Hip hip, hurray! Novel marks a milestone

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now one year and one day since the novel, Different Colours rolled off the press.
In the course of that one year, a great of exciting things have happened, some of which are worth celebrating while others are simply lessons that we have learnt and which have equipped us with wisdom for the future. 
One of the things that have made me really happy is seeing the many grins of satisfaction from the readers who have had an encounter with the novel whose first draft, it might interest you to know, was completed on December 1, 2007. Interestingly, the book would not see the light of day until May 2011 when it was published by Big Books Ltd. One of the first bookshops to stock the book ran out of supplies in three days but it is yet to restock a year down the line, which I find a very curious thing for any business to do.
One of the things that we are proud to share is that one lecturer at Egerton University chose the book for his fresher class at Laikipia Campus and last month I had the privilege of sharing three hours with the students. I was gratified by their grasp of the issues the book tackles and from our debate I can tell you that what I saw and what I heard left me with no doubt that we will soon be seeing the emergence of a new crop of literary critics that will make all of us sit up and take notice. One lecturer at the University of Nairobi, who I personally think has done more for literature than some institutions, read the book and mentioned it to curriculum developers.
My own view has always been to stay away from the school market but this scholar was saying in effect that this is a book that the youth ought to read. I can see where he is coming from, seeing that one of the over-arching themes in the novels is national healing (as in Different Colours, One People) and how to mobilize for change through social media.
By the way, as I watched the Arab Spring, just weeks after the novel was published, I couldn't help but marvel at how life sometimes imitates art. Since that time, I have slightly revised my position on the school market. And what I have said is this: If this book is going to help the young people in schools develop a worthy set of national values, I would be happy to play a role in that regard. But I still believe that this is a book that adults ought to read. In the recent past, we have been engaged in a process that would see the book and others in the Big Books stable, available in the Kindle and iBook format but the process is taking longer than expected. Although it is a month behind schedule, we do hope that the titles will be available this month, so watch this space.
Lastly, our next title is scheduled to roll off the press this month. Yes, you heard that correctly and the news will be broken right here! For those of you who would like to read Different Colours, you can get your copy from Book Point, Bookstop and Book Waves in Nairobi or any bookshop in Nakuru (Nakuru booksellers have been very supportive probably because charity begins at home), Moi University Bookshop, Eldoret, Egerton University Bookshop, Laikipia and of course from the author himself. But if there is a bookshop near you, ask them to get the book for you.
 A copy is only Sh450/=

Shoot me a pirate, they kill literary creativity

Piracy remains one of the biggest challenges facing the publishing industry in Kenya today.
Not so long ago, a publisher confiscated 23,000 copies of a Swahili novel that had been pirated by... hold your breath... his printer! Despite attempts by other industry players to publicise the matter, the affected publisher opted for a settlement with the offending printer. But today, the publishing industry made a decision, during its Annual General Meeting, to blacklist the printer and others who were named during the meeting.
And on this one, I believe writers and publishers fight from the same corner. When one's books are pirated, this means that the writer will not benefit from his creativity while the publisher will lose out on his investment. The only person who gains is the pirate but he gains by riding with impunity on the books of people who have laboured honestly to make books possible.
What is more galling is that mainstream printers are engaged in the malpractice yet one would assume that these are the institutions that should be at the forefront of protecting their businesses with publishers.
But by making the decision to stop doing business with rogue printers, the publishers are sending a clear and unequivocal message that it will no longer be business as usual. You steal from me and the association members will stop doing business with you. it is a simple choice really.
The next stop now will be to deal with booksellers who stock pirated books. Once the rogue printers have been run out of town, the writing will be on the wall for booksellers especially if publishers can agree to share information on who are the culprits. Already, the small scale booksellers who display their books on the streets have started staying away from pirated books after they were threatened with arrest. Now the big boys are in the cross hairs.
Even as we encourage readers to buy books, we must add the rider that all of us - reader included - will be much happier if we bought the genuine article. After all, most literary books are not so costly as to be unaffordable.

