SharedBook Offers Personalized Children's Classics

SharedBook, a custom publishing platform provider, is partnering with booksellers to offer customers a variety of customized classic children's books featuring personalized photos and a greeting. Booksellers can feature the customized books on their store websites via a link to www.kids.sharedbook.com, which SharedBook can brand to look like the store's site.

"Custom and personal publishing has been part of a larger discussion about digital content in the book business for years, but only recently have publishers engaged in custom publishing in a meaningful way," said SharedBook Vice President, Business Development Ashley Gordon. "SharedBook is the first company to offer consumers the combination of traditionally published books with a personal element on a broad scale, including titles from Random House, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Sterling, and many others."

The level of customization varies depending on the brand partner, or publisher. On certain titles, the user can add a photo and text to the dedication page as well as a photo to the back cover. On others users can customize entire sections of their book with personal memories and photos.

Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver and Capitol Book & News Company in Montgomery, Alabama, have signed on to offer the books to their customers.

Capitol Book owner Thomas Upchurch heard about SharedBook via Gordon, a friend of the bookstore and its staff. He has several samples of the personalized books in the store, including at the point of sale. On Capitol's website a link takes visitors to the SharedBook site, while maintaining the look of Capitol's website. With no outlay required, Upchurch thought "it made some sense to see how it worked." Capitol Book had past success selling some DK titles that offered personalized jackets. "We had done really well with those, and had some idea that there's possibly a market for personalization."

When consumers create a SharedBook through their local bookseller's SharedBook web page, they upload a photo and create a dedication that will appear in the front of the book. In some cases, a book's back cover can be personalized as well. The gift book is then printed in hardcover and shipped to the buyer for receipt within 10 to 14 days. Prices range from $19.95 to $30. There are currently 80 classic titles for kids, including Pinkalicious, The Wind in the Willows, The Poky Little Puppy, and Alice in Wonderland. In addition to selling the books through store websites, booksellers can also gather the text, photo, and credit card information from customers in the store and forward it to SharedBook for processing.

Booksellers interested in learning more should contact Gordon at (646) 442-8832 or at [email protected]. --Karen Schechner