- Needs To Exist
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- Idea Of The Day - Make books editable, updateable, and alive. Seriously, someone build this.
Idea Of The Day - Make books editable, updateable, and alive. Seriously, someone build this.
Needs To Exist
April 10, 2025
GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that’ll make books smarter, dynamic, and built to evolve.
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Here’s what we’ve got for you today.
Daily Idea - Books, but evolving
Updates to Products
Books that grow with you
Inspired by this tweet
The One Liner
Books that update like code.
The 140 character tweet (or X) version
Books are stuck in 1.0. This turns them into living, breathing projects—with version history, reader feedback, and recurring revenue for authors.
The Longer Story Version
The Problem
Books are dead.
Not metaphorically—like, literally frozen in time.
You publish it. You pray it sells. Then… silence.
No feedback loop. No updates. No incentive to make it better over time.
Imagine if software worked that way. Or blogs. Or SaaS. You’d laugh.
But with books? We just accept it.
Authors pour years into a project, then hope the hardcover sells for $24.99.
Readers read once, maybe highlight a few things, and never return.
That’s a broken model.
The Solution
What if books were more like GitHub repos?
Living. Editable. Forkable.
With version control, reader pull requests, and changelogs.
Here’s the idea:
An author creates a "book repo"
Writes the first version (or imports a doc)
Readers can subscribe, suggest edits, leave comments
Authors update the book over time—just like code
Changelog shows what’s new (e.g. “Updated Chapter 6 with new research”)
Readers are notified and can jump back in
Everyone wins: better books, stronger communities, recurring $$
Think: Substack meets GitHub for books.
Tools You’d Use to Build This
💡 Lex.page – Use this AI-native word processor to make writing & editing smoother for authors.
📚 Sturdy.ai – Real-time collaborative writing with branching & version control.
🔍 Algolia – Search inside books by topic, section, or update history.
📡 Supabase – For a Git-style backend and auth (without building it from scratch).
📈 PostHog – Track how people interact with different chapters.
🎛️ Gumroad API – For early monetization + subscriptions.
🧪 Unlayer – Drag-and-drop editor for authors to customize their page or newsletter.
Why It Needs to Exist
Books shouldn’t die after the launch party.
This is for:
📖 Authors who want feedback and recurring revenue
👩🏫 Teachers who want always-current materials
🧠 Nerds who read the same book 5x and want fresh takes
📚 Publishers who want to create long-term IP, not disposable content
And most of all—it’s for anyone tired of static knowledge.
Because the best books evolve.
And now, they finally can.
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Why waste time guessing?
For less than a coffee a month, unlock a vault of ideas you actually want to build.
Steal our best stuff. We’re cool with it.
If Products Changed After You Bought Them…
Let’s play a quick game.
You walk into a store. Buy a backpack for $150.
Nice quality, lots of pockets. Cool.
Then—two weeks later—you get an email:
“Hey! We just added a hidden waterproof pouch + upgraded the zippers. It’s already live on your backpack. Enjoy!”
Wait, what?
That never happens in the physical world. You don’t get backpack updates. Your non-stick pan doesn’t improve its coating while sitting in the cabinet. Your sneakers don’t gain extra cushioning two months in.
But in the digital world?
That’s possible. And it's not happening nearly enough.
We’re still stuck in a one-and-done model for content and digital products:
Buy once. Consume once. Move on.
But What If…
Courses evolved.
Books updated with every new insight.
Templates improved based on feedback.
Notion docs adapted with trends.
Workshops added new modules when things changed.
You could turn static content into living products.
And not just for fun—this creates:
Recurring revenue
Higher perceived value
A reason to keep users coming back
A feedback loop that improves the product itself
And most importantly: trust
When people see you're still showing up post-purchase, they buy faster. They tell their friends. They stick around.
So Here’s the Big Idea:
Don’t just sell stuff.
Sell stuff that gets better after they buy it.
Think like this:
“What would this product look like if it were a SaaS?”
Would it have updates?
Would it have patch notes?
Would I get feedback from users to make it better?
Would I charge monthly to reflect that?
Now apply that lens to anything: books, courses, templates, playbooks, newsletters, even physical goods with digital twins.
If Content Had Product Updates…” — Now Build It for Everything:
Newsletters → Interactive archives + updatable issues
Tools: Beehiiv, Typeshare, Buttondown
Workshops → Evergreen with dynamic modules
Tools: Loom for async video
The Opportunity
Most people think the value ends when the download starts.
Flip that. Deliver value after the sale.
Build the stuff that earns attention post-purchase.
That’s how you stand out in a world full of PDFs and info-dumps.
And it’s not just about ideas—it’s a mindset shift.
Steal This Thinking
Next time you’re brainstorming a startup or digital product, don’t ask:
“What can I sell once?”
Ask:
“What’s something that should never stop improving?”
Then make that.
Charge for the evolution.
And own the road after the purchase.
Because in a world of one-off sales, the most valuable thing you can build…
is something worth coming back to.
One More Meme
