ETEC 522 – September 2012

David Vogt 3:21 pm on September 16, 2012

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Tags: PPool ( 18 ), WeBook   

WeBook

A digital publishing platform:

Posted in: Pitch Pool

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  joeltremblay 2:01 pm on September 18, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  This venture gave me something to think about, however I am a little concerned that their idea of “publishing” is a little bit out of date as most publications and book stores that don’t have an electronic option aren’t doing to well currently.

  After watching the CEO’s pitch, I can see exactly what they are trying to market. However, I also think that considering the bandwidth that will be used, (text being so much smaller than any kind of video and requiring much less storage space), and that current business models are operating on the 70-30 ratio rather than the 50-50 they are offering, they are being a little greedy/conservative with their profit sharing.

  It’s immediately apparent that this service is marketed to writers rather than readers and they spent a good deal of time focusing on writer benefits as opposed to reader since they didn’t mention how the service would be marketed to readers at all.

  The vision is there for fifty percent, but it needs some work.

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    Pat A Son 2:46 pm on September 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Hi Joel,

    First let me say that I think this was a good elevator pitch so I do not agree with some of your points.

    As you rightly said you could see see exactly what they are trying to market but you think that the 50-50 split they are asking is greedy when compared to current models. Since this is a new concept then does it make sense to apply the old formula to it. Remember apple turned the music world upside down by offering songs at 99 cents a figure that a lot people then thought was too small and apps are selling at 2.99 when applications sells at hundreds of dollars.
    Lets not forget that this is just the elevator pitch and details such as marketing could be provided at the next level

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    visramn 12:03 am on September 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    You pointed out many factors that would make this product a dangerous investment. When simialr products are offered for a cheaper price or free then it is unlikely that the product will do well. The specificness of the product for writers results in a loss of a large quantity of the market. I do not think I would invest in this product. Too many red flags.

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  joeltremblay 6:17 pm on September 18, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  NO, I would not invest in this venture

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  jkotler 1:56 am on September 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  No I would not invest in WEbook because for one thing, they reference the problem as a closed market, which is in fact not true as there are other open online publishing platforms like Amazon for example. Furthermore, I feel their process and general solution to the ‘problem’ is not unique since other companies also provide consistent feedback and it is less favorable as they have a community panel that selects certain submissions for publishing, implying many others are rejected. With that said, I think that this could be detrimental to their interest in expanding their market share because the more people are not chosen by them for publishing, the more likely they will be to seek out other competitors.

  In regards to the CEOs credibility, she did come across as well spoken and passionate but there was no data or any support to back up her claims, nor did she offer information about her or her team’s credentials.

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  teacherben 6:34 pm on September 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  No, I would not invest in this company. As was mentioned above, there is a lot of competition in the self-publishing industry and has been for a while. She claims she wants to upend a 50 billion dollar publishing market, but instead might want to address how her company will stand out in an increasingly crowded field of self-publishing possibilities. It is not entirely clear who she is addressing. I think Joel is right, that it is probably writers. Either way, there is nothing much in there about getting a return on your investment, whether that means money or time put in to contributing. She compares her project to what eBay does for commerce, what Linux does for software and Wikipedia does for information. Not only are these things very different to one another, but if you want to catch the imaginations of people who want to make money, you probably shouldn’t reference projects that don’t make money for their contributors. Just about everything on Wikipedia was done by volunteers. Most of the software out there developed for Linux was also contributed by volunteers. (To say nothing of making an obscure reference that most people probably wouldn’t get…) She talks about how, when the project is ready for ‘prime time’, it is submitted by a project leader. She is introducing terminology here that could mean a lot of things. Is this the writer? Someone who works for WEbook? Who determines when my project is ready for prime time? I’ve may have lost control over my own book and i haven’t even signed up for the service yet! She offers a 50-50 share which seems a bit dear for a company that is in its infancy. She claims to have ‘over 1500 projects’. So, how many of those are ready, or will every be ready for ‘prime time’? A handful? That’s a big share for a company that is totally unproven. iBooks is 70-30. Lulu is 80-20. We hear nothing about how the content will actually get to consumers, or who those consumers are. 60 seconds is not a lot to work with, I admit, but she probably could have used hers a little better.

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  kstackhouse 12:34 pm on September 23, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply

  I appreciate that the speaker spoke clearly and was engaging. While I need more information as an EVA I would at least know that if I spoke with this person again they would be prepared and would be engaging.