WEbook
WEbook (pronounced "we book") is an online book publishing company that provides a platform for writers, editors, reviewers, illustrators and others to join forces to create works of fiction and non-fiction, thrillers and essays, short stories, children's books and more. It has been billed as a literary version of American Idol.
The vision of Israeli entrepreneur, Itai Kohavi, WEbook launched in April 2008. With corporate offices based in New York, NY, WEbook attempts to do away with the solitary author in favor of an online community of writers.
Site Description
WEbook is an online publishing community and social network that provides a platform for writers, editors, topic experts and commentators to put their virtual pens together to work on literary projects. Community members propose the projects, submit chapters to different books, vote on the chapters, and then review and rate the finished books. Writers can choose to share their work for feedback with just a few close friends, or open it up to the entire community for editing or suggestions.
History
The first WEbook project was offered as an invitation-only project and went live on WEbook in mid-2007, inviting students and graduates from prestigious writing programs, such as Columbia University, to join in the writing of Pandora -- the first community-sourced thriller novel AbOUT terrorists and star-crossed lovers. Pandora, which was published in the spring of 2008, was created by 34 people in six months. It is currently being sold through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as its own site.
In January 2009 WEbook published their second book, 101 Things Every Man Should Know How To Do . 101 Things was written by 28 different authors and greenlit for publication by the WEbook community. The book is a how-to guide for the modern man. It includes entries such as how to grow a beard, bribing the cable guy, and looking good in a Speedo. It is currently being sold through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as its own site.
Under the heading of Jan 20 2009: True Stories, Real People, One Day, WEbook collected stories about Inauguration Day 2009 . The book includes entries from 58 authors. It was launched on President's Day 2009 through the WEbook website and Amazon.com. All profits from sales benefit 826 National a nonprofit tutoring writing and publishing organization.
Funding
Founded in February 2007, WEbook received a Series A round of "between $1 million and $5 million" from Greylock Israel Partners -- an early investor of Facebook, Digg and DoubleClick -- in June 2007. One of the company's six angel investors included ICQ co-founder Yair Goldfinger, who is now a WEbook board member. In September, 2008 WEbook raised $5 million in funding. The round was led by WEbook’s new investor, Vertex Venture Capital and its existing backer, Greylock Partners Israel. The round also included investments from eight unnamed angel investors.