Pothi, the self-service book publishing startup has forayed into eBooks market enabling authors to sell their ebooks via the platform.
That brings us to an interesting question – is Pothi into book publishing or printing?
There is a huge difference between the two and earlier, the platform would even allow students to print study materials etc and was more inclined towards printing business.
And now, Pothi has launched eBook platform (link) enabling authors to publish and sell their eBooks (more of a marketplace play than being a pure publisher/printer).
The platform allows authors to sell e-books starting at Rs. 50/- or even give them away for free as a marketing tool.
Interview with Pothi Founders : “Our mainstay is going to build a community of authors and readers”
The Future of Book Retailing in India [Written by Abhaya, Cofounder of Pothi).
The platform takes care of generating the e-book files. There are no upfront costs and the authors get 75% of the MRP as royalty on sales from the Pothi.com store. They retain all the rights on the book as well as get full control over the pricing and availability. An online dashboard provides real time statistics of sales and earnings for all their books.
If you are worried about piracy, Pothi uses social DRM, i.e. embeds personal information of the buyer in the files discouraging people to share files with others.
For first time authors, this is a great way to test the market and improvise before you approach the fat a** publishers!
Within 2 weeks of the platform launch, Pothi has received 50 eBooks and as the founders say, they have consciously stayed away from adding more books (which are available in public domain for free) and are instead focusing on independent authors.
Do give Pothi a spin and share your comment.
Also see: E-Junkie Makes Selling Digital Goods Online Super Easy | Infibeam’s Indigi Platform