Portrait of a writer as self-publisher

The whole story of self-publishing in Kenya is yet to be told.
Methinks it probably dates before David Maillu, who probably remains the most famous self-published author in Kenya for his books like After 4.30, My Dear Bottle, The Flesh, No! and other such titles that titillated youthful and adult readers alike in the last two decades before his company, Maillu Publishing House, started disappearing from the publishing radar screen.
Of course, Ngumi Kibera remains the other well known self-published author because his book of short stories, The Grapevine Stories, won the Jomo Kenyatta Literature Prize in 1997. And in the fiction class, there is also myself.
But there are other writers who started off in self-publishing but have gone on to found credible publishing companies. Murori Kiunga, author of many self-help and business books easily comes to mind as does Mbugua wa Mumbi, also a motivation speaker and writer whose most famous book is probably Excuse Me, Your Dream is Calling You.
In recent years, some poets have also gone into self-publishing, the most notable of them being Caroline Nderitu who self-published her book, Love Only, about five years ago and now also engages in teaching public speaking.
In between these diverse categories of self-published authors are others who have done limited editions of various books, including biographies, sermons, family histories and other non-fiction work. Not all of them have been profitable and probably too few of them were meant to be. But they are all adding to the vibrant cultural scene that has spawned a fledgling culture of alternative writing and publishing.
Their, I believe, is a story that would make for good reading, considering that many of them are people who have had life-changing experiences that motivated them or have equally colourful personality traits.
The question is: Who will take the time to write this story and trace its growth and influence?

Please buy books, but not from Amazon if you can

Why is the US Justice Department taking on Apple in the war over the prices of e-books? Is it because the company has embraced the agency model which allows publishers to set prices while Apple keeps a percentage of the retail price? Forgive my ignorance but what is wrong with this model?
And why is there a perception that the wholesale model adopted by Amazon is better for the book industry yet Amazon gets to keep 65 per cent of a book's cover price while the author and publisher share the remaining 35 per cent? Is this fair to the writers and publishers? And where does that leave the two when they have to sell their books through an intermediary?
I am asking this because from where I sit, I am of the view that the Apple model is the lesser evil. Apple gets to keep 30 per cent from each book sold, which is the standard for booksellers even here in Kenya. The writer, publisher and intermediary can agree on how to share the rest. What's more, the likelihood of books being fairly priced is increased because all those involved in the chain can find comfortable margins that they can work with without fleecing readers, which means that even readers benefit and, therefore, have a reason to return for future purchases if they get value for money.
But if my briefing is correct, and I have no reason to believe it is not, if Amazon catches you selling your book at a lower price, say on e-bay for instance, it will withdraw it from its stock. I may be from Africa but is this the done thing in a free market economy? The impression I take away from this is that Amazon, with all due respect to its accomplishments and contribution to literature, is acting as a policeman. And now look what the Justice Department has gone and done.
True, all the players are still trying to define the rules of the game going forward but from the look of things, the referee appears to have worn one of the team's uniforms and I am not making this claim with any prejudice. In Kenya, we say we need a level playing field.
As a writer I would be glad if my books were available at Amazon. That would be a wow moment for me. But then again, if they were to be available in other outlets, say Kobo or B&N for the same price, I would need a great deal of persuasion to refrain from telling my readers: "Yes, please, you can buy my books online but not from Amazon if you can help it."
Can someone please tell me my fears are misplaced and that this is not what it looks like?

