Public Funding for Jellybooks Ltd

In the past few years, book publishing has been transformed by the rapid growth of online book sales, the emergence of ebooks and eReaders, such as the Kindle and iPad, and the rise of self-publishing with mega successes such as Hugh Howey's "Wool" and E.L. James "50 Shades of Grey". Readers have benefited immensely, but the changes are having a big impact on authors and publishing. Project Rambutan by Jellybooks and the computer science department at University College London is a pioneering initiative in applying new approaches in machine learning to book marketing and for authors and publishers to better understand, target and interact with readers and audiences. Project Rambutan promises to give authors and publishers the tools to make data-based decisions. The consortium expects that applying data-driven approaches to publishing could lead to far greater efficiency and productivity in the UK book industry and help it compete better in a global marketplace dominated by Amazon, Apple, Google and others. Today many authors and publishers still view data-based decision making to be as exotic as a Rambutan (a delicious fruit from Southeast Asia).

Jellybooks is a technology, software and audience insight specialist in the book publishing sector. The company provides a cloud-based platform for innovating how literature is created, published, marketed and delivered. A central pillar of the Jellybooks platform is the Jellybooks Cloud Reader, a browser-based accessible reading system for narrative books, illustrated books and audiobooks. Readers do not need to install an app and there is no file to download. Instead Jellybooks offers a click-and-read solution for accessing books and book samples on any connected device and sharing them as links or QR codes via email and social media. In partnership with Blackwell's and supported by Innovate UK, Jellybooks has built a cross-industry platform to enable retailers and publishers to add ebook excerpts and audiobook snippets to their web pages (also called the "peek inside" feature) using the Jellybooks Cloud Reader. In addition, Jellybooks has created an innovative, cloud-based platform for publishers to create online and interactive versions of their sales and rights catalogues, as well as reader magazines. This was recently piloted with The 2021 Booker Prizes in the form of The 2021 Booker Prize Magazine. As part of this project Jellybooks will translate and localise the platform and in particular the Jellybooks DISCOVERY, Jellybooks PREVIEW, and Jellybooks ARTS services into Spanish, conducting a pilot with two of Spain's leading trade publishers. The purpose of the pilot is to collect end-user data and generate benchmarks on sales uplift when using the services to facilitate a full-market roll-out of Jellybooks services in Spain. The Spanish launch would be followed one year later by a roll-out across the publishing markets of Latin America. A complimentary part of the project is a desktop-based study of the supply chain, book retail ecosystem and major actors in the Spanish and Portuguese (BRA) speaking markets of Latin America in preparation of strategic roll-out across the publishing markets of Latin America.

New releases are the lifeblood of the publishing industry. Book publishers generate most of their annual revenues from new releases, but sell only a tiny percentage direct to consumers. Books are mainly sold via booksellers, from indie bookshops to national chains like Waterstones to international giants such as Amazon. To ensure their books are stocked and prominently displayed, publishers actively promote and sell their new releases into these channels and ensure booksellers display, promote and sell publishers' output online and offline. The motivation for the project "Interactive Sales Catalogue for Book Publishers" is to improve how new releases are promoted and sold to the trade ("B2B sales") which has been severely disrupted by the pandemic. The traditional approach is based on printed sales catalogues sent in large numbers to bookshop staff and frequently followed by physical review copies of new book releases. Publisher's sales representatives follow-up by meeting booksellers face-to-face across the country. The pandemic has severely disrupted this practice and briefings are increasingly moving online. In addition, it has long been recognised that publishers sending printed sales catalogues and review copies unsolicited and in large numbers to booksellers is an environmentally wasteful activity. Unsolicited review copies often remain unopened. The few that are read by busy retail staff are read "professionally", meaning only the first and last fifty pages are browsed. This is an immense waste of paper, packaging, and unnecessary deliveries. The pandemic and the associated move to online meetings offer an opportunity to rethink this practice. This project will provide UK publishers with an innovative tool using the fixed-layout ePUB format and the Jellybooks Cloud Reader to provide an online magazine-like experience for promoting new releases to booksellers in the UK. Retailers will be able to access the digital review copies of their choice directly from within interactive sales catalogue. This is a web-based reading solution that requires no app to be installed and no file to be downloaded. This novel service is based on a prototype built by Jellybooks for a large academic publisher prior to the outbreak of the pandemic and allows for a socially distanced, online approach for promoting and selling new releases to booksellers as a substitute for the seasonal spring and autumn sales catalogue that publishers print and distribute in large numbers to booksellers. The proposed service is unique in providing very detailed engagement and reading analytics, giving publishers' sales representatives detailed insight into what books are getting attention so they can focus their online sales meetings on the books that are getting booksellers excited. The Jellybooks Cloud Reader provides access to review copies of many kinds including narrative books (re-flowable ePUB), illustrated books (fixed-layout ePUB) and audiobooks (MP3-LPF). The Jellybooks Cloud Reader is a turn-key solution based on the open-source Readium Web architecture and is able to support visually impaired readers and readers with other accessibility requirements. The project is being undertaken by Jellybooks, a world-class publishing technology specialist headquartered in Brixton, London.

