction with book retailing.
Zola is brick-and-mortar friendly, with a way for its customers to designate a portion of their purchases from Zola to go to an independent bookstore of their choice.
To Brick-and-Mortar-Friendly Site
Posted by ICv2 on January 23, 2014 @ 1:18 am CT
MORE NEWS
On Market Conditions, BOOM! and Diamond, Direct-to-Consumer Sales, More
April 25, 2024
In Part 1, we talked about market conditions, why BOOM! Studios is with Diamond Comic Distributors, direct-to-consumer sales, and channel mix.
BOOM!'s Plans for 2024, the New Jeff Lemire Series, Ongoings, Variants, More
April 25, 2024
In Part 2, we talked about BOOM! Studios' publishing profile and plans for the year, BOOM! Box, their new Jeff Lemire ongoing, ongoing series in general, variants, and top 2024 releases.
MORE COMICS
From Marvel Comics
April 24, 2024
On sale May 29, Wolverine #50 celebrates both 50 years of Wolverine and 50 issues of Benjamin Percy's acclaimed run.
With New 'Kill Shakespeare'
April 24, 2024
Gemstone Publishing is entering the original graphic novel market for the first time with a publishing program around the Kill Shakespeare property.