Exciting News: Azalia Books is changing the Ghanaian book Marketplace

This is actually pleasant news here. I have been looking forward to the advent of online marketplaces for the Ghanaian literary space for a while and I finally found a site that does just that. In the few years past, so many online sites have sprung up selling wares but none has been dedicated to books – until now!

 
The site at http://www.azaliabooks.com looks like the first book-only e-market in Ghana. I have spent a few days looking through their design and trying to navigate their site, for a feel of what they envisage. It may be some time yet before the site is stocked fully with books under all the different sections created, but see how much of a service they will be doing book lovers once they get it all together. For instance, I could not find any poetry books under their Poetry category but they have a structure which accommodates that expectation and which affirms that they intend to make those books available. It will be a breeze for local publishers and writers to have ready broadcast potential, and for readers to find new authors.

 
I have found that Nana Awere Damoah (@ndamoah), blogger at nanaaweredamoah.wordpress.com and one of the more prolific new writers has already signed up his books Tales from Different Tails, Through the Gates of Thought, Excursions in my Mind and I Speak of Ghana, among the non-fiction work. He looks like he will be an early beneficiary of any good results from hosting on Azaliabooks. He already has another book out from last month, yet to be launched and titled Sebitically Speaking.

 
We need many more of these, especially if they are to be dedicated to Africa and African writing. Azalia is a starter, with huge potential to grow. Thankfully, they have begun by getting the basics right: an appealing and easy to navigate site, compartmentalization, and global access by visa card and mobile money. Also, because I prefer to read on the go, it is handy for me that I can download and use the Azalia Reader on my Android devices.

 

If you have a minute, click here and get browsing. It will be pretty cool to have known this site long before it became big. And also for any aspiring poets and writers, getting your work out there just got marginally easier. Worth the support.

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