Imperative steps are required to help authors achieve their individual economic goals and contribute to the national economy. Famous French author Elisabeth Badinter’s net worth, as of June 2019, amounts to $1.3 billion; making her the world’s richest author. First published in 1997, J K Rowling’s Harry Potter recorded an aggregate sale of 107 million copies. She claims second place in the race of affluent authors of the world with a net worth of $1.18 billion. She pays generous taxes and says that it makes her a proud British. Then comes Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian novelist with $510 million earned through the consistent practice of the power to think and write. At an average scale, a US author pockets $57,000 annually. This figure stands at $4580 in Pakistan. Writing for theatre, film and showbiz constitutes a significant portion of the authors’ annual income. Scriptwriters in India have set their top billing successfully, and the playwrights in Pakistan are also earning well, but they are very few. Academic authors, of course, need the highest levels of research and their net worth is directly associated with the rate of literacy. Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani novelist, won the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her bestseller novel “Home Fire.” She was awarded a cash prize of 10,000 Euros. Except for a few great authors in the previous decades, Pakistan could produce no significant author with a big income stream. The country’s intellectual asset awaits some staunch custodian! Another way the authors stimulate the economic atmosphere is to warn the nation of heinous nature of economic diseases, which include, but are not limited to corruption, hoarding and bribery. Climate literature has the power to help people stand against global warming and environmental degradation. Conserving the environment means retaining the economy. Imperative steps are required to help authors achieve their individual economic goals and contribute to the national economy Similarly, the authors are authoritative of cultivating social change through their influential thoughts and language. Social change, thus, acquired tends to relieve “total uneconomic load.” During his address in the 4th International Writers Conference held in Islamabad in February 2017, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan announced an upgradation in the financial package for the writers and poets of the country. Improvisation of the package included a little enhancement in life insurance, an increase in monthly financial assistance and a statistical betterment in the number of literary awards given to the authors each year. The announcement gathered appreciation on the part of the government but increasing the number of beneficiaries of financial assistance from 500 to 1000 could not be enough to figure out the problem. The poor condition of authors’ economy in Pakistan originates from two major factors: low rate of literacy and government’s disinterest in attending the fate of intellectual asset. Higher rate of illiteracy is inversely proportional to the “national reading capacity.” Thus, the demand for printed copies of books or novels contracts. It causes economic exploitation of the authors. Only 2.85 per cent of adult Pakistanis has reading habits. Such a low rate is even detrimental to the evolution of Urdu literature. Owing to a small pool of readership, most of the literary and educational writers in Pakistan hardly see second editions of their books published. Their economic erosion does start here. Conversely, India is up into the world of reading. An average Indian allocates a minimum of 12 hours per week to reading. Speaking of the UK, 59 per cent of the adult readers come from wealthy backgrounds, 81 per cent of which have reported very positive influences of reading. “Frequent readers are comparatively more satisfied, happier and successful in their lives,” said Viv Bird, chief executive of Booktrust. Absence of healthy reading habits tapers the level of research in the country, which is associated with economic development. Despite playing a sagacious role in the creative industry, writers and authors seem to have no guardian in Pakistan. Imperative steps are required to help authors achieve their individual economic goals and contribute to the national economy. Authors’ rights could be well legislated. Copyright laws and authors’ moral rights could also be protected. In 1928, France and Germany added two moral rights to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works: the right of attribution and the right of integrity. These laws could be promulgated in Pakistan’s case too. All the universities could launch graduate and undergraduate programs in different areas of creative writing and scriptwriting. Establishment of conventional associations of authors could also carry weight in this regard. Periodic book fairs at most localities could be instrumental to attract readers and book lovers. Establishment of official libraries would definitely bear fruit. The government could set up the Directorate of Public Libraries in Pakistan. There are around 160 public libraries across the country. Increasing the number of libraries at local levels could promote reading habits and people’s love for learning. All the qualified authors, especially young ones, could be registered at the state level. Currently, around 500 writers have been registered. They get a monthly allowance of Rs 5000 each. This is seriously ridiculous! The writer is a researcher and journalist and can be reached at waheedmba@yahoo.com