I missed the way we used to talk about books

So we created Pagebound. We're like if Goodreads and Reddit had a baby but indie, anti-AI, and built by two women.

As a first-generation American and former English major that entered adulthood in the cultural wasteland of late-stage capitalism, I spent my 20s grappling with the impossible choice: pursue my passion or pay my bills.

On the one hand, I had been writing and illustrating stories in spiral notebooks since I was a kid. My parents treated our local library as a safe haven with built-in childcare. My love of reading and writing felt innate, but I never took it seriously as a realistic path. Instead, I tried to find meaning in ✨a well-paying job✨

I thought my best bet was working at startups with a social impact mission. So, I moved to Kenya to work in motorcycle rideshare. I worked in climate tech. I quickly realized that the incentive structure was off—no matter the outward niceties, these venture-backed startups had one true goal, which was to enrich their investors.

When I looked back at a career that I had poured so much of my heart into, I found it quite hollow. I had also matured enough to question my initial assumptions—could I really not turn my passion into a job? Would I not work harder, work longer even through uncertainty, have more brilliant ideas building in a space I knew as tenderly as toast knows butter?

It was in this invigorated mindset that I reconnected with Jennifer, a software engineer and former colleague turned friend, and much the way it feels when you stumble upon a soulmate, the rest unspooled effortlessly.

From day one, we knew we didn’t want to seek outside funding. We were prepared to make sacrifices to fund this nascent business ourselves, so we could build in line with our values. AI was already invading so many bookish spaces, and we knew we’d be a bulwark: no AI in our features, ever. Even our lightning rod of an idea, the backbone of Pagebound—every book with its own forum—came easily.

As an avid reader, Goodreads user, and booktok veteran, Jennifer saw opportunity in the dearth of solutions for social reading. For me, I’d always been a solo reader (not wanting to adhere to a book club’s TBR), but I craved the ability to connect with others when I got to that jaw-dropping moment on page 256 (without spoiling the ending)!

I missed the magic space of the English classroom, where we could debate the ideas in books, but low pressure—for our own growth, for our own pleasure. On Pagebound, whatever book you’re currently reading, you can post your thoughts, theories, ideas, and reactions to that book’s forum. Sort posts by % read to read along with people from all over the world. Anyone with that book in their library will see and can interact with your post, so it’s really easy to make new reader friends.

Truly what has made Pagebound shine, in a sea of options, is our reader community. People join and say that we’ve become their only form of social media. They have FUN 🪩

This community grew from features and intentional decisions that set us apart: text-only forums where posts and comments have no timestamps (reading is timeless, and the thoughts you share about books should be too!), a points system that rewards you the more you read and talk, badges you can earn to showcase your reading taste, the option to be as anonymous as you want with cute avatars, hidden follower counts so it’s not about the clout, and a vibrant, nostalgic design that evokes the best parts of the early internet.

In so many ways, we want to return readers to the way we used to talk about books—before you had to be an influencer to reach an audience. We’ve all wondered, did anyone else reading this notice what I just did? Does anyone else feel the same way I do? Come to Pagebound, where you can connect with other humans, over good books.

Yours,

Lucy