Mkapa book ‘sells out’

Dar es Salaam. The 1,000 advance copies of former President Benjamin Mkapa’s 320-page autobiography titled: My Life, My Purpose: A Tanzanian President Remembers have sold out, according to Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
Mkuki na Nyota Publishers operations manager Mkuki Bgoya, however, disclosed to The Citizen yesterday that the sell-out of the first release does not mean that the entire stock has been emptied.
Mr Bgoya clarified that those wishing to buy the book, which promises to be the best seller in the country in recent years, can still buy their copies in various forms in the next three weeks because they are on their way to Tanzania.
“I want people to understand that what was sold out was not the entire stock of the book, but the advance copies that were air-transported so that we can launch the autobiography on the day the author celebrated his birthday,” said Mr Bgoya. He descried the situation as ‘normal’ and that they expected it to happen.  
In fact, they expected that the copies would have been all bought during the day of the launch.
“In the history of this country, it has never happened that a book is launched at a state function, which was broadcast live and with the presence of all living presidents of the nation as well as other leaders,” said Mr Bgoya.
“We anticipated this. A thousand copies were too few for a function like that, but we could not bring many of them because it was very expensive to transport additional books via air transport,” he said.
He said that unless something unforeseeable happens people will be able to buy the books at all stores across the country once the stock lands.