StreetLib is the publisher behind The New Publishing Standard, and while TNPS is not a StreetLib promotional vehicle and we don’t routinely carry StreetLib news, StreetLib’s global expansion clearly falls within the TNPS global publishing industry news remit.
As ever on such occasions, we re-print the StreetLib Press Release in full below without further TNPS commentary.
[Press-Release] StreetLib invites Africa’s library, publishing and education sector stakeholders to join forces to create a Pan-African Digital Library Hub
Loreto, Italy June 12th 2019
Imagine a near-future Africa where everyone, anywhere on the continent, has 24/7 access to books for education, for self-improvement, for better employment, and for entertainment.
Imagine a near-future Africa where everyone, anywhere on the continent, can read their own country’s authors, their neighbouring countries’ authors, and authors from around the world.
Imagine a near-future Africa where a parent anywhere on the continent can select, buy or borrow, and read out loud to their children a bedtime story written in their local language, or even have the book read itself to the child.
An impossible dream under the traditional paper & ink publishing model.
But with digital the only barrier to making that dream come true is our willingness to make it happen.
Said Giacomo D’Angelo, CEO of the global digital books distributor and publishing facilitator StreetLib,
“It’s a tragedy that, as we prepare to start the third decade of the twenty-first century, most Africans are denied that fundamental human right to read for the simple reason that affordable and interesting books are widely unavailable.
The big western ebook retailers have shown little interest in making digital books available in Africa, which in turn has stifled African publishers’ incentives to digitise.
Meanwhile digital libraries are rapidly proliferating across Africa, and many are preparing to offer a full range of digital library services to the 474 million Africans online.
In the next decade that number is expected to hit 800 million, but without a Pan-African digital distribution network African libraries it will forever remain the case that it is easier for a Nigerian, Angolan, Moroccan or Sudanese reader to download a book from the US or Europe than from a neighbouring African country.”
The StreetLib Pan-African Digital Library Hub proposes to be the focal point for publishers and authors from any country in Africa to upload ebooks, audiobooks, comics, magazines, essays and educational materials in any language including all Africa’s indigenous languages, that will then be instantly available to download by any digital library (public, private national, provincial, school, college, or university) anywhere in Africa, as paid or as free units.
In addition, the StreetLib Pan-African Digital Library Hub will allow libraries to act as focal points for local authors by offering the StreetLib publisher portal at every library so any author can upload their books and make them available to readers across Africa and around the world, potentially launching many author careers.
Giacomo D’Angelo explained,
“In March of this year StreetLib provided a digital author and publisher portal for every country in Africa as part of our commitment to creating a truly global and inclusive book market. We also partnered with Nigeria-based SureRemit to offer Blockchain-enable mobile wallet solutions for royalty payments to publishers and for readers to buy digital content.
In May we partnered with YouScribe to maximise our reach across Francophone Africa.
At the Nigeria International Book Fair we made available a presentation on the tremendous opportunity digital offers Africa’s publishers, and at the 2019 IPA Regional Seminar in Nairobi I will be speaking on the exciting future the Blockchain offers to Africa’s publishers.
Further, for the past two years our flagship publishing industry journal The New Publishing Standard has been written and published from The Gambia, West Africa, so while our name may be new to some, we are no strangers to this vast and beautiful continent.
The Pan-African Digital Library Hub is the logical next step for a company that distributes more than a quarter million titles to hundreds of retailers, subscription services and libraries reaching over 45,000 consumer points.
We have thirteen years of expertise in global digital distribution and the tech infrastructure to help bring Africa fully into the international publishing community.
We invite all Africa’s library, education and publishing stakeholders, everywhere across the continent, to join us in this exciting project to bring the joy and value of reading in their preferred language to every African citizen, no matter where on the continent they live.”
Giacomo D’Angelo will be speaking at the IPA Regional Seminar on June 14 on the subject of the Blockchain and the future of publishing, and will be available throughout the event for discussion about the Pan-African Library Hub and other issues impacting Africa’s publishing future.
Email: giacomo.dangelo@streetlib.com
About StreetLib
StreetLib (www.streetlib.com) is a publishing facilitator and a global gateway to the $143 billion international book market, 70% of which is happening outside the USA, for publishers big and small. Whether you are an independent author or a multinational publisher, StreetLib offers unrivalled global reach through our worldwide network of retail, digital library and subscription service outlets. StreetLib distributes ebooks, audiobooks, comics, magazines and print-on-demand paperbacks. StreetLib’s standard model is no up-front fees and it takes just a 10% commission (20% for audiobooks) per sale made.
Contact us at info@streetlib.com
