There's little a book lover adores more than the smell of a book, but sometimes the conveniences of modern life are irresistible, which is why many of us complement our paperbacks and hardcovers with Kobos and other e-readers.
A new, free app for iPhone and Android is focused on connecting readers, particularly readers of Canadian indie titles, with their digital editions. Shelfie allows readers to simply snap a photo of their bookshelves, at which point the app will identify and catalogue the titles and allow readers to download the ebooks of the same titles, either for free (!!!) or at a substantial discount.
In order to develop Shelfie, the designers of course needed to coordinate with the publishers, and many of our favourite Canadian houses have come on board, including ECW Press, Dundurn, Brick Books, Coach House Books, and Fitzhenry & Whiteside. International houses HarperCollins and Macmillan have also signed on with the Canada-based Shelfie team, with more publishers likely to join soon. In total nearly 500 publishers are participating in the print/digital bundling initiative, making over 100,000 titles available, so there is a good chance your bookcase will have some hits.
To avoid fraudulent photos (in bookstores or libraries), Shelfie has developed a safeguard in which users need to mark their books with stickers, stamps or handwritten names on the copyright page.
We're excited to see great reading apps being developed in Canada (Shelfie is Vancouver-based), and collaborating with Canadian publishers. So get your snap on, book lovers, and you can ensure that some of your favourite titles are with you in your pocket even when you're not able to carry them in hardcopy.
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