African Publishers Must Move From Buying Foreign Rights To Selling African Stories — Kolawole
AFRICA’S publishing industry needs a fundamental shift in strategy if it hopes to capture a larger share of the global knowledge economy, veteran publisher Samuel Kolawole has said.
Kolawole, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ibadan-based University Press Plc, urged African publishers to strengthen their ability to negotiate, package and sell publishing rights internationally.
He made the call in a paper presented at an African Publishers Network (APNET) webinar for publishers on 1st September 2026.
His argument goes beyond the mechanics of publishing books. It challenges the business model that has shaped much of African publishing and asks publishers to reconsider how they create value from the intellectual property entrusted to them by authors.
The imbalance in the rights market
For years, African publishers have participated more actively in the international publishing market as buyers of rights and licences than as sellers.
They acquire licences from foreign publishers to reproduce books for African markets. However, relatively few have developed comparable capacity to sell rights in African-authored works to publishers in Europe, North America and other parts of the world.
Kolawole believes that imbalance has deprived African publishers and authors of an important source of revenue.
He noted that publishers elsewhere have increasingly treated rights transactions as commercial opportunities. In Africa, however, the practice has not developed at the same pace.
The problem, he argued, is partly connected to the continent’s heavy dependence on textbook publishing.
Breaking the textbook dependence
Textbooks remain an important part of the African publishing market. Yet their commercial usefulness in international rights trading can be limited because educational curricula, examination systems and classroom requirements differ from one country to another.
A textbook produced for Nigeria may find a market in countries with comparable educational structures, such as Ghana or Liberia. But the same book may have little commercial relevance to a publisher in Germany or Canada.
That creates a structural limitation.
Foreign publishers can sell textbooks and educational materials to African markets because they can adapt or license their works for local use. African publishers, by contrast, have fewer opportunities to export textbooks to markets with entirely different curricula.
Kolawole therefore challenged publishers to give greater attention to trade books, particularly fiction, history and culture.
These categories can travel more easily across borders because stories, historical experiences, cultural traditions and ideas can attract readers beyond the educational systems for which textbooks are designed.
From books to intellectual property
At the heart of Kolawole’s presentation was a different way of thinking about publishing rights.
Publishers, he suggested, should stop viewing rights merely as legal provisions contained in contracts. They should recognise them as commercial assets that can generate multiple streams of income.
A publishing agreement can contain rights covering particular formats, territories and languages. It can also grant wider rights that allow publication in several markets or languages.
However, possessing rights does not automatically translate into commercial success.
A publisher may hold worldwide rights to a book but lack the infrastructure to publish and distribute it effectively in every country. Instead of allowing those rights to remain unused, the publisher can license portions of them to other publishers.
A book can therefore generate value beyond its original edition.
Negotiation begins with the author contract
That opportunity makes the initial agreement between an author and publisher particularly important.
If publishers fail to negotiate clearly defined rights at the beginning, they may discover later that they lack the authority to exploit lucrative opportunities.
A foreign publisher may express interest in translating a Nigerian novel, adapting it for another format or publishing it in another territory. Yet if the original publishing contract did not properly cover those rights, the opportunity may become difficult or impossible to pursue.
Kolawole therefore stressed the need for publishers to understand precisely what authors grant them.
The rights involved can include copyright, translation rights, territorial rights, electronic publication rights, adaptation rights, serial rights, reprint rights, book club rights and branding rights.
Understanding the distinctions can determine whether a book remains a single publication or becomes a portfolio of commercial opportunities.
A wider market for African stories
For Kolawole, the potential extends beyond commercial calculations.
African publishers possess access to stories, histories, cultural experiences and ideas that can interest audiences around the world.
Books dealing with African history, politics, culture and fiction can reach foreign readers when publishers develop the capacity to package and market them internationally.
Translation can open additional markets. So can electronic editions, adaptations and territorial licensing.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply to produce more books. It is to build publishing businesses capable of taking African intellectual property across borders.
Building the skills to negotiate
That transformation requires expertise.
Publishers need to understand how rights are valued, how prices are negotiated and how contractual provisions affect future commercial opportunities.
They also need the confidence to resist unfavourable terms.
Kolawole’s warning to read the “small prints” highlights the importance of contractual detail. A single clause can determine who controls translation, digital, territorial or adaptation rights years after a book is first published.
Publishers must also avoid acquiring rights they cannot realistically exploit.
His advice to “buy only what you can actualise” applies both to domestic and international rights transactions.
Turning African publishers into rights exporters
The next step, according to Kolawole’s presentation, is to change how the international industry perceives African publishers.
Many foreign publishers already recognise African companies as potential buyers of rights, particularly for school books and established classics.
African publishers now need to demonstrate that they can also serve as exporters of intellectual property.
That requires participation in international rights markets.
Book fairs and exhibitions can provide access to publishers, agents and other industry professionals. Such events create opportunities for direct rights negotiations that ordinary book sales may not provide.
Rights agents can also help African publishers identify markets, find potential buyers and navigate complex negotiations.
Building catalogues that can sell rights
African publishers also need professional rights catalogues.
A foreign publisher cannot acquire a right it does not know exists. A properly prepared catalogue can therefore become an important commercial tool.
Such catalogues should clearly present available titles and indicate the rights attached to each work, including translation, territorial, digital and adaptation opportunities.
That process also requires accurate records.
International publishing relationships depend heavily on trust, transparency and integrity. Publishers must know exactly what rights they own and what rights they can legally license.
From consumers to participants
Kolawole’s central argument is ultimately about changing the position of African publishing within the global intellectual-property economy.
African publishers have already demonstrated that they can buy and distribute foreign intellectual property. The next challenge is to build comparable strength in exporting African intellectual property.
That shift could create additional income for publishers and authors while generating foreign-exchange opportunities.
More importantly, it could give African stories greater control over how they enter international markets.
The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to sell more books.
It is to build a publishing industry that understands the value of every right attached to a book and possesses the skills to negotiate those rights across borders.
For Kolawole, that will require knowledge, preparation, integrity, confidence and “care and tact” in the agreements publishers enter into.
The message is clear: African publishing will struggle to capture the full value of its intellectual wealth if it remains primarily a consumer of foreign rights. Its next phase must involve becoming a stronger producer, owner and exporter of intellectual property.
