CREATIVE STRATEGY - EFAP PARIS - 2025

ShelfBreak

A platform to bring together authors and readers from every corner of the world—giving exposure to original voices in an accessible way.

Role: Creative Strategy & Copy

The Brief

  • 80% of internationally published books come from just 5 languages, leaving thousands of authors unheard.

    Only 3% of books published in the US are translations—not because readers don't want diversity, but because the infrastructure to deliver it doesn't exist.

  • The gap isn't interest—it's access.

    Readers are hungry for stories outside the mainstream. Authors outside the English-speaking world have no clear path to a global audience. The opportunity is a platform that removes the barrier between a story and the person who needs to read it.

  • Build a hybrid platform combining AI-driven translation, community curation, and physical distribution—serving readers, authors, and bookstores simultaneously. Position ShelfBreak not as a tech product but as a cultural movement with infrastructure behind it.

What We Created

01. Creative & Business Strategy.

02. Branding & Naming.

03. Three-sided Business Model—readers, authors, and bookstores.

04. Customer Journey Map.

05. Figma Prototype.

06. Brand copy & campaign language.

The Copy

Campaign Context

ShelfBreak was born from a single idea: somewhere across the world, someone already wrote your favorite book. You just can't reach it yet. The campaign targets three audiences simultaneously: readers, authors, and bookstores—each with a different entry point into the same idea.

Tone: direct, warm, and purposeful.

Tagline

Breaking Shelves. Building Bridges. One Story at a Time.

Written to capture the dual nature of the platform: both disruptive and connecting. Like our platform, everyone is included: the readers, the authors, and the publishers.

Brand Descriptor

Exploring literature from every corner of the world.

Brand Manifesto

Literature is one of the oldest ways in which we have traveled the world. Yet every day, distance, language, and gatekeepers decide whose stories get to travel and whose don't.

We believe literature should do what it was always meant to do—take you somewhere else. Step into another story and, in return, understand more of our world.

When those limits disappear, more voices are heard and more readers are reached.

We come closer together.

Headlines

A. Somewhere across the world, someone just wrote your favorite book.

B. The book you were never going to find in your local bookstore. Now on your shelf.

C. Books can build a bridge between us

Social Captions

For Readers

For the readers tired of always finding the same stories, voices, and ideas.

Explore literature without limits.

For Authors

Your story is ready. There's just nowhere to take it.

Find your place on a shelf anywhere in the world.

For Bookstores

Not all bookstores should be the same.

Stand out with ShelfBreak.