Physical books sell so well in Afghanistan that there is a piracy problem

Road Norland and Fahim Abed have an interesting story about the physical sale of books overseas, specifically in Afghanistan, “Though most Afghans can’t read, their book trade is booming”, in the Sunday New York Times.

  

In a country where 60% of adults are illiterate, physical bookselling is booming.  The biggest areas are non-fiction (“Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and Bin Lade, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001”), often by western authors and translated into Urdu.  Self-help is popular.

There is a big problem with piracy of books in Afghanistan, comparable to DVD’s of movies in the west.

This is almost the inverse of my own business model.