All case studies
Lantern
A picture book publisher that kept its illustrator shortlist in an email thread with itself.
The problem
Lantern’s acquisitions editor emailed herself every promising illustrator, subject line Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: illustrators, a document that eventually reached the length of a novella and the usability of a shredder.
The thread had no structure, no dates that meant anything, and a habit of collapsing helpful context under a button that said show trimmed content. It was technically a record and practically a warning.
With Artkive
The thread got parsed into a roster, and the subject line was allowed to rest.
Illustrators are now filed by age range, medium and turnaround, with notes on which manuscripts each might suit. The email account has been returned to its intended purpose of receiving email.
The results
230
Illustrators recovered from email
Parsed out of one thread
6
Books cast from the roster
In the first year
1
Email thread retired
With honours
Lantern is invented for this demo, and so is every figure above it.