Publishing boom highlights development editors' crisis

One thing that I am sure of is that in the world of book publishing, Nairobi occupies a special place. Anyone familiar with the literary landscape of East and Central Africa will confirm that the city has, over the decades, become the region’s publishing capital. From academic works to novels, memoirs, and school texts, books flow from Nairobi to every corner of the region.

The city has nurtured renowned publishing houses and legendary editors who helped shape African literature. But beneath this vibrant reputation lies a quiet but urgent crisis. This crisis is threatening the quality of the books being produced today.

Allow me to explain. Kenya is currently witnessing what I may call an explosion of writing. Everywhere you turn, someone is writing a book. Many are driven by the desire to tell their lived stories. Most of these stories are of their struggle, triumph, faith, politics, and personal transformation.

This is a healthy development and should be celebrated. But the surge in manuscripts has created a problem that the mainstream publishing industry was not prepared for. Traditional publishers simply cannot manage the sheer volume of manuscripts being produced. And their tradition of accepting or rejecting manuscripts has not helped them. The result has been a proliferation of small publishing outfits. Some are serious businesses committed to nurturing authors. Others, unfortunately, are little more than briefcase operations without even a physical office. In this rush to publish, quacks and masquerades have joined the spree. The publishing industry, I can say, has been invaded.

Sleeping on the job

It would, however, be unfair to blame these new entrants entirely. The truth is that the traditional publishers slept on the job. For years, many failed to invest adequately in one of the most important but least understood aspects of publishing: development editing. Their policy was to reject or accept but not develop.

Development editing is the art of shaping a raw manuscript into a coherent and compelling book. It goes far beyond correcting grammar or polishing sentences. A development editor works with the writer at the level of structure, narrative flow, argument, characterization, and overall vision. It is a painstaking process that requires patience, imagination and a deep understanding of storytelling.

Many manuscripts that land on editors’ desks today are raw. Some arrive handwritten, others poorly structured, yet buried within them are powerful stories waiting to be told. Without development editing, these manuscripts either get rejected outright or are rushed into print in their unrefined form.

One of my favourite examples when teaching students about development editing is the story behind My Life in Crime by the legendary Kenyan writer John Kiriamiti. The manuscript, I am told, arrived handwritten. The late publishing icon Henry Chakava once explained how the team at East African Educational Publishers invested considerable effort in developing the manuscript. What emerged from that process became one of Kenya’s most famous books. That is the power of development editing.

Development editing is a rare and valuable skill. The country desperately needs it. Good development editors are not merely technicians. They are intellectual partners in the creative process. They help writers clarify ideas, deepen characters, and transform scattered thoughts into structured narratives. It is this type of editing that changed the title of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Black Messiah to The River Between.

In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, many forms of editing are being automated. Grammar checks, stylistic corrections, and even basic copyediting can now be assisted by digital tools. But development editing remains stubbornly human.

It requires a certain level of understanding of the social milieu, empathy, cultural sensitivity, knowledge of target audience, literary judgment, and the ability to see potential where others see chaos. AI can polish language, but it cannot sit with a writer and patiently help them discover the story they are trying to tell. Never!

Kenya, therefore, faces a clear choice. If we want to maintain Nairobi’s status as a literary capital, we must invest in developing skilled editors who can nurture the flood of manuscripts emerging from our society. Encouragingly, some small publishing firms are already taking this path. Those investing in development editing are building a sustainable publishing culture.

Self-published authors must recognise this reality. The temptation to rush a manuscript straight to the printer is strong, especially in the age of digital publishing. Writers should know that a manuscript is only the beginning. Investing in a good development editor is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Over the years, I have helped writers bring their stories to life through development editing. It is a demanding process that requires patience from both editor and author. Sometimes it means rewriting entire chapters and restructuring arguments. The books that have emerged from this process are remarkable. What I have learned is that a good development editor resists being rushed. When I undertake such an assignment, I refuse to be judged by the speed with which the work is completed.