Newshunt, an app which hosts regional news, novels and magazines, launched for the first time the e-book of Poovil Seytha Aayutham written by the prolific Tamil crime novelist Rajesh Kumar today. Gandhi Kannadasan, the owner of Kannadasan Pathipaggam, unveiled the book.

N Ravanan, the head of Ebooks - Newshunt, said that close to 62 per cent of the literate population consume news and novels in regional languages. India being a mobile first country, by launching e-books in regional languages they are able to reach wide range of population, he added.

The launch is significant because Newshunt is the first organisation in India to address the complexity of conversion associated with the Indian languages and have converted them into ePUB which is mobile compatible, he added.

Ravanan said that books can be downloaded through the app at the price range of ₹2 to ₹500 and the amount will be deducted from the mobile network’s post-paid or pre-paid bill.

Going digital Gandhi Kannadasan, who launched the book, said, “Digitisation is the only way,” since it enabled the publication of older books that were never printed and can’t be printed because of the high cost. By digitising those books, maps and photographs, it has created a platform where the future generation could read and visualise the forgotten era, he added. Technology that supports good content also increases the readership by providing ease of access at a cheaper price, he added.

Rajesh Kumar said that he sees huge potential in the e-market and his next novel Nalliravu Vaanavil , currently published as a series in a Tamil monthly, will be published in Newshunt on completion.

Newshunt, which is in partnership with 67 publishers, sells novels and magazines in 10 languages.

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