Syed Umar Ameer

founder of Dastaan

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Syed Umar Ameer is the founder of Dastaan, a book publishing company that also offers content solutions and events. He studied electronics engineering at UET Taxila. Ameer has said that Dastaan is above break-even and that its first MVP was the book publishing platform that now operates as Qisa.

Early life and background

Ameer was born in Wah Cantt. He has said that most people in his family are teachers or professors. He has said his great grandfather invented an Urdu calligraphic script in the subcontinent in the 1800s, and that the family keeps old manuscripts, preserved by his aunt. [1]

Education

Ameer attended a school and was one of its pioneer batch of pupils, from the time it was founded. For university he attended UET Taxila, where he studied electronics engineering. [1]

Early career

Ameer began his career on online kindness campaigns and worked as a campus reporter. He was writing an English fiction novel and completed its draft. He then emailed an academy of literature. [1]

Early ventures

The team applied in December 2014. About 1,500 applicants applied from Pakistan, and five teams from the North region were selected. The initial pitch was a book publishing platform. A board said the book publishing model would not work, as the team was not in place. [1]

A freelance writers marketplace was proposed in place of book publishing. Ameer has said it was easier to get companies to write blogs and to get writers. The team graduated after six months. [1]

A client demanded a refund, saying the work was not of good quality. Ameer's father said he would not give any money and that he could study whatever he wanted. The original team broke up because the venture lacked sustainability at the time. Ameer wrote blogs himself to repay the money owed to the client. [1]

Ameer and two other people ran a Facebook group. He has said the marketplace had 75 writers within a couple of months and produced 10,000 words a day. He has also said the revenue generated was good enough. [1]

Ameer has said he entered many startup competitions and came back losing. He won a business model competition. [1]

Dastaan

Ameer was told about a platform called Amazon. He said he would handle the technology while another person brought their networks. The platform was first known by a different name, and the team launched version 1.2 of Dastaan. The first MVP of Dastaan was the book publishing platform that now operates as Qisa. [1]

Ameer has said the plan was to replicate Amazon's model in Pakistan. He has said the aim was to digitise, archive and centralise the manuscripts and literature lying offline. [1]

Qisa

Qisa is described as the product. Ameer describes the Qisa model as a hybrid of publishing, neither traditional nor self-publishing. The first stage of publishing is book composition, which produces a print-ready PDF. Distribution is handled online through the company's own web portal, and books are published on the company's own portal. [1]

Authors buy a membership to submit their work for review. Ameer has said the basic membership costs 5,000 rupees a year. The membership includes up to three titles, each with a 100-day marketing plan. He has said the membership fee filters out people who are not serious. [1]

Business model

Dastaan's first vertical is book publishing. Its second vertical is content solutions for small businesses and corporates, and its third is events, including literature events. Dastaan has worked on a project with the KP government, and it has 12 employees, including the content team. Ameer has said Dastaan is above break-even. [1]

Printing and distribution

Ameer has said the biggest challenge was low-volume publishing. He has said printers in Urdu Bazaar usually want runs of 500 or 1,000 copies. Dastaan built its own mini press to solve low-volume printing, which took two to three years to build, with a printing partner. [1]

Ameer has said Dastaan uses digital printing, while high-volume jobs are offset printed, and that the minimum order quantity is 24 books. He has said he worked with a Lahore printer that exports books around the world. Dastaan has a partnership in India, and the books are printed there and sent on. [1]

Ameer has said books in Pakistan are delivered by cash on delivery or local methods, and that readers in the US, UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia can buy the books. He has said roughly 40 of every 100 printed pieces have some problem, and that Dastaan has had to send many free replacement copies after faults were found. He has said the team has figured out almost all of the supply chain issues that were there, and that Dastaan does not compromise on print quality. [1]

Pricing and sales

Ameer has said Dastaan's ticket size starts at 7,500 rupees. He has said a book of up to 100 pages costs around 20,000 to 40,000 rupees, and that pricing depends mainly on how many pages a book has. He has said authors get back the per-book cost plus 50% of profit when a book sells. [1]

