Ingram Content Group, the World’s Leading Book Distributor, Invests in Web3 eBook Startup Book.io

Book.io, the leader in NFT eBooks on the blockchain, announced that they closed a seed funding round with Ingram Content Group (“Ingram”), one of the world’s leading book distributors, that possesses an expansive reach inside the world of book publishing with access to tens of thousands of publishers and millions of titles.

“Ingram Content Group is excited to join with Book.io in pioneering new supply-chain models for eBook delivery that take advantage of the security of blockchain technologies, the promise of Web 3.0 and innovative commercialization models based on NFTs,” says Shawn Morin, President and CEO of Ingram Content Group. “Ingram Content Group is dedicated to all facets of the book industry, and Book.io naturally aligns with the global reach of our business and our mission to provide the infrastructure and services necessary to help content reach its destination, from content creators to consumers.”

Book.io is building the infrastructure for putting ebooks and audiobooks on-chain, which will allow readers to truly own the digital books they purchase, instead of the current industry licensing model. This will enable an entirely new secondary digital market where publishers and authors can earn royalties and leverage new author-to-reader direct engagement channels.

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Book.io will work directly with Ingram’s vast digital and physical infrastructure to create NFT ebooks and audiobooks from the world’s top authors and publishers. Ingram’s print-on-demand service, Lightning Source, will enable Book.io to bundle NFT eBooks with bespoke printed physical books in an industry first, named Mint & Print®, allowing the ability to print singular physical books based on NFT eBook ownership and deliver those printed books within 48 hours anywhere in the world.

Within 60 days of launching the blockchain utility platform and eReader dApp, Book.io generated over $250,000 in net sales revenue, and continues to generate daily royalties from secondary market sales – with individual collectible eBooks selling for over $4,000 USD each. Book.io is in discussion with multiple large publishers and authors and scheduling titles for release this fall.

“The team and I are super excited about this investment,” said Joshua Stone, CEO of Book.io. “We believe that the golden era of digital books has only just begun, and a partnership with Ingram will give us the opportunity to scale in order to meet the overwhelming demand we are experiencing, and expand our platform to give digital ownership to the mass reading market.”

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