This is a story I had wanted to tell a long while ago, but events after my first book publication since 2010 had hindered it. I even tried to tell it at my 2012 book launch, but the book review had usurped the time for that.
I have been able to tell it to a handful of friends though. And they have been able to publish their books as easy as the sun melts snow. I have always believed, and I still firmly believe that Art is the glue that holds every civilisation together. It is the pillar upon which every civilisation stands, and for it to fall or be stabbed will be devastating to existence as we know it.
In making sure that this form of Art, written Art, still stands, I will be sharing with you these five easy steps to publishing a book in Nigeria, and I’m sure it will work anywhere in the world.
It was July 2010 that the idea to publish a book became more intense. Even though at the time, I’d purchased books worth close to a million naira, I didn’t feel like the world needed my writing. The writers were doing well.
So, one day, I thought to myself; where are the young poets in Nigeria? All I know of poetry are from the grown-ups that are either dead or won’t blink if death stared them in the face. I started searching. I found a handful, but just one published author of a book of poetry. One Jumoke Verrisimo. And I was happy the young author was female. I was a feminist at the time, I still am.
I tracked her down, bought her book, spoke to her, she encouraged me, and I swung to action. Couple of days after that, I found another female, her book was ready in hardcover, but she hadn’t launched it yet. She even obliged me a copy.
I eventually launched my book before she did, though hers was in much grander style. She’s the famous Tosin Otitoju. You can google these two names. Splendid folks.
To start with, I told my mum I wanted to publish a book of poetry. And she thought it was a good idea. She knows how much I love books. An example of her experience was when I traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2004, she’d expected someone of my age to buy all sort of junks coming back, but my entire 50kg of carry-on luggage was books. Lol.
She told me to search for a publisher, and I did. The publisher gave us three options, and these three options are what any publishing firm will give any author.
One, we will publish your book, organise the book launch and market it, and you will get royalty. Royalties vary, but I don’t know of any firm that pays more than 10 per cent in such arrangements. Trust me, this is true. Even international firms.
Two, we will publish your book, organise the launch, but we won’t be responsible for the marketing afterwards. They offer this to clients they are sure has audience that will attend the book launch. Mostly politicians, public figures and celebrities.
Three, you will pay us to help you do everything. More like an agent thing. And you will pay them for the services rendered afterwards, not minding the fact that the figures will be doubled anyways.
We chose the third option, and we were charged N3 million. Even if my mum had agreed ehn, I wouldn’t have followed through. She told me to go back to my books, and once I’m done with my final-year, which was going to end in three weeks, we will revisit the subject.
I told her there and then, ‘Mum, I want to publish this book before I graduate, and I will.’ She got the message.
I didn’t return to school that day. I started looking for friends that had published books of prose. The only young one I could find then was Onyeka Nwelue, though he didn’t self-publish, he gave me a skirmish idea of how it’s done.
Having done this twice, and having helped six of my friends become authors, I believe I’m an authority of some sort on this subject. Eight books down.
Editing
This step is the first. Truth be told, no matter how well you edit your work, you can’t edit it well enough. Look for remarkable readers to edit it.
There are some people God put on this earth to be editors. I don’t know how they do it, but the last thing you want to raise up high as your work is a book filled with errors.
As much as I did try to edit my first book titled Sad Nectar, it wasn’t the best edited work. Even though I got renowned people to edit it. A comma where it’s not supposed to be. It’s like a poisonous bean in an entire bowl of beans. It just doesn’t feel right to serve it to your neighbour.
And most of these errors you won’t see until it’s published. Like three to four months after. And the Printing Press most times are guilty of executing an unrequested errand.
To put it more succinctly, no matter how well edited the book seem, you will read it a year after and you will see what you could have changed. So, take your time to edit the work. It is most likely going to be your one and only chance to make an impression.
Book design
After you must have edited thoroughly, the next most important step is the book design. I will publish the story of how I got my first book designed on this blog soon.
Its last five paragraphs will give you an insight into the deep thought I put into that work of art. I wasn’t surprised when I heard it won an award in an international gallery couple of months after it was released to the world wide web.
