I see booklamp as integrated into other sites

[Jo Red]

Ok maybe I misunderstood your business model. If you are trying to setup like WritersMarket.com, then sure, that's sounds like an appropriate business model.

Actually what I have in mind is something like this, plus MORE. My model will ensure that authors will maintain their subscription fee ($300+ per annum), providing a steady income stream for your company. If you're not interested in my idea, your competitors might be .....

[Mandi Taylor]

If you're not interested in my idea, your competitors might be .....

Maybe you don't realize how funny you sound - you're almost lapsing into cartoon character villain-speak!
Your ideas do make for some interesting discussions, though, so keep it up.

[Jo Red]

But I think the Booklamp team is considering it seriously   

[Stephen Rollins]

Now, Jo, your idea applies only to those who wish to sell their books by means of advertising on BookLamp, right?  You aren't thinking to charge anyone who wants to see where their writing stacks up in the algorithms.

[Jo Red]

Now, Jo, your idea applies only to those who wish to sell their books by means of advertising on BookLamp, right?  You aren't thinking to charge anyone who wants to see where their writing stacks up in the algorithms.

Well, charging for the service of rating a book based on algorithm really does not constitute a business model. Might as well make it free :-)   

However, if the business model is re-fashioned in such a way that it still needs the algorithm as center piece, then YES they can charge a LOT for it !  It's really the way you model your business, and not just the technology that makes the diffeence between a free service and a money making machine.

I have the answers :-) 

Want to know more ?

[stewart stanton]

... if the business model is re-fashioned in such a way that it still needs the algorithm as center piece, then YES they can charge a LOT for it !  It's really the way you model your business, and not just the technology that makes the diffeence between a free service and a money making machine.

I have the answers :-) 

Want to know more ?

yes..., I do.

[Jo Red]

yes..., I do.

And what would you offer if I told you the secret ?

[Daniel Bowen]

Jo, it doesn't work like that.  I'm not looking to further this game, but if you were serious, the forums aren't the place to carry out those kind of negotiations, so I wouldn't expect an answer from Aaron - maybe, though, who knows.

-Dan

PS  a resume might be the best place to start, are you 9 years old with a great idea to sell books out of your garage or an ex-publishing rep bringing insider knowledge to some pricing models we may or may not be interested in - we have no idea.  We have to have some kind of belief/trust in your words.  On that note, most of your posts have tended to be somewhat doubtful of the future of BookLamp.org, so you can understand any apprehension we've shown to you.

[Jara Stanisavljevic]

Bonjour!
Just arrived overwhelmed with the excitement…beautiful project…my reaction is probably a year late, but I get to share with everyone how amazing this is. I would love to see this site grow and the book of list expanding. As far as it goes with integrating BookLamp with another site I would like to recommend LibriVox site. It is a public library of audio books that involves volunteer work. And while talking about volunteering I would like to know if there is a way of us expanding the book list.
~Jara

[Daniel Bowen]

Jara,

   You're not a year late, Jara.  You're just in time!  More books is precisely one of the big projects at BL.  These things just take time.  Trust me, I would love to have more books - many of my ideas are just going to have to stay coddled up until that happens.  I'm talking about the Publisher's Project, but books are equally important for the Reader's and Writer's Projects, as well as every other aspect of BookLamp.  No need to worry though, with time and the passion of it's employees, I am very optimistic.  Like I said, these things are in motion, they just need time and diligence.

Keep us in your thoughts,
Dan

[Jo Red]

with 6 people in the team, say you scan 1 book each per day, that would be 6 books per day, 30 books a week (5 day week), and about 1500 books a year !

[Daniel Bowen]

Jo,

   I actually have a set window of time that I need to have a "large enough" sample of processed texts by, so one of my tasks now is sorting through 1,400 titles and preparing them for processing - these won't necessarily (probably not) be added to the recommendation system.  Adam Smith would disagree with your method though: like his pin factory, why not just have one person scan 6/day?  This person would immediately begin scanning faster and at a higher quality than the 6 individuals scanning a single book a day.  Sorry I'm being a little picky (I've been starring at econ. for the past 3 days), I know what you mean though.

  Think of this though.  It would be nice to have 1500 books in the available recommendation system, but the recommendations are contingent on having a large amount of titles in the processed (I think there's a post that says, "at least 10,000").  Now considering that millions upon millions of books exist, 10,000 may be a good start, but for every additional book, the system has more information to draw on, thus 'better' recommendations. (I'm studying right now, and you could say that the social marginal utility of the BL recommendation system increases with each added title).  1,500 books/year is just too slow.  I know I've mentioned it before (and maybe it sounds a bit frustrating by now), but we've been making good progress on these concerns.  I wouldn't expect to see books added as we receive them, though (i.e., one day there's 10,000 and the next there 10,001 in the system).

-Dan

[Jo Red]

Well if you give yourselves 8 yrs, then you'll have your 10,000 books !  Of course you can add more people in the team to speed up the scanning. You guys have wasted 3 yrs already, you should have at least 5,000 books now in your database.

But then again, how do you get around Copyright issues (say you manage to scan that many books) ?  You know what , this sounds like a job for Steve Jobs! Read the book iCon and see how iTunes came about.

[Daniel Bowen]

Jo,

  I don't think trying to get around copyright is worth it for BL.  Publishers have the books, but they don't have Novel Projects, this takes time; and there've only been a few times (literally... at least since last summer) that the office has had much explicit discussion about "how are we going to get books?"  I'm sure there are creative ways to do it, but we're still looking for our first dollar (I think).  The law spells out how to deal with publishers.  Otherwise, we'll have to spend unnecessary funds to wade our way through a bog of legal ambiguity.

-Dan