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| Nigerian Publishers & Their Foreign Counterparts |
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| Written by Odimegwu Onwumere | ||||||
| Friday, 04 July 2008 | ||||||
     But even when there are writing materials available, the person might not have the audacity to be calculative on what to write and what not to on that tidal ocean, because the initial conducive atmosphere has become conduit of water-current, and that typifies the hoardes of suffer a writer here is bound to pass through. And no one can exonerate other developing countries not to share in this unwanted variety of problems in providing adequate numbers of high-quality books we experience in Nigeria. Suffix it that unqualified poor production and lack of capital are all evident, but not limited to that. The lack in the advantages of having a well-developed indigenous publishing industry and dedicated publishers is the arch-respondents of all the problems besetting the Nigerian publisher. Many a time we are fed or are fade up with criticisms on books published by an author, otherwise called self-publishing. Some critics are not creative writers, but their criticisms ranges from, that the book of an author that was published via vanity publishers is a den of editorial lapses, the materials used are below standard, the publisher is not well known in the literary world, and all that. But what can the author due other than towing the line he has towed? It is observed that the well-established publishers are gluttonous and in hunt of the well-established Nigerian writers but debase (and their character appall and hounds) the yet-to-be established Nigerian-writers’ psych. The question now is, who will establish these neglected uncelebrated writers whom dust and cockroaches and spiders are the only readers, critics and reviewers they have as their manuscripts keep long in the shelf? I don’t even the know the objective and aims of the Nigerian writers populous umbrella called the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) if it can not carry any project of publishing the Nigerian-writer? Or are its objectives and aims limited to touring from each state to another yearly in what it calls ANA Convention? We are watching! As an aspiring writer, I can’t remember the count of many times I have submitted my manuscripts to publishers here without even an acknowledgement letter from them, let alone writing me on what their stand on the manuscript was after evaluation, if they actually do that. But the foreign publishers would send you such letters once they received your work and after accessing it. A manuscript that takes a Nigerian publisher one or two years or even eternity to evaluate, would only take a foreign publisher just eight weeks or at worse twelve weeks to do so, no matter the volume of the work. The foreign publisher’s letter to the author, before and after evaluation, is a sort of encouragement to the writer. Though, every publisher has what he likes publishing and what he does not like to publish. But what actually does a Nigerian publisher publish? It’s a perturbing issue that many Nigerian publishers don’t treat the Nigerian writer with the kid gloves, the publishers have AK47 assault in their mouths and the words that come out from them are the sounds of AK49. A manuscript that was submitted to a Nigerian publisher, if the author is not yet established, the publisher sometimes deny receiving it after the author might have hoped that his work is somewhere undergoing through the publisher’s surgery. It is not that the publisher would publish it and deny the author the credit. No! Just that many of the Nigerian publishers are inept. And this character sometimes challenges the writer to look for something that could be profitable to him because a writer here might live all his life writing without even publishing a work unless he goes to publish self. But that does not make one a good author, even that many books that were born through that means are winning literary prizes in Nigeria. It is this ineptitude among our many publishers shown to the home-base writers that has created the mind as if abroad-base Nigerian writers are doing perfectly well than their home counterparts. The abroad-base Nigerian writers, not only them, owe the publisher just only to write, and after, their works are kept under serious scrutiny and the theory of Division of Labour is being seen to be applied. The author is not forced to do the work of the writer, the editor, the marketer, the critic, the proofreader as is commonplace in Nigeria. Home-base writers are subjugated to forceful extinction that if nothing is done strictly to get them organized and published, what we will be having in Nigeria in the mere future are going to be imported Nigerian-writers based abroad. As a result, our home-truth on our culture and concepts would only be things of the heart instead of things on the papers so that the world could understand from where we are coming from. Odimegwu Onwumere, a poet and author, is the Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State. +2348032552855. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  Quote this article on your site | Views: 320 | Print | E-mail
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