We saw a problem in the Arab publishing industry that we hoped to change. Actually, it boils down to three problems: distribution, censorship and preservation.
In terms of distribution, some dismal facts about Egypt: Most books published by less well-known authors have a distribution radius of about 5km from the physical location of the publishing house representing them. That means that most Egyptian authors are only available in the downtown core of Cairo – forget Alexandria, or anywhere else for that matter. But with us, that all changes. The internet is a powerful tool and by digitising these books we make them available all over the world.
As for censorship – each Arab government has its banned book list and each list is a bit different from the others. But we believe in free speech and the free sharing of ideas. We believe that the individual has the right to information and is intelligent enough to decide what they will listen to and what they will not. Our website doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of any government and so can’t be censored.
And finally preservation – with our unlimited ‘shelf space’, we’re able to create that space for books to exist indefinitely without fear of falling into obscurity.
At last count we have over 4,000 titles in 27 genres. And we’re growing. To date we represent over 1,100 authors – mostly Egyptian - but with each new book fair that we attend this number grows and diversifies, with us representing more authors from different Arab states.
Two things – exposure and preservation. Through our portals, our author’s books are available all over the world at the click of a button. This gives these talented individuals the potential to gain new markets to share their works and ideas. This is something that they would otherwise not have given the current trends in Arabic publishing.
As for preservation – it is a sad but true problem that many authors’ works are being lost. Most print runs are less that 3000 copies (in Egypt) and once those copies sell out – that’s it. And if they don’t sell the 3000 copies, the surplus copies are often just thrown out. Then you can’t find the book anywhere except, perhaps, in the author’s living room. Through us, they now have infinite copies. There will always be a place for readers to find their work.
A lot. More than I can tell you. Essentially it was a tour of the UK publishing industry. We visited publishing houses, distribution companies, agents and the like. Any sector involved in publishing in the UK, we were exposed to it. It was amazing.
It opened a whole new world to Kotobarabia. I was exposed to new industries and ways of doing business that I previously thought impossible. Our previous business model was business- to-consumer. We have a site that acted like a bookstore and we tried to attract customers to buy books. But after the London Book Fair, we were exposed to business-to-business models.
We now use agents that represent our entire collection to libraries all over the world, especially university libraries. Any university with an Arab or Middle East studies programme would benefit greatly from our content. These agents go in, using their contact list and experience and sell our content to these universities and libraries. One library sale is worth a thousand individual sales – it’s great. And it’s smart.
I hope so. I have attended once and plan on attending the 2008 fair as well (can’t miss it – with Arabs being the guest of honour, there will surely be some interesting opportunities). As for subsequent fairs – for sure. As I mentioned earlier, I have started using agents to promote my catalogue to libraries and you just can’t have the synergy necessary to do good business over the phone. Face-to-face is a must – and the London Book Fair is the perfect venue for such a thing!
More content. All I can say is that there is a treasure of writers in the Arab world that have little or no exposure in the West, be it in translation or in Arabic. We hope to help change that by offering more and more content abroad through our portals.
| 
