BookSwim
Encyclopedia
BookSwim is a private
American
online book rental service, offering rental-by-mail of both hardcover
and paperback books. The company was launched in 2007 and has grown steadily since its inception.
.
and paperback books on a monthly subscription basis. Subscribers add books to their online reading list, called a Rental Pool. When the subscriber returns finished books, the next books in the Rental Pool ship out. The similarity to Netflix
's business model has led to the website informally being called the 'Netflix for books.' BookSwim's plans begin at $9.99 per month and include only hardcover and paperback books.
’s Business Plan Competition in 2008 and an accompanying cash prize of $20,000. The company was named a 'Startup to Watch' by Entrepreneur Magazine
,and the New Jersey Technology Council.
.
near its new offices.
Privately held company
A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
online book rental service, offering rental-by-mail of both hardcover
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
and paperback books. The company was launched in 2007 and has grown steadily since its inception.
History
George Burke co-founded BookSwim with friend Shamoon Siddiqui in April 2007, in Shamoon's basement in Monroe Township, NJ for the first ten months of the company’s existence . The company has since branched out, briefly moving to Aberdeen, NJ before establishing headquarters in Newark, NJ with distribution facilities in eastern PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
Rental Service
BookSwim provides unlimited rental-by-mail of hardcoverHardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
and paperback books on a monthly subscription basis. Subscribers add books to their online reading list, called a Rental Pool. When the subscriber returns finished books, the next books in the Rental Pool ship out. The similarity to Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
's business model has led to the website informally being called the 'Netflix for books.' BookSwim's plans begin at $9.99 per month and include only hardcover and paperback books.
Honors & Appearances
BookSwim entered and won Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
’s Business Plan Competition in 2008 and an accompanying cash prize of $20,000. The company was named a 'Startup to Watch' by Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. It is published by Entrepreneur Media Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California....
,and the New Jersey Technology Council.
Market Conditions & Competitiveness
BookSwim's subscribers tend to be high-income avid readers who read over forty books a year; roughly 80% of them are female. As "the core of [the] business is in bestsellers," BookSwim cites its rental of hardcovers as its main competitive edge over competitor BooksfreeBooksfree
Booksfree is an online book rental company, the first to offer flat rate rental-by-mail to customers in the United States. Established in 2000 and headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, it boasts an inventory of over 100,000 titles and more than 13,000 subscribers...
.
Relationships with Libraries
Though libraries’ reactions to BookSwim have included anxiety and resentment, BookSwim does not see itself as competition with libraries. The company has expressed interest in taking libraries on as customers and its co-founders appeared at the 2008 Colorado Interlibrary Loan Conference to speak about potential partnerships with them. In October 2008, BookSwim donated an extra 13,000 books from its inventory to the Newark Public LibraryNewark Public Library
The Newark Public Library is the public library system for the city of Newark, New Jersey.-History:In 1902 John Cotton Dana became employed at the Newark Public Library in Newark, New Jersey from until his death in 1929. He established foreign language collections for immigrants and also developed...
near its new offices.