Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      TCS | Revix founder Sean Sanders on the creation of Altify

      1 December 2023

      South Africa’s Revix is now Altify after big crypto merger

      1 December 2023

      One in 10 South Africans owns crypto

      1 December 2023

      Spar ‘ignored whistle-blower’ on botched SAP project

      1 December 2023

      IT Leadership Series: Shoprite Group head of digital tech Debbie Cunningham

      1 December 2023
    • World

      Musk’s Cybertruck is here – and it’s expensive

      1 December 2023

      ‘No chance’ of super-intelligent AI soon: Microsoft

      1 December 2023

      Microsoft developing Xbox store to take on Apple, Google

      1 December 2023

      ‘Go f… yourself’: Musk lashes out at fleeing advertisers

      30 November 2023

      Microsoft to take non-voting position on OpenAI board

      30 November 2023
    • In-depth

      Africa has a feature phone problem

      23 November 2023

      Is your ISP monitoring your online activity?

      10 November 2023

      The real Big Brother Africa

      2 November 2023

      Compared: Starlink prices around the world – including Africa

      30 October 2023

      Africa is booming

      30 October 2023
    • TCS

      TCS+ | OneTrust’s Joseph Byrne: privacy risk management done right

      29 November 2023

      TCS+ | Ricoh – safe and secure role in today’s digital ecosystems

      27 November 2023

      TCS+ | NEC XON on going toe to toe with cybercriminals

      22 November 2023

      TCS | How ShotSpotter is fighting gun crime in Cape Town

      13 November 2023

      TCS+ | SOC-as-a-service: CYBER1 SOC and the future of cybersecurity

      13 November 2023
    • Opinion

      Could Cape Town become Africa’s Silicon Valley?

      14 November 2023

      Chris Kruger: What I learnt in my decades in IT leadership

      6 November 2023

      Ransomware attacks: how South African companies should respond

      6 November 2023

      Fibre providers urged to go ‘nano’ to cut costs

      31 October 2023

      Big banks, take note: PayShap should be free

      20 October 2023
    • Company Hubs
      • 4IRI
      • Africa Data Centres
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Systems Integration
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • CallMiner
      • CoCre8
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • E4
      • Entelect
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • iKhokha
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • LSD Open
      • Maxtec
      • MiRO
      • NEC XON
      • Next DLP
      • Paratus
      • Ricoh
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Velocity Group
      • Videri Digital
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • E-commerce
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Metaverse and gaming
      • Motoring and transport
      • Open-source software
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Start-ups » Paperight: books on demand

    Paperight: books on demand

    By Craig Wilson21 February 2013
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Arthur Attwell
    Arthur Attwell

    A Cape Town-based print-on-demand service hopes to make all sorts of books available in outlying areas by allowing photocopy shops to print them — legally — from a wide range of publishers. The start-up, called Paperight, already offers a big selection of content from more than 40 publishers.

    Paperight began as a project in another company, Electric Bookworks. Both companies were founded by 37-year-old Arthur Attwell. Having previously worked for large publishers such as Pearson and Oxford University Press, Attwell wanted to show publishers the possibilities digital tools presented for their businesses.

    In 2011, Attwell became a fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation. The grant money the foundation offers can be used as a salary for the duration of the fellowship, or it can be invested in a business, in which case it will match the investment 10-fold. “I put in R180 000 and [the foundation] put in R1,8m,” Attwell explains.

    Eventually, all of the code behind Paperight will be made available to the public in keeping with the open-source framework upon which the service runs.

    In order to use the service, copy shops have to sign up on Paperight’s site. They then have an account where they can prepay for credits in US dollars – Attwell says this is to allow for standardised global pricing. Copy shops pay the licence fee and consumers pay the copy shop.

    To make its money, Paperight keeps 20% of the publisher-set rights fee.

    “Copy shops tend to make most of their money from prints, so it’s easy for them to justify joining Paperight because they get to print more stuff as a result.”

    The cost of printing a book from Paperight will vary depending on where it is printed. “Jetline is our biggest partner with more than 40 registered stores and it’s managed to cut the price to 50c per double-sided A4 sheet,” Attwell says. “This makes them one of our recommended suppliers and means you can print a 300-page book, with licence fee, for about R95.”

    Of course, being ring bound A4 sheets Paperight books may not be as attractive as publisher’s own copies, but they are cheaper. Moreover, Attwell says copy shops are still ubiquitous in developing markets, meaning people can get access to titles they would not previously have been able to and without waiting for mail orders or the transport costs of having to go to a specialist store.

    Copy shops can buy credits by means of electronic funds transfer or PayPal, with other payment options set to follow.

    Apart from traditional bookstores, Attwell says Paperight doesn’t have direct local competitors. “I like to think we operate parallel to the existing publishing market. We’re also working with projects like FunDza, which is using Mxit to get books onto mobile phones. All of these things encourage reading, and that’s good for all of us in the long run.”

    Paperight delivers content to photocopy stores over the Internet in the format of PDF documents that are optimised for print. “We need to distribute as small a file as possible because of limited broadband in many locations and we want files that result in the minimum of printing, so we work on the PDFs quite a bit before they go out.”

    For security purposes, each page printed is watermarked with the name of the customer and the photocopy shop.

    Paperight was one of three winners of the O’Reilly Tools of Change Startup Showcase held in New York earlier this month. The award doesn’t include a monetary prize, but does carry a great deal of prestige and should make it easier for Paperight to negotiate with publishers yet to join the service.

    The only finalist from the 10 contenders from a developing nation and one of the only entrants that isn’t an online business, Paperight won the award for the most entrepreneurial publishing start-up.

    Attwell says the win will lend the company greater credibility and will “grease the wheels” of its talks with various publishers.

    “Tools of Change is the premier publishing technology conference in the world,” Attwell says. “When they announced the start-up showcase competition, I made sure we applied. We were nominated for the final two weeks ago and I went to New York to pitch. Lo and behold, we were the one developing country on the list of finalists.”

    The bulk of applicants were related to e-books and the Web so Attwell says it was especially pleasing to win “with something that’s essentially an analogue product”.  — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media

    • The Start-ups section on TechCentral profiles what South African technology start-ups are doing. Do you have an interesting start-up? Are you doing something out of the ordinary? Why not drop TechCentral’s editor a line and tell us about what you’re doing?
    Arthur Attwell Electric Bookworks Paperight Shuttleworth Foundation
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleVodacom, Cell C ratchet up war talk
    Next Article Tablets to drive Mustek growth

    Related Posts

    US allies urged to shun Huawei equipment: report

    23 November 2018

    Podcast | Digital terrestrial television: the state of play in SA

    18 October 2017

    Interview: Roger McCleery on the future of motoring

    18 October 2017
    Promoted

    Unsecured lending: the key to unlocking SME potential in South Africa

    1 December 2023

    Sasfin | Empower your future with strategic investment accounts

    1 December 2023

    5G home broadband a big opportunity for African operators

    30 November 2023
    Opinion

    Could Cape Town become Africa’s Silicon Valley?

    14 November 2023

    Chris Kruger: What I learnt in my decades in IT leadership

    6 November 2023

    Ransomware attacks: how South African companies should respond

    6 November 2023

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2023 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.