Livrada

Livrada carved a niche in the digital publishing market by bridging the gap between physical gift-giving and electronic books. The Los Angeles-based startup was founded by Leonard Chen, John Tantum, and Jeff Wang. Observing that the culture of gifting physical books was lost in the transition to e-books, the company launched in July 2012 with a unique proposition: physical gift cards for specific e-book titles.

The company's initial strategy involved a significant retail partnership with Target, where they launched gift cards for six New York Times bestselling titles. These cards, designed to look like the actual book covers, allowed a recipient to download the e-book to their preferred device, initially supporting Kindle and Nook. This model aimed to make e-book gifting a more personal experience than a simple email gift card, focusing on the book itself rather than the platform.

In early 2013, Livrada secured $1 million in a seed funding round led by ICG Ventures, the investment arm of book distributor Ingram Content Group. This capital infusion was earmarked for expanding its retail presence and launching a new platform called "e-Book Cards for authors." This service empowered authors, particularly those who were self-published, to create, distribute, and sell gift cards for their own e-books at events like book signings and conferences. The business model was multifaceted, earning revenue through marketing fees from publishers, affiliate revenue from book sales, and service fees for the author platform. Authors would pay for the gift cards upfront, along with an activation fee for digital PINs, and would receive their royalties when the e-book was redeemed.

Keywords: e-book gift cards, digital publishing, physical-to-digital, author services, e-book promotion, book gifting, self-publishing tools, retail e-book sales, Leonard Chen, Ingram Content Group, digital book distribution, publishing technology