Most street-style fashion blogs serve their readers primarily as sources of inspiration, but a new London-based blog has added an e-commerce twist to let readers click on looks they like and purchase them on the spot.
Stitsh, which launched earlier this year, offers up galleries of photos of real men and women on the London streets wearing a wide variety of looks and styles. In addition to having subjects sign photo releases, Stitsh's photographers also find out about the clothes they are wearing and hunt them down in retail stores, forging e-commerce partnerships wherever possible. Users of the site, which is ultimately much like a blog version of shopping magazine Lucky, can then just click on items they're interested in and be taken to stores where those items—or very similar versions—can be purchased. Photos are arranged by gender, and items are also tagged for easy searchability.
“The way I shop is I look at what people are wearing,” Stitsh founder Dom Fendius told Women's Wear Daily. “When the street-style blogs came online, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could buy the clothing worn in those photos?”
Stitsh is partially funded by ads, but it also works on a commission model, WWD reports. Specifically, each Stitsh reader who clicks through to the site of an online retailer such as Topshop, Miss Selfridge, House of Fraser or French Connection and buys something there earns Stitsh a commission of up to 12 percent. Some stores will even pay Stitsh the commission for shoppers who return to buy something as much as 30 days later, according to WWD. Stitsh currently covers just the streets of London, but Manchester, Stockholm and New York are reportedly in the works. One to partner with or emulate in other parts of the world...?
Website: www.stitsh.com
Contact: dom@stitsh.com
Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
Faber & Faber, which describes itself as one of the last of the great independent publishing houses in London, recently launched an academy for aspiring writers. The Faber Academy's inaugural creative writing course will take place from October 9–12 at Shakespeare & Company, the fabled English bookstore in Paris. Novelist Tobias Hill will be teaching a four-day course that focuses on "How to Tell a Story Without Telling Your Readers What to Think," with Jeanette Winterson joining in for a two-part seminar on authenticity and voice in fiction. The course costs GBP 500 excluding travel and accommodation (but including lunch) and tickets were sold out within days of going on sale. A second course—also taught by Tobias Hill—will be held in London from October 30–November 2, and the publisher plans to organize future sessions in Dublin, Edinburgh and Berlin.
Viewed through a consumer trends lens, the Faber Academy is a clear example of what trendwatching.com dubbed status skills: "In economies that increasingly depend on (and thus value) creative thinking and acting, well-known status symbols tied to owning and consuming goods and services will find worthy competition from status skills: those skills that consumers are mastering to make the most of those same goods and services, bringing them status by being good at something, and the story telling that comes with it." Other successful examples include the Nikon School and the BMW Performance Driving School.
By helping aspiring novelists hone their writing skills under the tuition of its well-known authors, Faber & Faber builds a stronger connection with its core customers (participants are likely to be readers and good customers), and promotes powerful word of mouth marketing, since participants will no doubt be eager to share their Faber Academy experience with friends and family. All of which is great PR for Faber & Faber, and emphasizes their dedication to writing and writers, as opposed to mega-publishers who often seem solely focused on the bottom line. Last but not least, the courses could provide a welcome additional stream of revenue. If your brand isn't already boosting its customers' talents and abilities, this is one to learn from ;-) (Related: Out-of-print books, printed on demand by Faber Finds.)
Website: www.faber.co.uk/article/2008/7/tobias-hill-paris-course
Contact: patrickk@faber.co.uk
Textbooks have long made up an all-too-significant proportion of college students' annual costs, currently approaching an average of USD 1,000 per year in the US, according to Make Textbooks Affordable. General outcry has ensued, but a new experiment from publisher Flat World Knowledge just may provide a new—and ad-free—solution.
Beginning this month and continuing through the Fall 2008 semester, Flat World Knowledge is conducting a beta test in which it is offering four different textbooks online for free to hundreds of students at 15 colleges and universities across the United States. The texts are from the areas of business and economics, and will replace traditional textbooks in a single class or class section at each participating institution. Not only will students have free online access to the expert-written, peer-reviewed and professionally edited texts, but the texts will be open as well through a Creative Commons licensing scheme, giving faculty the ability to customize them as they wish for their classes.
