Today’s Killer Startup: Shelfie
Elevator Pitch:
Shelfie lets users digitize their physical books and connect with other readers in order to find new reads.
Why It’s A Killer Startup:
I am a voracious reader. I easily consume three books a week, and I feel anxious if I don’t have one with me at all times. It’s a similar feeling to when I used to smoke and I’d run out of cigarettes or forget them at home, like something is just wrong. However, carrying around physical books is not an option for me, as I’ve been a digital nomad for the past four years. While I love, love, love physical books and resisted getting an e-reader for as long as I could (only giving in when I moved to Chile, which has a 17% tax on books), there’s just no way I could ever meet the weight limit if I brought all my books around with me.
So I’m super excited to learn about Shelfie, which is an app that digitizes your physical books, for free. Yup, you read that right: you just take a photo of your bookshelf (your “shelfie,” get it?) and the app will tell you which of your books are eligible. They have over 100,000 titles and are adding more every day, so chances are that your favorites will be available.
They’ll then send you digital copies of all of your books, so you can take them anywhere!
Shelfie also lets you browse other people’s bookshelves (which is another snoopy hobby of mine) in order to discover your next favorite book. Finally, they have a discussion module so you can talk about all of your faves with other book lovers.
So, whether you’re a digital nomad like me or you just want to be able to search all of your favorite reads more easily, head over and to Shelfie and see what books on your bookshelf qualify.
Tweetable:
Love #books? Take a #shelfie and get free ebooks! @getshelfie
