Megan Hart

Megan Hart
Ok. So, first off, thanks for taking the time to talk to me about Paperspine

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Absolutely. I love talking to authors about our service!

Megan Hart
Great! Well I’m sure authors and readers are going to love hearing about Paperspine and how it works and most importantly (for us) why we should be excited about it, too!
Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started and what Paperspine is?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Sure. Paperspine is an online book rental service. Many people compare it to a Netflix for books type of business. We have monthly subscription plans that allow you to have books mailed to your home and return to us when you are finished. I got started when about 1 1/2 years ago I kind of had an “ah ha” moment in bed. I had just finished another book and when I rolled over to put it in the night stand drawer there was no more room because all my other books were crammed in there. I thought “I wish I could just return these when I was finished with them like I do with Netflix.” That is how the journey started.

Megan Hart
Cool! So how did you get started making this happen? Did you do most of it by yourself, bring others in to help…?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
I did about 2 months of research on my own to understand the market and viability of such a business. Once I determined I was interested in starting a company I brought 2 other people in to co-found it with me. It was going to take a lot of work to get it up and running in time for last holiday season (2007) so my two partners have been instrumental in helping get the company running.

Megan Hart
So you’ve been up and running for about a year now, in business?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
yeah, we launched in Dec of 2007

Megan Hart
And you’re U.S. based only?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Yes, currently we only serve the US market. There has been some interest in going abroad but it gets pretty complicated to do so.

Megan Hart
I’d imagine so, with mailing costs. etc. How many books does Paperspine stock?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
We offer about 200,000 unique titles to our customers. All the books are paperback only and our most popular titles are mass market fiction I’d say.

Megan Hart
That’s a lotta books. How do you determine which titles to stock?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
There are a number of factors, but mostly we determine it based on publication date (newer titles), genre, price and weight of the book.

Megan Hart
Who gets to decide what to buy? And do you need umm…experienced pre-readers to freelance for you? LOL!

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
It’s mainly an algorithm to be honest. We don’t individually pick out every one of the 200,000 titles we offer. I’m sure plenty of people would be willing to pre-read for us!

Megan Hart
Bummer, man! An algorithm is so unromantic. But okay, so…you pick the books, you stock them…another algorithm to determine how many of each you order?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Something like that. Part of what we do and how we do it is confidential to the company. What we try to do is offer a large selection of popular titles for our customers to select from and make sure that the books they order arrive in very good condition and in a timely manner. How many we order is driven purely by customer demand.

Megan Hart
Ah, good old demand

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Yep. It’s been interesting to see what is popular

Megan Hart
Has it opened you up to reading books you might not have, before? For example, if you see that Book X is going like hotcakes, do you pick up a copy to check out?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Totally! For example I’m just finishing Pillars of the Earth. I would normally not have picked up that book, but it has been really good. I find out about new authors all the time just by what our customers are reading.

Megan Hart
So I’m looking at the site now and I see that members can have out from 2 to 5 books at a time, with no late fees or due dates

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Exactly. It is important to let customers read at a speed they are comfortable with. Some of our members tear through several books a week while others read one or two a month. The service is primarily targeted to “avid readers”, which we identify as customers that read 24 or more books a year. Many read much more than that though.

Megan Hart
I know that one of the things I have found constantly improving with Netflix was the turnaround time — I’m sure members of Paperspine want a swift turnaround, too. Without telling me the confidential details, do you have an average time?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Yes, that is a constant challenge. Netflix (which is WAY bigger than we are) has over 45 distribution centers througout the country. Our goal is to get people their books within 3-5 days of receiving their book in the mail. We use a variety of shipping methods including First Class, UPS and Media Mail to try and streamline shipping as much as possible.

Megan Hart
And shipping’s included!

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
That’s right! The $9.95 plan is the exception. You pay $1.49 on a per book basis. It’s really designed for people who have reading levels that fluctuate a lot from month to month.

Megan Hart
I’ll be honest — as a *reader* this idea is like WAHOO! I like my local library and all, but frankly, if I never had to leave my house ever for any reason, that would be fine with me. Books straight to my house! Wahooo!
However, as an author, I was at first concerned, so I want to thank you again for agreeing to talk a bit about what a system like Paperspine means for us.

