Vook, a digital publishing and distribution platform, has acquired Booklr, a real-time data and analytics service for authors and publishers. The deal will combine Vook’s e-book, app development and distribution platform with Booklr’s ability to deliver real-time data on sales, retailer performance and customer behavior.
Booklr was founded in 2010 by Jesse Solomon and Josh Brody, who will also become Vook’s chief operating officer in addition to joining the Vook board of directors. Booklr supplies data to a variety of publishers including Random House.
Vook CEO and cofounder Brad Inman said Booklr’s role in “aggregating and rendering data surrounding books, combined with Vook’s total publishing solution provides a powerful market intelligence offer for book authors and publisher.” Inman said the deal will allow Vook to upgrade its analytical offerings with Booklr’s “specialized data and integrate it into our dashboard’s ratings and rankings. We’ll be able to offer a robust analytical tool with real-time, instant, market-wise data.”
Inman took note of the recent controversy surrounding data on author earnings released by novelist and self-publishing activist Hugh Howey, emphasizing that “We’ll put data in the hands of authors, giving them true data and knowledge of the market that will change the pace of sales growth.”
“We’ve been in this space a long time and we know each other,” Brody said referring to the Vook founders and staff during a phone interview with PW. “Our strategies fit together well and it's an opportunity to combine assets and people. Data is currency and infrastructure is a strategic advantage. There’s so much opaqueness in publishing; it’s a problem, especially for authors and publishers trying to figure it all out.”
