By subscribing to either of the three monetisation models, Pratilipi's 25 million monthly readers can show their support for authors on the platform, gain early access to content or get invitations to exclusive chats with their favourite writers. The features include:
Virtual gifts enable readers to show their support for a specific author or story by giving a variety of virtual gifts representing a monetary value.
Superfan subscriptions allow readers to subscribe to their favourite authors and show their support with a superfan badge. Superfans also gain access to new content 5 days early, exclusive chat-rooms, live video conferences, and AMAs with the writer they are supporting.
Pratilipi premium provides users access to all the content on the platform at any time along with access to all the latest episodes of ongoing series under Superfan subscriptions. Along with offering subscribers access to all the episodes of completed series under the premium section, the users can also expect to get exclusive access to paid content and exclusive access to selective features open only for Premium subscribers.
To date, over 5 crores have been gifted by the readers to authors as virtual gifts and Pratilipi currently has over 28,000 active monthly subscribers. These monetization features are having tangible and direct impacts on the lives of many of the authors encouraging them to pursue their passion for writing as a full time career.
For example, Priya Jadhav, one of Pratilipi's highest earners, joined the platform as a homemaker looking for new content to read. Having started writing romance and thriller short stories during last year's lockdown. Now a popular author on the platform she earned over one Lakh INR in October 2021 through the monetization features. Commenting on this journey Priya says, "Give wings to your idea. Keep writing. Take negative comments positively because it gives you clarity on your writing and of course makes time to read a lot. I am really thankful to Pratilipi for introducing the author in me. I can say that I finally found a platform where I can put my imagination into words".
Similarly, Madhavi Chowdary, who is also amongst the top three earners, was a homemaker before she started writing love, family, life & suspense stories. Now writing almost full time her mantra for keeping her Superfans engaged is simple- "update your readers, keep your imaginations flowing and give a perfect ending to all your series to keep your reader wondering."
Whilst many of Pratilipi's top earners write almost full time, others like Ketaki – a full time Lawyer – write purely as a hobby. However, that hasn't stopped Ketaki benefiting from Pratilipi's monetization features earning over 85,000 INR in October 2021. Ketaki, who writes about romance and social issues, believes her popularity on the platform comes from exploring newer topics and her consistency.
The monetization features build on Pratilipi's work to realise their writer's ambitions, support new tallent and create sustainable careers through developing web series, publishing contracts, comics and other IP deals for writers whose work proves popular on Pratilipi. .
Talking about the new features Ranjeet Pratap Singh, co-founder, Pratilipi said, "The initial idea behind Pratilipi was to bridge the wide gap between the authors who write in Indian languages and those who wish to read that content. With the introduction of the monetisation models, we are delighted to support and foster India's writing community to develop long-term sustainable writing careers."
