The issue of book discoverability, especially in self-publishing and small houses, is a problem that may become worse before it gets better. Communities where readers can share their thoughts on books they’ve read already exist, places like Goodreads and Amazon’s book review tabs, for example. Companies like Trajectory are exploring new ways for readers to discover books, and iAuthor, coming up on two years since they launched out of beta, has been working to achieve similar goals.
For emerging authors, the digital revolution is a mixed blessing,” Adam Kolczynski, founder of iAuthor, told VentureBeat. “The Web may have democratized the act of publishing, but it hasn’t democratized the outcome. Authors of equal talent do not have equal access to readers, and the gap between talent and opportunity is widening. iAuthor empowers authors and book service-providers to forge their own brand in a saturated market. (Source)
Using a “theme-driven” approach, iAuthor utilizes readers’ knowledge by allowing them to categorize books according to whatever theme they can come up with. iAuthor also offers samples from books to give browsers an idea of what they can expect before picking the book up. Readers can also browse traditional genres and categories if they aren’t looking for a particular theme. This platform does not require that a book be from a particular source (self-published vs. traditional house), which puts all books included on the website on a level playing field.