Why many Nigerian authors don’t profit from their works

PUBLISHER and book project consultant, Ijeoma Dicta Okoye, has given reasons why many Nigerian writers do not profit from their published books.

Okoye, also the founder of Creative Writers and Influencers Network (CWIN), recently made this known while revealing the secrets of how she is making profits from her book ‘Every Writer’s Secret’.

She lamented that one mistake intending or existing authors make is thinking that they will begin to sell their books immediately after they announce the launch without planning a profitable launch.

She stressed that book writing and marketing require good planning and market survey to get the desired results — except one wants to write a book, print it and decorate a shelf with it.

“You did not write a book to decorate your shelf,” she said. “You wrote it for the world. Let those who need it hear you talk about it, and they will buy it.”

Okoye enjoined writers to learn how to make their books wanted by those who are their ideal audience. She added that it is not just about writing a book but one that people want.

“Some published writers even email people, asking them to buy their books,” she said. “They do cold marketing and think that that is how others selling their books do.”

To explain it better, she gave an analogy of marketing a book on menopause to a young lady of 26 years or a book on building a start-up to a manager of a company worth millions of naira.

“The young lady will probably need a book on self-fulfilment and finding love as a single,” she said. “And the manager will be on the lookout for a book on accessing global opportunities and expressing the company’s identity in the global economy.”

Okoye stated that the reason her books sell fast, especially ‘Every Writer’s Secret’, is that she markets them to two categories of people: those who are existing authors and want to master how to sell their books; and those who are intending authors and want to write, publish and sell their books like professionals.

She encouraged writers to think in that direction and be sure they are explaining their books’ benefits to people who need them.

“The moment you locate the right audience,” she said, “Your book will sell.”

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