6 ms·

Show HN: Summaries of the best books, broken down into 5-min daily emails/texts

21 points by bookcelerator 8y ago

8bitsrule 8y ago
Somewhat interested at first, then looked for a sample precis and found the free trial by e-mail ... a stopper. One, online 5-minute segment might help to sell that idea.
- bookcelerator 8y ago
  Thanks we are working on a free trial with login, appreciate the comment!
malux85 8y ago
Wow! Cool idea! But it’s too expensive, $20 a year and I’d have signed up, but not 100. Would love a sci-fi version too, personally I’d pay more for that, and if you had the option of getting the PDF. Also doesn’t have to be daily, every 3-4 days would be better. Anyway, awesome product guys, love the idea
- aliswe 7y ago
  I just emailed them an empty email. Dont really know what will happen ...Im not a book reader really but can definetely see myself as paying if the content seems worth it.
- bookcelerator 7y ago
  Thanks for the constructive comments!
sytelus 7y ago
Small tips for a growing startup: 1. Don't worry too much about monetization. You want more fans, less $$$ signs. 2. Don't force people to give their emails unless absolutely necessary. I basically closed the page without looking in to anything else. If you are diligent about finding market fit and collecting data to calculate conversion rate of your experiment, above should explain your findings.
- throw_no_humour 7y ago
  I disagree with first .. making money is absolutely necessary. Please dont fall into this advice to make no money and increase expenditure by catering needs of more and more people.
  - bookcelerator 7y ago
    So true the philosophy that you can give things away free or generate near 0 revenue are unrealistic. If a business/service can not pay for itself then it requires debt(VC for example) which leads to dilution and in many cases the same result, a failed business/service. If you can make something the market will buy and the revenue sustain and grow the business/service then you have a real business/service otherwise it's just an artificial reality. It's so harmful the belief that you can make a business that is not profitable from the beginning and achieve success. You are already doomed to failure with this thinking. Learned this the hard way from several businesses and ideas in the past.
omniscient_oce 7y ago
It's cool but it doesn't look like it's worth paying for in my opinion as a lot of people make these sort of book reviews free online on Reddit.
mrandish 7y ago
I'm interested in the service but it's too expensive to consider. If the quality was high I'd sub at $50/yr. I'd also suggest having a podcast form of the service where the summaries are read outloud as an upsell option. Best of luck with it.
dawie 7y ago
I am interested and sent a message, but have not heard or received anything back. I would possibly even pay, if it was a high quality.
- bookcelerator 7y ago
  You should have received something by now. If not please email support@bookcelerator.com.

21 points by bookcelerator 8y ago

Somewhat interested at first, then looked for a sample precis and found the free trial by e-mail ... a stopper. One, online 5-minute segment might help to sell that idea.

bookcelerator 8y ago
Thanks we are working on a free trial with login, appreciate the comment!

malux85 8y ago

Wow! Cool idea! But it’s too expensive, $20 a year and I’d have signed up, but not 100. Would love a sci-fi version too, personally I’d pay more for that, and if you had the option of getting the PDF. Also doesn’t have to be daily, every 3-4 days would be better. Anyway, awesome product guys, love the idea

aliswe 7y ago
I just emailed them an empty email. Dont really know what will happen ...Im not a book reader really but can definetely see myself as paying if the content seems worth it.
bookcelerator 7y ago
Thanks for the constructive comments!

sytelus 7y ago

Small tips for a growing startup: 1. Don't worry too much about monetization. You want more fans, less $$$ signs. 2. Don't force people to give their emails unless absolutely necessary. I basically closed the page without looking in to anything else. If you are diligent about finding market fit and collecting data to calculate conversion rate of your experiment, above should explain your findings.

throw_no_humour 7y ago
I disagree with first .. making money is absolutely necessary. Please dont fall into this advice to make no money and increase expenditure by catering needs of more and more people.
- bookcelerator 7y ago
  So true the philosophy that you can give things away free or generate near 0 revenue are unrealistic. If a business/service can not pay for itself then it requires debt(VC for example) which leads to dilution and in many cases the same result, a failed business/service. If you can make something the market will buy and the revenue sustain and grow the business/service then you have a real business/service otherwise it's just an artificial reality. It's so harmful the belief that you can make a business that is not profitable from the beginning and achieve success. You are already doomed to failure with this thinking. Learned this the hard way from several businesses and ideas in the past.

omniscient_oce 7y ago

It's cool but it doesn't look like it's worth paying for in my opinion as a lot of people make these sort of book reviews free online on Reddit.

mrandish 7y ago

I'm interested in the service but it's too expensive to consider. If the quality was high I'd sub at $50/yr. I'd also suggest having a podcast form of the service where the summaries are read outloud as an upsell option. Best of luck with it.

dawie 7y ago

I am interested and sent a message, but have not heard or received anything back. I would possibly even pay, if it was a high quality.

bookcelerator 7y ago
You should have received something by now. If not please email support@bookcelerator.com.