Nice post.....

Tnks OP.

Sitex:
make sure the foreword is written by some notable person in a field related to the subject of your research. This is like an endorsement.

Incorporate excerpts by literary critics in that field that are favorable to your work.

State your qualifications most preferably at the backpage, sometimes readers want to be certain they are not wasting their time on the senseless musings of an ignoramus

Yea.... like literature having a foreword by a Laureate goes a long way.

vimi:
Nice write up OP

meanwhile ii stopped reading when prof chinua Achebe lied that The beautiful ones are not yet born

Chai! Ghanaian author, Ayi Kwei Ama wrote "the beautiful ones are not yet born"

ipicasso:
Writing is a great way to let out your feelings and your thoughts about certain issues. Writing also can also be a fun way to while away time. When writing is done constructively, it can be a great tool to teach, enlighten and entertain people.

Being a writer is not an easy task. In fact, no job comes easy in this world. A good writer needs to go into intensive research in order to get their facts straight so as not to misinform or anger the readers.

If you are interested in going into writing and making it a job, then you have to ensure that your book has to be the type that your readers would love to read and greatly benefit from. For this you need to consider a couple of things:

1. You need to do your homework.
Research, research, research. That's one of the most important things you need to do. The more you read about the subject matter you want to write on, the easier it will be to write your book. This is because research constitutes the bulk of the work. Another thing is that you may never know when your book will be read by someone who knows a lot about the subject matter of your book. Remember, it is important to make yourself a credible writer. When you research well, then you'll write a great book. A great book will satisfy the readers and satisfied readers give you great reviews. Great reviews will then bring in more people to read your book and more readers will amount to increase in sales. It's a chain reaction, so don't underestimate the importance to research.

2. Be Simple
Simplicity can go a long way. There's no need to use big words. Just be simple. Let the information flow in a simple and coherent manner. Imagine your words flowing like water. There should be no obstructions, or in other words, the person reading should not have difficulty understanding you.

3. Carefully Edit
I used the word "carefully" because it takes a lot of patience and thorough reading to go through the whole manuscript, correct mistakes and tie up the lose ends. Watch out for grammatical errors, bad English and incorrect spellings. Believe me, it disrupts the flow of the reader. Remember, you have to satisfy the reader so that the reader will give you great reviews, and great reviews will bring you more readers and increased sales. If you don't have the patience to go through your work carefully, then employ the help of an editor.

4. Catch Your Reader's Attention
When you want to buy a book what do you do? In no particular order, you'd most likely do the following:
i) You check out the title:
The title is one of the things that can catch one's attention. The title should make someone curious and eager to find out what's inside. So take time to come up with a good title.
ii) Turn the book over to read the description at the back of the book:
A well-written description is an excellent tool in capturing and maintaining the one's curiosity. Let the description be simple and luring. Pet the reader's curiosity, increase it and the person will buy the book in no time.
iii) Have an attractive book cover:
This is a very important part of the book. Remember the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"? When it comes to books, this particular rule does not hold. When it comes to book buying EVERYONE judges the book by it's cover. We are very visual. So when we see an attractive cover, we get moved to pick it up to have a closer look. A book cover must not only be attractive, it must be professional. So if you don't know much about graphic design, then please leave it to the experts. Don't jeopardize your book sales by designing or having a shabby book cover designed.

When you are writing, make sure you have the above points in mind so as to guarantee your book sales.
If you need someone to design your book covers, Indie Picasso is at your service. For more details send me an email to: indie.picasso@yahoo.com

Take care and happy writing

Great job. Thanks.

vimi:
Nice write up OP

meanwhile ii stopped reading when prof chinua Achebe lied that The beautiful ones are not yet born

You sure you ever read at all? Cos Ayi Kwei Armah wrote that book...

vimi:
Nice write up OP

meanwhile ii stopped reading when prof chinua Achebe lied that The beautiful ones are not yet born

obviously you ve not started reading, cos Chinua Achebe never said so...

ipicasso:
Writing is a great way to let out your feelings and your thoughts about certain issues. Writing also can also be a fun way to while away time. When writing is done constructively, it can be a great tool to teach, enlighten and entertain people.

Being a writer is not an easy task. In fact, no job comes easy in this world. A good writer needs to go into intensive research in order to get their facts straight so as not to misinform or anger the readers.

