NaijaGists Creativity Center
Self Publishing In Nigeria..How To Write & Publish Your Book In Nigeria
Step By Step Instruction On Writing & Publishing Your Book In Nigeria
The act of publishing a book in Nigeria, like all other countries, both far and near, is never a rosy one. It entails lots of stressful processes, beginning from building the concept of the book, to doing a first draft, sending it for proof-reading and then catering for the required finance to see that ideas well-conceived, are put into readable format that will in turn fetch you a fortune. Yes, a fortune! No one goes into the writing and publishing business as a means of charity. Every author, as well as intending author, as much as he or she wants to dispense information, wants to make profit. (NaijaGists.com)
In Nigeria, among the myriads of reoccurring questions asked by “to-be” authors is “How can I publish my book”. These individuals have a concrete knowledge of the subject they want to write on but are lost in the sea when it comes to moving on with the publication of their books. For purpose of clarity and easy understanding, we are going to itemize the chronological processes involved in writing and publishing a book in Nigeria.
Idea Generation
This is a stage that has to do with the author, conceiving the idea or subject he or she wants to write about, outlining his purpose for writing and then choosing a title for his book. This process entails a lot of sub-processes such as brainstorming, research, and et-cetera. Writing does not end in knowing what to write but also, it to a large extent entails knowing how to write them.
Editing
This is a critical stage that can either make or mar your work. It is as a result, advisable that you employ the service of a creative and professional editor. Editing should be done twice and by different persons. The first should be by you, the writer and the other by a more mature mind in terms of use of language and creativity. In your editing, you are to watch out for those words you thought of but weren’t captured in your writing due to the speed with which you wrote the manuscript. You must also watch out for tautologies so that you will lessen the work of the other editor.
When submitting your edited copy to an advanced editor, make sure that he or she has a track recorded of well edited and published books or that he or she is a good commander of the language style with which your book is written. A first-timer in the writing profession must take this stage of writing and publishing very serious because first impression matters. If you succeed in luring readers to buy your book with your seductive book design,
You won’t fool them again if your content is error-filled. Make sure the editor is at his best when editing your book, give him time and motivational baits. Thirdly, Book graphics, no matter how interesting your content is, if the graphic work done is not catchy, you might end up throwing all the money spent in making a book into the ocean as no one will want to give it a second gaze. It is only those ardent lovers of books that can exchange their money for a book, not minding its cover page and the truth is that the estimated ratio of ardent readers to fancy readers is 20:80 and you won’t want to take that chance.
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I love reading books by certain authors, whether good book cover or not but if a new writer must catch my fantasy, he must put up a seducing artwork for his cover page. As a writer, you must make your book glitter so that potential buyers will mistake it for gold. Your book design is the first impression people have about your book, and the author, make it inspiring. You can tell the graphic designer to make different styles of designs for a book and then allow you to choose from them. If you are not sure that you can choose the best, upload these designs done by the designer on any social media platform and rate the best designs by the likes and comments of people. This was the exact method I used for one of my unpublished books titled: IMITATION.
ISBN
In addition, ISBN generation. In Nigeria, the ISBN (International Serial Book Number) is like a seal that showcases the authenticity of your book. All books published in Nigeria have this number. An ISBN can be obtained from the National Libraries in Lagos or Abuja. An ISBN goes for two thousand Five hundred (N2, 500) per book. Some publishers will take the burden of getting the ISBN for you but others will insist that you get it yourself. The National Library will demand for some credentials before issuing the ISBN to you. The foremost of them all is a manuscript of the book for which an ISBN is required.
PRINTING
Also, printing press. At this stage, your book is humorously said to be in a “labour room”. This is the stage that demands maximum amount of your time and resources. When it is being type-set, it is advised that you stay with the typist so as to correct errors that may spring up. You have to be vigilant when cross-checking. You didn’t spend all this time to just publish an error-filled book, so take time to cross-check your work. Don’t feel shy to request that the typist scrolls from the beginning of the book when it is time for correction. It is said that “he who pays the piper calls the tune”, so since you are paying the typist, be bold enough to order him around politely. If the work is good or bad, you take the most share of the praise or blame. When this stage is successfully completed, you can then take a deep breath of relief as your writing and publishing would have come to an end.
BOOK LAUNCH
Finally, Book Launch. This is an avenue where authors recoup the money that was spent for publishing the book. If you must do a book launch, you must plan and do it well as a wrong planning can further inflate your incurred expenses. The book launch must be profit-oriented. Don’t organize a mini-charity party for your guests because giving them a book to read is enough. All activities that will be carried out on the day of your book launch must seek to bring money into your pocket. When organizing a book launch in Nigeria, make sure significant personalities are invited who will give out their money without stress. Remember, the goal of book launch is to realize the money spent on production even before the book hits the stores. Most authors organize a book launch in order to get finance with which they can mass produce the published books.
The following steps are the chronological steps to write and publish a book in Nigeria. I will leave you with these words; “It is possible to publish a book in Nigeria and I say to you, YOU CAN!”