Hello!
I am the founder of Freebooksy and Bargain Booksy. I try to communicate with most of our customers so hopefully this is not the first time you are hearing from me. But if it is, thank you for being a supporter. I started Freebooksy back in 2011 as a side project to help my mom market her books. Over the past 3 years growing and running Freebooksy has turned into a full-time, very rewarding job. And I could not have done it without the support, insights and feedback from people like you.
I am writing today to let you know that we now have an umbrella brand, Written Word Media, that houses Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy, and our newer sites Red Feather Romance and NewInBooks.
We created Written Word Media as a way to answer the question “Who Are We?” The answer used to be simple; in 2011 it was “We’re Freebooksy.” Then in late 2012 we launched Bargain Booksy, and the answer became “We’re Freebooksy, but we also run Bargain Booksy.” A little wordy, but it basically worked. Now that we have multiple sites under our umbrella, the answer to “Who Are We?” has become a real mouthful.
If you said “We’re Athos, Aramis and Porthos,” people may know who you are – but only if they have actually read Dumas (instead of pretending to in high school). If, however, you said “We’re The Three Musketeers,” people immediately know you are a bunch of swash buckling dudes who believe in “one for all and all for one”. We needed a parent brand – our own version of “The Three Musketeers” – that let people know what we are all about. We decided on the name Written Word Media because we focus on building media (aka websites) that help those who write the words – Authors and Publishers.
We’re still the same people you know (and hopefully love). We are not under new management. We haven’t changed what we do. We simply have a new umbrella name. Nothing will change on your end, except that you’ll see Written Word Media (instead of Freebooksy) on your Paypal and credit card receipts.
Written Word Media is a family business that is run by me and my husband, Ferol. We have an amazing small team in our offices in downtown Durham, North Carolina. My background is in marketing and I usually spend my day growing the audience of readers for our sites. Ferol is a technology guy. He spends his day making sure our sites are running smoothly and making the experience for readers and authors as seamless as possible. Chloe and Taylor are well-known to most of you. They make sure your books are in the right place at the right time and they help you out with any questions you may have. Ben is the newest addition to the family. He makes sure our daily emails are looking good and error-free, not a small task now that we are sending to hundreds of thousands of readers every day!
In the process of coming up with our umbrella brand name we also spent some time writing down our beliefs and our mission. I’d like to end by sharing them with you:
We believe books are a force for good in this world. We respect the people who write them. We will strive to ensure authors are always satisfied.
Our mission is to empower authors and publishers to reach their audience and help readers find their next great book.
I hope this rings as true for you as it does for us.
Thanks for your continued support,
Ricci
Here’s our team picture (Ben’s so new he’s not even in it!).
