Sujeev Shakya’s ‘Arthat Pariwartan’ released as eBook

After five single chapter releases, Sujeev Shakya’s ‘Arthat Pariwartan’ hits the market as Nepalaya’s first primary eBook released on August 25. An anthology of essays, the book builds up on the premises of Shakya’s previous book Arthat Arthatantra, and goes a few steps forward to diagnose the maladies that keep Nepali society on the hinge of poverty, while also offering innovative solutions to combat the same. This is Shakya’s fourth book and the second one in Nepali. “The response for single chapter releases was encouraging,” said Kiran Krishna Shrestha of Nepalaya. “It’s a behavioral leap for many readers to embrace the virtual platforms and we were willing to undertake our primary eBook release with a pinch of salt.  But the responses for the single chapters show that we are ready for eBooks.” Nepalaya has been making all its publications available through various mediums in addition to the regular traditional printed form. As a result, all Nepalaya books are now available worldwide through Amazon and Barnes & Noble network. English edition of the books are also available as eBooks on Kindle. Due to language barrier, Nepali books were not available as eBooks as widely as desired. The eBook project came to fruition when one of Nepalaya’s online booksellers Thuprai (www.thuprai.com) developed an efficient and easy platform to buy and read eBooks. So far, since the lockdown, Nepalaya alone has sold several thousand books through Thuprai. “We live in very exciting but equally uncertain times,” says author Shakya, explaining the idea behind the book. “The only way to keep up with the times is by embracing positive changes continually. As Nepal transitions into a democratic federal system, it’s time for us to set up the apparatuses of development and gear up for prosperity, the mandate approved by the recent election as its prime agenda. But there are several challenges and constraints we need to address in order to achieve this. The book classifies just those and attempts to find remedies, so the dream of prosperity becomes an attainable one.” The ebook is available for reading on Thuprai app, just like its previous single chapters. Those who have bought single chapters before will be eligible for a discount. ‘Arthat Pariwartan’ is priced at Rs 250 for the Nepali market. The readers also have the option of listening to the audio book or buying single chapters of the book at Rs 15 each. The book’s print edition is due for release post-lockdown.