“U up?”

Sigh. The nightly alert forcing the memories of embarrassing dates and endless swipes.

Who is this from? The candidates this week are limited. Kevin (the mommy’s boy), Johnathan (the mouth chewer) or Tyler (who wears socks with sandals). It’s Saturday night. The DM’s are full and the expectations are low. You open the notification, wishing for some Prince Charming to swoop you up from the disappointing bachelors.

Oh, it’s “The Great Gatsby.”

“I’m a hopeless romantic…I’ll do whatever it takes to please you.” 

According to Sachs Media, 62% of women would rather spend a Friday night with a new book than on a date. Does this mean that women have a better relationship with a book or is online dating just not successful? A majority of online-daters told the PEW Research Center in 2020 that dating apps make it “somewhat easy” to find someone they are attracted to or find common interests with.

The founders of a digital book marketing company BookstarPR, Brant Menswar and Jim Knight, noticed the need of finding a good book and the success of dating apps. They decided to create an app with the same functionality.

“If dating apps are so successful, why aren’t we using that same psychology and technology to match people with books?” asked Menswar.

Booky Call (boo-kee kaal) provides potential book matches based on the preferences set in the readers profile with swiping functions seen on dating apps. A curated library of 5,000 books include book profiles with nine questions that come directly from dating profiles, but that is not the only comparison.

Twice a week, all Booky Call users will get that inevitable notification—“U up?” Unlike the message inviting someone over, the app will provide up to three protentional matches of books. After clicking the link, the app will take the user to a 150-character tease to persuade the user to swipe up and read that book.

A weekly podcast will also be available for users searching for the perfect book, but do not have the time to swipe through books. The app’s host, boo, will interview voice actors who imitate the books shown on the app. Boo has a mustache designed as a book, a derby hat, and a monocle looking down for a book.

“I had sort of a cross between the monopoly guy and the planters peanut,” Menswar said. “But the reason that we came up with the idea to have a spokesperson like boo is because we had to figure out a way to get people to pronounce booky call.”

Before noticing the need to collaborate book review and dating apps, Menswar knew there needed to be a place for authors to sell their books as well.

“Almost a year ago—September 29—I released my book that came out called ‘Black Sheep’ and I had a really bad experience with the traditional book publicity. I spent tens of thousands of dollars and just didn’t get any results at all,” Menswar said. “I had to take things under my own control.”

Since Booky Call is ad-free, the app is monetized from book partnerships and a percentage of physical, digital, and audio books. The app also does not include reviews from strangers or bots.

Booky Call is available on Apple now, and will be available on Android soon.

Xena Bunton, [email protected]