An Open Letter:
Hi!
We’re co-founders of 24PageBooks, a start-up conceived in 2010 and launched in early 2011. Though we are not a “technology” company, our business model is enabled by technology including the widespread acceptance of eBook formats and access to distribution via cloud-based services like Amazon, Apple iBooks and Nook from Barnes and Noble. And our backgrounds are in technology start-ups and growth companies. So we like to feel we’re more a part of that eco-system than the traditional publishing spectrum (though the two are merging at the speed of light!).
As start-up entrepreneurs we’ve been both informed and motivated by bloggers and authors like Brad Feld, Seth Godin, Fred Wilson, Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, the 37 Signals guys, Mark Suster, Tim Ferriss, and many others. They have collectively, and without overt attempts to do so, created a social community, both online and in-person, of start-up founders, investors and supporters-and helped create a fertile environment for innovation. Their example has been incredibly helpful as we’ve gone through the process of starting a business, raising a seed round and bringing products to market.
In our case, those products are eBooks designed to help entrepreneurs quickly learn essential day-to-day skills like selling, reputation (social) marketing, networking, negotiating leases, event planning and dealing with lifestyle issues like personal change, relationships and more. All of the issues we’re covering in our first series of eBooks are related to day-to-day skills for managing your new business and managing the often hectic entrepreneurial lifestyle. We cover ‘skills’ and ‘lifestyle’ because we’ve learned that creating a balance between the two is essential to succeeding and enjoying the crazy ride that is growing a business.
As part of our initial marketing efforts, we’re defining our first releases as the ‘Start-up Skills and Lifestyle Series’ and will be distributing copies for input from our friends and mentors in the start-up world. What’s unique about the 24PageBooks approach is that we know how limited our readers’ time is. We’ve taken complex subjects and boiled them down into their essential components. Our titles are 6000-7000 words long or about 24 pages in a conventional print format (there is no pagination in eBook formats). They can be read in less than an hour. We imagine them being a perfect dose of information during a plane flight, for instance.
To close, we’re very excited about our new company. We believe that for any product to succeed today it must have offer excellent value while respecting the consumer’s time. Imagine picking up a 24PageBook on commercial real estate leasing and learning something that can save you thousands of dollars and hours of grief: That’s the kind of value we’re driving for. We hope you’ll check our eBooks out and tell us what you think. Our books are available on Amazon and coming soon to iBooks and B&N Nook stores.
We’re on Facebook at Facebook.com/24pagebooks, Twitter @24pagebooks and the web at http://www.24pagebooks.com.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you,
Martin Edic and Michael Johnson
24PageBooks Inc.
martin@24PageBooks.com
mjohnson@24PageBooks.com