The launch of inkpop represents the next step in the company's overall digital strategy designed to build and expand its direct-to-consumer business. Inkpop will be the anchor of HarperCollins's ongoing teen strategy, enabling the company to have a continuous dialogue directly with its audience to determine what the community cares about, as well as an unfiltered look at what's in and what's out.
"As with all of our online consumer programs, the concept of community-building is aligned with our ongoing corporate digital marketing efforts to cultivate a two-way dialogue with our readers," says Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books. "Inkpop provides us with an interactive platform to engage directly with our audience, encourage a passion for writing, and discover new trends and opportunities in this growing and important community."
Since its soft launch in 4th quarter 2009, inkpop already has more than 10,000 members and nearly 11,000 submissions, including novels, poems, essays, and short stories. The visitors are teens ages 13 and older, from 109 different countries and territories. Additionally, it has engaged a select group of international HarperCollins editors and authors to review the site's top five monthly selections, providing invaluable feedback and mentorship opportunities to the young authors, while also considering their work for publication.
"What sets inkpop apart from other writing communities is the Editorial Board," says Kat Musallam, an inkpop user. "Other communities only have that writer-reader interaction, but to have a panel evaluate your work is something that we writers--especially those who aren't so familiar with the publishing world--can only dream of."
HarperCollins has launched several successful digital initiatives designed to engage consumers globally including Book Army, Authonomy, Browse Inside and Full Access. The company was also the first publisher to digitize its content to create a global digital warehouse across all divisions with capabilities to distribute digital content to retail partners, search partners, online partners and consumers, making the company uniquely positioned to create and sustain this type of community.
