The Story of "Book-Buddy"

Books fascinated Brenda Palmer as a child. She could escape through the adventures of Nancy Drew and broaden her knowledge and horizons. Her love of reading and studying grew through the years, and Palmer always has a book handy. Today, she is helping book worms stay organized and prepared by founding Book-Buddy™.

Coffee shops, airplanes, and the doctor’s office Palmer is often traveling with her books or simply finding the perfect retreat at home. Like most people, she enjoys marking specific passages and making notes in books. Occasionally, she would drop pens and frequently forget her glasses. What she needed was something handy to keep everything she needed to read close at hand.

Palmer is a natural-born organizer, and a plan to fix these problems began forming in her mind. Attaching pens and eye glasses to the book seemed like an easy solution, finding the right material was a small challenge. By trial and error, she finally found the perfect material. Not being much of a sewer, Palmer managed to put together the first "book band" and used it for many months. What she noticed is that she actually preferred to have a book band for each book, so no matter where she went or what book she picked up she'd have it at her fingertips.

This "book band" became the prototype for Book-Buddy. Soon several friends noticed Palmer's book "thingy" and began requesting one of their own. She began making the "book bands" and giving them away. It wasn't long before requests began mounting. These friends and family kept encouraging Palmer to make them available for others to purchase, and it wasn't long before some retailers saw the potential.

From the very beginning it was a family project. While visiting with family at Christmas of 2009, they discussed the possibility of getting the "book bands" professionally made and design a web site. Palmer's daughter Amanda suggested calling it Book-Buddy and the name stuck. She also knew a graphic designer who she approached about designing a package that would show off the Book-Buddy and soon took over the task of making sure the first packaging was top notch. Palmer's son, Stephen, is a video game developer and true "geek". He designed the web site and now makes most of the big business decisions. Her husband Michael, an inventor too, helps manage the business' finances.

"My favorite part of this new business is picking out the bookmark ribbons and giving Book-Buddies away, "says Palmer. "However I wouldn't have a business if I continued to do that. There’s nothing quite as good as working with your family and strengthening those relationships."

Book-Buddy is simple and useful, the way most "things" in life ought to be. Palmer now has a Book-Buddy on every book she's reading and today, she's working on putting one on every book in America. "It makes me happy to know others are using and enjoying Book-Buddy," she says. "It brings me a lot of joy to see fellow book lovers using Book-Buddy.