Todd Lawton

Interview: Todd Lawton, Co-creator of Mobile Book App Litsy

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Todd Lawton (left) & Jeff Leblanc (right) – Co-founders of Out of Print and creators of Litsy

Todd Lawton, along with best friend, Jeff Leblanc is the co-founder of Out of Print which has been selling literary themed merchandise to support reading initiatives for the past six years and has donated more than 1.7 million books to communities in need. 

Recently, the pair launched their new app, Litsy (which is a social community app for readers.) I’ve been talking a look at the app and it’s brilliant. On it you can discuss books with other readers, review books and you can even add quotes from your favourite books. Todd has joined me today to talk about Litsy. Welcome Todd,  can you tell me a little about Litsy, how it came about and how it works? 

Before Litsy, I helped create Out of Print—a literary lifestyle brand that sells literary apparel and accessories. We started Out of Print because we felt there was bookish conversation to be had outside the solitude of reading. Why not wear your favorite titles and authors for everyone to see? It’s invites a special kind of dialogue. Another inspiration for us were bookstore shelf talkers, the “staff picks” signs with personal recommendations and anecdotes. We wanted to extend these conversations; we wanted more people, from anywhere in the world, to join the conversation. That’s when we created Litsy. On Litsy, users can share any book moment on the go, and other readers, not algorithms, are there to engage and recommend your next favorite titles.

 

It’s been downloaded in over 119 countries. In your opinion, what is it about that is making it so popular do you think? 

I think users appreciate having one central place for all things book related. Rather than going to one platform to review, and then another to blurb, and then another place to write down a quote, and then another to post a picture, Litsy users can organize their reading stacks, post, and engage in the same place. There isn’t the noise of other content competing with the books—it’s only books.

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