Ameer has said bookstores take more than 50 percent of a book's price. He has said a rack rent of 5,000 rupees is asked, whether the book sells or not. He has said about 3,000 copies of one book have sold, and that the typical basket size is 800 to 1,000 rupees. [1]

Marketing and customers

Ameer has said Dastaan holds customer phone numbers, email addresses and demographics, and that it targets buyers in a genre with email or SMS marketing. He says a book's page shows reviews, which act as a ranking engine. He has said the best books are featured on the home page. [1]

Biography project

Ameer has said Dastaan planned to put someone's whole struggle into the form of a biography. He has said a pilot project was already running and was almost in its last phase. He has said the first draft would be ready by probably mid-January, and that the one problem that arose in the pilot project was pricing. He has said anyone who has a story and wants it published can come to Dastaan, which has the whole set-up. [1]

Views

Ameer has said there are no official figures for Pakistan's publishing market. He has said Pakistan has about 1,200 registered publishers for 200 million people, and that a publisher releases two or three books a year. He has said each HEC-recognised university has a literary society, averaging 30 members. [1]

Ameer has described an absence of platforms for people to perform. He has said platform gates were open to certain people only, not to all talent, and that knowledge creators should be able to produce content at scale and earn from it. He has said a pirated copy of every author's book can be found in Pakistan, and that he built Dastaan to solve this whole problem. [1]

Ameer has said he is an engineer, not a mathematician or financial expert. He has said he is using his own money for now and will go to venture capital later, and that he could potentially sell 30,000 books in ten years. His vision is for Pakistan to regain its past glory as a land of thinkers and philosophers. [1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2022-01-07 Pakistan has 1,200 publishers for 200 million people Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Syed Umar Ameer?

Syed Umar Ameer is the founder of Dastaan, a book publishing company that also offers content solutions and events. He studied electronics engineering at UET Taxila.[1]

What does Syed Umar Ameer do?

Syed Umar Ameer built Dastaan, whose first MVP was the book publishing platform that now operates as Qisa. Dastaan's verticals are book publishing, content solutions for small businesses and corporates, and events.[1]

Where did Syed Umar Ameer study?

Syed Umar Ameer attended UET Taxila for university, where he studied electronics engineering. He also attended a school as one of its pioneer batch of pupils.[1]

Where is Syed Umar Ameer from?

Syed Umar Ameer was born in Wah Cantt. He has said most people in his family are teachers or professors.[1]

What company did Syed Umar Ameer found?

Syed Umar Ameer built Dastaan, a book publishing company with content solutions and events verticals. Dastaan has 12 employees, including the content team, and Ameer has said it is above break-even.[1]

What is Qisa?

Qisa is the book publishing platform that began as the first MVP of Dastaan, the company built by Syed Umar Ameer. Ameer describes the Qisa model as a hybrid of publishing, neither traditional nor self-publishing.[1]

How much does a Dastaan membership cost?

Syed Umar Ameer has said the basic Dastaan membership costs 5,000 rupees a year. It includes up to three titles, each with a 100-day marketing plan.[1]

What is the minimum order for books printed by Dastaan?

Syed Umar Ameer has said the minimum order quantity at Dastaan is 24 books. He has said Dastaan uses digital printing, while high-volume jobs are offset printed.[1]

