‘Publish On Demand’: Poised to revolutionise publishing mkt in ME

Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business

Highlighting the e-trends in publishing, Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) this year is exhibiting the best of technology in use in the industry worldwide.
One such trend, which is fast catching up globally, is of online books and libraries. However, experts say that the region needs to catch up with the pace at which the trend is picking up across the world.
Catering to the urgent needs of bringing more and more books online and making more and more global authors accessible online in this region, Jamalon, the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) largest book store, is raising awareness about the urgency of the issue at the book fair.
“I always wanted to bridge the gap between the book and the people. When I recognised the fact that books are inaccessible to us in various situations, like while travelling abroad or during shifting to other country, I took the first step at my home in Jordan to make the movement of books possible within the region,” Ala’Alsalla, Founder and CEO of Jamalon, now a well-known name in the Middle East, told Emirates Business.
To provide the much-needed push to this industry, Jamalon launched Middle East’s first ‘Publish On Demand’ (POD) service at the fair. Ala’Alsallal said that state-of-the-art Dubai-based printing facilities will serve as a hub for the MENA publishing industry in the coming months.
All set to launch in Dubai on May 15, Jamalon’s POD will be a first for the Middle East and will serve as an undisputed literary hub for the region’s publishing industry.
“We aim to revolutionise the regional publishing market by tackling many of the issues connected with traditional offset printing, such as long delivery times, warehousing and storage costs, expensive cross-border distribution and missed opportunities with out-of-stock books,” he said.
By harnessing the latest digital print technology, Jamalon’s POD will enable the region’s publishers to depend on the Jamalon platform to produce and distribute their printed books all across the world.
“Jamalon’s Publish-on-Demand service will take the MENA publishing industry to the next level and will be a vital asset for every regional publisher. As a company that believes in breaking down barriers for the exchange of knowledge between individuals, Jamalon’s POD marks an exciting new chapter for us,” pointed out Ala’Alsalla.
Talking about the so far response to the initiative, Ala’Alsalla maintained, “People are very happy with the free shipping offer of ours. The biggest problem that the industry is currently facing is related to the movement of books. When people move books from one place to other, the shipping cost is too much and it acts as a deterrent for them. Every time you move book form one country to another, there are customs, trading, and other departments you have to cross. With Jamalon you can do away with that.”
Jamalon has set up the machines in Jabel Ali and will get the rights form authors across the world to publish their books in the UAE and sell them on
Jamalon.
“Instead of importing book, we will have them produced here locally. This will significantly reduce the logistic costs. The newly published books are same in the quality and content-wise. We are sure that POD will be a 21st century blessing for publishing industry in every sense. It is a direct contact for you — you are a publisher, author or a reader — we have customised solutions available for you,” he added.