Unlike other free text ventures out there—such as US-based Freeload Press and Danish Ventus Publishing, both of which have been covered by our sister site trendwatching.com—Flat World's business model doesn't depend on advertising. Instead, it offers affordable supplementary materials to students beyond the free online book, including printed, on demand textbooks for around USD 30; audio books for around USD 25; and downloadable and printable files by the chapter. Also available are low-priced study aids like podcast study guides, digital flash cards, interactive practice quizzes and more.
Eric Frank, Flat World's cofounder and chief marketing officer, explains: “The time has come for open textbooks. This new model of textbook publishing will result in increased choices and dramatically lower costs for students. It can enhance learning by giving instructors more control over content, and by leveraging the power of social learning networks around content. Between the oligopolistic practices of the big publishers on one end of the spectrum—and piracy on the other—lies a better solution: open textbooks." Flat World plans to collect feedback over the course of this semester-long test, and then commercially launch its concept worldwide in time for the Spring 2009 school period. The launch will feature an expanded product roster of eight textbooks, all focused initially on business and economics subjects. A total of 15 textbooks are currently under contract and in Flat World's pipeline.
Free and open software is already gaining ground in the world of technology, and now we have the possibility of a similar pattern in textbook publishing. There's no doubt cash-strapped college students love free love, as has already been shown with photocopies, notepaper and notebooks. Will this one take hold? You can bet there are countless students hoping so. One to watch! (Related: Textbook rental for college students.)
Website: www.flatworldknowledge.com
Contact: eric@flatworldknowledge.com
Spotted by: Flemming Birch
As if new parents don't have enough on their hands, keeping friends and family updated on their little one's weekly developments can feel like a full-time job. Enter Kidmondo, an online baby journal and organizer designed to help parents chronicle and share their child’s most important moments in a safe, secure and streamlined way.
Launched in May, New York-based Kidmondo gives parents a central place to record their child's milestones and share images with loved ones far and wide. Tools on the site include an "about" page with an evolving profile for the child; an online diary for sharing stories and milestones; a photo and video gallery; growth charts; medical and food journals; and an interactive timeline. Kidmondo can even provide an RSS feed or send e-mail updates for relations who desire the most up-to-the-minute information. Using the basic Kidmondo service with ads is free for up to three children and 25Mb of storage. Ad-free pricing is USD 5 monthly for up to 5 children and 100Mb of storage or USD 10 monthly for unlimited children and 500Mb for storage.
Kidmondo is presented in English with US users in mind, but there are, of course, countless grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends in need of baby updates all around the world. One to adapt to the local customs and language near you! Update: Kidmondo informed us that they hope to launch Spanish, Italian and French versions in the near future.
Website: www.kidmondo.com
Contact: hello@kidmondo.com
We've featured examples of printing on demand for consumers who'd like to publish their own books, through services like Blurb. Instead of letting them print their own work, renowned British publishing house Faber & Faber now lets readers order books that have gone out of print.
Faber Finds is starting off with a selection of 100 titles that have fallen off the backlist, including works by prominent 20th century novelists P.H. Newby and Angus Wilson. The venture uses specially designed software to generate print-ready covers that will be unique for every title, without requiring the (expensive) intervention of graphic designers. For more on the development of their clever design system, read the developer's notes.
Sold at prices comparable to regular trade paperbacks—slightly higher in some cases—Faber Finds titles have a production and delivery time of up to two weeks, and consumers can place orders online or through their local bookstore. Faber Finds will be adding more titles soon, planning to offer as many as 1,000 in four genres: fiction, non-fiction, art and poetry. (In the Telegraph, the list's editor points out: "There will be no room for celebrity memoirs, 'chick lit' or pornography, but, otherwise the watchword is inclusion.")
It's an inspiring example of 'old media' using digital technology and online retail to profit from niche markets. As is, of course, detailed in Chris Anderson's theory of the Long Tail: "In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare." More publishers to follow Faber & Faber's lead?
