"African publishers are not even minnows swimming in the shark tank in comparison. They leave little or no imprint in the minds of readers and writers. African writers often view African publishers as printers to make their books available in their home country. Demands that would not be made of Western publishers are insisted upon. Typical requests are: "This is the title I am using" (never mind its meaninglessness in the local context); "I am not happy with the choice of paper used to print my book"; "Why is my book not available in other African markets which you have rights to?" (As if the Western publisher with world rights would also care about those markets)."
- Jeremy Weate
Provocative piece here about African writing and publishing from the standpoint of a publisher in Black Africa. I enjoyed reading it but found tons to disagree with in the piece. Enjoy... ;-) BTW, I wonder when he started writing this essay, Uwem Akpan's book has been out for several years, so I am not sure why Jeremy is talking about just receiving a "review" copy. Is it being re-published yet again in Nigeria? Thought that was already done...
Nyway read...
- Ikhide
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