MightyWords

MightyWords.com operated as a digital marketplace for original short-form written works, launching with considerable fanfare in March 2000. The company was established as a spin-off from its parent, FatBrain.com. Its business model centered on the sale and distribution of what it termed "eMatter," which were professionally focused documents typically ranging from 10 to 100 pages—longer than an article but shorter than a book.

The platform catered to a professional audience, with 85% of its sales stemming from professional and reference topics, while the remaining 15% came from consumer-focused content. MightyWords formed a distribution network, The Mighty Network, which included partners like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Bitpipe Inc., to make its specialized content, such as technical, computing, and business titles, available to a wider audience. Revenue was generated directly from the sale of these digital documents, and at its peak, the company was selling $50,000 worth of content per month.

The company attracted significant investment, including a $20 million investment from Barnes & Noble.com for a 30% stake in June 2000. Barnes & Noble.com's ownership later grew to 53% after it acquired FatBrain.com. Additional funding included $10 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and another $6 million from other venture capital firms. Despite this backing, MightyWords ceased operations in December 2001, with the website shutting down in January 2002. The CEO, Chris MacAskill, stated the closure was not due to a lack of cash but because the market adoption for paid digital content was not growing as anticipated.

Keywords: digital publishing, eMatter, short-form content, online marketplace, professional documents, FatBrain.com, Barnes & Noble.com, digital distribution, dot-com era, Chris MacAskill, Vulcan Ventures, Bitpipe, professional content, reference materials, computing titles