Website: www.faberfinds.co.uk
Spotted by: Matthew De Ville
Crowdsourcing platform Kluster has graced these pages on numerous occasions this year, including the related launches of Knewsroom and NameThis. Turns out Knewsroom was disbanded a few weeks ago—owing primarily to high costs, the Kluster team says—but now the company has introduced support for new private Klusters designed to help groups manage decision making on specific topics.
Private Klusters are designed to enable collaborative brainstorming on myriad different questions by allowing invited participants to share their opinions on a relevant, customized set of criteria. One private Kluster might be focused on finding a new logo, for example. In such a case, participants might rate submitted ideas based on criteria including "uniqueness," "cool," "colour scheme" and "readability." Some decision criteria can be given a heavier weight than others to reflect higher importance, and so can the criteria by which they are judged (e.g., 'profitability' vs. 'commercial feasibility'). Indeed, some participants' opinions can be given more weight as well—such as those of designers in a design-focused decision. Kluster will tell the user how much support an idea has, from whom and why, as well as whose support will be essential to make it succeed. Private Klusters can support unlimited numbers of participants in a secure, personalized environment; ideas can be shared using text, audio, video or virtually any uploadable file. After a 30-day free trial period, pricing begins at USD 27 monthly for up to three projects per month; no long-term contracts are required.
What will be next out of Kluster's crowdsourcing kitchens? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to try out! (Related: Open polls gauge popular opinion in minutes.)
Website: www.kluster.com
Contact: team@kluster.com
Spotted by: Matthew Cua
Almost exactly a year ago, we featured Vator.tv a Silicon Valley company that lets entrepreneurs pitch their "next big thing" to potential investors via short web videos. Recently, a similar venture got started in the UK.
cmypitch.com describes itself as "Dragons' Den meets YouTube" and besides letting start-ups pitch their ideas to attract funding, the website also aims to provide other services for entrepreneurs, like directories of business opportunities, franchises, businesses for sale, etc. Those in search of funding can pitch for investment by uploading a short video supported by a summary business plan, for a fee of GBP 200 for a three-month listing.
Due to UK financial regulations, viewers need to register and then "self certify as an investor" before they can watch a single pitch. Which could seriously hamper the website's growth—users are less likely to forward a video to other potential investors if they know the recipient will need to register and self certify just to view a short clip. That said, British entrepreneurs in search of funding will no doubt welcome an additional opportunity to reach out to potential investors!
Website: www.cmypitch.com
Contact: www.cmypitch.com/site/contact
We've covered many of the twists and turns that have taken place in the world of journalism over the years, including the citizen journalism efforts at OhmyNews and Danish Avisen. Now a new experimental site in the San Francisco Bay Area is offering community control on a different level by giving readers a chance to fund the stories they want to see professionally written.
Due for launch this fall, Spot.us is a nonprofit that lets any individual or journalist post an idea for an untold story in the local community. Professional journalists then write pitches based on those ideas and place them in the site's wiki, where members of the community can view them and vote—via micro-pledge—on the stories that are most important to them. (Examples currently on the site have a distinctly eco-minded focus, such as the inaugural one entitled "Ethanol Could Be a Weak Link in State's Energy Network," which has already reached its USD 250 goal.) Supporters pay only if their topic wins full support, in which case freelance journalists are commissioned to report and write the story. Spot.us then publishes it in its news feeds under a Creative Commons license and offers it for free to local media outlets. Exclusive rights to the story will be granted in exchange for a percentage of the original donations, Spot.us says.
Spot.us, which is currently in what it calls pre-alpha mode using a grant from the Knight Foundation, encourages participants to limit their donations to a maximum of 20 percent of the story's costs, and will enforce that through technology once the site goes live, it says. It is also currently vetting pitches and reporters, but aims ultimately to let the marketplace do that. Also of interest is that Spot.us uses activism site The Point—which we covered not long ago—to coordinate its funding efforts for each pitch.
One of the big concerns about citizen journalism has been that it lacks the rigor and integrity formal journalistic training imparts, as well as the trust that comes from the longstanding reputations traditional news organizations typically possess. Spot.us promises to do away with such concerns while still giving the community a strong guiding voice. Will this be a new model for news media? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to watch!
Website: www.spot.us
Contact: www.spot.us/contact
Spotted by: Julie Sammons
