The London-based startup giving readers the power to rescue books
Whether it’s flicking through a paperback on your morning commute or curling up with your favourite novel, reading is a leisure pursuit that many people still enjoy. A survey by Pew Research Center found that 73% of US adults have read a book in any format, while in the UK, Kantar found that Britons are buying an average of 4.6 books each a year — up from 4.3 in 2016.
But, with authors finding it harder to make ends meet, and 557 independent bookstores in the UK shutting up shop over the past decade, it seems the publishing industry is struggling to keep up. Unbound — a literary crowdfunding and publishing platform — is hoping to change that.
Launched in 2011, Unbound is a London-based business that gives readers the publishing power. “We wanted to open up the world of publishing and offer authors better ways of creating books and readers more opportunity to get their hands on those books,” says Dan Kieran, CEO and co-founder of Unbound. It works by authors pitching a book idea to the community of more than 150,000 people across the world and if enough people pledge their support, the book is published.
“We’ve had huge success and I think that’s simply because we’re bringing people together to create amazing books.”
By facilitating the communication between reader and author, Unbound has helped to fund 354 books, from award-winning novels to bestsellers, with pledges totalling more than £5.6 million. “We’ve had huge success and I think that’s simply because we’re bringing people together to create amazing books,” says Kieran.
The power of partnerships at Unbound doesn’t stop there. As a business, there are many different departments, from the editorial and publishing teams to the marketing and tech teams, all working towards a shared outcome. “We all aim to bring our ideas to the table from whatever discipline we’re in,” explains Kieran. “And we’ve found that by allowing these groups to communicate with one another, it has brought the most fantastic cross-pollination of ideas and fresh perspectives from one area into another and that’s the key to our growth.”
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To find out more about the importance of a collaborative approach to work, read our Q&A with professor and author Maurice Schweitzer.
