Obooko is a free reading platform we've rebuilt from the ground up after 15 years and 11 million downloads. Thousands of books available to read instantly in your browser, sync across devices, or download PDF/EPUB/Kindle. No subscriptions, no lock in, no proprietary formats. 4,000+ legal book titles across 30 genres from indie authors and NYT bestsellers. Ad-supported like YouTube, so readers never pay, authors earn. We exist to increase the world’s reading minutes.
Hey all,
I’m George. I’ve spent the last few months rebuilding Obooko, a free ebook platform that’s been around since 2010 with 11 million downloads across 840,000 readers.
tldr: reading time is declining while screen time explodes. #BookTok has 370B+ views, which is *more than every book ever sold in human history*. So the demand for book content is massive. The format just hasn’t kept up.
Obooko is our answer. It's completely free, ad-supported. There's no subscriptions, no DRM, no device lock in. Just books.
What’s new in this rebuild:
Modern web reader: start on your laptop, pick up on your phone
Personal library that syncs across every device
PDF, EPUB, and Kindle downloads: your choice, always
30+ genres, thousands of titles from indie authors to NYT bestsellers
My background: I previously my online art marketplace to $100M+ in art sales and built/exited SmartrMail. This is my third venture. A book changed the direction of my career in my twenties and I genuinely believe reading expands minds and changes lives. That’s why we exist: to increase the world’s reading minutes.
What’s next: Revenue sharing for authors. Readers never pay, but authors earn from the ad revenue their books generate. Every read earns.
Our motto is: Fiat Libri. Let There Be Books.
i'd love to hear what would make you choose a book over your feed? And if you’re an author, what would make you publish with us?
I'm curious tho about the experience users have regarding long-form reading mixed with ads tho. While I agree that it's a great way to keep the platform free, I find it hard to find it similar to YouTube's model - when it comes to video, it's easier to handle an ad every few minutes because the content is short.
But if I'm deep into a book for hours, do ads break the flow? How did you balance monetization with not killing the reading experience?
Yeah! Let's stop dumb-scrolling. It's a super cool alternative to make our time not only more productive but also healthier. Happy to see you helping on this George. All the best here!
You’ve done an excellent job, sir!
I’ve Checked Obooko and got some feedback for you.
It would be better to add a Google login or use third-party services like Clerk.
Since I have a design background, the Brand Sprit I see in Obooko is quite similar to a website like Patreon, and it fits perfectly. However, you can pursue what they’ve already done and enhance the visual and user experience.
What about the commercial titles that should normally be purchased in the store? Those are excluded?
I like the idea. I am trying to read more again (but paper books), because when I have a device nearby, I am so tempted to use it.
