Media entertainment

Booktrope

Website

** NO LONGER IN BUSINESS ** Booktrope is reinventing the way books are published. We are not a self-publishing operation. What does that mean? At Booktrope we do not charge authors to publish nor do we accept all submissions. We have pioneered a concept called “Team Publishing” which addresses the way books are actually developed, not just th

Founded 2010Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

** NO LONGER IN BUSINESS **

Booktrope is reinventing the way books are published. We are not a self-publishing operation. What does that mean? At Booktrope we do not charge authors to publish nor do we accept all submissions.

We have pioneered a concept called “Team Publishing” which addresses the way books are actually developed, not just the way they are distributed and read. We offer print, ebook, and web versions of all our books, in other words, we are format agnostic. We don’t want to debate the death of print books, or the birth of ebooks, we love and support them all.

A typical Publishing Team consists of an author, editor, designer and business/marketing manager for the book. You don’t get assigned projects in our system; you choose the people you work with. We work much more quickly than traditional publishers, taking advantage of new technologies to streamline the process of getting books into the hands of readers. Lastly, we use that same technology to keep overhead low, and we think that the bulk of the revenue from book sales should go back to the creative team that makes them happen.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
Media entertainmentMarketplaceConsumersIndividual professionalsMarketplace

Founders & team

Katherine Sears

Founder/CMO

Katherine is a serial founder and marketing leader, co-founding YC-backed Booktrope and leading marketing there as it published 1,000 titles and supported 1,100 creatives; she now focuses on building AI-driven lifecycle engines for SaaS and subscription businesses.

Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
51team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2010 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedSeattle, WA, USA; Remote
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The source reports an inactive or acquired company; current product identity needs review.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationreachable websitedescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding year
startup.observe Directory coverage · Sources & method