What Pothi.com does

Pothi.com is an Indian print-on-demand self-publishing platform operated by Mudranik Technologies Pvt Ltd, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bangalore. The platform enables authors to publish print books (from 1 to 10,000+ copies) and eBooks in PDF and EPUB formats with no minimum order quantity, eliminating the inventory investment and rights-signing required by traditional publishing. Underlying technology comprises a web-based publishing platform with file upload, cover creation, sales dashboard, and POD production infrastructure, supplemented by a free Cover Creator tool, a Price and Royalty Calculator, an InstaScribe eBook authoring sub-brand, and QuickPrint for personal-use PDF-to-book conversion. The platform has published over 18,000 titles cumulatively across multiple languages including English, Hindi, other Indian regional languages, and RTL scripts.

The business model is multi-stream. Core revenue comes from profit-sharing on book sales: 50/50 with authors on Pothi.com store sales and 20/80 on partner sales through Amazon.in and Flipkart (which Pothi.com reaches via its Extended Online Distribution Service). eBook royalties are 75% to authors on direct sales and 25% through other channels, with a minimum price of Rs. 5. Secondary revenue is generated from professional services priced transactionally: editing (quote-based), formatting (Rs. 30–35/page), cover design (from Rs. 1,500), and illustration (from Rs. 600 per sketch). Distribution operates through three tiers (Standard, Premium-200, Premium-600), with Premium plans allowing pre-printed inventory to reduce per-copy production cost. Go-to-market is self-serve, driven by the Booknomics blog, Writer's Corner educational resources, and organic social (Facebook, Twitter).

The company is bootstrapped with no external funding, no acquisitions, and no parent company. Ownership is concentrated with co-founders Abhaya Agarwal (CMU, IIT Kanpur, active co-founder) and Jaya Jha (IIM Lucknow, IIT Kanpur, now advisory). Current team is under 10 people, comprising publishing advisors, operations, and software engineering. Operations are exclusively domestic (India), and the platform serves a long-tail of individual authors and SMBs across genres including poetry, fiction, children's books, and professional non-fiction.

Name

Pothi.com

Legal name

Mudranik Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Website

https://pothi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Pothi.com is an Indian print-on-demand self-publishing platform that enables authors to publish print books and eBooks with no minimum order quantity, monetizing through book-sale profit-sharing, professional services, and distribution partnerships with Amazon.in and Flipkart.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Self-Publishing Services

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130), Books Printing (323117), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Book Printing (2732)

akta.pro primary industry

Self-Publishing Platforms (KDP-style Marketplaces & Portals) (MPAJAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Author Website, Storefront & Direct-to-Reader Commerce (D2C Sales) (MPAJAJAE), Editorial & Production Services (Copyediting, Proofreading, Formatting, Typesetting) (MPAJAJAG), Cover Design, Illustration & Book Interior Design Services (MPAJAJAH)

Keywords

• Self publishing platform
• Print on demand
• Ebook publishing
• Book distribution services
• Publishing support services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bangalore

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Book Sales Commission: Platform earns 50% of profit when books are sold through Pothi.com store, with authors receiving the other 50%. For sales through partner sites (Amazon.in, Flipkart), Pothi.com retains 20% and authors receive 80% of profit after production costs and retailer margins are deducted.
2. eBook Sales Royalty: Authors receive 75% royalty on eBooks sold through Pothi.com store and 25% when sold through other channels. Minimum eBook price is Rs. 5.
3. Editing Services: Substantive language editing and proofreading services with pricing based on manuscript genre and quality.
4. Formatting Services: Typesetting and interior formatting services starting at Rs. 30 per page for English manuscripts (minimum Rs. 1000). Indian language manuscripts start at Rs. 35 per page.
5. Cover Design Services: Professional book cover design starting at Rs. 1500 per cover.
6. Illustration Services: Line sketches and illustration services starting at Rs. 600 per sketch.
7. Extended Online Distribution: Distribution service making books available on Amazon.in and Flipkart, with Standard, Premium-200, and Premium-600 plans that maintain inventory to reduce per-copy production costs.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pothi.com is a print-on-demand self-publishing platform that enables authors to publish print books and eBooks with no minimum order quantity, producing 1 to 10,000+ copies on demand. It pairs the core platform with optional paid professional services (editing, formatting, cover design, illustration) and an Extended Online Distribution Service that places books on Amazon.in and Flipkart alongside the Pothi.com store. Authors retain full rights and the platform monetizes via profit-share on book sales and fees for add-on services.

Product overview

Pothi.com is a self-publishing platform operated by Mudranik Technologies Pvt Ltd, offering print-on-demand publishing for print books and eBook publishing services. The core platform comprises the Print Publishing Platform and eBook Publishing Platform, which allow authors to self-publish without minimum order quantities. Add-on services include Editing Services, eBook Conversion Services, Formatting Services, Book Cover Design Services, Illustration Services, and Extended Online Distribution Services (making books available on Amazon.in and Flipkart). Additional tools include the free Cover Creator (Yantra) for cover design, Price and Royalty Calculator for cost estimation, and Quick Print for personal PDF-to-book conversion. The company has published over 18,000 books through its platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• InstaScribe: A tool for creating eBooks, referenced as a companion service for authors publishing on Pothi.com.

