BookShout was a software based eBook distributor that was founded in 2010. Their main offices were based in Dallas, TX, Fort Wayne, IN and New York, NY. It was the largest provider of bulk eBook distribution in the world [1] and worked with all of the major U.S. publishing houses including HarperCollins, [2] Macmillan, McGraw Hill, Penguin Random House, Perseus, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, Chronicle Books, Hachette Publishing Group, and Workman.[ citation needed ]
Bookshout was founded by Jason Illian, Rick Chatham, and Joshua Stone in 2010 as a social media app.
BookShout’s initial business model was about facilitating bulk eBook distribution and providing publishers with customizable direct-to-consumer digital storefronts. [3] [4]
BookShout’s business services partnered with corporations like; the Hearst Corporation, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, Cheerios, [5] T-Mobile, [6] CareerBuilder, Cisco, The Wall Street Journal, [7] Salesforce, Google, Deloitte and others to aide in the marketing and promotion of products and books. BookShout's services also included onboarding, education and training of employees through the use of eBooks.[ citation needed ]
The company was the creator of a proprietary reading app that gave users the ability to interact with friends directly in the app for a unique social reading experience. BookShout had a native eReader applications on Android and iOS and could be accessed directly on the web. There were more than 2 million users on the BookShout reading platform.[ citation needed ]
In 2020, BookShout shut down and its apps were removed from the app stores.
Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editing of books, journals, and magazines to be posted on a screen.
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An ebook, also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology, was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads as of September 2013. At its height it offered a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and manga across Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Windows 10, and the Internet. In 2023, the ComiXology app was officially retired and the material was made available exclusively on the Amazon Kindle app.
Graphicly was a platform for publishers which offered work flow integration, self-publishing, digital distribution, conversion, and promotion for digital content. Launched by Kevin Mann and Micah Baldwin, the website was initially a platform for digital comic books, but later added support for children's books, art books, and magazines. Graphicly accumulated more than 3,500 publishers and more than 10,000 independent creators. The website hosted an active social community, allowing creators and fans to interact directly. Graphicly shut down in May 2014, and some of its key staff moved on to fellow digital publisher Blurb.
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