References

  1. Pakistan has 1,200 publishers for 200 million people . Thought Behind Things , 2022-01-07.
Show the source passages (99 statements)
  1. Syed Umar Ameer was the guest on this episode. Syed Ommer Amer. How has his educational journey been?
  2. He was born in Wah Cantt. that is Wah Cantt. So, meri birth bhi wahin ki hai.
  3. He attended a school and was one of its pioneer batch of pupils, from the time it was founded. Margalla Grammar School mein wahan se hoon. I was one of the pioneer batch, jab woh school bana tha tab se main tha.
  4. He attended UET Taxila for university. So, university mein UET Taxila thi meri.
  5. He studied electronics engineering at university. Electronics Engineering mera subject tha jisme main apni start ki.
  6. Most people in his family are teachers or professors. So, everyone in my family is either a teacher or a professor.
  7. He has said his great grandfather invented an Urdu calligraphic script in the subcontinent in the 1800s. my great grandfather Muhammad Basir was the one who invented Urdu calligraphic script in subcontinent in 1800s.
  8. He has said his family keeps old manuscripts, preserved by his aunt. Still have those like manuscripts and all that. Mere phuppo ne preserve karke rakhe hue hain.
  9. He began his career on online kindness campaigns. I started my career unki woh online kindness campaigns
  10. He worked as a campus reporter. Toh again, I was the campus reporter.
  11. He was writing an English fiction novel. maine apna English ka novel jo main story thi likh raha tha
  12. He completed the draft of his novel. Aur again uska draft complete ho gaya.
  13. He emailed an academy of literature. I went to this Pakistan Academy of Literature. Maine unko email daali.
  14. He was told about a platform called Amazon. she told me there is this platform called Amazon
  15. He said he would handle the technology while another person brought their networks. Tum woh apne jo bhi networks hain tum woh leke aao, tech main dekhta hoon
  16. The platform was first known by a different name. Back then it was called Digital Raconteurs.
  17. The team launched version 1.2 of Dastaan. So, that was the point when we launched version 1.2 of Dastaan.
  18. The team applied in December 2014. So, it was very early years, December 2014 ke andar humne ye apply kiya tha.
  19. About 1,500 applicants applied from Pakistan, and five teams from the North region were selected. hum log again 1500 applicants the pure Pakistan se, hum log North region jo tha ye wala idhar se paanch teams select hoke gayi thi.
  20. The initial pitch was a book publishing platform. Initial pitch yehi thi ke hum book publishing platform banayenge
  21. A board said the book publishing model would not work, as the team was not in place. ye toh nahi chalega, book publishing toh jo aap keh rahe hain, ye toh aapke paas team bhi nahi hai
  22. A freelance writers marketplace was proposed in place of book publishing. hum isse book publishing ki bajaye hum isse freelance writers marketplace kar lete hain
  23. He has said it was easier to get companies to write blogs and to get writers. Because it was easier to get companies to write blogs and it was easier to get writers.
  24. The team graduated after six months. at the end of six six months hum graduate ho gaye.
  25. A client demanded a refund, saying the work was not of good quality. Client ne na ke you are not doing quality job toh humne aapko jo pay kiya tha woh wapas karein.
  26. His father said he would not give any money and that he could study whatever he wanted. Mere abbe ne kaha tha ke main koi paise nahi de raha, tumne jo padhna hai padh lo.
  27. The original team broke up because the venture lacked sustainability at the time. everyone went others ways kyunki there was no sustainability back then.
  28. He wrote blogs himself to repay the money owed to the client. Ghar aake maine dobara khud baith ke blogs likh likh ke paise pure utare us bande ke.
  29. He and two other people ran a Facebook group. we made a Facebook group. Uske upar main tha, Hafsa thi aur ek aur uski koi friend thi jo usne add ki thi.
  30. He has said the marketplace had 75 writers within a couple of months and produced 10,000 words a day. within next couple of months 75 writers tak leke gaye and we were generating 10,000 words a day.
  31. He has said the revenue generated was good enough. Aur udhar se humne jo revenue generate kiya that was good enough revenue
  32. The first MVP of Dastaan was the book publishing platform that now operates as Qisa. wo pehla daastan ka hamara MVP tha jise hum kehte hain book publishing platform jo aaj Qissa ke naam se chal raha hai.
  33. He has said the plan was to replicate Amazon's model in Pakistan. humne Amazon ka model replicate karna hai Pakistan mein aur hamara exit strategy bhi yahi thi
  34. He has said the aim was to digitise, archive and centralise the manuscripts and literature lying offline. jitne manuscripts hain jitna literature hai sara offline pada hai sab ko digitize karke archive karke centralize karna hai
