The online platform and app has expanded creating a rich ecosystem for content creation and consumption in 12 regional languages
● India’s largest free-access platform for publishing written content, over 3 lakh writers and 30 lakh free stories
● Over 25 million monthly readers spending 62 minutes on an average on the app daily
● Multiple licensing deals secured including StoryTel releasing 5 Pratilpi stories as audiobooks from 25 December
● Through Pratilipi FM and Pratilipi Comics, the platform is engaging with podcast and comic lovers through originals and age-old classics.
Above images courtesy Pratilipi Comics
23 December 2020: Pratilipi was founded in 2015 with a vision to unlock the literary talent potential from across India and fill the gap in the availability of accessible and engaging contemporary literature in regional languages. Five years on, Pratilipi has become a platform through which a community of over 3 lakh writers reach an audience of 25 million monthly active readers, in 12 Indian languages through our website and our app.
Pratilipi acts as a digital ‘open-mic’ for writers, providing a popular and safe space to upload stories for any user directly via the app. To date, users have uploaded over 30 lakh stories (2 lakh new stories per month) from long novels to short stories across all genres including romance, fiction, horror and fantasy. Alongside more established writers, the platform is creating stars out of first-time writers who are using the platform to express their creativity and hone their craft. For example, Varsha Srivastava, a homemaker based in Raipur, joined Pratilipi as a novice writer; today, she writes fantasy horror and has reached over 18 lakh readers on the platform.
As a part of the mission to foster home grown talent, users are supported with regular events, discussions and competitions, such as the recent Crime Fiction Festival which was hosted by stalwart authors Vikram Chandra and Hussain Zaidi, web series story writing contest which was recently hosted in collaboration with Dice Media. Pratilipi also supports writers to make a truly viable career out of their passion for writing by landing licensing deals with established publishers, content producers, studios and platforms.
Recent examples include: a series of audiobooks which will release on Storytel January 2021 onwards, 50 stories licensed to Manjul publishing house and 500 stories licensed to EpicON to name a few. Pratilipi (pictured right) is a repository of homegrown literary talent which is accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Through its simple user interface, Pratilipi acts as a meaningful tool that is simultaneously recreational, educational and community-oriented. Whether it is urban commuters taking the local train in Mumbai or a farmer catching a moment of leisure in rural Tamil Nadu, Pratilipi’s deep reach is working to create a meaningful and longstasting storytelling culture across India. Alongside literary content, Pratilipi hosts one of India’s largest podcast and audiobook platforms via the recently launched Pratilipi FM where you can discover 5000+ hours of unlimited audio content in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and English. The third vertical – Pratilipi Comics has quickly emerged as a popular source for Pratilipi Comics originals such as Murdo ki train, Taashree, Veerana, to name a few whilst also hosting timeless classics such as Chacha Chaudhary, Billoo, Pinki, Tenaliram, Motu Patlu and Shaktiman. The platform currently has 7.8 million reads per month.
Some highlight stories include:
Tashree, a fast paced mythological thriller based around Tashree, a 21 year old college girl who discovers her supernatural powers and unearths her family’s connection to an underground Tantric organisation. The hugely popular story is written by Sumit Menaria, who comes from a small town near Udaipur and now works as a Chartered Accountant in Dubai by day, while moonlighting as a thriller writer by night. The story has been read by 1,57,267 Pratilipi users to date.
Golmaal, a comedy drama centred around friends who travel to Mumbai from their village only to be caught by a police inspector when he discovers they accidently know the location of stolen diamonds. Written by Bharat Thakur, the 1.5 hour read is a comedic take on a classic gangster story, offering a humorous look at modern day Mumbai.
Meri Avantika, the story of a law student who runs away from her royal heritage when she learns she was
meant to have been aborted at birth. The girl tries to start a new life in Bhopal where she falls in love but
struggles to be accepted as the daughter to her father-in-law. The 19 hour modern day love story has been
read almost 500,000 times.
Ummedon Ki Kashti, the story of Mohit, a scientist, and Alakhnanda, an ex-mountaineer, who meet in Uttarakhand. Alakhnanda had lost a leg during her last Everest expedition but with Mohit and her fathers help is motivated to go back and fulfill her dream before eventually falling in love with Mohit.
Talking about the vision behind Pratilipi, co-founder Ranjeet Singh says “Pratilipi was created with the mission to build a vibrant community of writers and readers in Indian languages. Growing up in small town India, I felt that there was a dearth of representation of the vast, rich talent that lives in these smaller cities and villages and is on the lookout for enriching literary content in their mother tongue.Since its inception, Pratilipi has been committed to its vision of providing aspiring writers an accessible platform to publish their work whilst also creating dynamic forum for readers to interact with content and each other in meaningful ways. I’m happy to be able to share that beyond creating a publishing platform, we have also been able to create viable opportunities for our writers to beable to make a living from their passion for writing. We are continuously experimenting with newer formats such as podcasts,comics to keep our community engaged.”
Ranjeet Singh, co-founder, Pratilipi
Forbes 30 Under 30, 2018
