Problems And Prospects Of Book Publishing In Nigeria

Read the Problems And Prospects Of Book Publishing In Nigeria. Book publishing in Nigeria has seen some development. However, it is still facing certain challenges. The art of publishing in Nigeria still needs some adjustment in order to make publishing reachable to many Nigerians who wish to publish their work.

Books play a vital role in the development of any society. Promotion of book development and publishing will make the country utilize its potentials. A lot of people in Nigeria publish books without making profits due to piracy.

One of the hitches of the publishing industry is paying royalties to authors in spite of the fact that profit is not made in the book published. This has made a lot of Nigerians who would have published their books in Nigeria to get them published abroad.

A country with authors like Prof Chinua Achebe, Prof Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie, the art of publishing in Nigeria still has need to find its feet. Book publishing in Nigeria has gone electronic as educational books make up 60% of books that can be published in Nigeria, in comparison with other books.

Internet publishing has also reduced paper publishing in Nigeria. Technology has made publishing electronic and many publishers in Nigeria are yet to properly adjust themselves to the new trends facing the publishing industry.

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Problems Facing Book Publishing In Nigeria

Book publishing in Nigeria is facing some problems. The major problems facing book publishing in Nigeria are listed below:

1) Piracy: There are many pirates in Nigeria who disrupt the art of publishing in Nigeria. Pirates actually reduce both the profit realized by the author and that realized by the publisher. Many pirates thrive in Nigeria using different methods and techniques.

They take advantage of the inefficiency of the government in tracking down this menace to be a problem to the publishing industry in Nigeria. The activities of pirates in Nigeria have disrupted publishing of educational books and this has discouraged a lot of Nigerian authors from publishing more educational books for various institutions across the country.

Piracy is a disease to publishing and the more the government checks this menace, the more the art of publishing will be promoted in Nigeria.

2) Government negligence: The government of Nigeria has not taken the necessary steps to promote the book publishing industry in Nigeria. The steps involve supporting both government-owned publishing companies and other publishing agencies in their quest to promote the art of publishing in Nigeria.

The government can also set up agencies to check those who are messing up the publishing industry in Nigeria. One of the ways of promoting the educational sector in Nigeria is to promote the art of publishing since better books on education now have better chances of being published.

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3) Low economy: The economy of Nigeria does not actually support the art of publishing in Nigeria. The low economy of Nigeria has led many publishers to see publishing their work as waste of time and energy as they consider the fact that they do not make adequate profit by engaging in this activity.

Also, many authors in Nigeria who wish to publish their books do not get enough incentives that can make them consider publishing their books as a reasonable option. The Nigerian economy actually has a negative impact on the art of publishing in Nigeria.

Promoting the Nigerian economy will surely promote publishing in Nigeria as both authors and publishers will now venture effectively into publishing. This will have positive impact on education in Nigeria. The Nigerian economy has also made a lot of foreign publishers not to invest in Nigeria. However, change in the Nigerian economy will definitely encourage foreign publishers to invest in Nigeria.

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4 Steps To Promote Book Publishing In Nigeria

1) Use of better publishing policies: The government of Nigeria should introduce better policies that can favor both the authors and publishers. Policies that make things hard for the publishing industry should be avoided.

2) Encouraging private publishers: Private publishers should be encouraged. The government should not only sponsor government-owned publishing companies but also private publishing companies as doing this will promote the publishing industry and also the educational sector. This will also encourage employment as more publishing companies will be encouraged to exist. The more the private publishing companies, the more employment is promoted.

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3) Increasing strategies that check book piracy: Book piracy in Nigeria need to be checked as this is downgrading the publishing industry. The government can introduced more methods that can track down book pirates in Nigeria. This is one of the methods of promoting the publishing industry in Nigeria. Methods which are tighter in checking book pirates in Nigeria should be encouraged by the government.

4) Digital publishing should be encouraged: Digital publishing is now the new trend in the publishing industry and Nigeria ought not to be left out as the digital planet has a lot to offer the publishing sector if they are effectively utilized in Nigeria.

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A lot of authors in Nigeria have also discovered that the digital planet offers them a lot of chances and opportunities to expand their publishing business and reach a wider audience.

A book that is published in just a particular location has less outreach than a book published on the internet since the internet offers more outreach to more audience as the publisher is not limited much by geographical or location factors. Another benefit of digital publishing is its reduction on production costs.

The cost of publishing books manually is much compared to the cost of digital publishing of books, yet it comes with more audience outreach.

Authors and publishers who find manual publishing too limited for them can venture into digital publishing as an option.

This will also promote the publishing industry in Nigeria. As more and more things are going digital, it is very necessary that the publishing industry in Nigeria gets the necessary adjustments.

The digital planet offers the widest employment opportunity and digital publishing is surely a means of encouraging employment as these books can be published and sold online to anyone in any part of the globe.

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