bookabook set out with a simple yet transformative vision: turn readers from mere consumers into active contributors in the life of a book. By choosing Kinsta’s WordPress Hosting, bookabook can focus solely on making this vision a reality.
Founded in 2014 by Tomaso Greco and Emanuela Furiosi, bookabook quickly gained recognition and became Italy’s first publishing house to actively engage readers in the book-publishing process.
By 2015, bookabook had already caught international attention, becoming a finalist for the Renew the Book Innovation Award. With one of Europe’s largest reader communities, its authors have garnered prestigious awards, and the team frequently speaks at book fairs and universities.
The pinnacle of their achievements came in 2020 when bookabook won the Innovation Business Award in the Culture & Tourism category at the National ANGI Award.
Today, as a leading force in Italy’s publishing industry, bookabook relies on Kinsta for a fast, secure, and reliable website. This allows them to innovate in the publishing industry, free from technical worries.
Snapshot
- Industry: Publishing
- Business Size: 10+ team members
The Problem
bookabook needed a hosting provider that could easily manage sudden traffic spikes and support interactive site features—challenges their old host couldn’t handle.
bookabook aims to revolutionize the traditional publishing model. A community of readers gets a first look at an unpublished manuscript and then chooses which books to publish. Authors can create communities and hold crowdfunding campaigns. But this engaging and interactive platform has its challenges.
Tomaso and Emanuela knew they needed reliable and fast hosting for their growing platform. Readers should easily preview books, interact with the community, and support their favorites—all with blazing-fast speed, as a slow site could turn them away.
“To keep our online community active and handle a high volume of people visiting the site at the same time, we need a fast and reliable hosting service. This will make sure everyone has a smooth experience while browsing our site,” Emanuela shared.
Additionally, bookabook needed a site that could handle sudden traffic surges, especially when authors get media attention.
The Solution
Switching to Kinsta cleared the way for bookabook’s growth—now with a faster website and streamlined operations, they’ve published over 350 books and secured partnerships with more than 1,000 libraries.
Emanuela Furiosi from bookabook reflected on their early days: “Before Kinsta, growing and trying new things was a struggle. We needed a partner aligned with our vision for innovating in publishing.”
Moving to Kinsta was easy and quick, even with a large community of readers. They instantly noticed a difference. The pages loaded in a snap and could handle a large crowd of visitors.
This unlocked new possibilities for bookabook. Readers became more actively involved in the publishing process, from proofreading to cover design, allowing the company to better support a growing roster of authors.
“One aspect that sets bookabook apart is, in fact, the support it offers to authors of published books, even long after publication, with services that include marketing and book circulation. Without a solid digital infrastructure, all this would not have been possible.”
Working with Kinsta helped bookabook overcome technical problems and do much more. Now, they’ve published over 350 books and partnered with more than 1,000 libraries.
The Result
With Kinsta managing the tech side, bookabook freed up resources, allowing them to increase author royalties by 50% and optimize their workflows. This led to stronger author partnerships and a spike in pre-orders.
bookabook trusts Kinsta for a secure and reliable site, while they focus on nurturing meaningful relationships with their community of authors and readers.
“Thanks to Kinsta lightening our load, we can now offer authors more competitive deals, like royalties up to 50% of the cover price,” says Emanuela Furiosi, bookabook’s co-founder. “This helps us build stronger partnerships in the complex world of publishing.”
On the reader front, Lead Editor Giulia Corazza notes, “Kinsta allows us to concentrate on enhancing the reader experience. It’s now easier to meet their needs, and we’ve seen an uptick in pre-orders, thanks to the variety of payment options available, including multiple credit cards and Paypal.”
With the easy-to-use MyKinsta dashboard and tools, bookabook has established a more streamlined operational workflow. “Our developers worked closely with Kinsta every day. This helped us make our book evaluation process the way we wanted, avoiding any slowdowns or technical problems.” This allowed them to automate parts of their process so the editorial team could focus more on reading and reviewing manuscripts.
Moreover, Tomaso Greco says, “Thanks to Kinsta support, we can offer the best service at all times, even during high traffic peaks. This is particularly crucial for when our authors get featured on live television shows or on promotional and reading events. During those times, we experience a noticeable increase in site visits.”
And despite the surge in site visitors, bookabook’s site performance remains consistent. “Since migrating to Kinsta, we have never received any complaints related to site performance again, which was one of our main concerns with our previous hosting provider.”
“We have been with Kinsta for years now, and we have never changed hosting provider because Kinsta guarantees a service that is absolutely in line with our readers’ needs,” Tomaso concluded.
Thanks to Kinsta, we have been able to focus on our editorial efforts without having to worry about slowdowns or technical errors. This enables us to offer ever-new services to book authors and an ever-richer reading experience to our site visitors.
