Rebind.ai, a brand new enhanced e-book firm aiming to rework how readers interact with traditional literature by means of an AI-enhanced platform, has been named a Time journal Invention of the 12 months for 2024. The platform launched this month with 5 titles that includes commentary from modern literary luminaries.
The primary titles on the platform, which all come from the general public area, embody James Joyce’s Dubliners, with commentary from Booker Prize winner John Banville; F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Nice Gatsby, with commentary by Peter Catapano; and Joseph Conrad’s Coronary heart of Darkness, with commentary kind Chloé Cooper Jones. Nonfiction titles, additionally within the public area, embody and Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, with commentary from Clancy Martin, and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, that includes commentary from Rebind cofounder John Kaag.
Every e-book, priced at $29.95 (or $120 for an annual subscription to all titles), is accessible by means of an internet browser and options video introductions filmed on location. The platform incorporates AI-powered discussions drawn from 10-15 hours of pre-recorded professional commentary. Cellular apps are deliberate for subsequent yr.
“We spent quite a lot of time making an attempt to handle any potential question and all solutions are based mostly on the professional commentary,” Kaag stated, noting that upcoming options embody notetaking capabilities and educational quotation instruments. The corporate compensates its commentators by means of advances in opposition to royalties, with income sharing agreements in place.
The thought behind Rebind began when tech entrepreneur John Dubuque approached Kaag in April 2023 and stated he want to do a one-on-one tutorial about William James’s Forms of Non secular Expertise. That preliminary dialog advanced into a bigger imaginative and prescient of making “bespoke AI chatbots” constructed from intensive recorded commentary by literary specialists. Dubuque is offering the monetary backing for the mission.
Kaag, a professor on the College of Massachusetts Lowell and the writer of American Philosophy: A Love Story and different acclaimed works, serves as writer. Martin, a professor on the College of Missouri in Kansas Metropolis and writer of ten books, serves as deputy writer.
By late 2025, Rebind plans to publish broaden to 22-24 titles, representing roughly two new titles per 30 days. Upcoming releases embody Deepak Chopra on picks of Buddhist texts, Lena Dunham on E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View, and non secular scholar Elaine Pagels on the Gospels and Gnostic Gospels. Different commentators with forthcoming releases embody Margaret Atwood, Roxane Homosexual, Garth Greenwell, and Marlon James.
Rebind can also be exploring partnerships with publishers to license present commentary for extra advanced tasks requiring a number of commentators. The corporate attracted 10,000 waitlist subscribers previous to launch, with sturdy preliminary gross sales reported. It’s also slated to current at subsequent yr’s South by Southwest pageant.
“We’re not Blinkist or Spark Notes,” Kaag emphasised, distinguishing Rebind from present examine guides and e book abstract providers. “We’re encouraging folks to go a little bit bit extra slowly and mindfully by means of the e book and to actually worth the interactive element that permits you to discover your experiences. It is actually meant to encourage studying and to encourage a sure kind of engaged, pencil-in-hand, actually deep shut studying.”
Kaag added: “Most publishing simply needs you to purchase the e book after which they do not care what occurs afterwards. We would like folks to learn the classics and use this platform for lifelong studying.”
