First Author Brought to Print through a Crowd Funding Campaign

First Author Brought to Print through a Crowd Funding Campaign

by | Aug 30, 2016 | Pakistani Writers, Publications, Qissa

Just a few days after Daastan’s self-publishing portal Qissa went live, Tooba Arshad, whose debut novel ‘Unveiling the Unknown’ would be published through us, messaged our team on the page and requested that we help us realize her dream of being an author of a book published both digitally and in print. A little while later, she would become the beneficiary of Daastan’s first ever crowdfunding campaign. Her novel of 600 pages required a minimum of PKR 30,000 to go into print, which neither her nor Daastan had the resources to fund. Daastan’s Founder Ommer being a dreamer and whose book was also rejected due to technicalities, decided to take on this mission and help her gather enough capital so as to bring her dream to life, and that is how Daastan’s first ever crowdfunding campaign was launched. The campaign was a success, and at the end of one month of struggle and efficient marketing strategies, the author finally had the amount she needed which was collected through more than 30 pre-orders of her upcoming book.

The author, Tooba Arshad:

Tooba Arshad, is an undergrad in BioMedical Engineering at NED, a part time teacher having taught at many private educational institutes, and an excellent public speaker. Her artistical talents are not limited to writing only, as she also has experience in directing many theatrical plays in both English and Urdu over the course of her years of schooling. Her debut novel, ‘Unveiling of the Unknown’, is a masterfully written mystery thriller which pulls the reader in with its imagery and keeps them glued until the last page of the book is flipped. Order her book now to support the author and experience the thrilling journey by yourself.

Tooba Arshad’s book, Unveiling the Unknown

Book Launch:

After the printing of her book was complete, Tooba became the first ever author to have her book launched through Daastan. The book launch ceremony took place at Nest I/O and was inaugurated by Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA and Founder of Nest I/O. Tooba has had much to say about Daastan, some of her words are quoted below:

“I would like to sincerely thank team Daastan, because if it weren’t for them, I would still be like those hundreds of rejected, discouraged, and unpublished authors who never got the chance to start their professional career. What they are doing here, is basically shaping a better future for the society, and I urge them to continue doing so!”

The Nest I/O‘s founder Jehan Ara (left) with Tooba Arshad (right).

If you are an author who is looking to get published, reach out to us at Daastan, or upload your manuscript to Qissa by signing up, to let the magic begin.

Our Very First Novel “The Forbidden Story” Gets Published through Qissa

Our Very First Novel “The Forbidden Story” Gets Published through Qissa

by | Mar 10, 2016 | Pakistani Writers, Publications

The Conception of 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.

  • The ex-Ignitor who double crossed Flame

Where can I read it?

You can read the whole novel online HERE

If you are an author looking to get published and make history, you can learn about our services here and avail them by joining us on Qissa.