For Immediate Release
March 28, 2014
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA —Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) and JukePop, Inc., a Palo Alto start-up company specializing in reading analytics for self-publishing, have joined forces to provide free access to stories written by talented up-and-coming authors. This exciting project is the first of its kind in the United States, and increases access to serialized or episodic novels, a popular emerging genre in publishing today. An episodic novel is a narrative that includes incidents and events loosely connected by a central character or characters. Authors such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe popularized this art form in the nineteenth century. The revitalization of this format offers readers a fun and innovative way to enjoy literature.
“This is such an innovative way to showcase new authors and their stories,” said Megan Wong, SCCLD Virtual Library Manager. “This partnership between JukePop and SCCLD provides featured authors with new audiences for their high quality self-published materials. It also provides authors with a chance to share their stories with a larger audience, and obtain their feedback and validation,” noted Wong.
The public can access JukePop’s titles on the SCCLD website http://www.sccl.org/episodic-fiction starting on April 1, 2014; a library card is not required to view the content. Selected JukePop authors and book titles featured on the SCCLD website are separated into two categories: completed novels and works of episodic fiction. In both categories, readers will get to explore the work of a variety of authors new to the publishing arena.
JukePop content selected for SCCLD patrons has been curated by JukePop’s reading analytics, and then further refined by SCCLD librarians who review and make the final selection of the JukePop titles they believe will resonate strongly with patrons. Individuals can learn more about JukePop’s analytics model by visiting: http://www.jukepop.com/home/libraries.
“We are extremely pleased to work with the Santa Clara County Library District to provide some of JukePop’s most popular self-published authors directly to SCCLD’s patrons,” said Jerry Fan, Founder and CEO of JukePop Inc. “This partnership will provide self-published writers a chance to prove to themselves, potential agents and the literary world that their work is appealing and worthy of being published.”
JukePop content is not a part of the SCCLD collection. All questions, concerns, and challenges regarding content will be referred to JukePop.
About the Santa Clara County Library District
Known as one of America’s best 100 public libraries, the Santa Clara County Library District promotes knowledge, ideas, and cultural enrichment. Its collection includes more than 1.9 million books, videos, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, eBooks and extensive online resources accessible from home or work.
For twelve years, the Library has ranked as one of the best in the nation for its size by Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings. Also recognized as one of America’s 2013 Five Star Libraries by Library Journal, the Santa Clara County Library District is one of the most-used public resources in the region.
The Santa Clara County Library District includes two bookmobiles, an online library, seven community libraries and one branch library serving Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. In 2013, the Santa Clara County Library District had more than 215,000 library cardholders and welcomed 3.2 million visitors who borrowed 9.7 million items. Visit Santa Clara County Library District online at www.sccl.org.
About JukePop Inc.
JukePop was formed to better locate new emerging talent by nurturing talented writers that are often uneconomical for major publishing houses to handle. JukePop serves as a content incubator, allowing content aggregators to glean the “right” books from its trove. The platform pro-actively and constantly tests readers of a specific demographic to gauge the acceptance (or not) of individual books. JukePop also provides the individual writer with access to publishing channels for his/her work. Unlike conventional and other ePublishers, JukePop’s distribution begins as soon as a writer completes his first chapter. In terms of literary content, JukePop is rejuvenating the lost art of the serial pioneered at the dawn of publishing, when authors such as Charles Dickens reached mass audiences by serializing novels a chapter at a time in newspapers that nearly everyone could afford.
Contact:
Gwendolyn Mitchell/Marina Hinestrosa
Office of Public Affairs
(408) 299-5119
Derek Wolfgram/Mark Fink/Lili Smith
Santa Clara County Library District
(408) 293-2326 ext. 3002/3010/3014
Jerry Fan
JukePop, Inc
jerry@jukepop.com
