There’s a market for well written books in Africa

We are in the auditorium of Gorilla Hall, at Hilltop Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. There is a lull as a break quickly approaches. I start speaking to two participants about writing. They are excited until one of them says, Africa is a small market. I wish to publish in the US where there are more people, which equals more money. I put it to them that more people mean more competition as there are many writers too. Later on, I kept asking myself if there is a good market for books in Africa. My conclusion? Yes there is.

If you are a young writer, you should be thinking of writing for the African market. African governments are realising that there can never be meaningful development without an educated populace. Many governments in conjunction with development partners, like Unicef, DFID and USAID, are supporting development and buying of core educational material and even supplementary texts. Even though, they always require a certain quality, which you will do well to learn before embarking on your writing. This information is usually with editors in publishing companies and websites of the concerned institution.