Publishers lament decline in book industry

At the opening session of the four-day fiesta held at Ocean View Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, analysts expressed fear for steady decline in book industry. They said if left unchecked, it might spell doom for the nation.  In attendance were Evans Group of Publishers, Nigerian Publishers Association, Sefer Books Ltd., GSA Publishers, Bookkraft Publishers Ltd, […]

At the opening session of the four-day fiesta held at Ocean View Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, analysts expressed fear for steady decline in book industry. They said if left unchecked, it might spell doom for the nation.  In attendance were Evans Group of Publishers, Nigerian Publishers Association, Sefer Books Ltd., GSA Publishers, Bookkraft Publishers Ltd, Cassava Republic Press, and Kachifo Publishers, among others.

 

Beyond the crisis of poor reading culture in the polity, participants identified piracy as a major threat to the publishing industry in the country. They also pointed out that poor distribution as another major headache. Publishers lamented they find it difficult to break even, after years of publishing a book.

According to Mrs. Yemisi Egunjobi, Publishing Manager of Evans, “the challenges include low returns from sales of books published. We needed to sell 10,000 copies of Wale Okediran’s Tenants of the House to break even. We printed 5,000. I am not sure we have sold 3,000.”

Aside breaking even, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, of Cassava Republic Press said even Nigerian writers are not reading. She emphasised that this is a major cause of the readers’ lack of interest. “I get over 10,000 manuscripts yearly and I read a hundred manuscripts every day. With what I read, I think writers are not reading, that is why we do not have a robust publishing industry,” she said.

Prof. Emevwo Biakolo, Dean School of Media and Communications, of the Pan African University, who called for a revamp of the education sector stressed that distribution problems are not insurmountable. He said “publishers should draw up distribution models that can work. There is an emerging culture and this is tied to the education sector.”

Literary, screen and media giants which included Professor Chinua Achebe, Odia Ofeimun, Ambassador Segun Olusola, Fred Agbeyegbe, Mabel Segun, Patrick Doyle, Taiwo Obe, Patrick Doyle, Taiwo Obe and Dele Momodu were honoured.

The fiesta ended with  festival of plays which featured a stage presentation at the Terra Culture of The Killing Swamp by Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo. The piece directed by Wole Oguntokun, was performed by Renegade Theatre for Theatre @Terra and commemorated the 15th anniversary of the death of writer and environmentalist Ken Saro- Wiwa.