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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Urdu publishing entered the COVID-19 crisis with longstanding problems: weak distribution and marketing, reliance on authors to finance books, and uncertain rights and royalty practices. The pandemic added closures and lost sales. Online ordering offers a route to readers, but reports from India and Pakistan through 2024 do not show that digital access has solved the underlying business pressures.
The squeeze began before COVID-19
A 2020 Scroll.in report on Indian Urdu publishing described a trade already constrained by limited distribution and promotion. Some publishers relied on authors to sponsor or self-publish books, while concerns about copyright and royalties made it difficult to know how rights and earnings were being handled. These are reported observations, not measured statistics for the whole Urdu book market.
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That structure matters financially. When authors shoulder production costs, publishers may avoid some upfront inventory risk, but authors take on more of the cost of bringing a book to market. And without reliable distribution or marketing, printing a title does not guarantee it will reach readers or earn back its cost.
What the pandemic changed
Lockdowns turned existing weaknesses into immediate operating problems. Publishers interviewed by Scroll.in described closures, lost sales, and pressure to pay rent, salaries, and other bills while shops and normal sales channels were disrupted. One interviewee, Kitabdaar Publications owner Shadab Rashid, said his shop had been shut since lockdown began and that other work had kept him from bankruptcy.
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A separate Scroll.in case study of Karachi press Maktaba-e-Danyal documented lockdown pressure alongside the seizure of a book. It shows how shocks can compound for a small independent press; it is one publisher’s experience, not a survey of Pakistan’s industry.
Online sales can extend reach, but they are not a recovery measure
Online portals, e-commerce listings, social-media promotion, and courier delivery give publishers ways to take orders when readers cannot visit a bookshop. The 2020 Scroll.in report discussed Urdu Bazaar’s online book portal and publishers’ plans to improve online promotion. Plans reported at the time should not be taken as proof that every initiative was completed.
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By 2022, a Hindustan Times report on Delhi publishers described sales through e-commerce, social media, and direct courier delivery. In Pakistan, a 2024 Dawn analysis said some Urdu books published by Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Hind were available on Amazon and sold regularly, though not in large numbers. That is evidence of limited availability and sales for some titles, not proof that a broad Urdu catalogue is online or that online sales are profitable across the sector.
Digital channels solve only part of the problem. A listing or social-media post can make a book easier to find, but publishers still need readers to discover it, a workable way to fulfil orders, and enough margin after production and delivery costs. The available reporting does not compare channel-level sales or costs, so it cannot establish which online model works best.
What later reporting says about print publishing
The Delhi reporting in 2022 described a shrinking local publishing base and continued difficulty selling general-interest Urdu books. Hindustan Times reported that Delhi had more than 100 Urdu publishers by the late 1990s, with around 20 surviving at the time of its report. It also described print runs as low as 100 copies. These are newspaper-reported Delhi figures and a low-end example, not current counts or an industry-wide average.
Farid Book Depot managing director Nasir Khan told the paper: “No matter how good a book and who the writer is, it is hard to sell even 100 copies.” The remark captures the sales challenge described by that interviewee; it is not a verified sales statistic for all Urdu books.
Dawn’s 2024 analysis also described falling readership, weak interest in some published works, author-funded books, and publishers’ reluctance to adopt online marketing. Ather Farouqui identified “publishers’ reluctance to adopt new marketing techniques” as one reason for slackness. Taken together, the reports suggest that digital routes and print remain intertwined: online ordering may help reach readers, while small print runs may limit unsold stock, but neither removes the challenge of building demand.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What a more resilient publishing model needs to address
The reporting does not establish one business model as the answer. Publishers and authors weighing options can assess them against four practical questions:
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11- Reach and discoverability: Can readers outside established urban book markets find the title, learn what it offers, and place an order?
- Rights and author communication: Are ownership, royalty terms, sales information, and payment arrangements clear to the author?
- Upfront cost and inventory risk: Who pays for editing, printing, promotion, storage, and unsold copies?
- Delivery: Can the chosen sales channel reliably fulfil orders, including outside major cities?
These questions make trade-offs visible. Author financing can shift production costs away from a publisher, but it puts more financial exposure on the author. A larger print run may reduce per-copy production costs but increases the risk of tying up money in books that do not sell. Small runs can limit that exposure, yet do not by themselves create an audience. Online ordering may widen access, but fulfilment and promotion still require time and money.
What the evidence can—and cannot—say about recovery
There is no verified, representative current dataset in these sources measuring post-pandemic Urdu book sales, readership, revenue, annual titles, or online sales across India and Pakistan. The reports cover different places, years, and kinds of evidence: interviews and local observations in Delhi, a single Karachi publisher’s case, and a Pakistan-focused analysis. They should not be combined into a single recovery curve.
The British Council’s India literature and publishing sector study, commissioned in late 2020, covered ten target states or cities and eight focus languages, including Urdu. Its study page describes the scope and aims, including circulation challenges and international collaboration; the page alone does not establish a specific Urdu-market finding.
For broader context in Pakistan, a 2026 The News on Sunday analysis of the publishing industry described inflation and rising paper, printing, and distribution costs, weak rural distribution, piracy, and the role of book fairs and literary festivals. Those are wider publishing-sector pressures, not Urdu-specific measurements.
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