Thuprai, an e-commerce company dealing with books and e-books, has introduced a proper audiobook service for the first time in Nepal. This service will enable publishers, authors, and voice artists to publish and distribute their content in audio format while allowing users in and out of Nepal to purchase and listen to the books of their choice.
Picture Courtesy: Thuprai
Although there have been audiobooks published as CDs, broadcasted on radios, and streamed on YouTube, this is the first time a platform like this has been developed within the country, giving creators yet another medium to publish and market their works.
Thuprai started in February 2019 as an e-commerce website where users could order physical books and get them delivered to their doorstep. During the lockdown in 2020, Thuprai came up with an e-book platform and provided some excitement to the dormant book market. This time again, they have come up with yet another product to uplift the publication industry and expose Nepali literature to an even larger audience.
Audiobook publishing is considered a significant sector of the international publication market, even more so because of the pandemic. The growth of audiobooks is credited mainly to their ease of consumption compared to the other formats. A large segment of the busy population has started preferring audiobooks since they can listen to them while commuting, exercising, or doing chores. Audiobooks are also a blessing for the vision-impaired and those who can understand the verbal language but can’t read it. Audiobooks can also be cheaper because of low reproduction costs. Audiobooks are portable and readily available upon purchase.
The audiobook catalog at Thuprai right now includes titles written and narrated by authors like Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Ishwar Ballabh, Dinesh Adhikari, Durga Lal Shrestha, Bairagi Kainla, Tulasi Diwas, Toya Gurung, Rajendra Shalabh, Bishnu Bibhu Ghimire, Shyamal, Sujeev Shakya, and Jeevan Kumar Prasain. Renowned voice artists like Khagendra Nepali and Achyut Ghimire have voiced for some of the bestselling books of authors like Siddhicharan Shrestha, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, Ramesh Vikal, Diamond Shamsher Rana, Narayan Wagle, Jiba Lamichhane, Lainsingh Bangdel, DuBaSu Chhetri, and Ganesh Rai.
Picture Courtesy: Thuprai
Thuprai commenced this solution in collaboration with publication houses like Nepalaya, Drishya, Kathalaya, Kitab Publishers, Sangrila Books, Phoenix Books, Bulbul Publication, Akshar Creations. Dipesh Acharya of Thuprai shared that they will be working with these publication houses to develop new content and keep making new titles available every week.
Users can pay via local or international payment gateways to purchase the audiobooks. Purchased audiobooks can be played through the Thuprai mobile apps or the thuprai.com website itself. Listening to audiobooks on cars is also supported through Android Auto besides regular Bluetooth playback. Thuprai also plans to open the self-publishing platform to the public in a few months enabling anyone to sign-up, upload, and sell their paperbacks, e-books, and audiobooks through Thuprai’s network.
Thuprai's catalog of audiobooks is available at https://thuprai.com/.
