Our pitch:
One Sentence Pitch
Publiseer is a free digital publishing platform for independent Nigerian authors and artists.
Why Publiseer?
Publiseer is the lifeline for every young and budding Nigerian author and artist. Even more so, for established Nigerian authors and artists, who are seeking ways to sell their work on the World Wide Web. It’s critical for authors and artists to reach their fans and attract new fans that rely on trusted stores like Amazon, Google Play store and Apple store to drive their discovery experience.
Publiseer lets Nigerian authors and artists sell their books and music respectively, on over 400 major online stores worldwide, including Amazon, Google Play store, and Apple store. We are free, and always will be, so they don’t have to worry about paying any publishing fees. Now, they can put all their budget into marketing their work.
How it works
When authors and artists are accepted on the platform, Publiseer takes care of every necessary media and publishing work from start to finish. Authors get professional book covers, unique ISBN numbers, worldwide book distribution via online stores like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play Books, Apple iBooks, and more, press release drafting/distribution, standard book formatting, and EPUB file conversion for easy distribution.
For artists, songs recorded are distributed across online stores like Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, and Shazam, to mention few. They also get free professional cover art, unique UPC number, press release drafting/distribution, and FLAC file conversion for easy distribution, at no cost, and shares in revenue generated revenue when a unit is sold.
How do we plan to make the world a better place?
By providing a free and quality digital publishing platform to young and budding Nigerian authors and artists who have don't the resources to publish their work.
Our competitors and what makes us tick
Our competitors include BookBaby and CDBaby, both sister companies. Our competitive advantage is that while other digital publishers publish books and music by charging authors and artists an extortionate publishing fee, we provide quality digital publishing for free. Many Nigerian authors and artists spend so much on publishing their work that they run out of money and are unable to promote their book or album. This is where Publiseer comes into the big picture and into full effect. We are the digital publishing company for the third world.
Why do most startups fail and why won’t Publiseer fail?
Most startups fail because the team members are not passionate about what they are doing. Passion drives a startup better than a financial incentive. If a startup only sets out to make a profit from day one, then the startup has failed from the very beginning. A startup should be more focused on solving an immediate need. Profit comes from a good reputation, and that’s what we are building at Publiseer, a reputable digital publishing platform that Nigerians will be proud of.
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Lagos, NigeriaThe dimensions of the Challenge our solution addresses:
If you selected other, please explain the dimension of the Challenge your solution addresses here:
Digital content distribution and monetization
What makes our solution innovative:
Many authors and musical artists in Africa live on a dollar per day, just as in any third world nation, and can't afford to publish their works by paying for it. These breathtaking works remain undiscovered for years, and the talents of these exceptionally talented authors and artists are put to waste. Publiseer was created to publish these works for free, generating revenue for these writers and musicians, and for Publiseer. Publiseer lets independent African authors and artists sell their books and songs on 400+ stores across 100 countries, including Amazon, Google Play store and Apple store, for no charge.
How technology is integral to our solution:
We use premium digital mastering software to re-master songs sent to us so that they can meet industry standard and stand a chance to compete on an international scale. We also adopt premium digital distribution channels to get our books and songs to well-established digital stores like Amazon, Google Play and Apple store, which uses technology to sell books and songs to the end customer.
Our solution goals over the next 12 months:
Within the next 12 months, we'll expand our services to creatives in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana. Namibia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Our vision over the next three to five years to grow and scale our solution to affect the lives of more people:
So far, we have generated tens of thousands of US dollars in revenue, with profit figures nearly $11,000 US. We're allocating our profits into marketing at the moment. Nobody will use or patronize a service that they do not know about. So at the moment, we are focused on putting our profits back into getting more African writers and musicians to know that there is a solution like Publiseer out there.
Our promotional video:
The key characteristics of the populations who will benefit from our solution in the next 12 months:
The regions where we will be operating in the next 12 months:
How we will reach and retain our customers or beneficiaries:
Most young and budding African writers and musicians adopt the use of social media to promote their craft and meet like-minded individuals. This is because connecting with people via social media cost little to nothing. As a result of this, we've got writers and musicians to use Publiseer by posting on our social media profiles about the free and quality publishing solutions Publiseer is offering.
Within the following months, we have scheduled to run some paid advertising campaign on Facebook targeted at African writers and musicians.
How many people we are currently serving with our solution:
We have published 92 books and distributed 374 songs of 73 writers and 154 musical artists from Africa, generating revenue for them and letting them earn a living from doing what they do best and what they love doing.
There are so many unsigned musical artists and unpublished writers in Africa with amazing works under their belt, unfortunately, there is no platform for them to showcase and monetize these awesome works. That's what Publiseer is created to do, and that's what we have done so far. We are turning undiscovered but talented African writers and musicians into gainfully employed professionals.
How many people we will be serving with our solution in the 12 months and the next 3 years:
Within the next 12 months, we intend to be serving over 5,000 African writers and musicians, and in 3 years, this figure should be well over 50,000 African writers and musicians.
How our solution team is organized:
For-ProfitHow many people work on our solution team:
6How many years we have been working on our solution:
Less than 1 yearThe skills our solution team has that will enable us to attract the different resources needed to succeed and make an impact:
Publiseer is created by a team of authors and musical artists, so we understand the problem and got what it takes to solve it because we feel the pain of our writers and musicians. We are very passionate about the success of our authors and artists, which is why our services are broad; touching every important sector in publishing, creating the digital platform anyone needs to succeed in today's competitive market.
Our revenue model:
Since everything is free of charge how does Publiseer make money? When a unit of any work (book or song) is sold, Publiseer shares in the revenue.
Also, for musical artists and authors intending to fast-track their publishing process — instead of waiting for 2 weeks — Publiseer charges a sum.
An author or artist can pay to skip the long queue of submissions in order to get their work published immediately, else they have to wait their turn to be published, which is typically two weeks due to the current amount of daily submissions. Fast-track publishing helps them boycott the long queue straight to the front, and get their work published for a fee.
We recently introduced our 'Premium Distribution' package that lets authors and artists distribute their works with us for an upfront fee and keep all the revenue generated from sales. As of writing, within 8 months of inception, Publiseer is already a profitable company.
Why we are applying to Solve:
We think Solve consists of a team of experts that we as a growing company can learn from. We want to share our ideas for the future of Publiseer with Solve and receive feedback and grow from the feedback received. We want to learn from Solve on the best way to take Publiseer from where it is to where we want it to be: which is to become the number one destination for publishing in Africa.
The key barriers for our solution:
Although funding is crucial in the growth of an early stage startup, at Publiseer, we are not primarily after seed fund. We are most interested in the mentorship and networking opportunities because people rule the world and not ideas. You give a mediocre idea to a brilliant person and he or she will turn it into gold. But you give a brilliant idea to a mediocre person and he or she will make a mockery of it.
The types of connections and partnerships we would be most interested in if we became Solvers:
Solution Team
-
Mr Chidi Nwaogu Co-founder and CEO, Publiseer
to Top
Our tagline:
Publishing should be free, and easy too.