  35. Authors buy a membership to submit their work for review. author aata hai they purchase a membership to submit their work for review.
  36. He describes the Qisa model as a hybrid of publishing, neither traditional nor self-publishing. traditional bhi nahi hai self bhi nahi hai hybrid type ki publishing hai.
  37. The first stage of publishing is book composition, which produces a print-ready PDF. So first stage is book composition. Jis ke andar ek print ready PDF banega
  38. Distribution is handled online through the company's own web portal. Aur distribution hum log sari online kar rahe hain apne platform ke through jo hamara web portal humne build kiya hua hai.
  39. Books are published on the company's own portal. Phir hum log use apne portal ke upar publish karte hain.
  40. Qisa is described as the product. Aur Qissa is the product.
  41. Dastaan's first vertical is book publishing. Dastaan ke agar main verticals banaun to ek vertical hai hamara book publishing ka
  42. Dastaan's second vertical is content solutions for small businesses and corporates. Dusra hamara vertical hai content solutions ka jo hum small businesses aur corporates ko dete hain.
  43. Dastaan's third vertical is events, including literature events. Aur third vertical is our events jahan pe hum literature ke events wagera karte hain
  44. Dastaan has worked on a project with the KP government. KP government ke saath humne project kiya.
  45. Dastaan has 12 employees, including the content team. 12 employees. That this includes the content team as well? Sara kuch.
  46. He has said Dastaan is above break-even. Yes. Above break even.
  47. He has said the team has figured out almost all of the supply chain issues that were there. we have figured out almost all the supply chain issues that were there.
  48. He has said the biggest challenge was low-volume publishing. Hamara sabse bada challenge yeh tha book publishing ke andar ke aap Pakistan ke andar low volume publishing nahi kar sakte.
  49. He has said printers in Urdu Bazaar usually want runs of 500 or 1,000 copies. Go to any person in Urdu Bazaar aur usse kaho yaar maine 10 books print karni hai, maine 24 books print karni hai. Wo kahega ji 500 ya 1000.
  50. He has said Dastaan's ticket size starts at 7,500 rupees. Hamara ticket size start hota hai 7500 rupees se.
  51. He has said a book of up to 100 pages costs around 20,000 to 40,000 rupees. ya up to 100 pages. Toh around 20 se 40,000 ke beech mein ho jati hai
  52. He has said pricing depends mainly on how many pages a book has. hamari jo main pricing hai na wo sirf is cheez par depend karti hai ke how many pages your book has.
  53. He has said Dastaan has a partnership in India and the books are printed there and sent on. India ke andar hamare paas partnership hai so wo to wahin se print ho ke chali jati hain.
  54. He has said books in Pakistan are delivered by cash on delivery or local methods. hum unhe cash on delivery ya local jo bhi methods hain unke through hum customers tak pahuncha dete hain.
  55. He has said readers in the US, UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia can buy the books. US, UK, Canada, Saudi Arab yahan bhi bech sakte hain.
  56. He has said bookstores take more than 50 percent of a book's price. So practically wo aapse 50% ke upar lete hain
  57. He has said a rack rent of 5,000 rupees is asked, whether the book sells or not. toh 5000 rupay iska rack ka kiraya dein bike ya na bike.
  58. He has said Dastaan uses digital printing, while high-volume jobs are offset printed. Digital hai. Digital hai. So you can understand. Lekin jo high volume ki hai wo offset pe hoti hai.
  59. He has said the minimum order quantity is 24 books. minimum order quantity is 24 books.
  60. He has said authors get back the per-book cost plus 50% of profit when a book sells. Lekin jab wo book sell hoti hai toh author ko wo per book ki cost bhi return hoti hai plus 50% of the profit bhi return hota hai.
  61. He has said the basic membership costs 5,000 rupees a year. hamari jo basic membership hai wo 5000 rupees per year hai
  62. The membership includes up to three titles, each with a 100-day marketing plan. aapko up to three titles 100 days per book marketing plan milta hai.
  63. He has said the membership fee filters out people who are not serious. Wo sirf humne isliye rakhi hui hai ke jo serious log nahi hain wo waise hi filter out ho jaye.
  64. He has said authors are good at writing but not at marketing or design. They are not good at marketing or designing and doing stuff like that.
  65. He has said comments change tone overnight when Dastaan posts and authors share. jab hum log dalte hain aur aap share karte hain toh within over overnight comments ki tone aise change hoti hai
  66. He has said all of the titles came from authors who reached out to Dastaan. All of them were they reaching out to us.
  67. He has said the early buzz came from running writing events at universities. hum universities mein ja kar literature societies ke saath collaborate karke writing events kara rahe hain
