Do hipsters in Williamsburg read books? Angsty millennial site Thought Catalog is going to find out, with a new line of staff-written e-books.
The first four original e-books written by Thought Catalog staff and contributors include “Cover Story” by Liz Colville, “Going Down South” by Dan Hoffman, “Take Out Your Earrings Before You Fight” by Chelsea Fagan and How To Be A 20-Something,” a collection of some of the most popular articles published on Thought Catalog, edited by Stephanie Georgopulos and Brandon Scott Gorrell. The publisher is selling them for between $2.99 and $4.99 each at thoughtcatalog.com/ebooks, and they will be available for download on iPad, Kindle and Nook by the end of of the week.
The new publishing venture has been in the works since April. According to Thought Catalog’s founder and publisher Chris Lavergne, the publication received many emails from readers asking for books, and it then decided that it wanted to experiment with more long-form writing.
“We don’t really know where it will lead; we just think it will be an interesting venture for us from both a literary and business standpoint,” explained Lavergne.
While the first four books are by staff and regular contributing writers, anyone will be able to submit manuscripts of at least 5,000 words at thoughtcatalog.com/ebooks.
Other publishers like Politico and Newsweek publish e-books. It will be interesting to see if a niche publisher like Thought Catalog will be able to use e-books as a viable alternative stream of revenue. The investment is quite a bit lower than doing a run of physical books. After all, Thought Catalog isn’t trying to publish the next 900-plus-page Murakami novel.
“Thought Catalog digital books are a different take on the form — quick hits, subway reads, short story collections,” said Thought Catalog’s head of development Alex Magnin. “It’s content made for the digital reader.”
-
Cheat Sheet: At IAB Podcast Upfront, diverse voices take center stage while podcast advertising revenue and audiences boom
Most of the companies that presented at the IAB Podcast Upfront signaled they had or were going to add more diversity to their programming, both in hosts and content.
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: What media companies’ latest earnings reports say about the state of the industry
Media companies' Q1 earnings reports signaled a continued return to business as usual — for better or worse, depending on the company's digital business.
-
‘Brands tend to be selective’: OMG report offers options to media buyers facing upfront inventory crunch
With a tight upfront TV marketplace expected, one agency group is recommending alternatives in video and CTV.
-
SponsoredHow The Company Store is reimagining customer experiences for pandemic-era growth
Throughout the pandemic, some retail categories have been inherently successful. Home furnishings and décor are among them; with consumers spending so much more time at home, updates and renovations flourished. Criteo data from the first half of 2020 showed sales for items like outdoor furniture sets up 434% year over year, with other home items […]
-
‘You’re fixing a number, not changing the culture’: Confessions of a media exec on diversity quotas
In the rush to improve diversity rates, businesses are in danger of overlooking more fundamental ways to sustain inclusivity in the workplace, according to our latest Confessions interviewee.
-
‘Direct revenue driver’: How local broadcaster News 12 is partnering with Google to build a younger audience
Local broadcaster used support and funding from Google News Initiative to build a new tool that can automatically identify and feed video content into new website verticals.
