WEbook

Infobox Website
name = WEbook
url = http://www.webook.com
commercial = Yes
type = Online social publishing
registration = Yes
launch date = April 2008
key_people = Itai Kohavi (CEO)
Sue Heilbronner (President)
Alon Golan (Vice President Technology Development)
Lark Dunham (Vice President Product Development)
industry = Books, Publishing| current status = Active

WEbook (pronounced "we book") is an online book publishing company that provides a platform for writers, editors, reviewers, illustrators and others to join forces to create works of fiction and non-fiction, thrillers and essays, short stories, children's books and more.

The vision of Israeli entrepreneur, Itai Kohavi, WEbook launched in April 2008. With corporate offices based in Bethesda, Md, WEbook attempts to do away with the solitary author in favor of an online community of writers. [ [http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0505/052.html Forbes April 2008] ]

Site Description

WEbook is on online publishing community that provides a platform for writers, editors, topic experts and commentators to put their virtual pens together to work on literary projects. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301786.html Washington Post, April 13, 2008] ] Community members propose the projects, submit chapters to different books, vote on the chapters, and then review and rate the finished books. [ [http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2008/tc2008048_013771.htm?chan=top%20news_top%20news%20index_technology BusinessWeek April 2008] ] Writers can choose to share their work for feedback with just a few close friends, or open it up to the entire community for editing or suggestions. [ [http://www.webook.com/Resources/VentureWire.pdf VentureWire] ] Unlike major publishers, which pay a royalty of 10% to 15% to authors, Webook pays about 5% and doesn't pay advances. [ [http://www.webook.com/Resources/VentureWire.pdf Venture Wire] ]

History

The first WEbook project was offered as an invitation-only project and went live on WEbook in mid-2007, inviting students and graduates from prestigious writing programs, such as Columbia University, to join in the writing of Pandora -- a thriller novel about terrorists and star-crossed lovers. [ [http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2008/tc2008048_013771.htm?chan=top%20news_top%20news%20index_technology] BusinessWeek April 13, 2008 ] Pandora, which was published in the spring of 2008, was created by 34 people in six months. [ [http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0505/052.html Forbes April 2008] ] It is currently being sold through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as its own site. [ http://www.webook.com/Resources/VentureWire.pdf VentureWire ]

Funding

Founded in February 2007, WEbook received a Series A round of "between $1 million and $5 million" from Greylock Israel Partners -- an early investor of Facebook, Digg and DoubleClick -- [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301786.html] in June 2007. One of the company's six angel investors included ICQ co-founder Yair Goldfinger, who is now a WEbook board member. [ http://www.webook.com/Resources/VentureWire.pdf ]

References

External links

* [http://WEbook.com Official site]
* [http://blog.webook.com/WEbook WEbook Blog]
* [http://pitches.techcrunch.com/pitch/36-webook TechCrunch Elevator Pitch]