Is self-publishing the way to go?

Aparadoxical story of rejection and success is told about Chinua Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart. It was rejected by London publishers except Heinemann to sell more than eight million copies in 50 languages.

The publishers denied it on argument that books from African writers wouldn’t sell, an opinion Things Fall Apart proved wrong by becoming the most widely-read book in modern African literature.

Malawian author Professor Felix Mnthali may share the rejection part of Chinua’s story as his manuscript, A Time to Remember, is gathering dust for years now. Publishers are profit-oriented and demand hefty contributions, he says.

“Writers get exploited by publishers who get the lion’s share from the sweat and blood of writers.

“I have thought long and hard about starting my own publishing outfit to venture into self-publishing,” he says.

That is how frustrated Mnthali is following his failure to land a deal with one of the famous publishers.

Last year, Mnthali revealed that he was in touch with Rivonia Media Group who promised to strike a deal with Jhango Publishers.

He was expecting to have the autobiography in shops, at least, by end of this year.

“Self-publishing is the way to go now. I will wait for an opportune moment to do so. All I need is to have a business licence, some money, and some competent readers,” says Mnthali who has been published several times, including a 1982’s collection of poems When Sunset Comes to Sapitwa.

Mnthali is not alone crying for publishers’ hand.

Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) president Sambalikagwa Mvona says publishers in Malawi prefer textbook publishing to books on general issues.

“Publishers want textbooks which have a ready market unlike books on general issues. As a result, this has forced some writers to publish outside Malawi whereas others have failed to publish all together.

“Ultimately, writers are sweating in vain because they are not benefiting from their talents as expected,” says Mvona.

So, is self-publishing the answer as Mnthali puts it?

Elsewhere, self-publishing is becoming an increasingly attractive option for writers. According to UK’s 9 000-member strong Society of Authors, over 25 percent of authors have gone into self-publishing in the UK.

In Malawi, according to Mawu, at least four books are self-published in a year.

Society of Authors executive director Nicola Solomon said, as quoted by The Guardian, most writers would “still prefer a traditional publishing deal but the terms publishers are demanding are no longer fair or sustainable”.

“There is still an imprimatur of quality from going with a traditional publisher, and you may well sell more copies, particularly in physical.

“There are still important things they do – a traditional publisher can edit, copy edit, design, market, promote, make your book better, deal with foreign sales,” she says.

But the challenge she says is that “almost all publishers ask for those rights for the whole lifetime of copyright with very limited possibilities of getting your rights back, even if sales are woeful”.

“Publisher profits are holding up and, broadly, so are total book sales if you include ebooks but authors are receiving less per book and less overall due mainly to the fact that they are only paid a small percentage of publishers’ net receipts on ebooks and because large advances have gone except for a handful of celebrity authors,” she says.

Mnthali and Mvona, however, insist that self-publishing is the way to go.

“It’s viable and marketable. Moreover, most writers in other countries like Nigeria are opting for this. With available manpower and a good capital it’s worthy venturing into,” says Mvona.

Book Publishers Association of Malawi president Alfred Msadala refuses to share notions that publishers prefer textbook publishing to books on general issues.

“It is not a viable argument. We have publishers interested in religious, social, fiction or business books. As long as the book is good any one of these publishers will be interested to publish it,” he said.

Msadala said the important thing for any book, whether traditionally published or self-published, is the market.

He said without a readership, any book; no matter how well written, would still gather dust.n