Martin Okia, managing director, Elimu Publishers, told The Observer publishers in present-day Uganda face several challenges such as government’s delay of payments, abrupt changes in school curricula and having to purchase curricula from the National Curriculum Development Centre.

“Publishing is a highly risky business in Uganda. Printing, the largest expenditure in book production, costs about 40 per cent; booksellers take 20 per cent to 25 per cent as commission. Since most of us do the printing in Asia where it is cheaper, we incur demurrage costs for books printed abroad or not immediately supplied to schools because of holidays. We also pay taxes and collect withholding tax. We pay editors, designers, plus other administrative costs,” he said.

This was at a workshop of authors and publishers that was reviewing a draft Publishers-Authors Standard Contract/Agreement (PASCA) at Ministers Village hotel in Kampala on October 24.

The publication is a joint work of the Uganda Textbook-Academic and Non-fiction Authors Association (UTANA) and Uganda Publishers Association (UPA), in consultation with Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).

Prof Elsam Magara, the convener and chairman of UTANA, said an author should be glad to agree a deal with a strong publisher because the book would make more sales and thus not only bring the author more royalties but also market the author more widely as a person. But for that to be the case, authors should not be de-campaigning publishers but, rather, work amicably with them.

Explaining that manuscripts may be classified as solicited or unsolicited (including joint ventures and sponsorships), Thomas Tibaijuka, manager, Publishing, at Fountain Publishers, said the general shape of a contact agreement is determined by the nature of the manuscript – e.g academic/scholarly, textbook, fiction, etc and the respective investment of the publisher and the author.

“That is why even in one publishing house, the royalties may vary from five to 15 per cent. If the publisher is forced to overhaul a manuscript or assign other writers/editors to improve it profoundly, the originator’s royalties will obviously be low.”

jmusinguzi@observer.ug