After Six years of writing for newspapers, blogs and websites, I decided to write my own book, thus become an Author. I have always wanted to write my own book and I did it.
My first book was released on the first of January 2019. The book was about the misconceptions about feminism and how some feminists have over the years misinterpreted the feminist theory and hidden young girls from the positive agenda of the feminist movement. The response to the book release was very encouraging.
My second book talked about Africa’s natural resources such as gold, cocoa, diamond, among others and how African leaders have still not being able to fully maximise the potential of its natural resources into wealth creation.
Africa is the richest among all the continents including North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Europe, and Antarctica.
My country Ghana for instance is endowed with natural resources such as cocoa, gold, oil among others. My second book tackled all aspects of the resources that remain stack and not being utilised to its full potential.
Being an author has been exciting and interesting but it has not been easy as I perceived. It takes a lot of hard work and editing before releasing a book. I have decided to release a book every year but unfortunately, I have not been able to publish a new book this year and I feel like I am disappointing my loyal readers who have become accustomed to seeing and buying my books every year as usual.
Becoming an author has taught me so many things including editing. Of course I always edit my articles before publication on my blogs, website, facebook, etc but with editing a book, I have to edit the work several times, and in the end, it becomes better. So being an author has taught me to be a good editor as well. Secondly, I have become perfect at writing 2,000 – 5,000 words, it almost seem effortless right now for me to write a book. Becoming an author has also connected me with several writers and authors around the world.
If you are a writer and thinking of becoming a published author, please do not give up. Get your pen and write, get your laptop and type, and you will love the experience. If you a beginner like me with no budget, you can start with an Electronic Book popularly referred to as E-Book. With E-Book, you just need your content, internet and time. Within seconds you can publish your work on Amazon and other book platforms and start generating sales immediately.
All my books are distributed by Amazon and I must say I love their work and engagement. Also, I use another Ghanaian platform called ReaderApp and it is also a very good platform so if you are a Ghanaian author, you can try both Amazon and ReaderApp simultaneously.
After publishing your e-book, make sure to use your social media platforms to market and advertise your book to get enough sales and generate income. I always use my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog, reddit and other social media platforms that I am to promote and market my books.
You can also join facebook groups, reddit groups etc to get more readers to buy your book. As an author, marketing of your book after publication should be your priority or you would not generate any sales from your hard work. Try as much as possible to market your book to reach almost all your target audience. Online marketing is the deal at the moment. You can hire marketing experts to handle it for you or you can use your social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Podcast etc to market and sell your book.
You should go on radio tours as well if you have the budget. Television interviews is also another important marketing tool that you can touch one.
Again, try and hold webinars or seminars to talk about your book project and interact with your readers and followers.
As an author, you have to be tolerant and accept criticisms if it comes your way. Accepting opinions and working towards them is the best way to go.