Motivation, like charity, begins at home

Not so long ago, I got an inquiry from a self-published author who has written a book guiding readers on how to scale the heights of business success. He wanted his book reviewed in the newspapers. I put him in touch with an editor and a book reviewer and that, I thought, was that. Until earlier this week when I received a call from him.
"I want to thank you," he said cheerfully, "for helping me get my book reviewed." I was mighty glad I had been of help and even more glad that he had remembered to say thank you. But then again, shouldn't he. He is, after all, a motivation writer and speaker.
"You are welcome," I said and as an afterthought asked how much the book was going for.
"Sh1,000 (about 12 dollars)," he said. I was intrigued. I wanted to see the book. For slightly over half that amount, I could buy a Robert Kiyosaki. For about that much I could buy Flipnosis by Kevin Dutton or Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell or even Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich (all which I would recommend any day). Plus, of course, I know something about the costing of books. I am after all in that business too and my immediate thought was that he was overpricing the book, with the risk of motivating people to walk away from it.
I asked to meet him, which I just did a few minutes ago and, as one writer in the current issue of Newsweek put it, I felt like I had received a blow in the solar plexus.
I happened to have heard one journalist groaning about that book recently.
"The introduction takes almost a fifth of the pages," she had lamented. "Ok, the book has a point but you really have to be patient to get it".
The less I talk about the design and the editing the better for all of us.
"How come you are selling this book for so much?" I asked him, changing my mind about buying it.
"That is the price they are buying it at," he said confidently. I must give it to him, he has wonderfully white teeth and a killer smile - which reminded me of Otuk Ruk, the ever smiling character in Okot p'Bitek's novel, White Teeth. The only problem with the sunlight smile that it attracts attention to the big smudge of dirt on his golden tie.
Do I want to be motivated? Oh yes! By this motivational writer and speaker? Not by a long shot!

To give or not to give literary prizes?

This is the Pulitzer season the US but writers, publishers and booksellers are mourning after the Pulitzer board declined to give an award to any of the shortlisted books. The decision has made history because it is only the tenth time that this has happened. Writers and publishers are scratching their heads trying to come up with an explanation to the board's decision. Is it that America did not produce books that were not worth awarding? Is that the books that were shortlisted did not meet the cut? Is it that the board of three members, which is required to make a decision based on majority, could not agree?
Of course they have no answers but their decision has sparked considerable soul searching and a probably similar amount of tantrum-throwing in American publishing.
But what are the lessons for Kenya?
A few years back, the judges of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize, the biggest in Kenya, failed to name a winner but wen on to do a very curios thing: name a runner up! Their decision caused uproar but at least they told the publishing industry that in their estimation, there was no book that deserved the award that year. Did publishers learn from the judges.
Has the number of outstanding works of fiction published in Kenya increased? Have there been books that have generated debate, excited readers, inspired reading and tantalised book sellers? And what has been the quality and quantity of creative works that have come out of Kenya's publishing industry, say, in the last five years?
Well, I cannot purport to have answers to those questions. May be what we need is someone to undertake research and tell the rest of us just how many novels have been published and why they are important and, if possible, also tell us why we should go out and buy them.

Borrow a leaf from London Book Fair

The London Book Fair opens it's doors to the public today and already it is generating considerable buzz online as well as in other fora, particularly the media. One of the highlights of the fair this year is that it is focusing on China, which means that publishers in Britain are looking to the Asian country as a potential market. And the wisdom of such a decision is not difficult to fathom. Even the Frankfurt Book Fair regularly look outside the German borders for a guest country to feature. Not so long ago, turkey was the guest country and one of it's leading writers, Orhan Pamuk, was given German's highest literary Prize. China was also featured as a guest country shortly after that. In Kenya, however, publishers have over the last fourteen years looked inwards, rather than outwards, which has meant that even foreign exhibitors remain in the peripheries of the Nairobi International Book Fair which is held every September. Secondly, the fair has been positioned as something for schools and school parties and even the adults who show up are largely not readers in their own right but parents hunting for bargains for school books. The London Book Fair is mainly focused on the creative market inviting top writers not only from Europe but also Asia. And what's more, besides attracting readers, it is offering an auction market where small publishers can offer some of their rights for sale to those with bigger financial biceps. What this means is that both the writers and publishers have something to look forward as they can buy and sell books to each other and discover new partnerships for the growth of their businesses. In sharp contrast, most of the activities lined up for the Nairobi International Book Fair consists of children's activities. Even when there are high profile book launches, they do not feature individual writers but entire series. Two years ago, I attended one such launch during which 70 titles were launched in the space of one hour. What's more, the guests were addressed by the wrong speaker, an assistant minister who had been invited for the launch of an academic book. The confusion dawn after he unveiled the books and was surprised that the title he had been talking about was not there! It is worth noting that the London publishers have even commissioned an opinion poll in which they were asking whether the public thinks digital publishing will trump traditional publishing. As one would expect, this has generated a heated debate in the wake of the ongoing competition between companies like Apple and Amazon over the pricing of ebooks and ebook readers. Of course, Kenyans literary history is much shorter than Britain's but then again, that is why it can learn some valuable lessons from London.

