Publishers Expand to the Middle East

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We all have been following the uprising of revolutions in the Middle East. It first started in Tunisia. Then it moved on to Egypt. The story doesn’t end here because the Middle East is still struggling to become free. Libya and Bahrain are trying to do the same thing. Other countries who have been in the same conflict are trying to overthrow their dictator. We hope they succeed to get back their basic rights.

Let's shift our focus back to Egypt and Tunisia. These two countries are free.  They are starting from scratch. They are hopeful and optimistic about tomorrow.

The purpose of this post:

 Books could pull a nation upwards or downwards. If a nation don’t read, then they don’t dream, then they become ill and disable to act free. And this happened in Egypt and Tunisia.

A quarter of people in the Arab world hardly ever or never read books for personal enjoyment -andfaraway.net

Arabs only read 4 pages a year, compared with an average American who read 11 books a year-UN Survey.

I am not saying that there are no books in the Middle East. It's just that over time, reading, as a hobby, had faded away among the Middle Eastern societies. But if publishing companies are watching carefully, the Middle East will be a great market in the future. Could you imagine expending your publishing business to reach 352 million people. These people are thirsty for knowledge and wisdom. They want to read and if not now...it will happen soon. I even found this video where an Egyptian is urging people to start reading more.

I think publishing companies should consider expanding their business into the Middle East. I know that might sound bias but start from Egypt. There are over 80,000,000 people in Egypt. You can't go wrong with that number!

Proof that your publishing company will be successful in Egypt àTwilight by Stephenie Meyer became a bestseller. So can other books!

And I know you can't just read this post and decide the next day that you will expand into the Middle East. But till then, start donating books to test the waters. Donate YA books and see the reaction.

From a personal experience, people go to amazon.com, drool over covers of books but they can't afford to buy it because it's in dollars or because they don’t have a credit card or because there is no shipping to Egypt.

Publishing companies (I don’t want to mention names, because I don’t want to forget any) from now on should start considering the Middle East as a potential market just like Europe and South America are.

Please contact me for more info or leave a comment for further discussion 

Tata for now