Due to numerous constraints, commercial publishers in South Africa are reluctant to take risks on new authors and new subjects. The effect of this has been to place considerable distance between themselves and the high levels of writing activity taking place in all strata of South African society. Often, for these writers, the only possibility of getting into print is via the self-publishing route
. Many companies offer such facilities, and many of these are bottom-of-the-range ‘vanity’ publishers who have little interest in quality. They will print unedited manuscripts in formats and with covers that bookshops will not accept, so our grassroots writers are left with an often sizeable account for a few boxes of unsellable books. The gap between this form of publishing and commercial publishing represents a wasteland of disappointment and lost opportunity. In 2009, Porcupine Press was established to explore the substantial potential that exists in the wasteland. Porcupine established a self-publishing model that concentrated on quality content and professional production. In addition, Porcupine built an extensive distribution network in South Africa and internationally. This combination (virtually non-existent in the self-publishing world) has paid dividends, and Porcupine is certainly taken seriously in the book trade, to which rapidly increasing sales figures can attest. But this approach has left the bulk of the potential in the wasteland untapped. Most writers simply cannot afford the self-publishing route. Porcupine has frequently subsidised production costs in return for a small share of profits from sales. This has helped several of our authors into print. But a radical new approach was needed if the energy seething in the wasteland was to be released in a genuinely grassroots literature. African Narratives is that radical approach. It comprises a combination of writer support and coaching with low cost (but not inferior) production methods. Such an approach will need subsidy support, and this will be forthcoming at least partially from the author’s involvement in pre-sales into her/his community and networks, as well as community-based ‘book spazas’ operated by authors or anyone interested in exploiting the LED opportunities in the sale of locally written and affordable books. There is ample evidence that a genuine and highly relevant grassroots literature already exists. It is being written all over South Africa, in our urban flatlands, our suburban studies, our RDP housing estates and our informal settlements. African Narratives is committed to making it a reality on library shelves and in our homes. It’s time that our grassroots literature is released from the wasteland to be shared and enjoyed by all South Africans.