Who is the most progressive in the book business?

Of all the players in the book publishing chain, methinks government institutions are the most progressive. Consider this.
In January, I got an LPO to supply books to a public institution. I delivered the books early February. In early April, the institution sent money, by Electronic Cash Transfer, to the company account. That is scenario one. Scenario two. In 2010, I travelled 300 kilometers to deliver books to a bookshop after numerous correspondences by email. Three months later, I emailed severally to inquire about the progress of the sales. No response. In December, I heard from the bookshop. They had sent me a Christmas card.
Scenario three. In 2009, I went to a bookshop in Nairobi and asked if they would stock Terrorists of The Aberdare. The manager said: "Give us a sample copy and one week." One week later, the ordered 16 copies, which was fair enough. The following year, after publishing Different Colours, we sold 16 copies to a foreign institution based in Nairobi. A day later, I went to the same Nairobi bookshop and asked the same question. The manager said: "Give us a sample copy and one week". A week later, he said: "Sorry, we are not interested".
But this is not just an affliction among booksellers. In 2005, I submitted a manuscript with a publisher. Five years later, I submitted the same manuscript to another publisher. A year later, the second publisher calls and says: "Please come and have a look at the dummies. We are going to press at 2 pm". He had called at noon. I called the first publisher to withdraw the manuscript.
"You can't," he said. "And why not?" I asked. "Because it is being printed as we speak," he said.
"But I have not seen the dummies and we have not signed a contract!" I protested. "We are very sorry,"he said.
"We forgot to inform you." Of course, I had to call the second publisher to apologise and call off the deal. Scenario four. A month ago, I got a call from a fellow writer.
"I have just come from some government office (name withheld) and they have a list of ten books they want to look at and some of them are yours but they don't know where to get you. Please get in touch with them."
The prospect is promising.
And it came just like that!

A publishing hero in his own way

Today, I bumped into a young man who is engaged in a unique model of publishing. After failing to make it as a journalist back in the early 2000s, he started doing profiles for church leaders. What he did was simple. He would approach pastors and ask them if they have a story or sermon that they wanted to share with their congregation in writing. He then interviews them and writes their stories. Then he gets an editor and graphic designer to work on the projects. He is paid for his service, as are the other guys in the chain and they go to press, after which the pastors sell their publications to their congregations. Now, he is doing a profile of a businessman who overcome great odds to become successful. Methinks it is a good thing he did not become a journalist for if he had, who would be providing the service? He is one of the true heroes of publishing as he is helping people to tell their own stories although he is yet to make the big bucks. But as happens with these things, it is only a matter of time before he gets his big break. Then the rest of us will be left thinking that he became successful overnight.

Welcome to the new home of Kenyan writers

Welcome to Big Books Blog. I know we have taken a tad too long to get here but now that we are, we can get down to business. And we have a great deal to talk about seeing that so much is happening in the world of books, from the way stories are written and published to the way they are sold to readers. In Kenya, we have seen self publishing emerging as a trend that is catching on especially among young writers and motivational authors and speakers. What does this trend portend for the bigger publishing industry that is estimated at Sh10 billion a year? Will it affect the way publishers relate with authors or will it be business as usual? And what can be done to bring more people into contact with the books born and brought out in Kenya? Can we raise the readership numbers? And if the answer is yes, what need we to do to make this a reality? Who are the Kenyan authors worth watching? What are they writing and publishing? Where can you find their work? These are some of the questions we will be exploring as we take this journey of exploration and discovery together. We have made the first tentative step and we are looking forward to your support on this journey. Welcome on board!