An app that cures the many aches of the book industry
Combine DoorDash, Goodreads, BookTok, and Bookshop.org, and get an all-in-one bookish app where readers, bookstores, authors, publishers, agents, libraries, podcasters, non-profits, and influencers in the bookish sector can gather to shop and connect in the name of literature.
Amazon dominates over 50% of US book sales while also…
- Hiding book categories and reducing visibility
- Harming independent bookstore success
- Giving authors little control over their creations
- Flooding the market with AI-generated stories
But with Tilde’s Bookpothecary…
and these are just SOME of the features
READERS CAN...
Readers can find, purchase, and request books from local bookstores, track their reading habits, create book clubs, and curate reading lists.
SELLERS CAN...
Bookstores, publishers, and authors can sell directly from their profile storefronts through POS integrations.
AGENTS & AGENCIES CAN...
Literary agents & agencies can show when they are open and closed to queries, so authors are in the know.
LIBRARIES & COMMUNITY CAN...
Libraries, bookstores, and authors can create events that bring the community together.
ALL USERS CAN...
All users can create a social media profile (reader or business) to post about all things books and build their following.
**Perhaps a new home for BookTok and Bookstagram channels that are always in danger of being displaced? 🤔
About ‘Ask Tilde’
A regular search engine that feels like you’re asking a friend for help or your next book recommendation
Why Use Tilde’s Bookpothecary?
COMMUNITY FIRST ATTITUDE
When local, rural communities thrive, we all thrive. By spending our hard-earned dollars in our local communities rather than large stores like Amazon, those hard-earned dollars stay in the community and bolster a thriving economy. Hiring locally and rurally while providing livable wages to staff managing the app and drivers who deliver books also keeps the community alive. This app will also steer clear of all tools and services that touch Amazon.
HUMAN-CREATED AND POWERED
Our prototype was built using Lovable to bring the vision to life quickly and affordably. THAT SAID, Tilde’s Bookpothecary is destined to be a human-created and powered app, completely without AI-generative or agentic features. With the steep rise of generative/agentic AI, AI books, AI book covers, and CEOs replacing human jobs with AI agents, people in the book industry are desperate for a bookish experience that encourages creativity, stays human, and doesn’t use AI. The finished app will be built entirely by human developers because that’s what we stand for.
GIVES BACK TO THE BOOK INDUSTRY
The app is free to users, with revenue generated through business advertising and an optional delivery subscription. Users have the option to donate a percentage of their total transaction to five causes central to our mission: Authors Guild, We Need Diverse Books, Room to Read, the American Booksellers Association, and Canopy. These causes support inclusive storytelling, literacy access, independent bookstores, and the forests our books come from.
OKAY… But what’s the cost?
We enrich. We don’t exploit.
We incorporate realistically ethical, and profitable revenue streams to keep the app enjoyable.
A CEO not making millions of dollars? Why?
“I have lived on painfully less before, and no one else should have to do that. If the choice is between potential wealth and the well-being of the people who make this company run—drivers, developers, customer service, every single role—there is no choice. The people will come first. Always.”
– KELLY K. BRANYIK, FOUNDER & CEO
Here’s how to support right now
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If you’ve read this far… here’s the why.
My name is Kelly Branyik. I grew up in a small town in Colorado, and I have a BA in English (Creative Writing) and a deep passion for words. I spent years in Chongqing, China as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching oral English, watching the power of language open doors, build confidence, and connect human beings across every cultural divide. I learned that words, in any form, are one of the most profound gifts we can give each other.
I came home from China in 2016 and years later, built a small marketing business dedicated to helping small businesses survive and thrive in a marketing world that constantly favors the biggest players in the room.
My mother is an indie author. My aunt is an indie author. I am an indie author. And for years, I have sat across the table from my aunt as she fought the Amazon monster, watching it swallow her visibility, her royalties, and her control over the very stories she poured herself into.
Her frustration is not abstract to me. It is personal.
I know marketing. I know small businesses. I know what it feels like to be a small voice in a loud world. And I know books.
So I built Tilde’s Bookpothecary, because everyone in this ecosystem deserves better. Readers deserve discovery without manipulation. Authors deserve control and fair compensation. Bookstores deserve a fighting chance. And employees deserve a company that treats them like the humans they are.
I’m a woman with a great idea. A Returned Peace Corps volunteer with a heart for helping, a small business owner, a marketing professional, a rural Colorado reader, and an indie author who got tired of watching people fight alone.
The authors. The booksellers. The readers. The families behind the stories.
All of them deserve better. Tilde’s Bookpothecary was built for all of them.
– KELLY K. BRANYIK, FOUNDER & CEO
woman-owned | lgbtq-owned | locally-owned
