Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Meet the press (Quartet Press, That Is): Kirk Biglione

Written by Kat Meyer

In an effort to allow all you Quartet Press fans (yes, I’m talking to you mom) a better idea of who we are and why we’re doing this, we’re over sharing way too much a little bit about each of Quartet’s founders. Why? We needed blog contentdoes stupid things for love must take a few risks. we want you to get to know us.  Sure, we may ultimately regret choosing to be so incredibly open with you about who we are, but like any great relationship, one

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Kirk Biglione. Around Quartet, Kirk is known as the “Tech Guy.” We rely on him to find the best and coolest,  most cutting edgiest of book digitizing technologies so that we may bring them to you, our readers. But, there’s more to Kirk than bits and bugs. You’ll see…

1. What were you doing before you became one-quarter of Quartet Press?

KB: Early on, I had a variety of media-related jobs including disc jockey, music director, editorial assistant at a music industry trade publication and even artist management (the closest I’ve ever come to babysitting). Mostly I was biding my time, waiting for Tim Berners-Lee to invent the Web. Once he finally got around to that, things fell into place for me.

During the past decade, I’ve focused on my consulting practice, providing clients with a range of technology services related to Web development and Web publishing systems. Meanwhile, I’ve used my experience with Web publishing systems to develop a number of online publications, most notably Booksquare.com in its many incarnations (a free Quartet t-shirt to the first person who can identify the first iteration of Booksquare.com by name). Booksquare.com eventually led to Medialoper.com, a place where I can more fully explore my obsession with the many issues surrounding digital media, particularly DRM and the consumer experience.

2. What is up with romance? Is getting into what seems to be a pretty crowded market really a good idea? Why? Where’d the idea come from? Where is it going?

KB: Kassia and I have worked together on a couple of romance-related projects prior to Quartet. The first iteration of Booksquare.com was essentially an early romance review site. More recently we built the Romance Wiki (I am, by the way, the father of the Romance Wiki. I am technically also the mother, but I generally don’t mention that fact as it sounds a little, er, weird). In some ways, Quartet is a natural extension of those early efforts.

It’s true, there are already quite a few romance epublishers, but I don’t believe the market is anywhere near saturated. There are many, many romance readers. It is by far the largest genre of fiction. Add to that the fact that ebooks are just starting to enter the mainstream consciousness, and I think there’s plenty of room for Quartet.

3. Where did you find these people you are working with? Sure they are a good looking group, but why them?

KB: I’ve known Kassia more than half my life. Exactly how we met is still the subject of intense debate, so we prefer not to discuss the details in public. We’ve had a good long while together to hash out the details of what the perfect publishing company should look like—and yes, that is exactly the sort of thing we spend hours talking about. There’s a reason why we’ve been together this long.

Don was a reader of, and occasional commenter on, Medialoper.com and Booksquare.com. We finally met at the first ToC conference in San Jose. It became obvious pretty quickly that we were on the same wavelength. We kept in touch after Don moved to Taunton, and at SXSW 2009 we began seriously discussing the possibilities of creating a digital publishing house. In some strange way, I think that Quartet Press was inspired by the #sxswbp incident.

And, of course, I met Kat Meyer on Twitter (just like everyone else in the universe). After the ToC Tweetup, it was obvious that Kat was a force to be reckoned with. It was clear to both Kassia and me that we had to work with her in some capacity. Also, I admire the courage Kat has demonstrated in her tireless efforts to rescue faux pugs.

4. What’s your role at QP?

KB: Anything to do with bits. I’ve been busy coordinating all of the technology required to build a great digital publishing company. That involves working out support for various digital formats, developing our digital workflow, developing a commerce platform and Web publishing systems and coordinating our royalty and title management systems.

As an ebook reader, I know the process of finding and buying ebooks can be unnecessarily complicated. I’m placing a high priority on creating the best possible discovery, shopping, and reading experience for our customers.

5. What’s your favorite thing about starting a brand spanking new company?

KB: This is an opportunity to put some core beliefs into practice. Including a firm belief that the future of all media is digital, providing a superior consumer experience is one of the keys to running a successful digital media company, and the most important ingredient in any business is a quality product.

6. Why do you like the Oakland A’s? They can’t even come up with a whole word to call their team by—they’ve only got one letter, for goodness sake.

KB: Growing up in the early 70s in the Central Valley (go Reedley!), I pretty much had my choice of any California baseball team. Yes, the Giants had Willie Mays, the Dodgers had Steve Garvey, the Angels had Nolan Ryan, the Padres had, well, to be honest, the Padres had no one.  But the A’s had: Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Ken Hotlzman, Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, Blue Moon Odom and a crazy owner named Charley Finley. Need I say more? I’ve been a fan ever since.

7. What is the weirdest reason you’ve purchased a book?

I suppose buying a book to avoid being accused of shoplifting qualifies as weird. When I first moved to L.A. I spent many Saturday afternoons scrounging through used bookstores looking for obscure 1960′s counter-culture paperbacks. One afternoon I found myself in a tiny Glendale shop run by a somewhat eccentric older woman (that’s the politically correct term for “crazy old lady”). It was one of those impossibly small stores with used books stacked to the ceiling and no ventilation.  As I searched the stacks that were arranged in no particular order I could hear the woman shouting into the phone. She was accusing Sears of breaking into her house and leaving a new refrigerator. She was demanding that they come take it away and return her old refrigerator. Meanwhile, she was stopping to randomly accuse customers of stealing books.  At some point this became worrisome to me. She was threatening to call the police and I hadn’t planned to spend the night in the Glendale jail.  Suddenly the answer came to me. Buy something!

And that’s how I acquired my vintage paperback edition of None Dare Call it Conspiracy.

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