Paperwall’s poetry imprint Poetrywala grew from poet Hemant Divate and his wife Smruti’s attempt to publish poetry on their own terms. By the time Divate described the press in July 2020, it had shifted to digital printing, built a catalogue of poetry collections and weathered a sudden halt in sales during the Covid-19 crisis. His account shows how one small publisher managed its finances and print inventory; it does not establish a general formula for the publishing industry.
How Paperwall and Poetrywala began
Divate traces his interest in poetry to hearing Sanskrit devotional poems read aloud and explained in Marathi. He began writing in Marathi in 1984. After he was dissatisfied with the paper and cover design of his 2001 poetry collection, he and Smruti decided to make a press that could produce the books they wanted to read and publish.
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Their publishing work followed two related paths. Divate launched the Marathi poetry magazine Abidha in 1992, then Abhidhanantar in 1999. The latter ran until 2008. Paperwall’s official history identifies Poetrywala as its poetry imprint and dates its launch to 2003, when it published Divate’s poems in English translation as Virus Alert, translated by Dilip Chitre. Paperwall’s About page describes the company as co-founded by Hemant and Smruti Divate.
Divate said the magazines helped create a community around the press. He recalled that roughly 1,000 subscribers to Abhidhanantar transferred their loyalty to Poetrywala after the magazine closed. That is his reported figure from 2020, not a current audience count. His guiding ambition was less commercial than cultural: “Publishing poetry is a movement. We want the poetry circle to grow.”
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Why the press switched to digital printing
For a small poetry publisher, the number of copies printed is also a financial decision: a large run ties up money in books that may take time to sell and requires somewhere to store them. Divate said conventional printing often meant runs of at least 500 copies, which could create pressure for a small press.
According to Divate, Paperwall had relied exclusively on digital printing since 2009. Rather than print a large stock in advance, the press could print smaller batches and order more when inventory neared 10 copies. He said that 300 to 500 copies was generally sufficient for a poetry collection in India’s still-nascent poetry-reading market. Those figures describe his experience and assessment of Paperwall’s market, not an independently measured industry standard.
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The approach supported a modest business model. Divate said he and Smruti ran Paperwall using their personal earnings and put sales proceeds back into future books. He described the purpose this way: “We publish books to create enduring literature, not to make money or even a living from it.” The account suggests a press prioritizing continuity and a carefully managed stock over large speculative print runs; it does not provide audited financial results.
What changed when the pandemic hit
In an account published by Scroll.in on July 21, 2020, Divate said the press had gone three months without selling a single book after the Covid-19 crisis struck. Sales had resumed by the time he spoke, from buyers in India and overseas, but he expected demand to remain affected for four to five years. That was his forecast at the time, not a verified description of what ultimately happened.
The disruption prompted a sharp reduction in planned output. Divate said Paperwall normally published 10 to 12 books a year, but he planned to publish no more than six in 2020 and had paused new submissions. He also proposed a Poetrywala Foundation funded through crowdfunding and individual donations. The 2020 account records those intentions, but does not establish whether the foundation or the planned list was later realized.
Divate argued then for keeping Poetrywala’s list in print, saying that deep reading required a physical book and that the imprint’s loyal readers might not adopt ebooks. This was his editorial position in 2020, not a general finding about readers or a confirmed statement of current policy.
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What the account says about Poetrywala’s reach
The Scroll.in account said Poetrywala had published more than 200 poetry collections by July 2020. A current Paperwall profile of Hemant Divate says the imprint has published more than 150. These are different claims from different sources and contexts; neither should be silently substituted for the other as a reconciled current total.
Paperwall’s Poetrywala catalogue currently lists physical poetry titles, including Divate’s Paranoia Second Ed. The live catalogue shows that the imprint has book listings; it does not establish availability through any particular outside retailer.
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