Developing a Crowdsourcing App Made Easy [Case Study]

Some of the best ideas were first conceived on a napkin. The design of the Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the globe nonstop without refueling, was first drawn on a napkin while pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager were having lunch. Characters in Pixar movies such as “A Bug’s Life,” “Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E” were first scribbled on cocktail napkins. Even Abraham Lincoln’s celebrated Gettysburg Address was first jotted down on a napkin.

How these ideas came to life is another story. It’s a journey filled with serendipitous discoveries, exciting challenges and a lot of hard work.

From Idea to Life

Marc Brackett also had an idea. Brackett is passionate about discovering and sharing good stories. He believes in empowering budding writers and literary critics. He knew that the next J.K. Rowling might be anywhere, waiting to be found.

His big idea was to create an application to crowdsource books from independent authors. A community of authors would review these books and filter them for quality. The vetted books would then be passed to professional reviewers and eventually published for the world to enjoy. This idea became Bookvetter, a website that hosts a thriving community of authors and reviewers.

Crowdsourcing App for the Literary Community

When embarking on this project, Brackett knew he didn’t have the technical background needed to build an online database application. He also wanted to have a team to help him advance his ideas, yet he didn’t have sufficient resources to hire a talented IT team. So Brackett began looking around for an easy-to-use solution that could host a community of authors and reviewers. He came across Caspio and was impressed with the powerful point-and-click tools that allowed him to create a crowdsourcing application that automated the review process, scoring, communications and membership management — all at a reasonable cost.

“For individuals or companies wanting to develop a market, or take an idea from a napkin to completion, definitely look at Caspio,” Brackett said.

Caspio helped Brackett achieved something beyond his imagination – Bookvetter now facilitates a flourishing community of budding authors and literary critics.

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