e-Book Publishing at Pothi.com

Introduction to e-book Publishing at Pothi.com

Pothi.com is now enabling publishing and selling of e-book files through its platform. Authors and Publishers can upload their e-books, set their price and sell it through Pothi.com's e-book store. The details are available in the following sections.

Process of e-book publishing

The specifications for the Files are given in the section after the next.

How to submit files for e-book publishing?

Through the e-book submission form.

Specification for the Files

  • Files are sold as PDF and optionally as EPUB. File to be sold as PDF must be submitted.
  • For files to be sold as PDF
    • Accepted formats: .doc, docx, .sxw, .odt, .rtf and .pdf.
    • Non PDF files are converted to PDF files by Pothi.com.
    • Front Cover
      • First Page of the File should be Front Cover. It will be displayed on the store as the cover image. No separate covers will be accepted.
    • Margins
      • Leave at least 0.5" margin at the bottom. It will be used to watemark the buyer's e-mail id on the file.
      • Other margins are as per your discretion.
  • File to be sold as EPUB
    • Needs to be submitted in EPUB format only
    • Submission in this format is optional. If you do not have EPUB file, you can ignore this field in the submission form.
    • Cover image should be included in the EPUB file.

Author Margin/Royalty for e-book publishing

Author Margin/Royalty is 75% of the MRP when sold through Pothi.com's store and 25% of the MRP when sold through other channels.

Terms for e-book publishing

  • By submitting the e-book files on Pothi.com, you grant and assign us a non-exclusive, right to digitally publish, distribute, market and sell it, and to license others to do so. The copyright remains with you.
    • We have the right to sell the e-book worldwide through our site or through other channels.
    • License is non-exclusive, so you retain the rights to publish, sell, distribute for free or do anything else with the content. Of course, if you are using other platforms you should make sure that your use of Pothi.com does not violate their terms and services
    • You continue to remain the copyright owner.
  • MRP of the e-book is set by you. It can be zero or a minimum of Rs. 50. Author Margin/Royalty is 75% of MRP when sold through Pothi.com and 25% of MRP when sold through other channels.
  • The responsibility of the content lies with the user submitting the content in accordance with our terms and conditions. Pothi.com does not check or endorse the books published through the platform. User has to ensure that the content submitted by him/her does not violate our Terms & Condition or the law of the land or anybody’s copyrights, rights to privacy etc. The content has to comply with all the existing terms on our website.
  • Pothi.com is not liable for any misuse or piracy by the buyers.
  • We reserve the right, but are not obliged, to continue to keep a copy of the files and serve it to existing buyers, even after the book has been unpublished from the site.
  • If the book has gone into distribution through other channels and you want to remove it, we need to be intimated by e-mail for the same. Unpublishing the book on Pothi.com does not remove it from other channels automatically. The removal will happen in accordance with the terms and time frames of individuals partners.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

  • DRM, described simply, restrict the number and type of devices an e-book can be read on. This is intended to prevent unauthorized copying/piracy of e-books.
  • But existing DRM solutions from various providers are not compatible and DRMed books can get very messy for even genuine buyers to read.
  • At Pothi.com, e-books are not DRM Protected.
  • We are, instead, experimenting with the concept of Social DRM.

Social DRM

  • Involves stamping some personal information of the buyer on the electronic files
  • Presence of personal information is expected to reduce the tendency to pirate the files
  • In the extreme case, something sensitive like Credit Card Information can be stamped
  • In Pothi.com’s social DRM system, we stamp e-mail id of the buyer on the PDF file
  • Currently an experimental feature
  • EPUB files do not have any stamping