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The idea of "making the platform you seek" came to my mind. With the help of two of my close friends and a web developer started Authoropod.
The idea of “making the platform you seek” came to my mind. With the help of two of my close friends and a web developer started Authoropod.
“It is okay to swim in the pool of struggles with your peers, keep looking for solutions, if you can come out of it, it is your responsibility to lend a helping hand so that others do not go through the same hardships.” This is what I feel.
I took a maternity break from my full-time, good-paying job in 2015. Tried multiple things after that to be financially independent, but nothing worked. My writing journey began in 2018. I managed to publish a book in 2021, just before the Pandemic hit.
Being new to the field of marketing and promotions and the ongoing pandemic, I had very limited exposure to my debut book. Then was the time when the craving for being a part of a community or platform helped authors to promote their work seamlessly.
Upon researching a lot, found out, all existing platforms were only targeting well-established and renowned authors or big publications. There was a very rare scope for self-published author to make their mark.
After being hit by book ideas back to back, I ended up publishing 3 books in 2021, with no place to talk about them! I did live sessions on my social handles and conducted giveaways in collaboration with communities, but nothing seemed to work.
That’s when the idea of “making the platform you seek” came to my mind. With the help of two of my close friends and a web developer started my venture – “Authoropod.“
Authoropod is a quarterly e-magazine that aims to help authors promote their work. With 3 successful editions and 4th upcoming one (in January 2023), I got connected to so many like-minded authors, and brainstorm ideas.
We do not guarantee any sale or bestseller tag, but we do promise honest reviews, 100% guidance if you choose self-publishing, and an organic reach. With 200+ readers on our last edition, we crossed the mark of reaching 500 people who are a mixed audience of readers as well as writers.
Considering this as a good response for a platform that is operating ORGANICALLY, we added a podcast show as an extension to our existing e-magazine. We wrapped up season one with 10 amazingly talented authors in December 2022.
We will complete one year in April 2023, and we haven’t charged anything for any of our services yet. The reason for keeping it free was:
Venturing out of your comfort zone is a big risk when it is no more a personal goal and others are involved in it. Inconsistency is something I hate to the core. So, “Being a novice in the field, will I be able to pull it off?” was the question I used to ask myself now and then.
Also, who aspires to damage the image by involving money and not being able to meet the aim?
I wanted to test myself with the ability to manage frequency, quality of content, design aspect, and unsaid aspects if any persists. The status on this aspect is green, with three editions being successfully published!
When you are new in the market, it requires a lot to establish your name. Even if you have fewer competitors, it is difficult to gain the trust of audiences these days. With so many frauds and scams happening on social media, it becomes tough to seek monetization from contributors or readers.
Myself, I had this clear in mind, I am #LivingMyDream and without any hesitation, I shared the same with my team, because transparency in communication is very important. And it was a very open discussion, if they had any monetary expectations they had the freedom to quit, fortunately, they did not! And I am proud of my team.
All my team members have their ventures while they are a part of Authoropod too. We manage to connect once a fortnight and communication is more before the release of the edition and finalizing the themes and prompts of the upcoming ones.
A very simple and sorted kind of working culture we have!
We have worked without any monetization for almost a year and realized:
So, it won’t be wrong on our part to charge a small amount to maintain discipline so that there is seriousness and a sense of respect for what we do.
Hence, we as a team have mutually decided to charge a minimal amount after our one-year completion (after April 2023) so that all our above loopholes are sorted, and we also do justice to our efforts.
Nilshree Damani Yelulkar: Authoropod is my brainchild, I have conceptualized it from scratch. So founder, chief editor, either of the terms would work for me.
Akshay Ambatwar: Website developer + design assistant. (Full-time Web developer in an IT firm)
Renuka Mahesh: Strategist (Founder – Explore Kid’s World)
Surekha Pandit Verenekar: Assistant Editor + in-house book reviewer. (Founder – Limelight Goa (talk show)
We can be reached by authors looking to be featured at:
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Image source: Author, edited on CanvaPro
A mother, homemaker, self-published author, founder, and podcast host at Authoropod. read more...
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