This Berlin Startup Is on the Hunt for the Next Harry Potter
- Inkitt uses crowd sourcing and algorithms to sift manuscripts
- Seeking to sell in stores including Walmart and Tesco
Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg
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Publishers are notorious for making knuckleheaded decisions on new titles -- the first Harry Potter book, for instance, was rejected a dozen times -- so Ali Albazaz has come up with an alternative: Ask readers what they think.
The 28-year-old software coder and aspiring author in 2015 launched Inkitt GmbH, which gives users access to the works of about 60,000 indie authors. That gives Inkitt a wealth of data: whether readers stay up all night devouring a vampire story, how often they put down a mystery and flip over to Facebook, and the number of friends they recommend a title to.