The sale of poetry books has dropped by 50 percent in market, with a majority of publishers refusing to publish the books altogether. Muzaffar, a manager at the Al-Hamd Publishers, says he has stopped publishing fresh poetry books and replaced it with those on history, Islam and biographies.
"Many young poets repeating old stuff of poetry are no more relevant to readers now. We are only reproducing the editions of classic poets," he said. "The social media has replaced the trend of poetry reading among the young. They spend their time on Facebook, Twitter and such other social media outlets than reading a poetry book. Availability of television transmissions for 24/7 has also hit hard the hobby of book reading."
Kashif, another publishing house manager, believes his house has stopped publishing books for a while to sale out inventories. He said, "You find everything right from poetry to peer on the Facebook now." However, he admits books on the current affairs are also popular among readers and negated an impression that a drop in publication of poetry books has led to closure of publishing houses in the city.