 Bookish was founded in 2011 in a joint venture backed by three of the "big six" publishing companies – Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA), and Simon & Schuster – with the goal of increasing the presence of book publishers in the book-buying industry (which was becoming increasingly dominated by Amazon.com due to the increased popularity of online bookstores), as well as to expand the overall book-buying market.The site was expected to launch in the summer of 2011, but the launch was delayed due to technical issues relating to data compilation, as well as a lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice in 2012 against Apple Inc. and five major publishing companies regarding the pricing of ebooks.The site officially launched in February 2013 with the support of sixteen additional publishing companies.