Trajectory Inc.

Trajectory Inc. is an American technology company that focuses on solving the problems facing the global book publishing market. It was founded by Jim Bryant in 2011 and is headquartered in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Trajectory, Inc.
TypeCorporation
IndustryPublishing, Bookselling, Information Technology, Big Data, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning
FoundedMarblehead, Massachusetts, United States
FounderJim Bryant (Trajectory Inc.)
Headquarters
Marblehead, Massachusetts
,
United States
Area served
Global
Websitewww.trajectory.com

The company is known for pioneering the development of a series of deep learning algorithms that are used to analyze and recommend books.[1]

History

Since its founding in 2011 by Jim Bryant, Trajectory established relationships with over 300 eBook distributors located on six continents.[2][3] In 2013, the company quietly acquired the assets of startup Small Demons,[1] which gave them access to the HarperCollins’ e-book library for analysis and data extraction. Trajectory went on to establish other partnerships with major publishers, thus growing its algorithms’ ability for book recommendation.

In 2014, the company invented a standardized way to compare and contrast the flow of sentiment through works of fiction.[1]

In January 2015, Trajectory announced that it had invented a method to generate book recommendations based on the content of the book. It is believed to be the first company to successfully demonstrate this.[1]

The company is also noted for its penetration in the Chinese e-book distribution market, where most notably it formed a pact with Tencent Literature in March 2015 to distribute over 200,000 Chinese titles in North and South American distribution channels and English titles across the Chinese company's customer base of 820 million active users.[2][4] Also in the spring, Trajectory announced agreements with Chinese distributors Xiaomi and Dangdang.[5]

In 2015, Trajectory announced agreements with Peoples Education Press, Zhejiang, Anhui, Diamond Comic Distributors, Gardners, the Association of American University Presses[6] and others. In September of the same year, the company won the Book Industry Study Group's Industry Innovation Award for their re-imagination of and unique approach to the industry.[7]

Customers

Trajectory works within both the publishing and distributing sectors of the e-book market and has announced relationships with a broad range of major participants in the global book supply chain.

Publishers

Among its clients, Trajectory's publisher partners include including, Macmillan, Abrams, MIT Press, Peoples Education Press, Anhui, Zhejiang.[5][8]

Distributors

Trajectory's distributor partners include: Tencent Literature, Xiaomi, Dangdang, Amazon,[9] Apple,[10] Barnes & Noble,[11] Kobo,[12] Google[13] and over 300 other partners.

Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning

In order to improve discoverability for books in publishing and distribution channels, Trajectory uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and implements “Deep Learning” techniques that were the first of their kind to recommend books based on proprietary algorithms.[14]

Trajectory NLP

These algorithms parse the text of the book and categorize data based on certain features like sentiment, parts of speech, genre, and keywords, and match it to the previously processed books in their database to generate suggestions.[3] This content analysis contrasts current recommendation methods used by major companies like Amazon or Netflix that are powered by sales data and user reports.[1] As the Natural Language Processing Engine parses more and more books in English, Chinese, Spanish, and German, the algorithms recommending capabilities improve transliterally.

References
  1. Anderson, Porter (2015-01-09). "'Grace notes for ebooks': A new Trajectory for discoverability". FutureBook. Bookseller Media. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  2. Flannery, Russell (2015-04-08). "Tencent Teams Up With Trajectory To Sell eBooks Outside Of China". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  3. Anderson, Porter (2015-03-09). "Trajectory and Tencent Literature in e-books partnership". The Bookseller. Bookseller Media. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  4. Alter, Alexandra (2015-05-28). "China's Publishers Court America as Its Authors Scorn Censorship". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  5. Reid, Calvin (2015-04-14). "Trajectory To Distribute Macmillan, MIT Press E-books in China". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  6. Anderson, Porter (2015-12-21). "US uni presses partner with Trajectory in digital services". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  7. "BISG". Book Industry Study Group. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  8. "Trajectory Inks Deals to Distribute Berrett-Koehler, RosettaBooks in China". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz. 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  9. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=%22trajectory+classics%22&rh=i:aps,k:%22trajectory+classics%22
  10. "iTunes - Books - Hamlet by William Shakespeare". itunes.apple.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-24.
  11. "Barnes & Noble Coupons, Promo Codes, & Deals".
  12. "Rakuten Kobo".
  13. "%22trajectory%20classics%22 - Books on Google Play".
  14. Naughton, Celine (2015-06-12). "A beginner's guide to self-publishing: So you've written a book – what next?". The Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
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