Report on Bookselling in Africa
Lily Nyariki, Chairperson, PABA.
Personal Profile
I am a trained Librarian who worked in a Public library between 1978 and 1992. Between 1993 and 1995 I went solo on consultancies on the book industry.I am the author of Publishing and book trade in Kenya, published by the East Africa Book Publishers Ltd. I am the Bookshop Manager at Moi University Eldoret – Kenya, since 1995. I am the current Chair person of the Pan Africa Booksellers Association (PABA)
Bookselling in Africa: Major trends
Like other professions in the book industry this component of the book trade is fairly new and for a long time depended on books from outside the continent. Since the late 1940’s however, publishing as an industry was introduced in several African countries by Multinationals. For the first time bookselling came into being, selling not only books from the multinationals but those printed locally.
Major trends…cont’d
emergent booksellers mainly sold books catering for religious and basic literacy skills required for the evangelizing of the African people and prepare them to work in the civil service. They also sold books for leisure reading mainly for the settler community
The
Major trends…cont’d
The period beginning the early 1950’s, there was a great demand by the Africans for reading materials particularly because a number had already gone through formal education, and wanted to continue learning more. Publishing houses such as the East African Literature Bureau and East African Publishing House in East Africa came into being to cater to learning and reading needs of the emerging African Elite.
Major trends…cont’d
This period marked the beginning of well established bookshops, largely religious but also carrying other reading materials for educational purposes. By the time of independence which for some African countries began in mid 1950’s and the majority in the early 1960’s, a number of bookshops were already in place.
Major trends…cont’d
indigenous publishing firms were also set up, thus further strengthening local bookselling. However, most of these shops were to be found in the capital cities and selected urban centers. Rural people were not catered for in any manner.
Numerous
Major trends…cont’d
Since the mid 1960’s to date bookselling has grown by leaps and bounds in a number of African countries and now it is fully fledged profession employing a number of workers and servicing a large clientele. These countries are: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Burundi in East Africa. Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, South Africa in Southern Africa
Major trends…cont’d
Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Mali, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger in West Africa. The Congo, Central Africa Republic, in the Central Africa region Egypt, Tunisia, Libya in North Africa Not much has been happening in countries like the Sudan which has been under war, some of the countries in the desert regions of north Africa and South Western Africa.
Major issues.
Strengthening
book chain Terms of trade between publishers and booksellers Subscribing to Codes of conduct Donor funded projects and their effects Decentralization of the book trade Training of booksellers.
partnerships in the
Major challenges.
governments and development agencies to understand the critical role that bookshops perform in furthering and supporting education for all. Fundraising for booksellers training activities. Empowering the individual bookseller
Getting
Major challenges…cont’d
meaningful dialogue between book sellers and publishers For scholarly bookshops: There are great difficulties in overseas book buying: too costly and time consuming. Financing booksellers Spreading bookselling in rural areas.
Establishing
Major challenges…cont’d
has been reported in a number of countries and this causes a lot of concern. Trade terms are not well defined in most countries and the discount margins vary between 10% to 25%.
Piracy
Opportunities
There is need to establish franchise arrangements with established book dealers in the developed world to make books more available in Africa. Network with more established booksellers inside and outside Africa to consolidate efforts to improve bookselling in the continent. Lobby Governments and Development Agencies and Civil societies in support of bookselling, free flow and access of information.
Opportunities…cont’d
As
we know bookselling is not just about business and making money: it is about creating literate societies and having knowledgeable citizens whose active participation in the democratic governance of their countries is of absolute importance for the overall development of nations and the world as a whole!
Bookseller Associations in Africa
Paba has 25 member countries across Africa, mostly English speaking, through the National Booksellers Associations. Paba’s vision is to enhance a reading culture through a self sustaining bookselling trade in Africa Paba’s mission is to improve access to books in Africa by organizing and developing African booksellers.
PABA’s Objectives
PABA’s Objectives are: To establish a strong self-sustaining bookselling industry in African to complement the publishing industry. To encourage and conduct research in regard to issues related to bookselling or book distribution in Africa. To establish training needs of booksellers especially emergent ones and organize relevant workshops to address identified weaknesses.
Objectives cont’d
promote and develop international linkages with relevant organization within the industry. To create a data bank or information center on matters affecting distribution/bookselling to be accessible to all stakeholders in Africa.
To
Objectives Cont’d
To encourage and promote efficient and effective book distribution/bookselling practices throughout Africa. To encourage booksellers to stock and provide wide range of titles. To make representations to relevant governments on behalf of any Booksellers Association on matters relating to book trade based on the laws of a given country.
International Linkages
are Pan African Associations that represent all the stakeholders. There is... PAWA… Pan African Writers Association; APNET…African Publishers Network; PABA…Pan African Booksellers Association.
There
International Linkages cont’d
Librarians
are represented by Sub Regional professional Associations, one Chapter covers Eastern, Central and Southern Africa and the other for West African countries. It may be necessary to form a regional Association to make networking easier in Africa book development
Recommendations
Book professionals must learn to speak as a team to both governments and development agencies. This is because our activities are all so intertwined that we need to develop together in order to complement our roles more effectively. The African booksellers need to benefit from best practices across the world and we shall appreciate any linkages and collaboration particularly in training of our members.
Conclusions
As reported last year, there is a huge potential for book business in Africa. People want to read and accessibility, affordability and availability remains the biggest challenges. The franchise idea that has been proposed above, should be taken seriously by bold book sellers in the west and join hands with local booksellers to help make technical and scientific books more accessible in Africa.
Conclusions….
Thanks for listening…