Inkitt - Read the next bestsellers for free on iPhone & iPad

@__tosh cheers Thomas! Just wanted to say hi to the Product Hunt community, we're very excited to be here! I'm more than happy to answer all questions and tell you more about Inkitt. As a quick intro, Inkitt for iOS brings thousands of new novels by emerging authors to iPhone and iPad, with personalized recommendations based on each user's preferences. As readers read, the Inkitt algorithm analyzes reading behavior and predicts future bestsellers: if readers love it, Inkitt publishes it. We're the first readers-driven book publisher: our mission is to democratize publishing and make sure great works by new and talented authors never again stay in the dark! Our intro video for the Inkitt iOS app:

@__tosh Our revenue comes from the books we publish. 50% of royalties go to the author (as opposed to 5-15% that they would normally get with a traditional publishing house) and 50% to us. A few weeks ago we decided to make our publishing contract (https://www.inkitt.com/contract) available to the public, so that every author knows upfront what they will get when signing with Inkitt.

@__tosh The first book picked by the Inkitt algorithm was Bright Star, a YA novel by Erin Swan, which is coming out in summer 2017 in partnership with Tor Books (https://goo.gl/eDIUPS). Further to that, we have also published 5 books since July (https://goo.gl/umjIWk): Catalyst Moon by Lauren L. Garcia (Fantasy), Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan (YA, Romance), I Was A Bitch by Emily Ruben (Mystery Romance), Esper Files by Egan Brass (Sci-Fi Fantasy) and Caged by Onaiza Khan (Thriller). Just Juliet, I Was A Bitch, Esper Files and Caged became bestsellers in their respective categories on Amazon.

@__tosh We've had a lot of requests for the Android app and we're currently working on that. The plan is for it to be ready by the end of this year / begining of next year. As for Facebook Messenger, we already experimented a bit with a chatbot that offered reading suggestions to users but so far we haven't seen great results. We're still looking into that.

@__tosh Because reading on Inkitt goes beyond just enjoying great free novels from aspiring authors. We’re the first book publisher that puts the power in readers’ hands when it comes to selecting which books are going to be published. We have developed an algorithm which predicts bestsellers: the Inkitt algorithm analyzes reading behavior to understand how strong a potential for success a novel has. So as readers read, they support new talent by helping aspiring authors get discovered. If the Inkitt algorithm shows us that readers love a novel, we will publish it and dedicate a book marketing team to promote it. Inkitt is the world’s first readers- and data-driven book publisher! On Inkitt, fiction lovers can discover thousands of new novels from all genres and read tomorrow’s bestsellers today, for free. It’s the perfect app for readers who want to be among the first to find great new works by rising talent!

@__tosh Yes it is completely free. We want to help talented new authors kickstart their career and build an open community for book lovers and writers. That’s why it’s essential for us to offer our digital library to readers for free: we want to help all these great works get discovered, not put barriers around this by charging users.

@__tosh We actually have a global audience both when it comes readers and writers. We target English speakers as all novels on Inkitt are in English. Our top countries are the US, UK, Canada and Australia.