Amar Chitra Katha betting big on digital format

Children's book publisher Amar Chitra Katha is expecting the digital format to contribute one fourth of its revenues in the next five years.
"We are expecting 25 per cent revenue from the digital section in the next five years. Although right now it's not very big, it has huge potentials," Amar Chitra Katha Chief Operating Officer Manas Mohan told PTI.
The company publishes titles such as Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Karadi Tales, Bright Start and Brainwave. It is aiming to grow multi-fold this financial year on the back of increased demand and more launches in vernacular languages.
The company is putting 85 per cent of its investment in the digital section.

It has recently launched an official digital store app across platforms - iOS, Android and Windows 8-- offering more than 300 comics titles.
"We have digitalised 300 titles of Amar Chitra Katha and would add 100 titles every six months and complete the entire process in the next 18 months. It would be available on all three platforms," Mohan added.

The company's foreign revenue would come primarily from the digital format and domestic income from the print section.
"There is reason for that. In foreign, digital content is cheaper than the print content, however, here the print is cheaper," Mohan said.

Amar Chitra Katha comics are published in 22 languages, including 11 foreign languages and 11 Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Gujrati, Assamese, Bangla, Dogri and Malyalam.
"We would soon start in four more languages - Gurumukhi, Oriyya, Kannada and Telgu," he said, adding that it would also launch kids magazine Tinkle in Tamil, Gujrati and Marathi.