Partner Spotlight: Page Anchor

Partner Spotlight is a new series designed to highlight the vendors that partner with ABA to offer discounted products, services, and business opportunities to ABA members. Each installment, we interview a different partner to learn more about their organization and why indie bookstores matter to them. 

Page Anchor offers jewelry quality bookmarks designed for hands-free reading. Owner Colin McKinna met with Bookselling This Week to talk about the product, the company, and his lifelong love of indie bookstores. 

Bookselling This Week: Why don't you tell me a little bit about Page Anchor.

Colin McKinna: Page Anchor has been around since 2017. It originally started as a Kickstarter in Sweden, and it did really well. In late 2022, I was looking to either start a business or buy a business, and I saw that Page Anchor was for sale. I had already used their products, and I loved them.

It was an easy decision. I bought it in January of 2023, and I've been running it since.

BTW: I like that you had experience with the product, that you loved it enough to actually buy [the company]. What were you doing before this? How did you end up here?

CM: I am an avid reader, to put it lightly. I have been since I was a kid. Books actually saved my life, so they're extremely important to me. I left home at 15 and was homeless four times before I could vote. The only reason I am where I am today is because of self-education and books. I would not be here if it weren't for books.

Because I bounced around so much, I never graduated high school. Instead, I got my GED, then went to college. After I got my bachelor's degree in business, I got into the financial services industry.

I do have a day job: I audit financial advisors. 

BTW: You have a job in addition to running this whole company! How on earth do you balance all those responsibilities?

CM: I get up at four in the morning five days a week, that's how. I essentially have two jobs right now. The hope is to get Page Anchor to a place where I can drop my day job, but we’re not there yet. It's a grind for sure.

BTW: Amazing. So how big is the company? Is it just you? A couple other people?

CM: It's me and my wife. My wife is — I would say — a world class graphic designer. She's even won awards. She's been a freelancer for 10 years now, but she's been doing graphic design since before she graduated high school. She’s amazing! She helps me put together graphics for ads and for the website, and everything like that.

BTW: So she's to blame for how cohesive and beautiful the website and the brand is.

CM: That's all her! I'm the numbers guy. It's funny, because Page Anchor is a perfect blend of form and function, like my wife and I. I am very much a function guy, she is very much a form person, and we work really well together.

BTW: I love that. I was digging around on the website, and it’s so clean and cohesive. You have the Page Anchor, but also other things to help you "stay anchored," like the notebook.

Is there anything like you'd like to tease? Anything we should look forward to?

CM: I do have some new products coming out soon that are pretty cool! We've been working on them for about a year now, between the design iterations and getting the product shots and all that back-end work. But it's definitely a surprise...

BTW: Would you tell us a little about the role of indie bookstores in your life?

CM: I basically grew up in a bookstore. As a kid, I remember going to the Tattered Cover Book Store. When I was young, the three story building seemed like a giant castle of a bookstore. I would just get lost in there and spend hours reading.

I travel a lot for my job, so I try to visit different bookstores when I have time. Independent bookstores are just so calming. It's soothing to get lost in all the knowledge. There's no place like an independent bookstore.

BTW: Is there anything exciting that you're reading right now or that you recommend?

CM: I am reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. It talks about how irrational people are, and it deals a lot with marketing. I read almost exclusively nonfiction. 
I read a book on speed reading when I was 20, and ever since then, I read about a book a week. Though I will admit that due to the time crunch in my schedule lately, I have been listening to a lot of audiobooks.

BTW: Is there anything else you want booksellers to know about you or the company?

CM: Page Anchor is designed for books, so to me, bookstores and Page Anchor seem like a natural fit. We have 34,000+ direct-to-consumer customers, so we know people like it, but we would really like to see it in bookstores. Especially indie bookstores.

We are doing a starter pack that’s 65% off for ABA members. It includes 10 anchors, any color of your choice. (We have a custom engraved version as well!)

I'm very much looking for bookstores to try it out. It is a premium price product and I know every market is different. But if you're on the fence, reach out to me. If you want one or two to check out in your store, let me know.

Right now, ABA members are eligible for 65% off retail pricing for the exclusive Page Anchor starter pack. Interested members can visit the Page Anchor partner page on BookWeb for more details.

You can learn more about Page Anchor on their website!