Booktrope

Booktrope, founded in 2010 by Katherine Sears, Andy Roberts, Ken Shear, and Heather Ludviksson, was a Seattle-based hybrid publisher that ceased operations in May 2016. The company aimed to disrupt the traditional publishing industry by introducing a "team publishing" model. This approach was built around a software platform that facilitated collaboration between authors, editors, designers, and marketers who would form a team for each book project. The company was selective and did not charge authors any upfront fees for publishing services like editing, design, or marketing.

The business model was centered on revenue sharing. After distribution and printing costs, Booktrope would retain 30% of the net revenue, while the remaining 70% was distributed among the creative team members, including the author, based on their individual agreements. This model was designed to keep overhead low and incentivize the entire team to contribute to the book's success. Booktrope published nearly 1,000 titles in both print and e-book formats and helped sell over 4 million copies. The company gained recognition for its approach, winning the Seattle Angel Conference competition in 2013 and being accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator program in the winter of 2015.

Despite its initial successes, including raising $1.2 million in funding in April 2015, the company's management determined that its business model was not financially sustainable due to shifts in the book market. In April 2016, Booktrope announced it would be shutting down. The company conducted a managed shutdown, ensuring that all authors and creative team members were paid their earned royalties and were provided with the source files to republish their works independently. Upon closing, rights reverted to the authors. Keywords: hybrid publisher, team publishing, revenue sharing books, author services, book publishing platform, independent publishing, publishing startup, Seattle startup, Y Combinator alumni, collaborative publishing, author royalties, book marketing, digital publishing, print-on-demand, publishing innovation, book production, author community, creative collaboration, self-publishing alternative, booktrope