Interview with Alessandro De Giorgi, CEO of Youcanprint
June 8, 2022
Interview with Alessandro De Giorgi, CEO of Youcanprint, the startup that offers the first Italian platform of self publishing by number of publications.
Many entrepreneurs, marketers, or freelancers have understood that writing a successful book is not a “privilege” only for writers. In fact it is a necessity for all those who want to make themselves known, appreciate and gain authority in their target market. Traditional publishing, in the digital age, has undergone a profound metamorphosis. Thanks to self publishing, in fact, the author who creates and sells his book, can do it independently without the help or contribution of a publisher. If you are interested in finding out how to self publish your book, it’s time to get to know Youcanprint!
What’s Youcanprint
Youcanprint is the first Italian self-publishing platform by number of publications. Writers enter the publishing market without filters or constraints, realizing their publishing dream, and readers gain access to a growing catalog of works with which they can improve their lives. Youcanprint, moreover, is not only responsible for printing or publishing a book, but offers all the services of a real publishing house.
With Youcanprint you can publish, distribute and sell your book in Paper, Ebook and Audiobook format reaching 50 countries, more than 30 stores and over 4,500 physical libraries! All this with the human and professional support of experts who follow you at every stage of publication.
To learn more about the project, read the interview with Alessandro De Giorgio, CEO of Youcanprint.
Hello Alessandro, it is a pleasure to meet you and thank you for the time you are dedicating to us. Tell us something more about Youcanprint.
Youcanprint is a selfpublishing platform, which means that it is a platform that is revolutionizing the publishing market, allowing authors to publish and reach the market without the need of a publisher. Self publishing is not really a modern invention, there are sacred monsters of literature that started their career with self-publishing: Dickens, Dumas, Poe or Kipling. We have only made this idea very powerful accessible to everyone thanks to technology. The future of publishing is for authors and readers.
How and when was the idea of Youcanprint born?
Youcanprint was born in 2009 from the love for the books that me and my friend Donato Corvaglia cultivated during our high school years. We were not born in the garage like the American startups but in the grandmother’s house. Since then we have come a long way to become the first Italian selfpublishing platform with over 19,000 authors, 50,000 published works and over 2 million euros in distributed copyright. For those who want to know the details of our story we have published a book called “I ribelli del self-publishing” (in english “The rebels of self-publishing”) in which we tell all the details, successes and mistakes that have led us here. https://www.youcanprint.it/i-ribelli-del-self-publishing/b/46256bd2-9409-51f2-ba87-d967e568b3a0
How did you launch your company? Did you use crowdfunding campaigns?
The extraordinary fact about our history is that we have achieved these extraordinary results without recourse to external capital. We realized everything organically thanks to the hard daily work, seven days a week, 365 days a year for 13 years. To create successful companies, capital is certainly important but it is the execution that is fundamental. People are the key capital, which is the quality of the founders first of all, who must embody the spirit and mission of the company. Only without compromise and focusing on the point of building, a corporation is capable of generating constant and incremental results.
Why should an AUTHOR choose Youcanprint?
Because we offer a self publishing solution with support. Compared to all the other platforms where you are left almost alone to manage an incredible number of aspects (cover, layout, production, editing, marketing, etc.) with Youcanprint you have a partner that performs all the functions of the traditional publisher but with the power of technology. If we combine that with an account with which you can publish the book in 3 formats (paper, digital, audio) and reach millions of readers online and in the library, you understand how Youcanprint is the ideal solution for every writer.
What services does Youcanprint offer?
Youcanprint offers services and support at every stage of a book’s life. From writing to promoting with incredible and accessible services, you can delegate to Youcanprint every aspect of your book. We are also the only platform to offer free and paid training to help authors become successful selfpublishers through: courses, masterclasses, guides and thousands of high-value content on our blog.
What are your plans for the future?
The projects for the future are very ambitious and we like to think in the long term: we aim to become the world’s leading selfpublishing player. I also inform you, exclusively, that we have started the path that will lead us to the listing on the Euronext Growth market.
Curiosity: How does Italy deal with the world of self publishing?
Italy is in a great position in the world of self publishing. Consider that ,according to data from the Italian Association of Publishers in 2020, about 14% of the titles published on paper in Italy were self-published. If you think about it, it’s an incredible fact when you consider that we’re just at the beginning.
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