Skewed pricing hurts publishing

The real fiercest war in the industry is not even in the scramble for the six slots, but in the pricing of books.

While all the books approved by the ministry have clearly determined prices, some publishers, especially the small ones that have no huge overheads, collude with schools to have their books bought exclusively especially under the curriculum support materials budget.

Huge discounts

They extend huge discounts to schools in exchange for what analysts think are kickbacks to brokers and schools, a luxury that big publishers are unable to indulge in as their prices include a figure to offset huge overhead costs incurred in running their businesses.

On average, publishers give a discount of about 30-35 per cent to booksellers.

With competition getting cut-throat in the market, especially for books that have not been approved by the ministry and whose prices are, therefore, not regulated, new small publishers are giving discounts of close to 50 per cent, which entices private schools and other buyers, thus disadvantaging the mainstream players.

A few weeks ago, the media reported that these small outfits had colluded with school managers and had sunk huge sums of money.

The mainstream publishers knew that the cash had been released, but they did not get a share of it, as the World Bank threatened to stop financing the whole arrangement.

Munene is a publishing editor based in Nairobi. Email: henmunene@yahoo.com.