Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a book publishing business do?
It acquires, edits, produces, and releases books and similar publications in print, electronic, audio, and online form, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, maps, and charts.
2. Does this activity include digital and audio books?
Yes. Book publishing covers books in print, electronic, audio, and Internet form, including reference works such as encyclopedias on CD-ROM.
3. Is publishing music or sheet books covered?
No. The publishing of music and sheet books is classified as a separate activity, even though both involve publishing.
4. Are independent authors covered by this activity?
No. Self-published authors operating on their own fall under a separate activity. This activity covers publishing businesses that acquire, produce, and release books.
5. Does a book publisher need approval to set up in the UAE?
Yes. Approval from the UAE Media Council is required before the trade license is issued. The activity is otherwise exempt from AML compliance requirements.
How to Start Book Publishing Business with Meydan Free Zone
J.K. Rowling was rejected by twelve publishers before the thirteenth said yes to Harry Potter. That thirteenth decision is now worth billions. Every book on every shelf started with a moment like that, a publisher choosing to do the back-end work before a book reaches its audience.
Book publishing is the business of those decisions, the work of choosing which books exist and bringing them into the world.
The UAE has built a serious publishing infrastructure. At the 2025 Sharjah International Book Fair, 2,350 publishers from 118 countries traded rights, holding the country's place as the world's largest marketplace for publishing rights, according to Gulf Today¹.
The ambition runs deeper than the fair: as part of its national reading strategy, the UAE has set a target to increase the number of books published locally each year from around 400 to 4,000 by 2026, as reported by Khaleej Times². For a publishing business, that is a market both connected globally and expanding domestically.
Publishing is the start of the supply chain: choosing, producing, and licensing books for everyone else to sell. The UAE has positioned itself as both a regional hub and a growing domestic market.
Sources: Gulf Today (2025); Khaleej Times.
A book publisher is the business that actually makes the books. It chooses which titles to publish, secures the rights, edits and designs the manuscript, and releases the finished book under its own imprint, whether in print, e-book, audiobook, or online form. Authors, retailers, schools, and libraries all rely on publishers for the work in between an idea and a finished book on a shelf.
The demand sits on two sides, and both are growing. The UAE has become a regional hub for the trade in publishing rights, largely thanks to Sharjah's annual rights market, where local publishers buy international titles and sell their own abroad.
At the same time, domestic appetite for books is being actively built, through a national reading strategy, a young and educated population, and government targets for how much the country publishes each year.
A publisher here can sell into a market that is global and local at the same time. The activity covers every form a book can take, which means a publisher can follow readers into whichever format they want next, print, audio, or digital.
From dictionaries and atlases to novels and audio books, the UAE rewards publishers who can choose titles well and bring them to a market that is both regional hub and growing audience.
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Who is this for?
- Book publishers: Publishers acquiring, editing, and releasing books across print, digital, and audio.
- Reference and educational publishers: Publishers producing dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and educational titles.
- Digital and audio book publishers: Publishers releasing books in electronic, audio, or online form.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a book publishing business in a regional publishing hub with growing domestic demand.
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5811.00 - Book Publishing
Under this activity, you are licensed to carry out book publishing, the publishing of books and related publications in print, electronic, audio, or online form.
There are clear boundaries on this activity. The closest neighbours are classified separately: the publishing of music and sheet books has its own activity, and so do the activities of independent authors, who are not running a publishing business in the regulatory sense.
The publishing of advertising material is also a separate activity, and the production of physical globes is a manufacturing activity rather than publishing.
The line is precise. If your business chooses, produces, and releases books, including reference works, audio books, and digital and online books, you are in. If you publish music or sheet books, write as an independent author, publish advertising material, or manufacture globes, a different activity applies.
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Third-Party Approval
Approval from the UAE Media Council (UAEMC) is required before the trade license is issued.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Citations
¹ Gulf Today. 44th Sharjah International Book Fair Concludes With Over 1.4m Visitors From 206 Nations. Gulf Today, November 2025.
² Khaleej Times. UAE Announces Law on Reading. Khaleej Times.
