A year and a half into the struggle that was Daastan, and very many rejections but also quite a few notable achievements later, Daastan finally launched its self-publishing website by the name of Mera Qissa. The website was to be a writer’s as well as a reader’s one-stop-solution for publishing their work in print ready formats, which would then be refined and edited to perfection, ready to be read online by the thriving amount of readers that visited the website in search for quality literature. It was an all in one solution for writers across the country as it helped them build a profile by putting up a bio, garnering readership, and also enabled the readers to give the authors constructive reviews on their work. It also helped the writers earn revenue from opportunities furnished by Daastan’s client base, which ranged from various genres of content writings to digitizing handwritten works or ghost writing for their clients.
The Plans Offered:
The services offered by the portal were categorized into three plans according to their needs, and could cater to any and all of the writers who wished to get published. The Basic Plan was free, it only required that you sign up on the Qissa website, upload your work, wait for the editorial process to be completed and voila – at the end of all this your work would be published online for all Qissa viewers to read, and you would also get access to other writers’ work published on the website. The Pro and Pro+ plan came at a minimal cost per month and with it your account would be upgraded to receive additional benefits such as the ability to sell services online, as well as getting advertising credit. It also included a pro online reader which offered more features while reading eBooks, and the pro plus members also got to receive a monthly swag box featuring all the raging goodies of Daastan’s literary empire.
Baby Steps Turning into Leaps and Bounds:
The portal upon its launch had more than 30 stories available online, most of them from Daastan’s recent story-writing competition ‘The Stories Untold’. It also had works published by Daastan throughout the previous year. By the end of 2016, we aimed to have published more than 100 books and signed up over 1000 writers. Within Qissa’s first few days of initiation, it received more than a thousand visitors, with 5 minutes being the average time spent per person on the website.
Qissa aimed to be a medium which gave voice to those among us whose voice remained unheard, and words unspoken. If you have ever felt the same way, learn more about what we do by signing up on Qissa.
After a gruesome year of rejections and heartache for the founders of Daastan, we finally had our break when the company and its vision was incubated by Plan9 in 2015. Since then Daastan has been rising to the top and jostling the otherwise stagnant and dying literary industry of Pakistan. Earlier in 2016 Daastan published its first novel and has already started working on the publication of its second novel, all the while having already shipped out its very first orders. All this, however, was just the stage being set for a groundbreaking achievement that was yet to come – being selected as one of the Top 25 Startups in the Pakistan Startup Cup Challenge.
What is this Challenge?
The Pakistan Startup Cup challenge is a business model competition, which welcomes all kinds of business ideas from all over the country to compete among each other, meanwhile empowering them from a grass-root level to grow and flourish their business, and provide them with insight of the experts on how to build sustainable ecosystem. The challenge is a brainchild of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Islamabad, and is held in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
Daastan rising to the top:
The Startup Cup Challenge received almost a thousand applications from all over Pakistan. Only 130 of those were called to be a part of the challenge and participate in round one, i.e. Build a Business Workshop, and after a tough competition the top 25 made it to the next round, Daastan being one of them. Daastan eliminated more than a hundred mature startups, which were assumed to be better in theory by those who thought literature is dead end when it comes to business. It was the winning of this cup, that proved everyone who thought that way wrong.
Our team consisting of Founder Daastan Syed Ommer Amer (right) and Co-Founder and Editor in Chief Sidra Amin (left)
Team Daastan exhibited Qissa Self-Publishing launched by Daastan for Pakistan’s budding authors, which enables them to bring their work into print ready format and get it published, without the hassle of going through the legalities themselves. If you have a manuscript and are looking to get published, reach out to us through our Facebook or sign up on Qissa.
The journey of Daastan and its self-publishing platform ‘Qissa’ started in the year of 2014. The founder, Syed Ommer Amer, also the author of Qissa’s debut novel, put his heart and soul into two things. First, the novel itself, which was to be the first domino in the disruption of the literary industry of Pakistan. Second, after being rejected by a publisher and seemingly at a loss of another way to bring his work to the public – the creation of Daastan. That is where it all began.
