Skip to main content

There’s Future for Self publishing in Nigeria.


I am a Christian. I write middle grade adventure fiction and picture books. Also, I write tract, pamphlets and little Christian books. Most of my books are in paperbacks and they are not published online. They are sold directly to schools in Nigeria. In Nigeria alone, I have been so fortunate to have my books published by: Learnrite Publishers, Apex Books Limited, Pekan Ventures, Net continental Publications and recently Human Change Communications Company. All these publishers distribute their titles directly to schools (public and private) in Nigeria. Also, I have two publishers overseas (Open Books and Bouncing Ball Books). One is defunct and the other is doing well. But someday our marriage will be over.
Today I self publish my books in Nigeria through my own outfit, Human Change Communications Company. I have been able to combine book publishing and evangelism successfully. While most of my books have themes and messages of love, charity, redemption and faith, my target is often children. I believe they are the future. They should have the best.
 One of my success stories is my recently published little book, The Promised Land. In the last one month, the paperback has sold over 500 copies in Nigeria. It’s only forty pages. I included questions and lots of activities. So it’s fun all the way!
As part of my mission to evangelize through publishing pamphlets, tracts and little books, I have made the Promised Land free online. You can download any format at free-ebooks.net and the PDF on my blog here. The Promised Land is not the only Christian book that I have published as paperback in Nigeria. Some of my books include: Money Not Enough, the Good Father, the Honorable Man, and Tales of Mr Townsend. Like my other books, they are all used in primary schools in Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Imo, Abia, Delta, Rivers, and Ekiti. Soon they will be on the internet for a token or free.
There’s a future for self publishing in Nigeria. However, it has a price. Doing business in Nigeria is generally harsh. If you are not tough, the sharks will swallow you! Like every other business, publishing or self publishing in Nigeria is tedious, rigorous and frustrating. You could be printing today and then be out of business in the next season. It is as simple as that. If you are not careful, you will run into debt as you try to satisfy your distributors and sales representatives.
If you hope to get something tangible out of self publishing, you must be prepared to have all the factors of production right under your nose!  Meaning, you must own a printing press, provide your own electricity, have a genuine source of finance that you can easily pull cash, be a friend of the paper merchant or you become a paper merchant yourself and lastly have loyal distributors and sales representatives. If all of these things are not under your control, book publishing in Nigeria is not for you. It will kill you!
It is not easy to be a successful publisher or self publisher in Nigeria. To get to the top of the food chain, you need to wield enough power and control very large number of people. It is the people you control that make the process successful. The lesser the number of people you control, the more likely you will struggle in the book industry in Nigeria. Because self publishing in Nigeria is very difficult, less people are willing to undertake the stress. Publishing is a goldmine that is deeper than the deep blue sea. If you survive the stress, you will become a very powerful person. To get to the top in the publishing industry in Nigeria, you must control people. Not just your employees who in my own opinion are the least on the list of people who must be under your control. You must stamp your authority. You control everything including the bank, paper merchants, printers, collators, distributors and reps. Nothing more, nothing less! 
Yes, you can achieve it! It is possible! Learnrite publishers did it! Net Continental publications did it! Pekan Ventures did it! You too can!
 Learnrite, Net Continental and Pekan were all once self publishers!


Omoruyi Uwuigiaren

.














Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From the novel entitled, "Beyond Imagination" by Oladele Dada.

 Oladele Dada. It was dawn. The chilly dust-laden wind formed dense fog on the road. The rocky hills and the tall trees made Ajewole a beautiful town. The birds sang aloud, and clanging of stainless dishes in the neighbourhood suggested human activity was at its peak. Humans had begun to move to their various destinations. Adunni had trouble with child bearing and her husband was worried. Then she booked an appointment with her doctor. After several tests, the doctor suggested the couple be patient and that she will surely get pregnant. Not long after, Adunni was pregnant. After several months, Adunni was delivered of a boy. The women in her neighbourhood, alongside the children, sang and danced to her home to celebrate with her. Her husband, Fredrick Olagbade, thanked the Lord and named the boy Juwon.     As Juwon grew, his mother had another child whose name was Olakitan. Juwon was intelligent and his parents were struggling to make ends meet. As poverty st...
6 comments
Read more

BOOK EXCERPT: The Farmhouse by Omoruyi Uwuigiaren

The Farmhouse  by Omoruyi Uwuigiaren Chapter One The Family `Once upon a time in the old town of Gid, an old farmer called Erasmus had a horse and a son. The boy’s name was Jason, and the horse was Francis. They lived in a farmhouse, and Francis took them everywhere they went. The farmer had no wife. She died after Jason was born. Erasmus vowed never to remarry and had remained a widower ever since. Taking care of Jason and Francis alone was never easy, but the farmer promised his late wife on her deathbed that he was going to raise Jason into a fine man. One sad morning, the cockerel said it was dawn. The disturbance woke Jason. The boy stormed out of sleep. He removed the blanket and rolled out of bed. He went to the window and peered out. The weather was clear, and the boughs of trees bowed and danced to the sweet movement of the morning breeze. Jason liked the morning, and then he carried himself to the sitting room, where his father was on his knees saying his morning prayers....
1 comment
Read more

NEW RELEASE: Those Ghostly Victorians by Annette Siketa

  Those Ghostly Victorians by Annette Siketa ABOUT THE BOOK At its zenith, the belief in ghosts in the Victorian era bordered on the hysterical. From stately homes to deserted wells, no dwelling was complete without a resident ghost. Halls and mansions and even the odd palace or two, spawned a multitude of family legends, many of which still persist. Many people claimed to have direct contact with a ghost through an object such as a ouija board or a pen, the latter collectively known as 'spiritual writing'. For example, a secretary allegedly continued to take dictation from his employer long after the latter was dead. Whether it was through books, plays, or supposedly true stories, the influence of the supernatural was profound. And it is not difficult to understand why, especially in the 'lower class', the majority of whom were uneducated. With nothing but drabness and poverty on the horizon, events such as a windy night or a violent storm were likely to set the ima...
Post a Comment
Read more