If you are interested in going into writing and making it a job, then you have to ensure that your book has to be the type that your readers would love to read and greatly benefit from. For this you need to consider a couple of things:

1. You need to do your homework.
Research, research, research. That's one of the most important things you need to do. The more you read about the subject matter you want to write on, the easier it will be to write your book. This is because research constitutes the bulk of the work. Another thing is that you may never know when your book will be read by someone who knows a lot about the subject matter of your book. Remember, it is important to make yourself a credible writer. When you research well, then you'll write a great book. A great book will satisfy the readers and satisfied readers give you great reviews. Great reviews will then bring in more people to read your book and more readers will amount to increase in sales. It's a chain reaction, so don't underestimate the importance to research.

2. Be Simple
Simplicity can go a long way. There's no need to use big words. Just be simple. Let the information flow in a simple and coherent manner. Imagine your words flowing like water. There should be no obstructions, or in other words, the person reading should not have difficulty understanding you.

3. Carefully Edit
I used the word "carefully" because it takes a lot of patience and thorough reading to go through the whole manuscript, correct mistakes and tie up the lose ends. Watch out for grammatical errors, bad English and incorrect spellings. Believe me, it disrupts the flow of the reader. Remember, you have to satisfy the reader so that the reader will give you great reviews, and great reviews will bring you more readers and increased sales. If you don't have the patience to go through your work carefully, then employ the help of an editor.

4. Catch Your Reader's Attention
When you want to buy a book what do you do? In no particular order, you'd most likely do the following:
i) You check out the title:
The title is one of the things that can catch one's attention. The title should make someone curious and eager to find out what's inside. So take time to come up with a good title.
ii) Turn the book over to read the description at the back of the book:
A well-written description is an excellent tool in capturing and maintaining the one's curiosity. Let the description be simple and luring. Pet the reader's curiosity, increase it and the person will buy the book in no time.
iii) Have an attractive book cover:
This is a very important part of the book. Remember the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"? When it comes to books, this particular rule does not hold. When it comes to book buying EVERYONE judges the book by it's cover. We are very visual. So when we see an attractive cover, we get moved to pick it up to have a closer look. A book cover must not only be attractive, it must be professional. So if you don't know much about graphic design, then please leave it to the experts. Don't jeopardize your book sales by designing or having a shabby book cover designed.

When you are writing, make sure you have the above points in mind so as to guarantee your book sales.
If you need someone to design your book covers, Indie Picasso is at your service. For more details send me an email to: indie.picasso@yahoo.com

Take care and happy writing

how abt d inspiration to write

Writing is an essential for me. I can't do without it. Making money from it though might be a little too difficult, here in Nigeria.

Cool but publishing it might be a tough nut to crack....thats where frustrations sets in....if you are not determined

starlingslimnet:
Simplicity is what most writers miss thereby limiting their readers. Like chinua Achebe now; you can't read a paragraph without a dictionary. We writers are supposed to be simple in words usage and avoid superfluous information especially in descriptive writings.

Lol


How can you say Achebe is to be read with dictionary?




What then would you say about Interpreter?





And to cap it all you refer to yourself as a writer?

Jarizod:
op is making maximum sense

Those rules have helped me to a reasonable extent

Thanks so much. Those rules are quite subtle but are paramount in order to have a great book that sells

ShakurM:
- Never give up

Sounds common but vital

JK Rowling never had Harry potter published till she went to the 13th publishing house, the other 12 turned her down.

- look up to other writers

Well said! I also heard that John Grisham went through the same ordeal. I think he went to more than 20 publishers before he could have his first book published. I wonder why these publishers are being difficult.

lulu69:
Loose ends not lose ends. (Carefully edit)

Thank you so much for pointing that out. I'll definitely edit it. God bless.

HenryDion:
I love this post. Great info op. I love emphasizing more about diction. You know how to drop big words doesn't make you intelligent. Rather, it makes you robotic and boring. Sometimes, i love looking for words that's are easier to understand by an average person by using my Thesaurus Dictionary. It helps alot... 1000 likes for you op.

Thanks so much! Oh, yes a Thesaurus is very handy! I always keep mine close by

Sitex:
make sure the foreword is written by some notable person in a field related to the subject of your research. This is like an endorsement.

Incorporate excerpts by literary critics in that field that are favorable to your work.

State your qualifications most preferably at the backpage, sometimes readers want to be certain they are not wasting their time on the senseless musings of an ignoramus

Great point! Thank you so much for the contribution.

Google63:

obviously you ve not started reading, cos Chinua Achebe never said so...