Fast forward two years – through a six month incubation in Plan9 and bringing Daastan’s vision to national and international media and making waves throughout the industry – to the start of 2016, which finally brought with itself the fruit of countless hours of toil, rejections, sleepless nights, extreme criticism and dejection, and the fruit was as sweet as the team had predicted. Qissa – Pakistan’s first self-publishing platform – a service to make publishing easier, and to finally bring forth all the opportunities that the writers of this country had been previously deprived of, was here.
The protagonist of The Forbidden Story
What The Forbidden Story is About:
And with it, came the realization of the founder’s dream – in the form of his novel finally getting published. ‘The Forbidden Story’ is Pakistan’s first action thriller novel. It features the life of comrades under the banner of ‘Flame’ who are code named Angel and Hamza. It is a story of the quest that follows when they find their colleague and fellow Ignitors brutally murdered by the followers of Flame’s enemy, and their corpses left in cold blood. It isn’t until Flame’s Secret Database gets broken into and their finest marks-woman is captured, that Angel and Hamza realize that they might have blundered.
The tale follows the visionary Rex, leader of the Flame, and the evil antagonist Sal, the creator of the assassins, through eleven chapters written in a manner that one can’t help but keep flipping pages to get to the end.
Over the course of 2016, along with developing its businesses and improving by leaps and bounds, Daastan also had the opportunity to launch “Daastan Freelance Writers”. It was a closed beta version wing of the company providing content solutions to clients who required professionally written content that spoke for itself. This was among Daastan’s various innovative initiatives targeted to revolutionize and therefore make easier the process of writers earning a livelihood for themselves through paid writing gigs, and thus gaining financial independence through their writings. At its peak, this wing had over 70 writers working on a daily basis, who had a combined skill set of 20 plus genres. On average, Daastan Freelance Writing Wing generated almost 5,000 words daily, for more than 5 clients.
Eventually, Daastan had the privilege of signing a contract with Startup.pk. A firm which aims to empower entrepreneurs much like ourselves and provide them with a platform to build their skills, knowledge, exchange opportunities, resourceful connections, and mentoring and training services which eventually helps them scale and build strong entrepreneurial thinking as well as linkages in the industry.
Daastan’s Partnership with Startup.pk:
Daastan’s involvement with Startup.pk ensured its own advancement, as its writers started gaining exposure and became a direct part of Pakistan’s start-up culture, which not only encouraged their entrepreneurial thinking and innovation but also groomed them and their writing skills into becoming more professional, refined, and diverse. Daastan encourages all of its writers into joining its professional team, and makes certain that all those with fine-tuned capabilities are revealed to the world and their talents exhibited in relevant areas. The directors have over time realized that not everyone wants to write stories; many writers simply require an avenue which will provide them with paid work.
How can you become a part of the team?
To cater to this, the executives decided to strengthen their freelance platform to provide more of such opportunities to local writers. To join, you can simply sign up on Qissa – all you only need to have the strong will to showcase your abilities, followed by the capacity to work and make sure you are seen for all your potential. Daastan’s partnership with Startup.pk is neither the first, nor will it be the last of its kind, as we are constantly striving to bring bigger and better opportunities to our team. If you own a business, and require quality content solutions, talk to us of your needs by emailing us at merasawal@daastan.com, or contacting us through our website and we will be sure to whip up writings customized to your requirements.
Daastan presents you literary legends of Pakistan. We have compiled a list of ten (10) legends we lost in the year 2015. This effort is a tribute to the invaluable work they did for the Pakistani literature.
About Abdullah Hussain:
Urdu Novelist
In Urdu literary circles that is a familiar name. When a reader comes across the title ‘Udas Naslain’ on a bookshelf then what comes to mind is the philosophy of Mr. Hussain. One of the renowned Urdu novelist of Pakistani literature and the genius behind the very famous Urdu master piece ‘Udas Naslain’.
