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The George Washington University is an equal opportunity/
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INFORMATION SESSION:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 • 1:00PM E T
Online
Earn a master’s degree in publishing in two years.
To RSVP and for more information,
please visit cps.gwu.edu/publishing
or call 703.299.0199.
In print And
digital media
publ ishing
Become A Leader
The Globalized
Niche Bookseller
Bookwitty
Bookwitty has been quietly posi- tioning itself to become apossible global competitor to Amazon in
online bookselling. The company, which
is based in Paris and has 11 of;ces around
the world (including in Beirut, Dublin,
and Montreal), has sold some 10 million
print books over the past ;ve years and
offers about 27 million print titles in
English, French, German, and Spanish—
all with free worldwide shipping.
Bookwitty was created in 2007 as a
partnership between Levant Distributors,
a book distribution company founded in
1950, and Keeward, a technology com-
pany, both based in Beirut. Initially,
Bookwitty sold books through third-
party booksellers on Amazon. “In 2006,
we saw that we were getting orders for
Arabic books in Europe and French
books in North America and, with
Amazon, saw there was an opportunity
to expand into selling books in multiple
languages in the broader international
marketplace,” said Cyril Hadji-Thomas,
Bookwitty’s cofounder and CEO. “The
focus for us quickly became long-tail
print book sales, as this, we realized, was
something the big players already in the
market were not interested in pursuing.”
Two years ago, the company launched
about possibility. “All editors and agents
want is a damn good book. It doesn’t
matter where it comes from; it just needs
to be good in this terrifyingly competi-
tive market. I think the fact the author
is Australian is, frankly, by the by.”
Lazar, who now represents some
Australian authors directly, as well as
selling their books on behalf of local pub-
lishers and agents, is clearly hooked. He
is working hard to cultivate new con-
tacts, and skipped this year’s Frankfurt
Book Fair while planning another visit
Down Under. He loves the humor and
style of Australian fiction, though he
allows there’s a vernacular which doesn’t
travel, particularly when it comes to kids
and YA. But the Outback, he believes,
fascinates like the American West, and
he feels there could be a wave of strong
thrillers coming out of the country:
“Psychological suspense in an Australian
rural setting has a very special flavor—
it’s the remoteness.” —Liz Thomson
Bookwitty CEO Cyril Hadji-Thomas
browses at one of the company’s warehouses.
