Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing

Self-publishing is an emerging trend in the Kenyan publishing industry. Technological advancements particularly online publishing, e-book publishing services, and print-ondemand have enabled authors the opportunity to publish their books. However, there is a significant knowledge gap pertaining to s...

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Main Author: Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf
Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/1/CMB%2D2022%2D2000624%2DAyan_Mohamed_Yusuf.pdf
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author Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf
author_facet Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf
author_sort Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf
building UTAR Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Self-publishing is an emerging trend in the Kenyan publishing industry. Technological advancements particularly online publishing, e-book publishing services, and print-ondemand have enabled authors the opportunity to publish their books. However, there is a significant knowledge gap pertaining to self-publishing in Kenya. This research aims to examine factors influencing the self-publishing of books in Kenya, including how selfpublishing enhances the autonomy of the Kenyan self-published authors, their challenges, and their proposed solutions. Using qualitative approach, ten Kenyan self-published authors participated in a one-on-one interview until a saturation level was reached. Overall, the study disclosed that various political economy factors faced by these self-published fiction book authors including the power of mainstream publishing, authors’ freedom and autonomy over their self-published books, royalties, stocking at bookstores, affordable shipping, costeffective printing and availability of independent publishers. Challenges faced by Kenyan self-published authors consisted of fatigue, lack of financial support, poor marketing, and rejection from both established bookstores and publishing companies.
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format Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
id utar-4545
institution Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T19:34:23Z
publishDate 2022
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spelling utar-45452022-12-29T14:20:56Z Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf HM Sociology Z004 Books. Writing. Paleography Self-publishing is an emerging trend in the Kenyan publishing industry. Technological advancements particularly online publishing, e-book publishing services, and print-ondemand have enabled authors the opportunity to publish their books. However, there is a significant knowledge gap pertaining to self-publishing in Kenya. This research aims to examine factors influencing the self-publishing of books in Kenya, including how selfpublishing enhances the autonomy of the Kenyan self-published authors, their challenges, and their proposed solutions. Using qualitative approach, ten Kenyan self-published authors participated in a one-on-one interview until a saturation level was reached. Overall, the study disclosed that various political economy factors faced by these self-published fiction book authors including the power of mainstream publishing, authors’ freedom and autonomy over their self-published books, royalties, stocking at bookstores, affordable shipping, costeffective printing and availability of independent publishers. Challenges faced by Kenyan self-published authors consisted of fatigue, lack of financial support, poor marketing, and rejection from both established bookstores and publishing companies. 2022 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/1/CMB%2D2022%2D2000624%2DAyan_Mohamed_Yusuf.pdf Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf (2022) Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing. Master dissertation/thesis, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/
spellingShingle HM Sociology
Z004 Books. Writing. Paleography
Ayan, Mohamed Yusuf
Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title_full Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title_fullStr Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title_full_unstemmed Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title_short Online publishing in Kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
title_sort online publishing in kenya: factors contributing to self-publishing
topic HM Sociology
Z004 Books. Writing. Paleography
url http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4545/1/CMB%2D2022%2D2000624%2DAyan_Mohamed_Yusuf.pdf