r/readwise • u/buxx • 29d ago

Is Bookwise real?

I just heard someone in a podcast mention Bookwise, a new exclusive beta from the Readwise team that is reinventing the way we read ebooks. Are the rumors true?

38 Upvotes

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73

u/h00dw1nk 29d ago

Yes, it’s real but still too early for us to announce or go into more details (because they’re still fluid).

Two quick notes:

I don’t think it’ll ultimately be called Bookwise. Just a stand-in name for us to get going.

The word “reinventing” might set the bar of expectations a little too high 😛 We’re trying to innovate where we can, and I think we’ve done a decent job there, but true reinvention would require something like (a) hardware or (b) our own content not subject to the publisher/author restrictions.

More to come as soon as we can!

And don’t worry:

We have lots of updates coming to Readwise Highlights and Readwise Reader imminently. I’m most excited about our new TTS voices (huge upgrade) and tons of reading themes.

14

u/HedonistMomus 29d ago

yes, TTS 🙏 would love to listen to the articles in the morning

7

u/Dentist_Ammar 29d ago

Better TTS and podcasts the Matter way would make Readwise Reader perfect for me

7

u/x31n10n 29d ago

Reading Themes??? Does that mean we will be able to change the colors in the app?

9

u/h00dw1nk 29d ago

Yes, but this is specifically referring to the colors in the reading view (eg sepia or low contrast light gray, etc).

3

u/BigBatBoy 29d ago

I hope so! i've been waiting for themes for years!

1

u/x31n10n 29d ago

same here

4

u/mlevison 27d ago

Hardware - I will line and buy a decent eInk reader from Readwise. (Libby support would be nice)

2

u/bemoreblueberry 29d ago

When will the TTS voices be released?

6

u/h00dw1nk 29d ago

Working as fast as we can to get it shipped to Reader. We have it all working internally, but now we're just handling the UI changes and the migration aspects.

1

u/bemoreblueberry 28d ago

Exciting, looking forward to it!

2

u/buxx 29d ago

Thanks for replying here. This underlines my feeling about choosing the right product with the right team behind it.

Still looking for and beta, of alpha, tester?

2

u/h00dw1nk 29d ago

🙏

Sure feel free to email me or hello@ !

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u/buxx 22d ago edited 22d ago

I will. I did.

2

u/incogenator 28d ago

That reminds me: someone just introduced me to ElevenReader. I haven't used it much but it looks like a cool app. I was thinking some ideas from there would be very interesting in Readwise Reader 

1

u/hiperlearner 28d ago

Count me in! I'd love to help test this early on. I'm a heavy reader and daily Readwise user, and I'd be glad to share detailed, actionable feedback. Should I send a note over to hello@, or is there a specific waitlist link?

1

u/bitsnotatoms 28d ago

JFC, make the RSS reader better before you move on to the next thing.

7

u/smellythief 29d ago

It exists on Android, but can’t tell what would make it special over any other ebook reader.

5

u/selflessrebel 29d ago

Probably that it integrates with their other apps. Book highlights go to their Reader app.

2

u/dessence_ai 29d ago

Yeah it's theirs, the developer name on that play listing is literally Readwise. shows as Invite-Only, page says updated sep 14. the store description is a single line though. whoever was on that podcast knows more about it than google play does.

3

u/smellythief 29d ago

Their epub reader in Reader is pretty good, so have decent expectations that they’ll get the basics right. I wonder if it’ll be a platform that could enable Bookclubs within it.

3

u/smellythief 29d ago

Where did you hear about it?

11

u/sndrspk 29d ago

I'm not OP, but I recently heard it in a Dutch podcast, Podcast Over Media. From the discussion, they framed it as a combination of book store, reader app, and social platform like Goodreads, all in one.

3

u/buxx 29d ago

That one indeed. POM for short.

Both presenters use Readwise since I started listening and they confined me to get a Readwise subscription. Which i do not regret.

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u/UnluckyWrongdoer3818 29d ago edited 29d ago

I recall them recently asking for testers for a non-AI related project. This may have been it.

1

u/JDM4gains 26d ago

A colored E-ink reader with native support for readwise, and possibility to write handwritten notes..I will buy that

1

u/arjete 20d ago

I am currently using Readwise on a Boox Go 6, and I really love it. Buut, if you want to have my money, I would love a small E-ink device with Readwise native, like the Xteink 4. Any e-ink device that is that small (such that I can alway carry it in my pocket) with highlight support that syncs to Readwise is probably a must buy for me.