Digital book publisher Readership wants to put the publishing decisions in the hands of readers.
The site, which launched today, allows writers to upload excerpts of their work which can be voted on by the site’s community of readers, who ultimately decide which books get published.
Readers can vote Yes or No to decide if a title will be published. If they vote yes, they are asked to donate to support the work. If the work gets enough donations, it will be published through the site. New Generation Publishing, a self-publishing company based in the UK, is funding the effort.
“Readership was created out of a desire to see more publishers embedding themselves in online culture,” stated Sam Rennie, Founder of Readership. “Considering what communities across the digital world have achieved, we’re incredibly excited about the possibilities available in the online world – particularly in this emerging sector of crowd-sourced, community-based publishers. With Readership we’ve given readers the ultimate say in what gets published.”