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
I was really excited when you reached out to us! Your books are extremely popular with our customers. I want to be sure authors understand that we are trying to be a service that they benefit by. The biggest concern authors have is how we’re procuring our titles. We buy all our books new which ensures publisher and author royalties are paid out in advance. I feel this is really important because as an avid reader I value the time and effort it takes to write a book and authors are entitled to be benefiting from our service. The used book market has exploded over the past couple of years and authors don’t see a cent from those sales. Paperspine I hope offers an affordable alternative to the used book market for customers while helping authors get the royalties they deserve.

Megan Hart
I was really excited when you “recognized” me. Excited or nervous, I’m not sure.

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
It’s hard to miss your titles when they come through the unpacking center!

Megan Hart
LOL. Um, yes, that is true, I guess!
So you buy the books new. We like to hear that.

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Yes, that is currently the only way to get the “ecosystem” paid appropriately. We’re often in talks with publishers about doing a revenue share with them and the authors but it has been a slow going process. Today, purchasing the titles new is about the only choice we have.

Megan Hart
Well, we authors surely do like to be paid, and I doubt anyone would balk at getting a piece of royalties paid on rentals!
However, at this point, there’s no such system in place and would be up to the publishers to work out some way of making that happen.
So let’s talk about what it could mean, though, for an author to have books available through Paperspine. For example, people might take a chance, like you did, on a new author or book because it’s a little less risky when renting than buying.

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Correct. Just to close out the royalty conversation, I would recommend authors that are interested in a pay per rental model to discuss our business with their publisher and let them know that we are more than willing to participate in such a program.
Regarding finding new authors, I think that is always a challenge. Paperspine makes it easy for a customer to try out new authors with really no risk. If they don’t get past the first chapter, they can toss it back in the mail and get another book. We also blog about books we are reading in an effort to help customers discover more authors, which is a challenge for any reader.

Megan Hart
Ah, good, I was going to ask that next. Does Paperspine promote titles, or do a “if you liked, try…” sort of thing?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
We have Paperspine Picks as the default list of books on the site. Those are generally a combination of what we’ve been reading and what we’re seeing our members read. We also offer a “See More Books Like This . . . ” feature which shows books that have the same category mapping as the book you’re looking at. That helps members as well.

Megan Hart
Do readers rate books?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Not yet, it is on our feature list of things to add to the site.

Megan Hart
Ok, here’s a question for you: books, as we know, have a limited lifespan, especially if they’re getting passed from hand to hand and travelling in the mail. Do you have an average life cycle for the books you purchase, and, do you replace copies that are worn out? Or does that depend on the popularity?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Yes, they do indeed wear out. It has a lot to do with how the customers handle the books as well as the quality of the binding by the publishers. I’d say most books last about 8 turns (read by 8 people) before they wear out or are not in good enough shape to make us feel comfortable sending it to another customer. When a book wears out we order more copies as long as there is ongoing demand for it.

Megan Hart
I cry for those poor books, though I guess if they gotta go, well-loved and well-read is the way to go.

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
It’s better than being relegated to the back of a garage, right?

Megan Hart
yes. Or shredded!

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Exactly

Megan Hart
What about books that get dropped in the tub or have pb and j on them!

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
Well, those ones we don’t really want back! Generally if a customer damages a book that we can’t re-rent we charge them for the damage and just let them keep it. Then we send the next book out from their reading queue.

Megan Hart
So how hands on are you at this point? Do you work in the mail room?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
We are still a small company. Paperspine is pretty much all self-funded by the founders and we all pitch in on the varioiius aspects of running the business, including packing the books. It’s a labor of love . . . except the days where it is super cold in the warehouse and we can’t feel our fingers.

Megan Hart
All right, I guess my thought is gone. Do you have anything you’d like to say about Paperspine? Anything you want authors and readers to know about?

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
First of all, I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about the company. There are some misconceptions about whether the book rental industry is good for authors and I want them to know that we’re on their side. I think our service is great for people that love to read, would enjoy the convenience of home shipping and aren’t looking to keep every book they read. Although if they do read a book that they like, they can simply purchase it from us. We try really hard to provide a great service and I hope people that read your blog will give us a shot.

Megan Hart
Well you know, most authors are readers, too, and we all love books! So to me, a service that gets books into the hands of readers is a positive thing. Getting paid is a positive thing too, of course, but getting in front of readers who might then go on to become fans…that’s good!

Dustin Hubbard, CEO/President of Paperspine
That is the sentiment I have heard from pretty much all authors. Paperspine is a great way for you to get read by more people and in the end that is a big benefit all by itself!

Megan Hart
Thanks again for your time!

For more information, visit Paperspine.