Authors and Publishers are finding new challenges when selling or giving away digital content at live events, book signings, and conferences. Digital, by its very nature, is intangible, which makes giving copies away difficult. Livrada is hoping to make giving away electronic books more manageable with its gift card program. Ingram is buying into this model of content distribution via its investment arm ICG Ventures Inc. Today, Livada announced that it has secured over one million dollars in new funding.
Livrada basically allows any writer, publisher, or distributor to create custom ebook cards to promote, market, and sell their digital works in the real world. Corporations, conference planners, and organizations can also use this solution for their bulk distribution needs. Livrada is providing a simple solution to the problem of how to physically promote, browse, discover, and gift ebooks.
The company’s claim to fame originated last year, when it signed a landmark deal with retail chain Target. The product excited both publishers and retailers by introducing a way for customers to browse and discover ebooks in mainstream brick and mortar stores for the first time. You can think of it as iTunes giftcards, but for ebooks.
“We are excited that this round of funding will allow us to continue to develop our product as a service directly for authors, as well as expand into more retailers,” said Leonard Chen, CEO/co-founder Livrada. “More importantly, the investment by Ingram and these great entrepreneurs shows that there is a significant opportunity in the shift towards ebook publishing and the resultant gap in the way that ebooks are currently marketed and shared. We are excited to be among those leading the way.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
