Selling Your eBook on Pothi

Pothi.com is a self-publishing platform focused on the Indian market, letting authors sell ebooks and print-on-demand books with no upfront cost. Setting up an account and publishing is straightforward, but there’s one formatting requirement that trips people up.

What You’ll Need

• Your book in .doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf, or PDF format — Pothi converts non-PDF submissions to PDF automatically. EPUB is optional, not required — you can submit it alongside the PDF if you have one, but it isn’t mandatory.
• Your cover as the literal first page of your file — Pothi doesn’t accept a separately uploaded cover image; it must be built into the manuscript itself as page one.
• At least a 0.5″ margin at the bottom of every page, reserved for a buyer-specific email watermark Pothi adds automatically.
• Keywords
• A blurb
• A price in Indian Rupees (minimum ₹5, or the book can be listed free)

Royalty

Pothi pays a genuinely strong royalty rate: 75% of the list price when your book sells through Pothi’s own store. If it ever sells through another channel, that drops to 25% — though as of now, Pothi sells eBooks exclusively through its own site, not through external retailers.

Payment

Pothi pays out via PayPal once you meet their minimum payout threshold, with an outstanding-balance settlement on a longer cycle if you haven’t hit that threshold yet. Payout terms can shift over time, so it’s worth confirming the current minimum directly on Pothi’s site before you rely on a specific figure.

Cost

Publishing on Pothi is free — there’s no charge to create an account or list a book, provided your files are prepared to their specifications. Optional paid services (editing, cover design) are available if you want help beyond self-preparation.

A Note on Reach

Since Pothi currently sells only through its own storefront rather than distributing to other retailers, it’s best treated as a supplementary channel — particularly useful if you’re targeting Indian readers specifically — rather than a replacement for a wider-reaching platform like Amazon KDP or Draft2Digital.