The project "Virtual Book Browsing and AI-powered Book Discovery" will provide UK bookshops and booksellers with innovative tools and services, such as look-inside, read later and a white-label AI-powered book recommendation service to enhance their online and ecommerce capabilities post pandemic. The project is a partnership between publishing technology specialist Jellybooks and bookseller Blackwell's, the UK's second largest physical book chain, who will also be the pilot partner in this project. At the core of the project is a national ebook sample infrastructure open to any UK bookshop or bookseller. This platform will support online browsing of the first 5% to 20% of a book (look-inside) including offline reading support (read later). Every book sample featured will have an integrated buy link offering users the option from within the book to purchase a digital or physical version (click-to-buy), including the option of in-store pick-up (click & collect). The platform will use the Jellybooks retailer localisation engine to operate as a closed-loop system. This means that, unlike alternative solutions, an ebook sample offered and distributed by retailer A only has buy links to the same retailer A and not competing retailers B and C even though B and C may be using the platform for their own purposes as well, even selling the same books. Consumers will not be required to download an ebook file or install an app. Instead the platform will leverage the state-of-the-art Jellybooks Cloud Reader to support reading in the cloud on any connected device with browser support. The Jellybooks Cloud Reader is based on the open ePub standard and is able to support visually impaired readers and other readers with accessibility requirements. Data collected across retailers via the national platform will be used to develop and train machine learning algorithms (colloquially referred to as artificial intelligence or AI). The goal is to identify taste clusters allowing for better and more accurate category description of books. The use of observational user data will correct for inherent industry biases and errors in existing classification systems, support a greater diversity of authors and voices, and reduce the marginalisation of audiences and authors that can occur in the current mass-market focused system. The machine learning algorithms will also be deployed to create a book recommendation engine for book retailers and publishers. This will take the shape of a white-label direct-to-consumer newsletter service that will generate AI-powered book recommendations specific to individual users, communities, and audience niches. In short, the service will offer a Netflix-style recommendation engine adapted and optimised for the decentralised needs of independent book retailers, a major innovation. The platform will also be used to nudge users towards the purchase path generating the least packaging waste and the smallest carbon footprint in terms of book delivery. The project pilot will open to end users at the beginning of 2021\.

Project Pomegranate, formally “Improving Books with Reader Analytics Data”, is a feasibility study to develop and test tools for improving the user experience of books in the educational, professional and STM publishing sectors. The adoption of ebooks and of the ePub3 standard in particular, has made it possible to collect observational reading data even when readers use 3rd party apps. For the first time we have the ability to use reader data to make editorial decisions for improving books, so they are easier to read, more informative or more relevant. Project Pomegranate uses a unique software tool developed by Jellybooks that collects and extracts reading data from 3rd party apps, like iBooks or Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), to power a platform whereby non-fiction authors and publishers can conduct (i) product tests (virtual focus groups), including A/B tests, prior to publication of a new title, or (ii) include the tool in retail copies to undertake ongoing observations of how titles are read so that future editions can be improved. Project Pomegranate will also give readers access to their own data so they can monitor their own reading and learning progress and compare it to that of others.

Reader Analytics for Independent Authors and Publishers (“Project Honeyberry” by Jellybooks) allows book creators to gain insights on their audiences and understand how books they publish are actually read. Data is collected in the form of virtual focus groups. Readers selected to participate in virtual focus group receive a free ebook prior to the publication date. They can read the test ebook on their smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC, be it in the comfort of their home or anywhere else they would normally read books. The reading data is recorded offline and stored within the ePub file itself. The data is only uploaded when the reader clicks a button placed at the end of each chapter. Readers may decline to share their reading data despite receiving the book for free. In this case they lose the privilege of participating in further focus groups. Under this project Jellybooks is adapting the system originally developed for large and sophisticated trade publishers for use by independent authors and publishers with a particular emphasis on providing easy-to-use visualisation and analytics tools over the web that can be used by authors and publishers with no data science experience.

Project Elderberry by Jellybooks is a project to measure how book recommendations and links are shared online and to understand influence networks for book recommendations. Its goal is to help authors and publishers to better market books online and through social media and assist them in developing trageted marketing and promotional campaigns. Participating publishers include Faber & Faber, Profile Books, Mills & Boon and O'Reilly with more publishers expected to join over the course of the project.

Project Blueberry by Jellybooks is a project to facilitate ebook sharing between readers by encouraging readers to share an ebook sample (first 10% of title) with fellow readers.The HTML emails are designed to be easy to use, work across a wide range of email clients (both webmail and Outlook) and to enable recipients to view the book cover, the book synopsis and download the ebook sample straight from the email to their smartphone, tablet or ereader.The service will also be made available to authors and publishers via the Jellyfactory: vip.jellybooks.com