What is your company name? Afictionado

Where are you based? London

How would you describe your company to the head of digital from a publishing company? We’re a pay-monthly ebook library. Our members pay a fixed monthly fee and we let them borrow a certain number of ebooks each month. Basic membership will cost £9.99 a month for three loans, but we’ll have a range of premium plans available too.

Why would a publisher want to work with you? What's in it for them? 70% of our subscription revenues! So, for many titles, our royalty payments will be comparable to what publishers earn from retail sales. The difference is that, with our lending model, publishers retain the re-use value of their catalogue. If one of our members borrows a book twice (or renews it), the publisher earns a second royalty. The other big plus from a publisher’s point of view is that we offer guaranteed spend per member per month. We’ll still pay the same amount into our royalty pool, even if our members read fewer books.

In simple terms, how is your company going to make money? We’re a subscription service. With “freemium” or advert-led business models, there’s a real risk of content being devalued. And that wouldn’t be good for us, or for our publishers.

Where is your funding coming from? We’ve been self-funded to date, although we’re talking to potential investors at the moment.

What date did/will you launch? We'll be launching later this year.

How would you describe your company to a book-loving friend? Enthusiastically! It’s all your reading for the month in one place for a fixed price. And we’ll have great mobile apps, so you can download new books wherever you are. Afictionado is perfect for book-lovers really – that’s where the name came from.

What are your plans to give your company exposure? Who is your target audience? We’re targeting readers who value convenience and who don’t mind losing an ebook once they’ve read it. So far, the response from the public has been very positive, but we’ll ramp things up as we get closer to launching. Expect the usual advertising, PR and social media efforts, but we’ll have a few surprises up our sleeve as well – we like to keep things fresh.

Your vision for your company in three year's time? To have a great library of titles, a well-recognised brand and lots of happy customers.

What is your end game? We’re just focused on building a great company at the moment.

Three things you've learned from launching a startup? Gosh, it’s difficult to single out just three things. But I would say, firstly, launching a start-up is incredibly hard work – it never feels like there are enough hours in the day. Secondly, there aren’t enough hours in the night either. And, finally, you can teach an old dog new tricks - but it’ll take you all day and all night and most of the next day to do it!

Who are you? Michael Scott

Find out more about Afictionado, here.

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