Extended Online Distribution Services

• It is a service which makes your book available through multiple online stores apart from Pothi.com
• Current Partners:
  • Amazon.in
  • Flipkart

No, Extended Online Distribution is not required if you only want to sell your book through Pothi.com store. It is an add-on service which allows you to sell your book through other online retailers.

• The book is available through more channels.
• Readers are already comfortable transacting on these sites.
• We will continue to add more partners to expand the reach of your book even further.

You do not need an ISBN to place your book in Extended Online Distribution. But if you do plan to get an ISBN, you should get it before ordering distribution. Once the book goes in distribution, adding or changing ISBN is not possible.

There are some restrictions on which books can go into extended online distribution.

• Hardcover books cannot go into distribution at this time.
• A book with specially requested production options might also not be eligible for distribution.

• We also do a basic quality check before approving a book for distribution. You will have the opportunity to either fix any issues that come up during this check or request a refund if your book is not approved for quality issues.

  Please note that this would not amount to a rigorous check for content quality, nor an assessment of the book's sales potential.

• The MRP of the Book is set by you.
  • For Sales through the Pothi.com Online Store: Profit = MRP - Production Cost. The profit is split 50:50 between Pothi.com and Author.
  • For Sales through our Partner Sites: Profit = MRP - Partner's Share - Production Cost. The profit is split 20:80 between Pothi.com and Author respectively.
• As the retailer margin also needs to be factored in when a book is being sold through one of our partner sites, the minimum MRP of a book which is in Extended Online Distribution is higher than the minimum MRP of the book when it is being sold only through the Pothi.com Online Store.
• Estimate minimum MRP and royalty at Price and Royalty Calculator.
• If the book is in distribution, and the sale happens though Pothi.com, free shipping will be available within India. In that case, the author will receive the same royalty as in the case of the book being sold through distribution partners. 

The cost of the service depends on the specific distribution plan you choose. Please read further for information on these plans.

Yes. There are three plans for extended online distribution services:

1. Standard
2. Premium - 200
3. Premium - 600

The difference between the plans is in size of inventory maintained, which in turn affects the price and royalty of the books and the cost to the author. In the Premium packages, we print 200 or 600 copies for you, which reduces the production cost of copies. So, you can either set a lower price and earn the same royalty, or earn a higher royalty while maintaining the same price as in the Standard option. Details specific to each option are given below.

The process is outlined below. However, reading the steps may make it seem complicated, which is it not! You can just start by going to the 'Distribution' tab on your book page and ordering distribution. For the rest, you will receive notifications and instructions.

• Order Distribution
  • Log in to your account on Pothi.com
  • On the top-right, click on your username, then on "Dashboard"". This will take you to your author dashboard.
  • Click on "My Print Books (POD)"
  • For the book you want in distribution, click on "Distribution". Follow the instruction and complete the purchase process as usual. Make the payment.
• Pothi.com Approval
  • Once we receive the payment (instant in case of Credit Card/Debit Card payment), we will review the book and you will receive a mail if the book has been approved or not approved for the distribution. If the book is not approved you will need to resolve the issues and send us an e-mail about it for us to proceed. If you do not wish to correct the issue, you can click the link on the "Distribution" tab for requesting refund.
• (Optional) Premium Plan Selection: If you want to go for Standard Plan, please ignore this step. If you want to go for one of the premium plans and print in bulk to reduce cost
  • Write to us at info@pothi.com with your distribution order id and the premium plan you want to opt for.
  • We will send you the invoice for book printing and the instructions for payment.
  • Once the payment is received, we will print the book and inform you once the inventory is available. We will also put your book on a lower cost, so that you can set a lower MRP or earn higher royalty as you choose to do.
  • Once you get our confirmation you can proceed to the next step.
• Author Approval
  • If the book is approved by us, you need to go back to the "Distribution" tab and approve the book for distribution from your side. Two conditions need to be fulfilled at this stage
    • Price of your book should be at least the minimum required for distribution. You should set the final price at this stage because the price will freeze after this and you will not be able to change it.
    • (Applicable only if you have chosen the Standard Plan) You must have bought at least one print copy of the book.This is to ensure that you have seen the book in print and are satisfied with how it has come out before it goes into further distribution. If you have already bought a copy of your book, you will not have to do anything.
  • Once the minimum price and print copy ordering criteria is satisfied, you will see a button "Approve for distribution". At this stage make sure that your "About the book", "About the author" and other information is updated as the book may go into distribution any time after your approval. Although you will be able to update these fields on Pothi.com later also, once the data goes to the partners, updating it on their site may not be possible. Once you finish this step, the process is complete form your side.
• Next Steps
  • We send your book data to the partners (Data is sent once every month currently)
  • The listing will go live in about one week
  • Sales data from partner sites will appear in your dashboard, initially under "Payment Pending" section. Once we receive the payment from partners, it will show up as regular sales with royalty accrued. In some cases, the sales may direclty appear as regular sales, without ever having some under "Payment Pending".

For any queries, please send an e-mail to writer@pothi.com