Kotobna

What Kotobna does

Kotobna (كتُبنا) is an Egyptian self-publishing platform founded in 2014 and headquartered in Dokki, Giza, that enables Arabic-language authors to publish, market, and sell e-books and printed books directly to readers. The platform operates as a two-sided marketplace: authors upload content through a dedicated author portal (kotobna.net/en/my/upload), while readers browse a catalog of thousands of titles across 180+ categories including fiction, poetry, religion, self-development, comics, children's literature, and academic materials. Distribution runs through three channels: a direct-to-consumer e-book store delivering PDFs, a print-on-demand service for physical books priced individually by authors (10–400+ EGP), and a mobile application.

The underlying platform is a self-serve publishing infrastructure featuring content encryption and anti-piracy measures, dynamic e-book pricing tied to download thresholds (free until 25 downloads, 5 EGP until 100 downloads, 10 EGP thereafter), and an author dashboard for catalog and royalty management. The technology stack is proprietary but narrowly scoped to publishing workflow, DRM, and e-commerce — no AI/ML, API, or third-party developer integrations are documented.

Kotobna monetizes through transaction fees, retaining 40% of each sale and remitting 60% to authors in regular batches of at least 500 EGP. Go-to-market is product-led and community-led: author acquisition flows through the publishing services page and educational blog content, while reader acquisition is driven by the catalog of free and affordable titles, newsletter subscription, SEO-optimized category pages, and event presence (e.g., Cairo International Book Fair 2022). The company is privately held, founder-operated (Mohammad Gamal, Founder/CEO), with no institutional VC backing disclosed beyond early incubation through TIEC and SpeedUPAfrica, and serves primarily the Egyptian and broader MENA Arabic-speaking market.

Name

Kotobna

Legal name

Kotobna

Website

https://kotobna.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kotobna is an Egyptian Arabic-language self-publishing platform founded in 2014, enabling independent Arab authors to publish, market, and sell e-books and print-on-demand printed books directly to Arabic-speaking readers across MENA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Self-Publishing Platform

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313), Book Publishers (513130), Other Publishers (51319), Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industry

eBook & Digital Reading Platforms (BPAMAJAK)

Keywords

• Self-publishing platform
• Arabic e-books
• Print-on-demand books
• Digital book distribution
• Author publishing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Gîza

HQ country

Egypt

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Book Sales - E-Books and Printed: Kotobna sells e-books and printed books. E-books start free and increase in price based on download volume (free until 25 downloads, then 5 EGP until 100 downloads, then 10 EGP). Printed books are priced individually by the author. The platform takes 40% of total sales, while authors receive 60%, with payouts in regular batches of at least 500 EGP.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kotobna is a self-publishing platform that enables Arab authors to publish, distribute, and sell e-books and printed books in Arabic. The platform handles the publishing pipeline including file encryption, anti-piracy protection, marketing, and royalty payments, with authors receiving 60% of net sales and the platform retaining 40%. Authors upload through a dedicated portal and reach Arabic-speaking readers across more than 179 book categories.

Product overview

Kotobna is a self-publishing platform (منصة نشر شخصي) for Arab authors to publish, market, and sell original Arabic e-books and printed books. The platform operates three core offerings: E-Books for digital distribution, Printed Books for physical sales, and Publishing Services that include file encryption, anti-piracy protection, and a royalty system (60% to authors). The platform features books across 40+ categories including novels, poetry, children's literature, religious texts, comics, and academic materials. Books transition from free to paid pricing based on download thresholds (5 EGP after 25 downloads, 10 EGP after 100 downloads).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• E-Books (الْكُتُب الْإِلْكْتْرُونِيَة) Digital book format in which authors publish Arabic-language titles on Kotobna's platform; readers can download e-books free up to 25 copies per title, after which a small fee (5-10 EGP) applies, and authors receive 60% royalties.
• Printed Books (الْكُتُب الْمَطْبُوعَة) Print-on-demand physical book format enabling authors to produce and sell printed Arabic books at author-set prices (typically 10-400+ EGP) with the platform handling fulfillment and paying 60% royalties to authors.
• Publishing Services (خِدْمَات النَّشْر) End-to-end self-publishing service for Arab authors covering file preparation, e-book encryption, anti-piracy protection, marketing, online distribution, and royalty payouts, with the platform retaining 40% of sales and authors receiving 60%.

Quantifiable outcome

• Authors receive 60% of book sales revenue
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Neelwafurat: Major Arabic e-book and online bookstore platform serving the Arab world with extensive digital catalog. Comparable regional competitor offering Arabic-language e-book distribution, though more retail-oriented than Kotobna's author-centric self-publishing focus.
• Jamalon: Leading Arabic-language online bookstore serving MENA with a large catalog of Arabic and translated titles. Regional peer addressing the same Arabic-speaking readership segment but operating a retail/aggregator model rather than author-facing self-publishing infrastructure.

Emerging players

• PublishDrive: Digital publishing platform offering e-book distribution, analytics, and royalty management to indie authors and publishers. Functionally comparable as an emerging self-publishing infrastructure provider, with potential overlap as it expands into non-English language markets.
• Reedsy: Marketplace connecting independent authors with publishing professionals, tools, and distribution services. An emerging player in the self-publishing ecosystem with adjacent tooling to what Kotobna offers, though primarily serving English-language authors today.

Broad incumbents

• IngramSpark: Ingram's self-publishing arm providing print-on-demand and distribution to a global bookstore network. Comparable as a print-on-demand self-publishing infrastructure provider with similar revenue-share economics, though focused on physical book distribution rather than digital-first.
• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): Amazon's flagship self-publishing arm allowing authors to publish e-books and paperbacks with royalty splits similar in concept to Kotobna. While global in scale and rapidly localizing into Arabic, it lacks Kotobna's Arabic-first positioning, anti-piracy focus, and community-led events model.

Direct peers

• Kobo Writing Life: Rakuten Kobo's self-publishing portal offering e-book publication and global distribution with competitive royalty terms. A direct functional peer to Kotobna's self-publishing portal, and a likely future entrant into Arabic-language self-publishing given Kobo's global expansion strategy.
• Lulu.com: Self-publishing platform offering print-on-demand and e-book distribution services with author-set pricing and royalty payouts. Closely comparable to Kotobna's dual digital + print-on-demand offering, targeting independent authors globally.
• Draft2Digital: Digital publishing aggregator that lets indie authors distribute e-books to multiple retailers with simplified royalty management. Comparable to Kotobna in providing self-publishing infrastructure and revenue-share economics for independent authors, though primarily serving English-language markets today.
• Smashwords: Established self-publishing and ebook distribution platform offering authors tools to upload, price, and distribute e-books globally with royalty splits. Operates a similar marketplace model to Kotobna and represents the kind of global English-first platform Kotobna competes against for Arabic language authors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kotobna
• Facebookfacebook.com/kotobnabooks

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors2 records

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

M&A

Investments1 record

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

Frequently asked questions about Kotobna