GetLitt! The New E-library in town!

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These are exciting times for the authors and illustrators of children books. New publishers have come into existence. The existing publishers have branched into new categories.  The visibility and availability of children books have always remained a big challenge. 
 The creators of Writer's Bug have a new offering for lovers of children books- GetLitt!It is a new e-library which fulfils the needs of all parents who want their children to grow on Indian content but are unable to find them in their neighbourhood bookstores. All you need is an internet connection. With GetLitt! children will have access to great content in a reader friendly environment. The out of print books will  remain  in circulation and earn royalties for  authors and publishers.
Though a couple of publishers are yet to join the bandwagon, brand new titles are missing from the collection and the number of books are currently limited and restricted to English, I am sure under the vibrant and able leadership of Priya Rajive and Richa Sethi, GetLitt!will strengthen its roots and grow like a banyan tree. The subscription to GetLitt! is  value for money and on par with the physical libraries. GetLitt! is definitely worth a dekko.


  Co-founders of GetLitt!, Priya Rajive and Richa Sethi, shared more info on their latest venture. 

Priya Rajive and Richa Sethi- Founders of Getlitt!
               
  1. Writer’s Bug has been curating literary events for children in schools and libraries. What made you enter the world of e-books?

We are deeply passionate about kids and books. Our  vision is to make books and stories easily accessible to all kids and to create a community of young, engaged readers. Devices and gadgets are here to stay and statistics shows exponential growth in usage of these devices by children. So we want to reach the kids through this medium and take a share of their screen time for leisure reading. With this idea was born – GetLitt! – a gamified reading platform.

  1. The subscription rates of GetLitt! are on par with the physical libraries. What is GetLitt!’s biggest strength when compared to the physical libraries and other online content providers?

GetLitt! has an online library with rich and varied content from the top publishers of children’s books in India like Duckbill, Tulika, Amar Chitra Katha, FunOKPlease, Pickle Yolk etc. We also have gems from smaller publishers. Quite a few of the books like Gone Grandmother, Bonkers!, Timmi in Tangles, have won awards too. Stories and illustrations in books are great hooks for children. But in the last 5 years of our offline work in this space, we realised that most children need a nudge to start off on this path of reading. We have designed and built in these “nudges” on our platform in the form of gamified elements like badges, book dare trophies, leader board etc. So our biggest strengths are our content and the built in motivation.

  1. Currently GetLitt!’s been focussing on Indian content.  Will you be focussing on foreign books at a later date?

We are very excited about the books that have come out for children in India in the last few years. Their themes, highly relatable contexts, settings and illustrations make them delightful reads. We want to give kids easy access to these books. At the same time, we love a good book wherever it be from. So we are definitely looking forward to having a great mix of Indian and foreign titles on our platform, giving the kids an amazing collection to choose from.

  1. Will literary school events continue to be a part of Writer’s Bug portfolio?
                                        
Yes, definitely. We continue to organise author & illustrator sessions at schools. The energy of such sessions is great and it is lovely to see the kids interact with these literary rock stars. We frequently get asked when we are conducting the next lit. fest for children! So we would love to create that magical space again soon.

  1. Can self-published authors get their books uploaded on GetLitt!?

Absolutely. Content rules on the platform and we are agnostic where we get good content from as long as the legal requirements are met.

  1. Since the time you started GetLitt!, what kind of e-books are trending on the app?

Children are picking up titles from varied categories, the most popular being autobiographies like Kalpana Chawla, and Jawaharlal Nehru and humour-filled stories like The Susu Pals and Aditi Zoo. We have also seen a lot of interest in books with sensitive themes like The Unboy Boy, Clumsy and Brown Like Dosa, Samosas & Sticky Chikki. Amongst the 10+ age group, chapter books with humour like Akbar & The Tricky Traitor are very popular.

  1. How have children responded to the book dares and review writing sections on the GetLitt! app?

Most enthusiastically! Children have especially taken to the concept of Book Dares with great gusto. Book dares are fun multiple choice questions at the end of every book which earn a child a trophy on being attempted successfully. They are great bragging points on a child’s My Story page J We also have very well written honest reviews coming in from the children. We have nearly 500 reviews written by kids on the platform. The kids are not shy about expressing what they like and dislike and it is great for them to learn how to express both endearingly.

  1. Do publishers get paid per page read (like Kindle Unlimited) or per book borrowed?

We have a revenue sharing model with publishers whereby they get paid as per the number of book read per publisher.

  1. Is GetLitt! expanding into school libraries?

Over the last few months we have interacted with many school librarians and have been inspired by their passion and knowledge. Most of them have shown a keen interest in the platform. We are currently collaborating with many of them to complement each other’s strengths in this space. Thanks to its tech base, GetLitt! can also provide schools with valuable insights into the reading patterns and behaviour of their students.

  1. What is the lower and upper age limit for a child to have an account on GetLitt! app?

We have picture books, comics and chapter books for kids aged 0-12 years. We do see older kids also coming to the platform and using the review section to express themselves and hone their review writing skills.

  1. Are children accessing GetLitt! through phone/desktop or laptop?

GetLitt! is available as a webapp (www.getlitt.co) that can be accessed on your laptop/ desktop or as an app on an iPad or Android tablet. We do not have a mobile version yet. The maximum engagement we are seeing from kids is on tablets.

  1. The current content is skewed towards fiction. Will non-fiction be added in the near future?

There are lovely books out there which have presented non-fiction content to children in a most engaging manner. While we do have a few autobiographies, STEM and nature based non-fiction titles, we are actively looking at getting more of non-fiction for our GetLitt! readers.

 Access to the best of children books is just a click away.  GetLitt!  

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