Abdullah Hussain passed away in Lahore in July, 2015 due to health issues.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Ada Jaffri:
Urdu Poetess
She was a Pakistani poet who is regarded as the first major Urdu poet who published as a woman and has been honored with the title “The First Lady of Urdu Poetry“. She presented many wonderful contemporary literary pieces and became popular among critics and general audience. She was also an author and was considered a prominent figure in contemporary Urdu literature.
She died on 12th march, 2015.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Ali Sufyan Afaqi:
Urdu Editor
He was the Editor ‘Family’ Magazine of Nawa-i-Waqt Group, senior journalist, eminent writer and film producer. He was the pioneer of ‘Filmy Review’ which he started in ‘Afaq’ under title of ‘Daam-e-Khayal’ and ‘Darechey’. He also contributed as a columnist to Nawa-i-Waqt, Amroz, Ahsan, and Jang daily.
He passed away in January, 2015.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Amin Faheem:
Sindhi Poet
Yes the name instantly rings a bell. Although he was a well-known politician, he was a writer at heart. He once said ‘Poetry is my first love. I am still fond of saying verses and reading poetry of others‘. His forte was mystic poetry. His poetry speaks about love, Peace, and simplicity.
We recently lost him on 21st Nov, 2015 due to blood cancer.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Ishtiaq Ahmed:
Fiction Writer
Renowned for entertaining people of all ages and particularly enchanting youth with his spy and detective novels. Though the legendary mystery raconteur is no longer among us but his spirit is still alive in ‘Inspecter Jamshed‘ and many other such characters.
Unfortunately we bid farewell to this legend on November 17, 2015 in Karachi, Pakistan.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Jameel uddin Aali:
Urdu Poet
Mr. Aali was a well acclaimed Pakistani poet, critic, playwright, essayist, columnist, and scholar. His scholarly spark was the reason for his column’s popularity. He was a master essayist and playwright, and his work is still inspiration for all. His popular patriotic poems are “Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan” and “Aye Watan K Sajeelay Jawaanon“.
We sadly lost this legend on 23rd Nov, 2015.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Muhammad Nawaz Khan:
Pashtun Hitorian
Muhammad Nawaz Khan was a famous Pakistani writer, historian, columnist, and poet of the English, Pashto and Urdu languages. This multilingual writer is most recognized for his work as an historian.
He died on 3rd Oct, 2015.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Sabeen Mehmud:
Human Rights Activist
Most popular name among the youth, two words best defined this lady i.e. brave and honest. A Pakistani human rights activist and social NGO worker. She devoted her struggles for the rights of minorities. She was founder and director of the Karachi-based cafe The Second Floor (T2F) and president of the Karachi branch of TiE. She continually hosted seminars to shape the perspective of people on positive and liberal grounds.
On 24 April 2015, she was unfortunately shot dead by unidentified gunmen on her way home after hosting a seminar at T2F.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Saeed Quershi:
Book Collector
“Saeed Book Bank” a name that have been every student’s companion. He was the owner of the famous Saeed Book Bank. Mr. Qureshi claimed that his bookshop was the largest in South Asia, in terms of space and volume of books.
He passed away in Sep 2015 at a ripe age of 77.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
About Ved Bhasin:
English Journalist
Well known journalist and a respected editor. Popular for his contributions to the Kashmir Times. He boldly voiced his opinion against social injustices and was a strong voice of reason among his many readers.
He died a natural death due to old age in 2015.
#Daastan #Literature #LiteraryLegendsLost
Credits:
Written By: Narmeen Taimoor Nehal (Daastan Freelance Writer)
Edited By: Tahniat Saba
About Daastan:
Daastan is a literary forum working for revival of literature in Pakistan. We connect writers with opportunities. Our active projects are Freelance Marketplace and Qissa Self-publishing.
