Kitaab starts first crowdfunding campaign

Source: Kitaab website.

Kitaab, which means “book” in many Asian languages, is moving to the next phase of its evolution with crowdfunding on Indiegogo. The literary project was founded in 2005 to empower and connect Asian writers with readers globally. Since then, it "has filled a major void in the online literary scene in Asia by creating a link-based information storehouse where the most important stories on Asian writers and writing were curated", says Zafar Anjum, its founder and a well-known author.

"Over the years, Kitaab has evolved into a much larger project that encompasses publishing and e-commerce to serve the same community of writers, readers, publishers and agents worldwide. Run by 15 voluntary editors who sit in different parts of the world, Kitaab provides a global writing and publishing platform to emerging and seasoned writers in Asia and abroad," he said. 

Kitaab began publishing in 2013, presenting original/translated contemporary literature in English and Asian languages. It is also getting recognised in the region, most recently as the media partner of the Hyderabad Literary Festival in India. 

"Two of Kitaab's titles were launched at this year's Singapore Literary Festival. Kitaab will publish three books by (Singapore) Cultural Medallion winner Isa Kamari in 2016, including the Malay writer's first novel written in English. Kitaab has also bought the Hindi/Urdu translation rights of Isa Kamari's pathbreaking Malay novel, Intercession," Anjum said. "We will be acquiring more Asian titles for translation." 

Anjum hopes that the crowdfunding campaign will raise up to US$10,000 to help Kitaab to curate better content and provide an improved user experience. "Those who will support Kitaab in this first-ever fundraising campaign will be rewarded with various perks, ranging from thank you notes from editors to signed copies of books to specially designed tote bags and even mentions on the Kitaab website as a patron," he said. 

So far, nearly more than 1,300 people have supported Kitaab’s appeal on Facebook, Anjum said. "We seek your help and cooperation to make our maiden fundraising - our first in ten years - a success," he said. 

Interested?

Contribute to or share the details of the crowdfunding campaign

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post on Anjum's book Startup Capitals

More than a million LinkedIn members in some Asia Pacific, Middle East countries

LinkedIn has reported that its membership has crossed 300 million in more than 200 countries and territories, 67% of whom are located outside the US. The company has added more than 23 million members since December 31, 2013.
 

A map on the company's website shows that there are more than 1 million LinkedIn users in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the UAE. Indonesia and the Philippines boast more than 2 million users, and there are over 4 million users in China, over 5 million in Australia, as well as 24 million-plus in India.

In a blog post about the milestones, LinkedIn’s SVP of Product & User Experience, Deep Nishar, discusses the company’s vision of connecting all of the world’s professionals and its plans for continued growth.

"To give our members access to all business knowledge they need to be great at what they do, we have brought together content from millions of publishers through Pulse, Influencer posts from approximately 500 of the leading minds in business, and most recently, our millions of members, as we continue to roll out our publishing platform and expand LinkedIn Groups and SlideShare," Nishar said.

Nishar also noted that members in locations like Malaysia, Singapore and UAE prefer to check LinkedIn on their mobile devices than on their desktop computers. "Every day we see an average of 15 million profile views, 1.45 million job views and 44,000 job applications in over 200 countries through mobile," Nishar said.