Organised in partnership with Quramo Publishing Limited, our theme for this year’s forum is: Raising Standards: Rights, Distribution & Talent in the Publishing Industry.
This year’s theme will focus on the challenges and aspects of raising standards in publishing in the areas of selling local rights abroad, distribution, and editorial talent.
On the surface of things, South Africa’s book industry is sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest, with revenue in 2009 growing to 1.6 billion rand (218 million dollars) with an effective system to print, distribute, and regulate and train editorial talent. In terms of a more holistic growth, Kenya has branched out into regional markets, with job competitiveness driving a demand for skills-focused books and an effective courier service easing distribution challenges.
In Nigeria, publishing is less vibrant with infrastructure challenges. According to research done by Anote Ajeluorou, The Guardian newspaper’s Arts Editor, “Nigeria produces less than one percent of her actual book needs, which should now stand at some 199.76 million books per year.”
With a new wave of home-grown writing talent, there are no channels to sell local rights, and provision for continuous education for editors to improve their skill or to regulate talent is limited. This forum explores how the various approaches on the continent can be used to approach a more sustained improvement on book production, selling rights, distribution, and nurturing and raising talent.
Our expected outcomes would include:
- Identify key actions to improve distribution
- Create a database of distributors and bookstores nation-wide
- Create a database of legal support frameworks
- Create a database of editors and writers and a set of standards, and continuous education options
The Forum will hold on THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10 at the conference room of the Goethe Institut, 4th floor, City Hall, Catholic Mission Street, Lagos Island.
ABOUT CORA PUBLISHERS’ FORUM
The CORA Publishers’ Forum was conceived in 2010 to provide a critical space for publishers to engage with each other and other professionals within the book value chain about emerging themes in the sector, deepen their knowledge and improve their revenue base. The Cora Publishers’ Forum is part of the pre-events of the Lagos Book & Art Festival and is aimed at key personnel within the publishing sector in Nigeria and Africa.
CONTACTS:
- ANWULI OJOGWU– QURAMO PUBLISHERS – anwuli.ojogwu@gmail.com
- SAMUEL OSAZE – CORA – Samuel osaze@gmail.com; 08036554119
- SAFURAT BALOGUN – GOETHE — Safurat.Balogun@goethe.de
