The Write Way Out

“Publishing a book is a significantly long process. Right from finding a publisher,readying the book and putting it up for sale – it’s an expensive affair. So,we put the book on the application store (iTunes and Android) after it is given to us by the writer. We also work out a revenue system by which the money goes to the author,” says Venkat Srinivasan,director,Marketing & Corporate Communications at iExtentia.

Zulfiqar Deo,author of an e-book for MBA graduates,says,“These applications make the book accessible to anyone who owns a smart phone. The idea of making the book available in the digital media evolved out of a set of seminars that I gave on a virtual start-up school in the US. These webinars however were too long and hence we came up with the idea of shortening them and compiling them into one-page articles for anyone to refer to.”

While Srinivasan maintains that the platform can be used to create any types of books,the current primary content coming in is purely educational. “The platform is universal. Any book,be it fiction or non-fiction can be tailormade to suit the author’s preference before being uploaded on the internet. Till now,most of the books that have been put up for sale are all educational in nature,” he says.

Another e-book is the iExpert English developed by Farhad Desai. Desai,who is an English language instructor,has specifically developed the ebook for helping students clear their TOEFL and other online tests and exams. Srinivasan informs that the application which is available in a lite and a paid version is aimed at providing students with added information for these exams. “This kind of software,in fact,finds a lot of users in the South East Asian markets especially in countries like China,Korea,where English is not a primary language,” he says.

Developers at iExtentia have even come up with an interesting application that allows first-time authors to write books for children too. Umeed Kothavala,CEO and co-founder of Extentia,the parent company of iExtentia,says,“The Easy Book application allows writers to develop short stories for children that would enable them to read as well as identify the pictures in the background. It provides schools and even parents with a chance to encourage children to study.”