FAQ’s–Frequently Asked Questions

What is print-on-demand?
There is what we call “true” print-on-demand and then there is what we call “hybrid print-on-demand”. True print-on-demand is a technology whereby custom machinery takes a book from digital file to complete bound book within minutes, and the machine does all the work, including printing & binding a cover. This is an expensive industrial grade technology that for some reason has not been heard of much since it launch in the first decade of 2000’s. The market has been cornered by global giants.

Enter: hybrid print-on-demand, a “smart solution”” and what we offer. In this model, a high quality computer printout of book content is handbound in a separately printed cover. The bound book takes at least a day to dry, so you must order at least two days in advance.

Books are not printed in advance unless we choose to print and keep some in stock; normally they are printed-on-demand.

Will you print my material or book?
We have not yet made a decision on it, but intend to launch white label services that are not affiliated with our core brand, which is focused on curated books.

Our intention is to introduce printing of author-submitted books pending an editorial process, but that is a separate line of business that does not yet exist.

Where are the books printed? Shipped from?
Karachi. When you send an order, it is received by our fulfilment agent, who gets the book printed-on-demand, gets it handbound (the process takes two days) and then ships. Our agent does not have a physical office, works from home, and on-demand. We use third-party printers at this time, and will obtain our own if and when we scale, insha’Allah.

We currently do not have a physical store or warehouse to ship from or for pick-ups. Please do not try to arrange one, as it hinders our process.

Do you have a physical store?
No, currently the entire set-up is based on just-in-time inventory model, the inventory is created on demand. We are contemplating creating a store for sales only in the Himalayan regions of Pakistan. Printing will remain in Karachi.

This sounds suspicious, I have never heard of a thing like this.
Always a first time; wait till you have read testimonials and done your due diligence. No hurries. (Just so you know, some of the larger smart i.e. info-tech enabled printers & publishers in the world use a similar model, except they have warehouses, offices, and their own printing facilities.)

Is cash-on-delivery (COD) option available? Why not?
No, we do our work honestly, do not have a mechanism to handle returns since we are currently using a virtual/cloud model to work; our workers do this work part-time until we scale (grow) enough to become full-time. We are conscientious about fulfilment, and have an outstanding track record with our past online businesses. In case of anything going wrong, we will cooperate to have your expectations met or exceeded, to the best of our ability. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR A TINY BUSINESS LIKE OURS TO HAVE HEALTHY CASH CYCLES and safety and security of mind, and advance payment assures us that safety.

But that means a risk to me?
Yes, and at this stage of our business, you must be willing to engage in taking this risk in what is admittedly a risky market. The bigger risk is a stressed-out producers who crashes due to business pressures and the lack of space to handle COD. Cash in our hands means happy, swiftly-delivered books (and other products, if any) in your hands. Thank you for understanding.

Can I have your products shipped abroad (outside of Pakistan)?
At this time, no.

Can I place an order from abroad, for shipment within Pakistan?
Yes, but also do write to us so we ensure smooth coordination.

What is the process of refunds & returns?
Items once sold are not returned or refunded, and this owes mostly to our business model which is using virtual assets to produce the products, which are created on-order. However, if you receive a faulty product, we will replace it provided you make your claim within stated time. Read full terms here.

Will you steal or misuse my data?
No, honestly, we are too busy for that stuff and very happy to focus on our core business, which we love and which keeps us busy. Your data is also not sold to anyone. Read our privacy policy here. In time, we will set up better avenues for you to have more control over your data and input. Thank you.

What is your policy on AI?
Great you asked. As of right now, there is no AI-produced content on our sites and blogs. Blogs are 100% written by thinking, feeling humans. The books we are publishing are not generated by AI to the best of our knowledge and are 100% human-written; going forward we will seek to determine if there is AI-involvement in the act of writing. We seek not to involve the AI in content generation.

Our initial stance was total abstinence, but this is no longer possible as AI has been weaved into the Internet. The founder sometimes engages the AI (Meta AI) in lightweight research or generating content for personal use or to ask AI questions. She intentionally trains and engages the AI, and teaches the same through her teaching outlets.

AI has been used informally to audit and scan our sites (Alam-e-Nau and other holdings) to render website evaluations. The founder-designer has developed her own evaluation metrics and used content from other teachers-entrepreneurs to check the sites; she also used human feedback and we will be using testing groups and critics to test the websites.

We would like to engage more human service providers but they are likely to use AI themselves; alas many humans are not as thorough and competent as our founder herself is and as she likes–she has spent decades training her own intelligence and now trains her child, who owns an art business, Alhamdolillah.

AI is probably needed at this time to scan through the immense amounts of data humans have generated. Our founder Hubb’Allah is of the view that humans should voluntarily delete some of that data, and initiate digital clean-ups not unlike Ocean clean-ups.

WE WILL BE UPGRADINNG THESE FAQ’S OVER TIME, KEEP CHECKING BACK AND SEND US ANY QUESTIONS THAT WE MAY ANSWER AND FEATURE HERE. Thank you.