What do we do after we have read a book?
Earlier this year, when we were going through our annual (11-monthly to be precise) ritual of shifting homes, we (again, huff!) were stuck with moving box-loads of books (some of which might successfully contest to be labelled among the oldest available manuscripts on earth). In that melee, like most of the significant inventions / breakthroughs of the modern world, the idea for Bookelphia struck us.
What is the best way to use one's books after reading them?
To get more insights, like all trained MBAs, we asked some of our friends. Here's what we found about what people do with their books after reading them..
1. Give it to others for reading; get it back after they have read it (10.3%)
2. Give it to others and forget taking it back (13.8%)
3. Put it in the attic where it cannot be found (i.e. if they ever try to find it at all) (20.7%)
4. Sell it (with demonstrably heavy heart) to the raddi-wallah at 7 rs/ kg (34.5%)
5. Books? What books? We don't get time to read (all remaining %)
Ohk... as a start-up running on a shoe-string budget, we kept the survey short - to include barely 29 people*. But, we hope you get the drift!
As for us, we are a team of reading enthusiasts and, as such, felt that everything other than (1) above is a crime. We are convinced that the best way to treat a used book is to share it with others. If its a great book, it obviously makes sense to share it with others; if its not that great a book, then share the review at least to save others the trouble :)
That's when we decided that to have a platform where people could share books as well as reviews. We then decided to go a step ahead and created not only the platform for sharing your prized books but also built the dedicated logistics backbone to facilitate the sharing through actual shipment of books between owners and borrowers and make sure that the books within the sharing network are taken good care of.
So what is Bookelphia?
Bookelphia is a crowdsourced book sharing platform. It is a network of reading enthusiasts where members lend to, and borrow books from, each other.
This is the platform to showcase your proud collection of books. Members maintain their bookshelf account, share it with other readers, make points while lending books and read from the bookshelves of other members.
We like to facilitate this sharing of books in addition to connecting people with similar reading interests. So, if you believe in sharing, it is the right place for exchange, friendships, and ideas
What else?
To add to it, we will also provide you with
- Personalized recommendations suiting your reading tastes and preferences
- Book lists to choose from as per your favourite genre, author, and so on
- Delivery and pick up of books from your doorsteps
- Ensuring that the books are cared for and maintained while carrying and sharing
* We deliberately kept the sample size below the magic number of 30 to avoid getting tagged for path-breaking research on readers' habits, with statistical significance.
