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Zambia: Books Bring Empowerment in Recession

At the fair organized by the Book Publishers of Zambia, education minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa hailed books as tools to mitigate the impact of the current economic crisis, reports The Lusaka Times:

Professor Lungwangwa said there is [a] need to promote ...  books [as] sources of knowledge that can enhance economic empowerment of citizens if properly utilized.

He noted that as the nation continues to experience high levels of illiteracy, [efforts should be made to adopt a] culture of reading [via] a national reading strategy.

Nigeria: Publisher Denouces "Cankerworm" of Piracy

The Sun News Online interviewed Sir John Odike, the managing director of Africana First Publishers, an educational publisher in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria:

Book piracy is a monster that must be crushed. It is a hydra-headed evil that should be eliminated. You see, pirates produce inferior quality books, sell at cheap prices to undo us. This is the most potent threat to the publishing industries today. Which ever way you look at it, piracy threatens our existence if it is allowed to continue unchecked.

I now use this medium to call on Nigeria Copyright Commission to re-strategize so that this cankerworm does not cripple genuine publishing business.

Nigeria: Publishers, Booksellers Need to Dialogue on Distribution

At this year's Nigeria International Book Fair,

... a founding member of the Pan African Booksellers Association, Mrs. Oluronke Orimolade, urged publishers to work with booksellers to advance the spread of the books gospel.

She said, ”Publishers and booksellers should see themselves as partners who should work together, resolve conflicts and address issues that affect the book trade. “For example, the individualist approach of the [Nigerian Publishers Association] in combating piracy without involving booksellers may not lead to a lasting solution.

“All the stakeholders in the book industry together with the performing artists should be involved and mount advertising campaigns against it. In this way, we shall be creating a rallying point to unite partners in the Nigerian book and the cultural industry.”

Another area where Orimolade located a crisis is in the paucity of bookshops.

Read more here.

South Africa: "What Would I Do If I Was a Publisher Today?"

Writing for MoneyWeb, columnist Magda Wierzycka reviews the Kindle and considers the digital future of publishing:

As a book lover, I was very sceptical about replacing a physical book with an electronic tablet.  However, having re-read my blog last week, I decided that some technological advancement on my part was necessary.  I thus succumbed to purchasing a Kindle on Amazon.com. Irrespective of the fact that accessing the functionality of a Kindle is far from effortless in South Africa, I have been very pleasantly surprised.  The Kindle is revolutionary. 

Read more here.

"Digital Books Gain Momentum"

ITWeb, a technology site, reports that in South Africa,

Local publishers have also stepped up their efforts to keep up with digital trends. Publishing group Penguin previously announced it would publish all new titles both as printed books and e-books, and will digitise its backlist. Locally – where the mobile phone is a more cost-effective option – Penguin has said it has started preparing content for mobile phones.

Meanwhile,  Silicon Valley Insider comments:

Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos dropped a bomb on the book industry [stating] "Kindle sales are now 35% of book sales when Kindle editions are available." ...

If that's even close to accurate, it's hard to overstate the importance of it.  Kindle penetration is still tiny.  As it grows, that percentage will likely grow.

Kenya: "At This Point in Time, Things Do Not Look Good"

 Nancy Kirimi, chairperson of the Kenya Publishers Association, speaks to The Daily Nation on the state of Kenya's publishing industry:

At this point in time, things do not look good for the publishing industry. In the current business environment, the government ... is the single largest buyer of instructional materials. In the absence of funding to procure these materials, the publishing industry is suffering greatly.

In addition to problems in the educational sector, Kirimi speaks about publisher data and concerns about piracy. Read more here.

South Africa: Printing Company Fire

Graphic Repro Online reports that on April 17, 2009, a fire broke out and completely destroyed the Paarl Print Plant in Dal Josafat Industrial Estate, Paarl, Cape Boland:

Eleven employees have been hospitalised and seven fatalities confirmed ..

