Culture is future » Innovation and digital

01.12.2016

THIS WEEK’S CULTURAL START-UP: BOOK WEATHER

Next-up on our online cultural entrepreneur series, the Forum d’Avignon would like to introduce: Book Weather an application, which eases the search for new books corresponding to your taste. 

What is your company’s objective?

Our goal is to enable each of us to discover new books corresponding to their own taste. In order to achieve it we created an application named Book Weather where:

- users inform books they read and appreciated or not,

- the app advice ‘influencers’, ie other people having same literature tastes  

- tastes and influencers’ advices is a way to discover new books or to build an opinion on a book.

Apart from that digital device, we offer a more concrete service: you may subscribe to the Books Box http://www.booksbox.fr and receive at home - at the frequency you choice – a book you have never read and that will please.

What challenges do you face in your development? 

Today we are facing two challenges:

- after two years of tests and feedbacks on our iOS version, we launch our new first multiplatform version (iOS, Android and Web). Then we all restart – functionality, ergonomy, design etc – and our Beta version is available since today.

- The Books Box launch, scheduled for Christmas, is also a new challenge: distribution, packaging, supplies, delivery delay.

What does it mean to be a cultural entrepreneur?

This project, which was born in a communication agency, originates from our need for a product and service having values and being a true service to consumers.

We have been through several iterations before reaching what Book Weather is today: a network of people having common literature tastes so that each may influence the other.

With the Books Box we offer an added service: the direct delivery of a book at home.

Being a cultural entrepreneur means in our case bringing a new solution so that people find books they appreciate. We want people to read more or at least still keep on reading and loving it. Reading make you more opened-minded, make you understand and ponder. It is a break in our hyperconnected world. A necessary and good break.

François Rochet (President), et Vivien Ripoche (developer)

Follow Book Weather on…website, twitter, facebook

Application : https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/book-weather/id597922419

© le Labo de l’édition


The web series: we’re interviewing cultural start-ups – Contact us ! 

As part of its web series on cultural entrepreneurship, the Forum d’Avignon is proud present each week exciting stories on cultural start-ups. 

This project is part of the Forum d’Avignon’s on-going work, in line with its 2015 agenda, on the ‘hybridization of economic models in cultural and on the manifesto on cultural entrepreneurship in creative industries (to be published soon). 

To participate and promote your cultural start-up on the Forum d’Avignon’s website:  please send to the address forum-avignon.org@orange.fr :

- A photo (website/founders/logo) in HD

- A video link presenting your project

- A short answer (2-3 lines, in English and French) to the following three questions:

What is your project/idea/start-up?

What is your current challenge? 

For you, what does it mean to be a cultural entrepreneur?