Ekatra a new partnership between Pratilipi and Manjul Publishing has launched the first four books from a 50 book series
New Delhi: Pratilipi and Manjul Publishing house have launched the first four of 50 books which will see leading novels and short story collections from Pratilipi published in print for the first time. The new imprint partnership titled Ekatra brings together Pratilipl, India’s largest digital literature platform, and Manjul Publishing, best known for translating the Harry Potter books into Indian languages. The partnership will carry books in regional languages including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and English as both print and e-books.
The first four books include Pratilipi’s top hits Tashree by Sumit Menaria (published on 25 March), Angoothi Ka Bhooth by Manish Sharma, Anakalaniya by Sanjay Vaidya and Bujgavan! by Kanishk Hivrekar (pre orders available now).
The deal with Manjul Publishing marks Pratilipi’s first major association with a traditional publishing house. The Bhopal-based Manjul Publishing are renowned for high quality translations of English language bestsellers in a range of Indian languages. Ekatra opens up their foray into supporting popular contemporary fiction literature in Indian languages. The established popularity of Pratilipi’s writers and Manjul Publishing’s experience in the mainstream publishing sector has set the foundation for a strong reach into India’s growing ecosystem of younger readers and writers, who are accessing content through multiple channels.
The upcoming 4 books highlight the genres of supernatural thriller, horror fiction and adventure, which have built a massive audience following on Pratilipi. The chosen authors include an array of first time and established writers selected from the Pratilipi platform including Kanishka Hiverekar, a graphic designer writing in Marathi; Manish Sharma, a Senior Producer working in journalism and one of Pratilipi top authors, Sanjay Vaidya, a project manager from Northern Maharashtra who writes prolifically in Marathi and Sumit Menaria, a Chartered Accountant and author of the highly popular supernatural thriller series Tashree.
For Sumit, whose debut novel Tashree has been finished by 66,654 readers, this licensing deal represents the first of several deals for the author. A hit comic book based on Tashree launched on Pratilipi Comics earlier this year, Pratilipi is developing a web show with Saurav Mohapatra and Aditya Bhattacharya, and an audiobook adaption is live on Pratilipi FM.
Since its inception, the self-publishing community has encouraged novice and established writers from diverse backgrounds to explore their love for storytelling by creating access to an engaged audience. Ekatra represents a key step towards Pratilipi’s vision to democratize story-telling across languages, devices and formats, particularly with licensing deals for authors in this case.
Commenting on the partnership Shubham Sharma, Head of IP Development at Pratilipi says “We are thrilled to be launching Ekatra series with Manjul Publishing House. Stories and writers selected for this partnership have already built huge fan bases on Pratilipi’s Literature Community. Using this engagement data, we are able to better source & evaluate new stories across languages. Add Manjul’s expertise in the indian language publishing & translations on top of it, and we have the inception of Ekatra. Together, we hope to tell some entertaining and meaningful stories along the way.”
Adding to Shubham’s sentiments, Vikas Rakheja, Managing Director, Manjul Publishing House says, ‘with Ekatra, Manjul looks forward to reaching out to the rich and diverse cache of authors who are already connected to a vast virtual readership on the Pratilipi platform, by offering them a printed-book and e-book space, initially in Hindi and Marathi and subsequently in other Indian languages. The aim is to apply Manjul’s expertise in the Indian languages translations segment and the significant, interactive pool of authorship and readership that Pratilipi has, to potentially provide a new dimension to the art of story-telling and story reading.