Products and services

• Pothi.com Print Publishing Platform Self-publishing platform enabling authors to publish print books using print-on-demand technology, with no minimum order quantity (1 to 10,000+ copies) and distribution to the Pothi.com store, Flipkart, and Amazon.in. Authors retain rights and receive 50% of profit on Pothi.com sales and 80% on partner-site sales.
• Pothi.com eBook Publishing Platform Platform for publishing and selling eBooks in PDF and EPUB formats with 75% author royalty when sold through the Pothi.com store (25% through other channels), and a minimum eBook price of Rs. 5. Includes Social DRM to discourage piracy.
• Editing Services Professional editing services including Substantive Language Editing for readability improvement and Proofreading for final manuscript review. Charges vary based on genre and manuscript quality.
• eBook Conversion Services Conversion service for creating eBooks in PDF and EPUB formats with 100% quality assurance and 1-year support, for authors who need professionally formatted digital editions.
• Formatting Services Typesetting and interior formatting services that create professional book layouts with title pages, table of contents, chapter headings, and appropriate fonts based on 3 sample designs. English: from Rs. 30/page (minimum Rs. 1,000); Indian languages: from Rs. 35/page; additional images Rs. 30 each.
• Book Cover Design Services Professional cover design services starting at Rs. 1,500 for creating unique, professional book covers for authors.
• Illustration Services Illustration services for book interiors ranging from black and white line sketches for poetry books to elaborate comic book design, starting at Rs. 600 per sketch.
• Extended Online Distribution Services Distribution service making books available through Amazon.in and Flipkart in addition to Pothi.com, with three plan tiers — Standard (no pre-maintained inventory), Premium-200 (200 copies pre-printed), and Premium-600 (600 copies pre-printed) — affecting per-copy production cost and royalty economics.
• Quick Print Simple PDF-to-printed-book conversion service for personal use with auto-generated covers, fixed production options, and no reselling capability, targeting individuals and small organizations printing small batches.
• InstaScribe Sub-brand eBook creation tool linked from Pothi.com for creating eBooks in various formats, serving as a companion service for authors publishing on Pothi.com.

Quantifiable outcome

• Print as few as 1 copy or as many as 10,000+ copies with no minimum order quantity required.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• FlipkartcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFlipkart is a key distribution partner for Pothi.com's Extended Online Distribution Service, making self-published books available for sale on Flipkart's e-commerce platform alongside Amazon.in.
• Amazon.incoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAmazon.in is a key distribution partner for Pothi.com's Extended Online Distribution Service, making self-published books available for sale on Amazon's Indian marketplace alongside Flipkart.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): Amazon's global self-publishing platform for print and eBooks with on-demand printing and marketplace distribution. Most directly comparable to Pothi.com's print and eBook offering, but operates at vastly greater scale and is already the dominant destination for Indian authors via Amazon.in.

Direct peers

• Notion Press: India-headquartered self-publishing platform offering print-on-demand, editing, design, and distribution services to Indian authors. Closest direct Indian competitor to Pothi.com in target customer (Indian self-publishing authors), service mix (editing, cover design, formatting), and POD-based revenue model.
• IngramSpark: Global print-on-demand and distribution platform from Ingram, offering authors and small publishers access to a wide retail and library distribution network. Comparable to Pothi's POD + extended distribution offering, though focused on global English-language markets.
• Lulu Press: Global self-publishing platform offering print-on-demand, eBook publishing, design services, and global distribution. Comparable to Pothi.com across the core self-publishing stack and add-on services (editing, formatting, cover design) for independent authors.
• BecomeShakespeare: India-based self-publishing platform offering print-on-demand and eBook publishing to Indian authors with a similar service-plus-distribution mix. Direct Indian-market peer to Pothi.com competing for the same author pool.
• Smashwords: eBook-focused self-publishing and distribution platform with royalty splits to authors. Comparable to Pothi's eBook publishing arm (75% royalty, PDF/EPUB delivery, multi-channel distribution), though predominantly serving English-language global authors.
• Draft2Digital: Indie author distribution and eBook conversion service that pushes titles to major retailers. Comparable to Pothi's distribution and eBook conversion services, with similar take-rate economics, though Draft2Digital is global and US-headquartered.
• StoryMirror: Indian self-publishing and author community platform publishing print and eBooks across English and Indian languages. Direct regional peer to Pothi.com, particularly in the multilingual Indian author segment.

Emerging players

• Wattpad / WEBTOON: Large global reader-and-writer community platform that increasingly enables self-publishing and paid stories. Comparable to Pothi.com as a funnel for aspiring authors, though Wattpad's primary asset is community/readership rather than POD printing.

Regional players

• Pratilipi: India-focused digital reading and self-publishing platform with strong Indian-language content distribution. Comparable to Pothi.com's eBook and Indian-language focus, but predominantly mobile-first digital rather than POD print.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pothidotcom
• Facebookfacebook.com/pothidotcom
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/abhayaagarwal

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pothi.com