Self-published books have surged in popularity over the past few years, but it can be difficult for authors to reach their readers. Similarly, even authors who get published through a publishing house can struggle to get their book known. Existing platforms tend to serve readers more than the authors, and self-promotion is often left up to the authors themselves.
Allison Trowbridge, the founder and CEO of Copper, found herself in this situation after writing her first book Twenty Two: Letters to a Young Woman Searching for Meaning. She notes that as writers you do not necessarily have the know-how to create visual or visual content to reach an audience.
Seeing the lack of a platform to connect authors with readers, Trowbridge decided to undertake this challenge herself by building the Copper social media platform. The app enables authors to be verified, and have in-depth conversations with existing readers while giving them the platform to reach new readers too.
Readers have the ability to share lists of book recommendations, and both the author and reader have a bookshelf on their profile.
Books have historically been a solitary activity but Trowbridge wants to usher in a new social experience around books. Readers are able to comment on the book and get involved in discussions, which can also be helpful to the author to gauge people’s opinions of their books and get first-hand feedback. It brings book clubs into the modern-day, digital world for a real-time experience.
The startup announced a $2.5 million pre-seed round earlier this year led by Wave Capital, with key individual investors like former Time Inc. executive Fran Hauser. The Copper social media platform is currently in private beta on iOS, with a waitlist of 6,000 potential users of which it is thought around half are authors.
It has not yet been announced when the Copper social media platform will be launched out of beta, but Trowbridge promises to bring authors and readers together into a community. She says, “I hope we become the LinkedIn of the book world.”
