The Bookseller.com

4th July 2009

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BookRabbit beta site launches

19.03.08 Graeme Neill

Beta testing has begun on a new “social shopping” website that aims to let users explore other members’ bookshelves online.

Books can be bought directly from the BookRabbit website at www.bookrabbit.com. The site also allows members to take photos of their bookshelves and upload them to the website, using technology similar to number plate-recognition software to give members an online catalogue of what they own. Users are shown other members who have read similar books, and their profiles can be browsed in a similar fashion to social networking websites such as MySpace.

Users can also classify their own books according to the model that online encyclopedia Wikipedia uses—customers can create specific genres and classifications for books to make recommendations and searches more accurate. “It gives users the opportunity to discover new books, which they can then share with other users,” said Kieron Smith, m.d. of BookRabbit. “We are trying to solve how the industry is so frontlist orientated, and open up the backlist.”

The business, which is part of ArgentVive, the company formerly known as SamedayBooks, is also offering independent bookshops the opportunity to upload their inventory onto the site. Customers can browse where their local store is and discover if they have a specific book in stock.

BookRabbit

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