EVENTS


BookTech Pitch-Off


BookTech pitch-off Super six start-ups make the cut


Whittling down the entrants to a shortlist of five start-ups to pitch at FutureBook Live proved a tough task—so much so that an additional firm made the cut this year


Bec Evans @eva_bec B


ookTech, Futurebook’s start-up pitch off competi- tion, is now in its fiſth


year and has come of age. Going through this year’s entries, I was struck by both the freshness and maturit of the publishing start- up scene. Start-ups can move faster than established companies, so checking out the competition will give you a glimpse of future trends. But it’s not all hype. While the finalists score a full house on digital-lingo bingo—with artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual and augmented realit and, of course, apps—each company’s choice of tech responds to genuine audience needs. Take the use of virtual realit to create an online literary festival, or artificial intelligence technology to produce and co-publish audiobooks. Oſten set up to address a specific customer need or problem, start-ups have a laser focus on satisfying their early users. Whether it’s increasing communication between parents and pre-verbal children, creating an online platform for cookbooks, or making bedtime reading more fun for families. Start-ups can also apply technology from one market to another, for example taking the mature self-publishing model to provide schoolchildren the opportunit to print and publish their own books. As ever, the competition was fierce and hard to whitle down to five finalists—so much so that we


14 8th November 2019


have six on the list. The following companies will be pitching live at 4 p.m. at the FutureBook confer- ence on Monday 25th November. ckbk brings the world’s cook- books online. This subscription service provides home cooks with seamless search, filtering and recipe recommendations, while applying smart home and third-part app integration. With licensing deals under way, it curates authored recipe content in an entirely new way. DeepZen uses artificial intel- ligence technology to produce and co-publish audiobooks using proprietary emotive speech tech- nology. It helps mid-size publish- ers and independent authors to take advantage of the growth in audio by giving them the tools to produce audiobooks in a mater of days, and monetise the rights they hold. DeepZen hopes to increase the choice of audio content available to consumers through the development of an audiobook retail and subscription platform. MY VLF is the world’s first


global virtual literary festival. Designed to overcome barriers to participation—such as a lack of time, money, or abilit to travel—the platform helps authors and readers connect, and is inclusive, free and accessible to all. With author interviews, live chats, a monthly book group and a virtual exhibition hall, MY VLF offers opportunities for writers to market their books and connect with their audience. Make Our Book enables schools to self-publish their children’s


LAST YEAR’S BOOKTECH CHAMPION WAS THE POUND PROJECT


work. Its platform brings self- publishing to the classroom by automatically tpeseting the book to PDF and creating an elegant cover using children’s artwork. It helps schools to achieve their ICT and communi- cation goals while also expanding children’s creative experience beyond the confines of the curriculum. The books use print- on-demand and web-app technol- ogy with a favourable business model: firm sale, no returns, no advances, no royalties, no agents, no stockholding, no tpeseting or design costs—i.e., at no cost to the school at all. NoisyBook adds sound effects


to children’s books, empowering young readers to enjoy reading and physical books. NoisyBook is an iOS app that works alongside any physical book: as you read, the app understands your speech and responds with automatic sound effects. It also analyses a story to present a Q&A session at the end, and provides a


speech-to-text transcription to create a visual recording of your story to save and share. Vika Books aims to


“Redimensionalise Reading” with publications that blur the bounda- ries between real and virtual worlds. Its first augmented realit book, Where is the Bird?, inspires families to interact in British Sign Language with a playful, interac- tive, multi-dimensional learning experience. The story moves beyond the page via the app to interact with everyday objects and increase communication between parents and pre-verbal children across the deaf and hear- ing communities.


The finalists will each get a chance to pitch in front of a live audience, and judges, who will then quiz each participant before deciding on a winner. The judges are Asi Sharabi of Wonderbly, Ahrani Logan of Peapodicity, investor and venture partner Tracy Doree, chaired by Bec Evans of Prolifiko.


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