IN BRIEF
Q&A Ama Dadson
playlists in English and local African languages. Most companies operating in this space are not focusing on inter- national expansion and consolidation in the industry. African literature in foreign languages (English, French and Portuguese) is booming—new and established writers are producing internationally acclaimed writings. AkooBooks has targeted these African writers. We will aggressively acquire world audiobook rights before they go out with the other publishers in these languages, and also in local languages, building a large catalogue of quality African audio content.
05 What do you hope to accomplish at this year’s
PROFESSIONAL FILM AND THEATRE ACTORS VOICING ITS AUDIO CONTENT
AKOOBOOKS HAS 15
Frankfurt Book Fair? We believe that cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of African audio- books and audio programming, we seek to strengthen people’s engage- ment with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of Africa’s cultural heritage. This year we have a story to
tell, and a stand at FBF will give AkooBooks the opportunity for a unique dialogue with new readers, publishers and content owners. This will be the first year that an African audiobook publisher can aid in the discoverability of African and black writers. We will play visitors exciting African stories on the Acoustibox, an elegant wooden listening dock which operates on acoustic principles, mean- ing it needs no battery, no cables, no electricity and no bluetooth! I want to learn and meet from the
digital music platforms also support audiobook distribution. None of the “Big Five” audiobook
publishers (Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Amazon Audible) or the distributors (Audible, Storytel, Audiobooksnow, Rakuten Kobo, etc.) are in Africa, except Google Playstore, which is now only in South Africa. StreetLib, from Italy, has expanded its programme, launching author and publisher portals in Africa in the past 12 months in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt.
04 What are the opportunities and challenges for
22 17th October 2019
Through the dissemination of African audiobooks and audio, we seek to strengthen people’s engagement with their own cultural heritage Ama Dadson, AkooBooks
expanding the African audiobook market? The global outlook for the audiobook publishing industry is very good. The industry is on the rise but African voices are absent from this digital publishing space. The explosion of African writing talent, the advent of new mobile technologies and the emergence of “voice” as an important commerce platform (e.g. smartphone and smart speaker voice assistants), bring the opportunity for Africa to offer digital African audio publishing experiences to a global community. We foster online discovery of new
African voices and African literature for enthusiasts of all ages through our
industry leaders in audio production and learn as much as I can about content and marketing strategies for audiobooks. One of the major issues I have is with audiobook rights as regards to territories. Many African audiobooks produced by the major international market players are restricted from Africans who do not have credit cards issued in the “right countries”. It’s absolutely ridiculous and frustrating. I hope to find content partners who are willing to explore ways to address these issues, and may be willing to work with AkooBooks to distribute African audiobooks and spoken word to Africans, regardless of where it is produced.
AkooBooks’ stand is at Hall 3.1 K76. Ama Dadson is speaking today at the Frankfurt Audio Summit in Room Dimension, Level 4.2, at 2.25 p.m.
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