Urdu publishing has not simply bounced back from the pandemic: it entered COVID-19 with longstanding problems in distribution, marketing, author financing and rights practices, and later reporting still describes low sales and small print runs in particular markets. Digital sales and promotion can help publishers reach readers, but the available accounts do not establish a broad recovery across India and Pakistan. The more useful question is how publishers can reach readers while limiting risk and making the economics and rights of a book clearer.
What the pandemic exposed—and what was already fragile
In 2020, Scroll.in’s reporting on India’s Urdu book trade described problems that predated COVID-19: weak distribution and marketing, self-publishing or author-funded books, and concerns about copyright and royalties. These were observations from people in the trade, not a quantified measure of the whole market. The pandemic added an immediate shock. Publishers interviewed by Scroll described closures, lost sales and difficulty meeting rent, salaries and other bills. A separate Scroll case study followed Karachi-based Maktaba-e-Danyal, where lockdown pressures compounded an already difficult period after a book seizure.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Dastak: (a Collection of Short Stories in Urdu) (Urdu Edition) | $7.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Yaad-e-Rafta (Urdu Edition) | $10.94 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
My First 100 Urdu Words (My First Urdu Books) | $11.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Patras Kay Mazameen ( Urdu Edition ) | $6.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Shikwa & Jawab-e-Shikwa: A Comprehensive Guide | $6.82 | Buy on Amazon |
The distinction matters: the pandemic disrupted a fragile system, but the reporting does not show that it created all of the sector’s difficulties. Nor do these interviews establish a single recovery path for Urdu publishing in India and Pakistan.
Can online channels bring Urdu books to readers?
They can widen access, but access is not the same as recovery. Scroll’s 2020 article described Urdu Bazaar’s online book portal and publishers’ plans to improve online promotion; those plans should not be mistaken for proof that every initiative was completed. In Delhi, Hindustan Times reported in 2022 that publishers were using e-commerce, social-media orders and direct courier sales. These channels can connect a reader to a book without relying entirely on a local shop, especially where physical distribution is thin.
#1 Best Overall
Discoverability remains a separate challenge. A listing or social-media post only helps if readers can find it, understand what is available, and order it reliably. Dawn’s 2024 analysis reported that many publishers remained reluctant to adopt online marketing. Ather Farouqui identified that reluctance as one factor in weak promotion: “one of the reasons for slackness is publishers’ reluctance to adopt new marketing techniques.” That is a reported diagnosis, not evidence that online marketing alone would reverse falling readership.
Dawn also noted that some Urdu books published by Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu Hind are available on Amazon and sell regularly, though not in large numbers. This is a limited example, not a measure of online sales for Urdu books as a whole.
Rank #2
Can authors earn royalties, and who carries the cost?
Author-funded publishing shifts some or all of the upfront production cost from publisher to writer. It may allow a book to appear when a publisher is unwilling or unable to finance it, but it also makes clear agreements more important: who owns the text and other rights, what the publisher will do to distribute and promote the book, how sales are reported, and how and when royalties are paid. The 2020 Scroll reporting raised concerns around copyright and royalties in India’s Urdu trade; Hindustan Times in 2022 and Dawn in 2024 both reported author financing as a continuing feature in their respective contexts.
The sources do not establish a standard Urdu publishing contract or a reliable typical royalty rate. Authors should therefore seek written terms rather than assume that paying production costs guarantees distribution, sales, or a particular share of revenue. Publishers, in turn, need workable ways to communicate rights, costs and sales to authors if they want to build trust beyond a single title.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesIs print publishing still viable?
Print remains part of the market, but the reported examples show why publishers may be cautious about inventory. In 2022, Hindustan Times described Delhi Urdu publishers working with print runs as low as 100 copies. It also reported that more than 100 Urdu publishers operated in Delhi by the late 1990s, while around 20 remained at the time of its report. These are newspaper-reported figures about Delhi, not current counts or national statistics.
Nasir Khan, managing director of Farid Book Depot, 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 one interviewee’s experience; it should not be read as an audited sales average for Urdu books. Dawn’s 2024 account likewise described falling readership and limited market interest in some published works, while The News on Sunday’s 2026 reporting on Pakistan’s publishing sector more broadly pointed to inflation and higher paper, printing and distribution costs, weak rural distribution and piracy. The latter is wider publishing context, not Urdu-specific evidence.
Small print runs can limit the amount of unsold stock a publisher must carry, but they do not solve the challenge of reaching readers. The reporting does not provide enough comparable cost, sales or royalty data to conclude that print, digital distribution, or any one hybrid model is universally best.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What could make the next phase more sustainable?
The accounts point to practical priorities rather than a guaranteed formula. Publishers need to make books easier to discover and order while being realistic about the costs and reach of each channel. They also need clearer relationships with authors and distribution plans that extend beyond established urban book markets.
Recommended Free Tools
- Build discoverability around individual titles. Use online catalogs and promotion to make title, author, language, edition and ordering details clear. A digital presence is useful only when it helps a reader find and obtain a specific book.
- Match print quantities to demand where possible. The Delhi reporting’s low-end examples illustrate the risk of carrying stock in a market where selling even modest quantities can be difficult. They do not establish a right-sized run for other publishers or regions.
- Put rights, costs and reporting in writing. Authors and publishers benefit from explicit terms for ownership, production funding, distribution, sales statements and royalty payments, particularly when an author finances a book.
- Treat courier and online orders as part of distribution, not a substitute for it. E-commerce and direct delivery can bridge distance, but broader reach still depends on reliable ordering and delivery beyond the urban markets where many publishers are based.
- Keep local evidence local. India’s Urdu book trade, Delhi publishers, a Karachi press and Pakistan’s broader publishing industry face overlapping but not identical conditions. A strategy that works in one setting cannot be presumed to work across all of them.
What the available evidence can—and cannot—say
The British Council’s India Literature and Publishing Sector Research, commissioned in late 2020, covered ten target states or cities and eight focus languages, including Urdu. Its stated scope was to examine challenges to the circulation of Indian-language literature and opportunities for international collaboration. The landing-page description alone does not support a specific Urdu-market finding.
Across the cited reporting, there is no verified, representative current dataset measuring Urdu book sales, readership, annual titles, revenue or online sales across India and Pakistan. The evidence instead consists of dated reporting, interviews and individual cases. It shows serious pressures and some workable routes to readers, but not a market-wide recovery curve.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
