Archive | July, 2010

Announcing e-book publishing

13 Jul

e-books have finally arrived on Pothi.com :)

–

From our Press Release

Pothi.com Launches free e-book publishing platform with social DRM for authors and publishers

Pothi.com, India’s leading Print-on-Demand backed publishing platform has launched e-book publishing and selling for independent authors and publisher. The platform is free to use and authors get 75% of MRP as royalty.

Bangalore, July 12, 2010: Taking another step towards its mission of making publishing accessible to all, Bangalore based Pothi.com has added e-book publishing and selling to its publishing platform. The platform allows authors to sell e-books starting at Rs. 50/- or even give them away for free as a marketing tool. All the books sold through the store will use Social DRM which will allow tracking of the source in case of piracy.

Publishing through the platform is as simple as creating a word or openoffice file according to the guidelines provided and submitting it online. 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.

“E-books are gaining momentum all over the world. They represent an excellent opportunity for the authors and publishers to connect directly with the readers. Our aim is to enable them to make best use of the medium without getting overwhelmed with the technicalities”, says Jaya Jha, one of the co-founders of the company.

One of the common concerns regarding e-books is of piracy. To address piracy, a variety of Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions are available from different vendors. DRM typically refers to the technologies which restrict the use of e-book in various ways to prevent piracy. However, existing DRM technologies are incompatible with each other and using DRMed e-books can become a hassle for the genuine buyers.

As an alternative to using vendor specific DRM, Pothi.com is offering social DRM. Social DRM puts no restrictions on the usage of the e-book but embeds some personal information of the buyer in the files. One common example is the name and contact information of the buyer. This discourages people from sharing the files on p2p networks while still giving them full flexibility of copying between their own devices. Thus Social DRM creates a win-win situation for both the parties. When a buyer downloads the purchased e-book from Pothi.com, his e-mail id is stamped in a non-obtrusive way on every page. It discourages piracy while still being convenient to the genuine buyers.

“Since e-books are available for immediate downloads, it is particularly helpful in situations where a reader needs instant access to the book’s content. Many international readers also prefer to buy e-books because they don’t want to wait out the shipping time. We were regularly receiving enquiries from our authors, who wanted to be able to provide e-books to such readers.” explains Abhaya Agarwal, who is also the co-founder of the company.

Further details and the catalog of books already published through the platform are available on Pothi.com’s website http://pothi.com

COMIX.INDIA Vol. II on Preorder (20% Discount)

7 Jul

COMIX.INDIA Vol IICOMIX.INDIA Vol II is now available for Preorder. There are a total of 12 entries in the volume containing 320 pages. Preorders are open till July 12, 2010. You can use the coupon code POCICOL and get a 20% discount!

Since this vol has grown up to 320 pages, we also created 2 smaller books each having 6 entries. If you want, you can buy one of the two smaller volumes which contain 164 pages each. These smaller books are available at 10% discount.

Check out more about COMIX.INDIA on their website.

COMIX.INDIA Vol II only became possible because of the combined effort of a dozen contributors, an editor and a designer. Read on to know more about this awesome bunch. Should we call them the Daring Dozensome?

(more…)

Pothiz – July 2010 issue is out!

5 Jul

Pothiz - July 2010Check it out at http://pothi.com/pothi/magazine/issue/july-2010/

Here is a reproduction of “From the Publisher’s Desk” section -

Dear Readers,

It goes without saying that we take immense pleasure in presenting to you the inaugural issue of Pothiz – Pothi.com’s online magazine. We see Pothiz as a natural extension to our efforts of providing the young and unheard voices a platform where they could engage, be heard, get valuable feedback directly from their readers and flourish into wonderful wordsmiths. While Pothi.com remains an open platform for a variety of publishing endeavors, Pothiz is going to be a more curated collection of creative writings. Our hope is that this collection will encourage readers to delve into and discover the hidden gems in the proverbial “long tail” of writing.

We received close to a hundred entries and selecting a few for your reading pleasure was not an easy task. At Pothi.com, we particularly respect the fact the each individual has his or her own taste in reading and writing. So, apart from the entries that made it to the main issue, we are also going to put up some of the other entries we have received on the website. Do read them and give your praises or constructive feedback to the authors through comments.

Coming to the entries included in the issue, the Featured entry ‘The Soul is a Battery’ delighted us with its interesting and novel take on ghost stories. It entertains, it frightens and it leaves you nodding in agreement with the feelings of the characters. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Amongst other stories, ‘The Matrimonial Clock’ will resonate particularly well with the urban career oriented professionals. It is a story of how they have to cope with the conflicting needs of matrimony and career. ‘Thirteen Hours of Fame’, ‘Practical Lessons’ and ‘The idiot’ are the stories about the opportunism, the hypocrisy, the good and the bad in common people – just like you and me.

While ‘Barberic Times’ and ‘God Promise’ are there to tickle you, ‘Goodbye Mrs. Boa’ is a sweet, but profound tribute to Boa Sr., the last speaker of Bo Language in Andaman islands. She died earlier this year. Other poems ‘City’s seasons’, ‘Elegy’, ‘Divine Sisterhood’, ‘बेटी होना का दर्द’ (The Pain of being a Daughter/Girl, Hindi) and ‘सूना बचपन‘ (Empty Childhood, Hindi) touch on the various stories, pleasures and pains of our human existence. ‘Oops! I made you a Daddy’ is a cute, little autobiography by a day old baby (ghost written by his father).

Finally, as you all battle with the fever of Football, do not forget to read the review for ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ by Jonathan Wilson. The book provides an interesting insight into how the gameplay has evolved over time and how the game is not just about the magical players!

We hope you enjoy the collection. Do send your feedback on the magazine and also on the individual entries. Entries are also invited for the next issue of the magazine. The deadline is July 16, 2010.

Pothi.com Team

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 72 other followers