Inkshares
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing, Literary rights management |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Thaddeus Woodman, Lawrence Levitsky, Adam Gomolin, Jeremy Thomas |
Area served | North America, International |
Key people | Thaddeus Woodman (Co-founder), Lawrence Levitsky (Co-founder, former), Adam Gomolin (Co-founder), Jeremy Thomas (Co-founder, CTO) |
| Products | Publishing platform, Literary rights management services |
| Owner | Private investors including Ingram Ventures, Indicator Ventures, angel investors from media and entertainment sectors |
| Website | inkshares |
Inkshares is a platform dedicated to publishing and managing literary rights, established in 2013. It functions as an open community hosting more than 100,000 writers and readers, where authors share excerpts of their manuscripts that are ranked according to audience interest. Selected titles receive editorial support from Inkshares for publication across North America, international rights sales, and adaptation opportunities in television and film.
Among Inkshares' backers are Ingram Ventures, Indicator Ventures, alongside prominent angel investors from the media and entertainment sectors. The company has forged key alliances with Ingram to handle book distribution within North America and with The United Talented Agency for representation in TV and movie projects.
Founders and inception
Inkshares was launched in 2013 by Thaddeus Woodman, Lawrence Levitsky, Adam Gomolin, and Jeremy Thomas. Woodman drew inspiration from his upbringing around Ventana Press, a successful computer-book publisher run by his parents. Motivated by Kickstarter’s model and the potential opened by the JOBS Act’s equity crowdfunding provisions, Woodman’s initial goal was to develop an equity crowdfunding platform specifically for books.
Woodman partnered with Levitsky—who had served as founding VP at RealNetworks and held a leadership role at Microsoft Press—bringing experience from working with Woodman’s parents at Ventana Press. Levitsky then introduced Gomolin, a securities lawyer and agent for screenwriters. Later in 2013, Thomas joined the team as co-founder and Chief Technical Officer.
Capital raising
In late 2013, the founders secured $250,000 through a friends-and-family funding round. The following summer, Inkshares completed its first seed investment round with contributions from Ingram Ventures—the venture capital division of the largest global book distributor—and Indicator Ventures. Industry veteran angels such as Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books, also invested.
Additional seed rounds took place in 2016 and 2017, drawing investments from firms like 555 Capital as well as Hollywood executives including Greg Silverman, then President of Film at Warner Brothers.
Initial concept and establishment
Woodman’s original concept was to create a hybrid platform combining elements of “Kickstarter with Random House,” allowing readers to purchase stakes in books and share in their profits. Despite the JOBS Act directing the SEC to issue equity crowdfunding regulations, these rules were delayed for several years. Consequently, Inkshares launched without an equity component but still attracted significant media attention from outlets such as Fast Company and Publishers Weekly.
Changes in funding approach
Initially, Inkshares depended on donation-based funding goals calculated from manuscript length and production expenses. This method successfully financed projects including The Astronaut Instruction Manual and The Show.
In 2015, founders Thomas, Woodman, and Gomolin transitioned to a pre-order system that limited individual contributions to better capture authentic reader demand while minimizing vanity publishing issues common on platforms like Kickstarter. The first title funded under this new approach was Abomination, the debut novel by screenwriter Gary Whitta. During this period of change, Levitsky exited the company to launch his own publishing imprint.
By late 2016, Inkshares began integrating engagement metrics beyond financial contributions—such as shares, likes, and reading duration—to assess manuscripts’ potential. The inaugural publication selected based on these engagement indicators rather than pre-orders was J. Danielle Dorn's Devil’s Call.
Development of rights management
By early 2016, Inkshares had notably broadened its focus on rights management, a key area championed by Gomolin, who had originally prepared the company's foundational contracts in his role as general counsel. In 2015, Inkshares achieved a notable milestone by licensing streaming TV rights for Filip Syta's The Show to Blackpills in a prominent transaction. Soon after, the company negotiated audiobook rights with Penguin Random House in a deal valued in the six figures, recognized as the most substantial audio agreement for a debut author that year.
Later that same year, Inkshares transferred rights for Mike Mongo’s The Astronaut Instruction Manual to Legendary Entertainment and J-F Dubeau's A God in the Shed to Skydance. In 2017, the firm continued to secure several significant agreements, including a seven-figure deal for Tal Klein's The Punch Escrow, which is currently under development at Lionsgate.