Figment (website)
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Type of site
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Community site |
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| Available in | English |
| Owner | Random House |
| Slogan(s) | Write yourself in |
| Website | figment |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional, but required to access certain parts of the site and to create content such as books or forum threads. |
| Launched | December 2010 |
| Current status | Active |
Figment is an online community and self-publishing platform for young writers. Created by Jacob Lewis and Dana Goodyear, who both worked at The New Yorker, the site officially launched on December 6, 2010. Figment currently has over 300,000 registered users and over 440,000 'books', or pieces of writing. Other features include frequent writing contests, a blog, forums, and The Figment Review. On February 27, 2012, Figment announced it would purchase and merge user bases with its rival site, Inkpop.com. On March 1, 2012, the two sites merged userbases and works. On October 29, 2013, Figment was acquired by Random House Children's Group.
Inspired by the popularity of the Japanese cell phone novel, Dana Goodyear, poet and journalist, and Jacob Lewis, former managing editor of The New Yorker, created Figment as a platform on which young adults can share their writing and interact with other writers. Figment spent several months in beta, and officially launched on December 6, 2010, gaining over 10,000 users the first week. Users can "publish" and access short stories, poetry, lyrics, essays, and novels either on their computers or with their mobile phones. An app is currently in development. Users are able to review, "heart", react and comment on works by other users. Over 300,000 accounts and 700,000 books have been created. Figment's user base is mainly teens, but there is a significant amount of older writers registered on the site. Those under 13 may not register. Figment has been featured in The New York Times,The L.A. Times, and The Today Show.
In December 2011, Figment published its first print book: Dream School by Blake Nelson. The novel is a sequel to Nelson's widely popular mid-nineties novel Girl. Figment first released Dream School in serial format on its web site as free content for all users, and then printed the book in a more traditional format. "It echoes the way Girl was serialized in the pages of Sassy magazine prior to being published," said Nelson. "I took a stack of fan letters that were sent to the magazine over to my editor's office and said this is the audience for this book."
In March 2012, Figment combined with HarperCollins's online writing community, Inkpop. At the time of the merge, InkPop had 95,000 users and Figment had 115,000 users, with little overlap between the two sites. Susan Katz, the HarperCollins Children's Book president, said of the move: “We approached Figment because we’ve admired what they are doing in the digital space. Together we can broaden our marketing reach for our authors and their stories by tapping into this highly engaged group.”
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