‘This is a great tragedy for the whole Paarl Print family and the Paarl Media Group,’ said Mike Ehret, managing director of Paarl Print. ‘Our people are passionate about this company and are very shocked about what has occurred.’ He also expressed his heartfelt sympathies with the employees and their families.

... Paarl Print specialises in the printing of books into South Africa and Africa. All clients affected will be individually contacted by Paarl Print management.

One Christian publisher impacted by the fire is Struik Christian Media. Elsabé Barlow, publishing manager, writes that

The Afrikaans edition of Reading Your Male is due for release at the beginning of May. But there was a terrible disaster at the printer where we printing it. Ten days ago the printing factory, one of the largest and most modern in Africa, burnt down to the ground. All the titles that they were busy printing and binding , as well as completed print runs that were waiting to be delivered, were completely destroyed. The worst and saddest part is that 11 people died in the fire and several people are in critical condition in hospital.

Please pray for the victims and their families. Barlow adds,

So many people are affected - Paarl Print is one of the biggest employers in Paarl - a beautiful town in the Cape Winelands - thus affecting many families. The prayers would be much appreciated.

The company is planning to rebuild its Paarl operations.

Africa: Inflation Impacts Christian Publishers, Booksellers

From Kenya, David Waweru of WordAlive Publishers writes,

We've been going through a pretty rough patch since last year and the global crisis has only complicated things further. Inflation has been very high, interest rates shot up recently, prices of commodities and essential services have skyrocketed. It's a very lean time for the book trade.

At the CLC prayer focus page, from CLC Tanzania's national director Organ Mapinda:

Our sales are going down as inflation rises. Please ask our CLC friends to pray for us as we are looking for alternative strategies to boost sales in this difficult situation. Currently we can’t go out with booktables because of the high cost of travelling and the low probability of getting reasonable sales. Also please pray for the staff as they are experiencing hard times themselves.

In Swaziland, rising prices are also affecting the CLC work:

We have a problem with the rent for our Nhlangano shop as it has recently been increased by 33% and it will probably continue to rise each year. Please do pray with us that we will be able to find a smaller shop at a reasonable rent in Nhlangano, and pray too for good sales from this centre.

Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, after a stretch of month-to-month inflation "since the mid-1960s," followed by hyperinflation from  March 2007, this year prices are falling: 

Zimbabwe’s price deflation follows the involuntary dollarisation of the economy in the final months of 2008. This has resulted in the death of the local currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, which is now rarely, if ever, used for transactions other than for paying the salaries and pensions of public sector employees.

The combination of the Zimbabwe currency’s demise and the licensing of retailers and industrialists to sell products in foreign currency ended nearly two years of hyperinflation.

Piracy, Distribution Problems in Kenya

The Daily Nation in Nairobi reports that pirated versions of a University of Oxford Press dictionary for students flooded the market before the real version was released. The situation, says Nancy Karimi, chairperson of the Kenya Publishers’ Association,is happening because

“Booksellers are giving pirates a market,” she says. “Pirates offer booksellers very high discounts of up to 50 per cent.”

The article continues:

Stories abound in publishing circles about how booksellers have formed cartels which ride roughshod over publishers, demanding unrealistic discounts. And, in most cases, publishers cave in to the demands.

Failure to comply with the booksellers’ demands often comes with a heavy price. Some of the rogue booksellers conspire to lock ‘‘uncooperative’’ publishers from their regions.

Ghana: Autonomy and Indigenization Needed in African Publishing

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation notes a change in leadership at the Ghana Book Publishers Association's annual meeting held recently in Accra. Modern Ghana reports that Elliot Agyare, past president of the association, publisher of Smartline and a participant in Cook's International Christian Publishing Institute, stated that

Africa [imports] close to 70-80 percent of its book needs and export[s] less than five percent of its total output  ... not a healthy state of affairs as the industry [is] a strategic one in the development of every country.

Agyare added that "key concepts [for publishers] should always be autonomy and indigenization."