Thanks to a timed-reading homework assignment for her daughter, Maureen Farinella came up with a unique device: a bookmark with a specially designed digital timer that keeps track of how much time is spent reading. Launched to great success seven years ago at Book Expo in Chicago, that product inspired another device two years ago—a bookmark timer with a light— and now Farinella, inventor and CEO of Mark-My-Time, is launching a new product at BEA.
Farinella tells Show Daily. “The Mark-My-Time digital e-reader light has a time-of-day clock on one side with a count-up cumulative timer that will store up to 100 hours of reading minutes, and a countdown timer with an alarm, and on the other side a light that swivels down over the page.”
With a million dollars in sales annually, the company’s products have crossed over from the student market, Farinella notes. “We get e-mails from adults saying that they picked up the digital bookmark so that they could read on a break at work and set the timer so that they knew when to go back in. We’ve had some toastmasters use it because they can put the timer and light on their podiums while they’re giving speeches.”
Booksellers who place BEA orders that include the latest Mark-My-Time product will get a free digital e-reader light at its booth (4646). There are only 1,000 samples, so first come, first served.
