Print-on-Demand titles come to Bangalore Book Festival

Nov. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- It started out as a unique gift idea from a loving dad for her daughter. But soon 11 year old Nandhika Nambi's "Sally's World" was the talk of the town and she became a local celebrity. Nandhika's book is one of the five on-demand titles being released during Bangalore Book Festival by Pothi.com, a print-on-demand (POD) backed publishing platform.

"Although publishing books for limited circulation is nothing new, POD makes it affordable and within reach for even a common man." says Jaya Jha, co-founder of the company. With POD, copies of the book are produced as and when the orders are received unlike traditional method where minimum of 500 copies need to be printed. This makes the publishing process significantly cheaper and more eco-friendly since no copies are wasted.

More than 40 book projects have used its services in the 5 months since Pothi.com launched its website. Five of those books are being released during Bangalore Book Festival. Apart from Nandhika's debut novella, there is "Corporate Poetry" by Ajay Ohri, an IIM alumnus who writes about the desperation of being stuck in the corporate world. "Madhouse" is a collection of short stories by Santwana Chatterjee who comes from the distinguished family of Ravindranath Tagore. The stories talk about the aspirations and challenges of urban women. Among the non-fiction titles "Yoganidra" by Anupa Patri and "Applying to American Graduate Schools in Engineering and Fine Arts" by Diwaker Gupta, an IIT alumnus are being released.

"Many of these titles wouldn't have been possible, but for the print-on-demand." points out Abhaya Agarwal, the other co-founder of the company. "With financial burden associated with printing almost mitigated, publishing becomes more accessible and all kinds of new and creative experimentations are possible." He adds.

The book release function is on November 16, 2008 at 4.30 pm at Palace Grounds. All the released titles and many others are available at the online store of Pothi.com

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Pothi.com is owned and operated by Mudranik Technologies Private Limited, a Bangalore based start-up by two IIT Kanpur alumni. It provides print-on-demand, short run printing, pre-publication services and e-commerce store for self publishing authors. Their users include individuals, NGOs, training institutes and other organizations.