The importance of a well-designed book can NOT be overemphasised. It is the breath of a book. The cover can get it off the shelf, and the cover can also make it remain on the book store’s shelf to gather dust. Especially if it is nylon-wrapped, and one can’t flip through the pages to read some paragraphs
If you don’t have any reason to do a good design, just do it for the sake of Art. Thank you.
ISBN code
Just before you start searching for a Printing Press, another step that our bureaucratic society has made necessary is acquiring an ISBN code. Miss Kaine Agary, the author of the award-winning book Yellow Yellow was the one that came to my rescue at this stage.
The National Library expects you to bring three copies of your not-yet-published manuscript and a letter from a publishing firm. Kaine helped with the letter.
And after I had done all that was expected of me, the code wasn’t ready until the day before my book launch. In fact, it wasn’t ready at all. It was a woman at the Abuja office that phoned me, having been disturbing them, that she just found a code, albeit old.
The codes come in installation of some sort. Nigeria receives its from Germany. So, if we have exhausted the ones we have, we will have to wait for the next instalments. No thanks to publishing firms that buy the codes even before the codes put their feet on the Nigeiran soil.
When she phoned the Lagos office where I had applied to give them the code, the Lagos officer was very angry. She thought the Abuja office was hoarding codes, but the Abuja office explained that there were still no codes available, that she just stumbled on this one. Let me take a moment to explain something here.
In Nigeria, to publish a book ISBN code is required. The Institute that should dish out these codes are bereft of the codes for months and most likely years. I don’ think we need Einstein to tell us the result of that equation. It means that for as long as codes aren’t available, books won’t be published in the country, no matter how important, timely or life changing your book will be to the world. Kosi code nile o. Sad.!
Legally though, having studied Intellectual Property in my third year as a student of Law, I knew the purport of that requirement is so that if any one infringes on my right by plagiarizing my work, the easy way to settle who owns the copyright is by checking whose ISBN was registered earlier.
The court will most likely favour one who got a code earlier, which makes a lot of sense. If A registered on the first of January, and B registered on the second of February, there is a very high probability that A is the Original owner. Except otherwise proven.
This exception was what I wanted to ride on when I decided to publish my book since Nigeria won’t give me the code. And the exception is that whoever can prove originality will be declared the owner of copyright. And what that means is that, both parties will be told to prove that the work was theirs in its entirety.
Manuscripts, diaries, experiences, photo albums, scribbles, everything that can be used to convince a reasonable man that you are the author and the other party isn’t the author.
You will agree with me that that Law is a good one. Since the thief won’t be able to bring out a shred of evidence of scribbles or muses that inspired him to write the book.
I figured even if my book was plagiarised, I won’t even sue. In fact, I will rejoice. Lol. It shows that I did something right. But if I see that they are making way more money than I am, I go sue them collect all their money. So now I’m sure you are able to manoeuvre yourself around this.
Printing press
There are a lot of printing presses all across Lagos or where ever you are reading this. This is where you will spend the most money, so make sure you spend it wisely.
You don’t want to publish a book that will be falling off on the launch day or even years after. And be pals with whoever is going to do the final setting of the book’s layout.
Make sure your page one is page one, and no bit of page one crosses to page two. And make sure the spacings are as you intended. I know of authors that have had to call for a reprint of the entire book for such mistakes. Yeah, we are that meticulous.
Book launch
Get a venue; get a book reviewer; get an interior decorator if you can afford it; create an agenda; make sure you call on artistes to perform; prepare something light for your guests, don’t starve them.
Share fliers, posters and invites and ultimately, don’t let your book be too expensive. Let Art be accessible to all. And yeah, before I forget, practise your signature, make sure it’s a fine one o.
And the above is how I published a book that was supposed to gulp three million naira for less than N500,000 in less than two weeks. And it was so easy to execute, I was back to school in time for my final exams which I passed successfully.
I see a lot of fantastic poetry on my Facebook timeline daily, and it hurts me to see that they are waiting for publishing firms to publish their works even though I know they are capable of doing it themselves and owning the entire profit.
Save Art, publish your works today. Yours might even cost less than mine did. My first book was a bulky one. I didn’t intend to publish another after it. It was my gift to Art, as this piece is also. Thank you, and tag friends that will be in need of this information.
