Three big book publishers that teamed up to start their own
book- recommendation and retailing website are selling the venture,
less than a year after it launched.
Zola Books Inc., a fledgling e-books retailer, is buying
Bookish, a book site launched last February by CBS Corp.'s Simon
& Schuster, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, and Penguin
Group (USA), now part of Penguin Random House. The purchase price
wasn't disclosed.
The sale shows the difficulty that entertainment companies have
in competing in the retail space with companies like Amazon.com
Inc. The publishers joined forces in 2011 to create Bookish, a site
that was meant to provide consumers with a way to discover new
authors at a time when book stores were declining.
The publishers initially expected to launch the site in the
summer of 2011 but it didn't end up going live until February 2013,
stymied by senior management changes and technology woes that
included issues related to managing data from multiple sources. In
addition to selling books directly to consumers, Bookish provides
links to retailers including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble
Inc.
Michael Pietsch, CEO of the Hachette Book Group, said Bookish is
being sold "because we completed our mission of building a great
recommendation and website. We never intended to own it long term."
He declined to comment on whether financial concerns were a
factor.
For the publishers, the sale of Bookish marks the end of a
venture whose mission was never well defined, according to one
observer. "It was always a vague marketing tool but whether it was
going to turn into a Goodreads or an Amazon was unclear," said
Lorraine Shanley, president of industry consultants Market Partners
International Inc. "They never found their niche. They had good
people working for them, but their mission never became clear."
The buyer, Zola, is itself a startup, co-founded by former
literary agent Joe Regal and launched in 2012. It today offers
about 200,000 digital titles, although it doesn't yet sell any
books published by Penguin Random House. A spokesman for Penguin
Random House declined to comment, other than to say that the two
companies don't have an agreement at this time.
Mr. Regal said that Zola will operate Bookish as a separate
website for the foreseeable future. "How we integrate is something
we'll figure out over time," he said. Bookish employs 22 people; it
is expected that roughly half will lose their jobs.
Mr. Pietsch said the sale will enable Bookish to continue as an
independent site. Bookish attracts 300,000 to 400,000 visitors a
month, he added.
The site's recommendation engine is built around specific book
attributes as opposed to consumer purchases. For example, a reader
who liked Gillian Flynn's best-selling thriller "Gone Girl" is
offered four recommendations, including the late Elmore Leonard's
novel "Rum Punch." But the site may need some further tinkering:
one of the four recommendations for readers who liked "Gone Girl"
is Michael Paterniti's "The Telling Room," a work of
nonfiction.
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at
jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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