Bookwise: A love of books, technology, and simplicity

Richard loves reading, technology, and simplicity. 

Richard does not love complexity, eBooks, or servers that stumble. 

So, when he set out to make reading online a more enjoyable, simple experience, Richard wanted a powerful, reliable hosting solution. He did not want to get stuck with something complicated and overwhelming. 

When he found VPS hosting with Hostinger, he found exactly what he was looking for; the most straightforward way to start and scale projects online. And with it he founded Bookwise.io; a place to read more, beautifully.

“I’ve spent most of my career in communication technology. I love how technology has opened up communication. But I don’t think this has happened with reading. Instead, I think most eBooks provide a really poor reading experience.”

“I’ve always loved books, and I read a lot. Mostly I read on digital devices. We all do. But we don’t read books. Short-form reading has moved online, but long-form reading hasn’t.”

“Over 80% of news and editorial is read on screens now. But only a little over 10% of books are read on screens. On top of that — surely related to that — book reading as a whole is declining. We live online, but books are not fun online, so we don’t read books online.” 

Bringing eBooks into the 21st century 

As he watched his children scrolling on their phones, it dawned on Richard that part of the problem with eBooks was the inability of the reader to easily navigate around them, perhaps skipping ahead, or marking sections as ones to revisit.

“I like making things. I’ve programmed stuff, written stuff, filmed stuff, and photographed stuff. I’ve invented digital systems that have been used in every part of the world. So, I started to think about how you could present a book better and add a bit more intelligence to it.”

“My kids, like a lot of kids, went through a phase of being addicted to social media. They were consuming lots of 10-second bursts of content and it made me consider how eBooks might be better configured to appeal to a generation used to bite-sized content.”

“The standard technology behind eBooks relies on creaky old HTML from the 1990s that’s never been upgraded, so you can’t navigate around them as easily as you can navigate a film.”

“I had this idea inspired by the beautiful simplicity of a Jack Kerouac typewriter scroll but with a bit more intelligence to it. Rather than one long scroll, I thought a good reading experience required the ability to mark places and navigate around it easily. Basically, I thought we needed something as simple as a book, but with all the best features of digital technology.”

Powerful software. Simple to program.

Armed with an idea, Richard set to work finding the tools he needed to bring it to life.

“I’ve worked on a few CPS-based projects, and I started looking at a few hosting companies that might help me realize my dream. Very quickly, I noticed Hostinger was different.”

“Partly, it was a price thing, but the important thing for me was how simple it was. I can program, but programming can be complicated and I didn’t want any more layers of complexity than are necessary.”

“I worried that creating something as ambitious as Bookwise while managing servers and things like that would be riddled with complexity, but – unlike others I looked at – Hostinger’s interface is really clear, and the instructions are simple and easy to understand. It’s not lots and lots of information – it is just the information you need, when you need it.” 

Beautiful books. Beautifully done

The result is bookwise.io, which he hopes will encourage all of us to read more books and once again consume long-form content.

“Taking the time to read someone else’s thoughts in something like a book builds our attention spans and trains us to think for ourselves. I figured helping people to read more might actually change the world for the better.” 

Changing the world is a lofty ambition, so first Richard wanted to change his world; he wanted to foster in his children the same love of reading he enjoys. With a beaming smile, Richard thinks he’s achieved just that.

“I use Bookwise every day, and I know my friends use it. But, the big thing for me was by using Bookwise, my kids – and their friends – started discovering the joy of books too.”

Writing the next chapter of publishing

The next step for Richard is to use Hostinger’s power, scalability, and simplicity to expand Bookwise from a platform purely for reading into an innovative book reading and publication platform.

“Right now, eBooks are unloved. While physical books are having a design renaissance, eBooks are a publisher’s afterthought. Partly that’s because turning a book into an eBook is complicated. It’s a real palaver, with lots of ancient, technical systems and software, which basically spits out a PDF.”

“I realized it could be much simpler than that, so I created dotBook, which is basically a coding language for books that doesn’t require coding. With dotBook, an author can literally just type and tag elements with a very simple markup – and produce a completely formatted book, simplifying the whole publishing process.“

“I can grow Bookwise in this way because I have full control of the hosting service, and the server is always available, it just never stumbles. Plus, whenever I need more resources, upgrading to a higher-tier VPS hosting plan takes just a few clicks.”

“Everything I want to do is possible, and it’s easy.”