A new e-book subscription startup is cataloguing exclusive african literature on its website and has recently launched mobile app.
“Digitalback Books is an e-book subscription platform with an exclusive focus on Black interest writing,” Digitalback creator, Ifeanyi Ejimofo told Techcabal.
The platform launched last year December, the product of a self-funded project.
Ejimofo said the idea was “to source, digitize and showcase as many of these stories as possible. To offer readers the ability to access easily and at the click of a mouse, a comprehensive collection of books written on Africa, about Africa or by writers of African origin from across the world.”
Ejimofo’s Digitalback is similar to Oyster, Scribd and Kindle Unlimited (which unlike the former two has dominant influence even in the African market), but it’s almost immediately obvious that Digitalback is focused on smallholding indie-type African writers. There are currently few popular titles with renowned African authors on the platform for now.
In curating African literature, the service is akin to Okadabooks, a wikiesque platform that launched in 2013 which allows indie authors upload their works online with a pricetag. The books can be downloaded subsequently by readers on the network.
At N2500 ($13) monthly subscription and N24000 ($125) annual subscription, readers on Digitalbacks have unlimited access to books, but this is notably more expensive than subscriptions on Oyster, Scribd and Kindle Unlimited whose subscriptions per month peak at $9.99.
Digitalback, as at the time of this writing, has 125 titles on its network accessible via its Android and iOS Apps, one expects this will grow as they partner with more publishers in the space.
