Rent-a-book business is high-volume
Readers looking for a simple online option to find books the same way they rent movies with Netflix might want to test Seattle startup Paperspine.
Started by Dustin Hubbard in early December, Paperspine hopes it can lure readers to pay a monthly fee to get a book, read it, then move to the next book on their list.
Hubbard, who worked the past 10 years on tech projects at Microsoft, said he got the idea one evening after finishing a book and trying to jam it into a night table already loaded with books. He thought, “What can I do to make this easier?” So he hatched the idea of letting people rent books as they do movies.
It took him and two co-founders (who he said didn’t want to be identified) several months to launch it. It has an Issaquah office, but Hubbard said the company now has five distribution centers to get books to subscribers quickly.
(By contrast Netflix has more than 40 centers, including one in Spokane.)
The very first title shipped by Paperspine two weeks ago was “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins. It went to a Paperspine customer in Seattle.
Hubbard, who’s 34, said the company launched with an inventory of 150,000 titles, all of which can be found through a search box on Paperspine. Like popular movies on Netflix, Paperspine carries multiple copies of the most popular reads, such as “The Kite Runner.”
Member rates range from $9.95 per month to $24.95 per month. The lower rate gets you two books at a time with $1.49 per title shipping. The higher price gets you five books with free shipping, said Hubbard.
Hubbard said he was able to find a good deal on the purchase of the company’s first 150,000 titles; but he didn’t care to disclose the company or companies he ordered from.
About 50 percent of his current subscribers live in the Northwest. Hubbard hopes to hit 75,000 customers within two years.
As the firm gains traction and investors, Hubbard contemplates adding some new features. One might be buying back books from users and giving them credit. Down the line, he added, Paperspine might want to venture into the e-book rental business. While that option is just a pipe dream now, Hubbard said it appeals to his technology-loving side: “I could imagine we might rent e-book readers to our customers and then help them find books to read on them.”
A quick Web search reveals two other online companies attempting a similar idea: Booksfree.com and Bookswim.com.
Time will tell if the idea sells. Hubbard knows he has at least one serious competitor: the public library. One visitor at his site blog posted a suggestion that he take some of his profits and use them to support adult-literacy programs.
In reply Hubbard noted the Seattle Public Library this year had 185 copies of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and 784 people on the waiting list for it. He said private enterprise is one solid solution to fill that gap when readers want to get their hands on popular titles but don’t want to own them.