Social Media and Publishing

Last month, we were at the Social Media Week, specifically, the event on Social Media and Publishing. Tagged "Publishing in the Age of Social Media" the speakers were: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, the Publisher, Cassava Republic Press; Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi, the Managing Editor, Parresia Publishers; Gbenro Adegbola, CEO First Veritas Educational Content Delivery Ltd; Tolu Ogunlesi, Journalist and writer  and Ebi Atawodi  Head, High Value Events & Sponsorships at Etisalat. 

The event raised several questions: if there are over 90 million active mobile phone users, 48 million Internet users and 6.5 million Facebook members; what does it hold for the publishing sector? How can publishers tap into this massive opportunity? What is being done? What can be done? 

Here are some interesting quotations from the event. This is the first of our instalments on social media and publishing. 

"It's going to take a lot of patience. I was 18 when I got my first email address. Things have changed a lot since then. The young people now will do their socialising on social media and not for long, they will have the buying power and will be able to buy books online...so in another ten to fifteen years, it will be easier to buy things online" Tolu Ogunlesi

"People will soon start to use it for content creation when the internet gets quicker and cheaper. It depends on how we engage with the audience. We need to look at these things relatively to the market that exists here." Ebi Atawodi

Social Media, Attention Span and the Novel Form

"What I suspect is that we will have novels in instalments. There will be a lot of fiction in little bits." Gbenro Adegbola

"Short form or long form, people will have the challenge to read from the screen. I do not like Kindles, I am a book person. There are people who prefer books in paperback regardless. It plays its part as a marketing tool, to create awareness about our work, our books...in the long run and presently, that's what social media can do." Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi

"The large part of what social media would do would be on the road to the finishing. Soon social media will expand in the way that we engage with books, not just the finished book but the way books are made. " Bibi Bakare-Yusuf

"The history of the novel has changed fairly, from the War and Peace era.  As time went on, our attention span has reduced. We think of Africa as a place where things come to us and not a place of innovation. How can we think of books in new formats? More publishing houses are returning to the novella form and short stories in the West. I don't think that social media is just about marketing but also  about content." Bibi Bakare-Yusuf

"We should stop talking about the digital ousting the traditional but about newer forms, experiences. I am thinking of Teju Cole's "Small Fates". We should be looking at newer forms but not as digital as coming as a threat to oust the traditional form." Gbenro Adegbola

Quality vs content proliferation

"Curating reduces the number of quality in terms of choice; I prefer ten well-edited books to 100 books. If you feel that you have the writing prowess, go and engage the shorter form." Ebi Atawodi

"When the US Postal Service was first invented, it was to send posts, newspapers. It was expensive. So, people would make holes in newspapers to send messages. There is nothing that we can do about that-the quality of books. Quality books will find their level. I think that there will be a backlash when quality starts to fall and content proliferates, we will have to return to another form." Tolu Ogunlesi

"We are just at the point where people put themselves out as self-publishers. They do not know that your book needs to have that ecstatic appeal to buyers. Some publishing houses have done this; they have their traditional arms and their self-publishing arms. Eventually we will get to that point where, if we are not getting enough quality, it will drop." Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi

"People like drama; they like something that's interesting, what people are talking about. Part of the problem is from us--the content generators. We have to make people interested. People like to carry on interesting issues. Don't blame the audience. If the content gets to them and is interesting, it will spread like wildfire." Ebi Atawodi

"Social media as a marketing tool has nothing to do with quality control. Whatever process it takes to get the book out, social media is just a tool to push out the book." Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi

Social Media and Book Sales

"Face-to-face is important, and it is social media that drives that. The social media space is our advert space. We place our information there and people turn out. Most of us, book lovers, are social people and love to interact. Never mind if they don't buy books. How many books do those that social media drives to your events buy? That's another question. For publishers, we like to socialise with our readers but that does not necessarily translate to sales." Bibi Bakare-Yusuf

"There are people who come to the bookshop, love to read, who do not have power or internet in their houses. There are people who come into the bookstore to buy books because they heard about that particular author online, on social media. Even if we dont have the book in the store, we go to look for it. Social media will help us to find new authors, new writing, even while the curating goes on." Ore Somolu, Patabah Books

"It is rare to have attendance and sales tie in together. There are many reasons that drive attendance at events. The author drives attendances and sales. Organising book readings is a funny one. There are times when people came, were entertained yet there was not much book sales. It is complex. We use social media to drive book events. There are book clubs that have started on social media." Azafi Omoluabi-Ogosi

What do you think: can social media be used as a tool to transform the publishing sector in Nigeria?

--Quotations compiled by Temitayo Olofinlua