How bookshops are killing the book trade

Olayinka Oyegbile

I gave some of my books to bookshops in Nigeria and encouraged them to sell on return basis. After a year, none of them reported the sale of the books. Some even lost the copies – Prof Wande Abimbola

THE general complaint in Nigeria today is about the perceived fall in the standard of education and consequently the dwindling reading culture. A seminar paper can be written on this, or even a book length treatise. There is no need to argue about this here because it is a general notion, which perhaps has not been backed up with any empirical studies. But whichever side of the divide you stand, there is no doubt about it that we need to do a lot to revive our reading culture because our children are growing up becoming more illiterate about the affairs around them, not to talk of the world.

But how do you intend to do this other than encouraging reading and book buying? Unfortunately, I can say without any fear of contradiction that the biggest agent that should promote this is today its biggest threat and nemesis. I am talking about bookshops! Bookshops, at least in Nigeria, are today the biggest threat to the gospel of book trade. Why or how? you may want to ask.

I was recently at a forum and we began discussing about how the reading culture is gasping for breath or has ceased to exist the way it was while we were growing up. Today, few youngsters can boast of how many books they read during the last long vacation; a thing that was normal and routine during our own days. Today, all you hear youngsters boasting about is how many films they watched or downloaded during the holidays or updates on Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and so on. Let no one think our time was not as exciting as it is now; no, we also watched films but books were not neglected as they are today!

At the forum, many of those who were in attendance believed strongly that the book industry was being killed mainly by bookshop owners and not so much by the much-hyped book pirates. This is, however, not to say that book piracy is a lesser evil, but for the participants, bookshop managers are guiltier and since they are not as faceless as pirates, we need to tackle them and then face the pirates. According to another voice, bookshop managers are birds of a feather with pirates!!

Somehow, I can attest to this testimony against bookshop managers. Some nine years ago, I published a book –Home Away From Home – which I personally distributed to some bookshops in and around Lagos. Almost all the bookshops that I personally distributed the books to have failed to make returns to me, even after giving them a generous cut off from the cover price. When the book was supplied, the standard response I got from most of them was that they don’t pay for books, they only use their outlets to ‘help’ writers promote their wares and that if the books are then sold they take their part and remit the remaining to the author or publishers, as the case might be.

As a first time published author and the fact that it was self-published, I agreed to their term and supplied the copies. Several years later and after many trips to these bookshops, I am yet to get my money from most of them and the books are no longer on their display shelves pointing to the fact that they might have been sold. Anytime I visit, I hear new and different stories; at the end of the day I decided to stop worrying myself because the money I spent visiting and making calls was almost outstripping what I was expecting to collect from them!

However, the oasis in the desert of all these bookshop managers’ debauchery and larceny has been the Glendora chain of stores, which faithfully issued me cheques after the stocks supplied to them were getting exhausted. I decided to mention the name because I believe we should give kudos where necessary and I decline to make public names of the offending bookshops hoping that if they get to read this piece they might decide to toe the honourable line.

Now with the way bookshops are fleecing writers, how then do we expect the trade to boom in our country? Let no one think that this is only applicable to self-published books. Recently, I was looking for a particular book. After traversing almost all reputable bookshops in Lagos without any iota of success, a friend told me to go to the publishers of the book somewhere in Ikeja. I was reluctant to do this because I was skeptical that a reputable international publishing firm would agree to sell just a single copy to me.

I heeded and headed to the office of the publishing firm still doused in skepticism as to the success of my mission. I was surprised I was attended to. However, I didn’t let it go just like that. I asked why they sold just a copy to me. To my astonishment, the official told me the story of their woes with bookshops across the country. It was mind boggling. So they do same to even big publishers, so why am I bothered?

I ask: Is this how we want to grow a viable book industry when even big publishers are being short changed by bookshops? What is your own story?