frequently asked questions

Have another question or want to get involved? Send a note to support@nonfik.com. We love reading!

What's a Nonfik?

Nonfik is a double-sided content marketplace with reviews, expert book summaries and a growing community of professionals.

It's a place where publishers can get visibility on their free marketing content (ebooks and guides) and readers can get free access to vetted content, as well as a community where they can discuss what they've learned with peers.

This version of Nonfik is still a low-tech MVP. If you'd like to learn more about what we're trying to build you can check out our public roadmap or learn more about why we're building this

What will you do with my email address?

If you signed up as an early adopter of community features, we will ONLY email you regarding the community. Community initiatives are reviewing a book, submitting a request to join the Slack book club, or signing up to be a beta tester. As we grow the platform, we may occasionally invite you to sign up for things like reading recommendations and events, but we no email blasting.

If you downloaded an ebook or abstract, we may share your information with ONLY the author of that ebook. These ebooks have been designed as lead magnets, and the authors may request their leads' emails (a.k.a. your email). That just means you've shown interest and they would like to reach out to you. We do our best to only work with companies that respect their email lists as much as we do.

What is the Nonfik Bookclub?

The Nonfik Bookclub is our private Slack community. It's a place for professionals to discuss books, get reading recommendations, and talk about implementing what they've learned. We also occasionally host breakout group events to discuss specific books. If this sounds like your jam, request an invite.

How do you make sure community reviews are fair and professional?

We read every review before posting it to make sure it's professional and adds value.

We also link every review to the reviewer's LinkedIn profile so reviewers are held accountable. This also helps us screen out reviews from employees and representatives of companies.

How do you make money?

Currently, Nonfik is 100% free. We want to see if we can add value with this app and community before worrying about monetization. Just call us a couple of starry-eyed builders.

Who's behind Nonfik?

Learn more about the people and ideology behind Nonfik on our manifesto page.

I really want X feature. How do I get you to build that?

We love feature requests! You can vote for features we already have slated or request new ones on our public roadmap.

Are you hiring?

Standard startup answer: yes and no. Nonfik is currently bootstrapped, but we're always looking to work with more talented people so don't hesitate to reach out if you want to be a part of changing the way content is consumed.

How do I submit an ebook for summary and review?

Please use this form.

Nonfik is a double-sided content marketplace with reviews, expert book summaries and a growing community of professionals.

It's a place where publishers can get visibility on their free marketing content (ebooks and guides) and readers can get free access to vetted content, as well as a community where they can discuss what they've learned with peers.

This version of Nonfik is still a low-tech private beta. If you'd like to learn more about what we're trying to build you can check out our public roadmap or learn more about why we're building this

how we determine our expert ebook reviews

What are bookmarks?

Bookmarks are our stand in for stars.

We score every free ebook on a scale of zero bookmarks (this shouldn't exist) to five bookmarks (it is impossible to make this better).

Unlike most other star rating systems, we don't arbitrarily skew up. Free ebooks with five bookmarks are rare and three bookmarks is a decent score.

What are bookmark scores based on?

When assigning a free ebook an overall bookmark score, we look at the three breakdown scores (value, readability, actionability), as well as a few other factors.

Free ebooks with interviews from the field get extra points in our expert reviews because we believe that true thought leaders know what they don't know and that nothing good is ever created in a vacuum. Also, companies create these ebooks for their target demographics, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have done all the things or accomplished all the goals their readers are looking to. Survey reports, especially, get judged on how large their sample size is.

Free ebooks with a table of contents also get an additional bump. This is part of the readability score, but we believe it's so important to how much value readers get out of a book that we're giving it extra weight. There's a balance to be struck between overly detailed ToCs and ones that don't offer much insight.

Last but not least, free ebooks that don't promote themselves get extra points. All the content we publish here is to some extent promotional, but some "ebooks" are more promotional than others. There's a fine line between thought leadership with a bit of promotion and a promotional asset. Don't cross it.

What is the value score based on?

While reading the free ebook, we ask ourselves if the ebook measures up to the value it promised in the original pitch. One of our goals with Nonfik is to shift the mentality of content creators from "lead magnets" (download and forget) to actual ebooks that add value. Learn more about our vision.

What is the readability score based on?

When judging readability, we look at a few factors: Is the free ebook skimmable? Does reading feel natural? Is it written for a human or a computer? Is there a table of contents? Things that make any content piece more or less readable apply here.

What is the actionability score based on?

Actionable free ebooks include specific insights or recommendations for applying the information. REALLY actionable ebooks include DIY portions like a step-by-step guide or a pull-out template or exercise.

Who are the experts writing these reviews?

Eventually, we hope to have an algorithm that automatically calculates expert reviews, but for now, the creators of Nonfik are writing all the reviews.

We realize this isn't a perfect system, so we're recruiting professionals to help write expert reviews. If you're a SaaS expert, please email us at hello@nonfik.com. Service hours and exposure included.