  68. He has said he entered many startup competitions and came back losing. Aur har jagah ja ke Alhamdulillah haar ke aaya hoon.
  69. He won a business model competition. Unka ek business model competition tha wo win kiya tha
  70. He has said there are no official figures for Pakistan's publishing market. abhi tak koi official numbers nahi hain.
  71. He has said each HEC-recognised university has a literary society, averaging 30 members. agar HEC se recognized jitni bhi universities hain, each university has a literary society. Each literary society has on average 30 members.
  72. He has said Pakistan has about 1,200 registered publishers for 200 million people. Now imagine in a country of 200 million people, sirf 1200 publishers hain.
  73. He has said a publisher releases two or three books a year. Ek publisher saal mein do ya teen kitabein nikalta hai
  74. He has said Dastaan holds customer phone numbers, email addresses and demographics. So now I have the phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, age bracket, and every possible demography of the customer
  75. He has said Dastaan targets buyers in a genre with email or SMS marketing. hum sirf us profile ke logon ko email marketing ya SMS marketing ke through target karte hain.
  76. He has said about 3,000 copies of one book have sold. taqreeban 3000 copies sell hui hain us ek particular book ki.
  77. He has said the typical basket size is 800 to 1,000 rupees. around 800 to 1000 rupees and people are quite comfortable in buying that.
  78. He has said roughly 40 of every 100 printed pieces have some problem. 100 mein se 40 40 piece toh koi na koi problem nikalti hai.
  79. He has said Dastaan has had to send many free replacement copies after faults were found. hamein realize hua ke hamein literally aadhi toh hamein free copyan bhejni parti thi
  80. He has said he worked with a Lahore printer that exports books around the world. Topical printers in Lahore. They are exporters, they export books to to all over the world.
  81. Dastaan built its own mini press to solve low-volume printing. So how we solve this problem was that humne apni poori mini press banayi hai.
  82. The mini press took two to three years to build, with a printing partner. It took me like two to three years and I worked with a printing partner
  83. He has said Dastaan does not compromise on print quality. we do not compromise on quality.
  84. He has said Dastaan planned to put someone's whole struggle into the form of a biography. humne inki poori struggle ko ek biography ki form mein banana hai
  85. He has said a pilot project was already running and was almost in its last phase. hamara yeh ek pilot project already chal raha hai which is like almost in the last phase
  86. He has said the first draft would be ready by probably mid-January. Uh our first draft would be ready by probably January mid
  87. He has said anyone who has a story and wants it published can come to Dastaan, which has the whole set-up. if anyone has a story and they want to get it published, we have the whole stuff.
  88. He has said the one problem that arose in the pilot project was pricing. Sirf usmein jo masla aa raha tha na woh pricing ka aa raha tha.
  89. He has said he is an engineer, not a mathematician or financial expert. I am not like a mathematician or financial expert
  90. He has said he is using his own money for now and will go to venture capital later. Toh abhi main rocket ship apne paise se bana raha hoon. Fuel ke liye hum jayenge phir baad mein VC.
  91. He has said he could potentially sell 30,000 books in ten years. Main dekhunga aaj se 10 saal baad main potentially 30,000 kitabein bech sakta hun
  92. He has described an absence of platforms for people to perform. the platform was absent for the people to perform.
  93. He has said platform gates were open to certain people only, not to all talent. they were for certain people to pass through and not for everyone with a talent who can pass through
  94. He has said knowledge creators should be able to produce content at scale and earn from it. we let the knowledge creators produce content at scale and make money through it
  95. He has said a pirated copy of every author's book can be found in Pakistan. har author ki pirated copy Pakistan mein mil jati hai.
  96. He has said he built Dastaan to solve this whole problem. is pure problem ko solve karne ke liye maine basically Dastaan ko build kiya tha
  97. His vision is for Pakistan to regain its past glory as a land of thinkers and philosophers. regain its past glory where it was known as the land of thinkers and philosophers.
  98. He says a book's page shows reviews, which act as a ranking engine. So woh basically ranking engine hai koi. So when you go and open a book, aapko uske upar reviews miltay hain
  99. He has said the best books are featured on the home page. So jo good books hain woh humne home store, home page pe lagayi hui hain.