no advertising or in-app purchases) for kids who want to explore e-books, according to Donahue. The subscription model offers “easy access and no friction” (i.e. “Parents and teachers insist on reading, and kids are constantly seeking new things to read for learning and for pleasure.” By consistently homing in on quality age-appropriate books, “we develop the trust of parents and teachers,” he says. Whether at home or in school, the subscription model is “well-suited to children because it’s core to their daily lives,” Donahue emphasizes. “Kids are getting to know the brand in school, and then they come home and mention it.” “It’s been great word-of-mouth growth,” Donahue says. “We have used it also for global projects,” she says, as well as Twitter book talks with classrooms across the country, “because so many students can access the same book from different points and come together in a social media setting to discuss it.”Įpic’s publishing partners can opt out of the Epic for Educators component, but many of them have seen it as a marketing opportunity. In another second-grade classroom, this one in Lecanto, Fla., teacher Terry Stoufer says she uses Epic in a range of ways, from instruction and lesson planning to small group work. “It’s another way I can get them to read and explore the things they are interested in, in an easy manner.” “Kids can choose a book they feel comfortable reading and no one needs to know what they’re reading,” Witmer says, citing one of the reasons she loves the service.
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Denise Witmer, a second-grade teacher at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pa., is one of the educators taking advantage of the free app.
To date, Epic is being used in more than 70% of elementary schools in the U.S., according to Donahue. The company offers Epic for Educators free of charge to teachers for use in the classroom, a bonus Donahue says they can provide “because we are doing so well with paying subscribers.” Epic currently ranks as the #2 highest-grossing app on iOS in the Kids category and the #3 highest-grossing app on iOS in the Education category.
These figures tally the activity of paying subscribers as well as students who are accessing Epic in school. “The numbers are astounding to us, to be honest,” he says. Most recently, Donahue says, six million books were read in the month of March alone, and more than 250,000 titles are being read each day. Since Epic’s debut, more than 40 million books have been read on the service. Other notable features include an algorithm that makes personalized recommendations for kids based on their reading level and content preferences, and the ability to create personalized profiles (up to four per family) to keep track of reading materials individually within an account. Read-to-Me titles, audiobooks, and Spanish-language and Spanish/English bilingual books are part of the content mix. Content is curated by an in-house editorial team that receives input from Epic’s advisory board, which is composed of publishing and digital industry experts, including Joanna Cotler, former publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books award-winning author Jenni Holm and Tim Ditlow, former v-p and publisher of Listening Library/Random House, who is also Epic’s v-p of content.
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With Markosian, an Internet entrepreneur who had major success with social and mobile gaming company CrowdStar, Donahue, who was part of the original team at YouTube as v-p of content and head of marketing (pre-Google acquisition) notes, “We were enthusiastic and passionate about solving this problem.”Įpic carries more than 14,000 e-book titles from more than 100 publishers-including HarperCollins, Macmillan, Candlewick, Disney, Bellwether Media, and Eerdmans-and describes itself as “the world’s largest digital library for kids.” The focus is on providing unlimited access to high-quality content for children 12 and younger via a platform available on the Web, iOS, and Android devices, as well as Apple TV, for $4.99 per month.
At that time, iBooks and Amazon “weren’t being directed toward children,” he explains, recalling his experiences seeking out titles for his daughter. Officially launched in January 2014 by Donahue and Suren Markosian, Epic was born from a desire to “make e-books more available to children online,” Donahue says. “We were up 400% last year and will probably see the same or more this year,” he notes. Epic cofounder Kevin Donahue shared exclusively with PW the latest statistics measuring the company’s performance. Children’s e-book subscription service Epic, based in Redwood City, Calif., is one company that is bucking the naysaying trends.
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