Swerve joor

Google63:

obviously you ve not started reading, cos Chinua Achebe never said so...

Yeah ii really don't read Infact ii didn't go to school

starlingslimnet:
Simplicity is what most writers miss thereby limiting their readers. Like chinua Achebe now; you can't read a paragraph without a dictionary. We writers are supposed to be simple in words usage and avoid superfluous information especially in descriptive writings.

If a write-up is making me consult the dictionary every minute, I get tired. I don't know if anyone has the patience and the time to go through the dictionary every minute in order to decode what the writer wants to say. Simplicity is the golden key.

PrettySpicey:


You sure you ever read at all? Cos Ayi Kwei Armah wrote that book...

Shift abeg make receive fresh air, Mrs ii know iit all

Genea:
how abt d inspiration to write

Inspiration can come from anywhere! Just look around you and keep an open mind. I get my inspiration from music, my experiences, people's life experiences, thought provoking questions and those everyday challenges that one may go through.

If you are planning to write a "How-to" book, then look for things that people WANT and not necessarily what you think they NEED. Be sensitive to what people want to learn these days. Good luck!

ipicasso:


Inspiration can come from anywhere! Just look around you and keep an open mind. I get my inspiration from music, my experiences, people's life experiences, thought provoking questions and those everyday challenges that one may go through.

If you are planning to write a "How-to" book, then look for things that people WANT and not necessarily what you think they NEED. Be sensitive to what people want to learn these days. Good luck!

tnx

illiad1:



Lol

How can you say Achebe is to be read with dictionary?



What then would you say about Interpreter?




And to cap it all you refer to yourself as a writer?

Have you ever read Chinua Achebe?

Interpreter or translators?

What's your ideology of a writer?

ipicasso:


Inspiration can come from anywhere! Just look around you and keep an open mind. I get my inspiration from music, my experiences, people's life experiences, thought provoking questions and those everyday challenges that one may go through.

If you are planning to write a "How-to" book, then look for things that people WANT and not necessarily what you think they NEED. Be sensitive to what people want to learn these days. Good luck!

In addition, He can write 250 words a day making 7500 words per month multiply by 12 I think that will be enough for the book he wants to write

Chuksemi:
Writing is an essential for me. I can't do without it. Making money from it though might be a little too difficult, here in Nigeria.

I really believe that making money from selling books is possible anywhere, even in Nigeria. If you have excellent content that people WANT and if you back your book sales with serious marketing, then you'll see the rewards.

starlingslimnet:

Have you ever read Chinua Achebe?


Interpreter or translators?


What's your ideology of a writer?

He meant 'The Interpreters', a novel by Wole Soyinka. The very first sentence of it may confuse for years. It's one of my best novels, I intend reading it again.

And please, Chinua Achebe is not notable for complex diction; that's why people often refer to him as a story teller.

ipicasso:


Well said! I also heard that John Grisham went through the same ordeal. I think he went to more than 20 publishers before he could have his first book published. I wonder why these publishers are being difficult.

yeah, so I heard about John. The publisher might find a book uninteresting therefore not profitable in the 'book market' whereas it might be

slap1:


He meant 'The Interpreters', a novel by Wole Soyinka. The very first sentence of it may confuse for years. It's one of my best novels, I intend reading it again.

And please, Chinua Achebe is not notable for complex diction; that's why people often refer to him as a story teller.

O I see..... have you read "A man of the people"

i love this thread. thanks op. i had challenges when i wrote my first book. i followed all the above rules. i will also advise that the editing should be done by at least three professionals. mine was done by my pastor who had authored 6 books and two of my friends who hate seeing error.
i arranged two well organised launcheon with great people in attendance. i made 100% ROI from the two events; first at my alma mata second in lagos.
money matters but the platform that the book gave me was more pleasing and a lot of thank u msg from people i have never come across.

starlingslimnet:
O I see..... have you read "A man of the people"

Yes. About Chief Nanga, the politician.

safarigirl:
azzin.

When you start reading "the palms danced according to the flute of the wind, shutters and doors contributing to the orchestra of nature as women screamed their terror"....dem go use 2 pages dey describe irrelevant things before the main action, it's boring

@OP, another thing most Nigerian writers fail to do is perfect description. The most horrible thing to read most times is Nigerian romance. It's like people are scared their pastor will read their work and they'll be suspended from church. So when they write, you'll see "They kissed...they made love" and some other jargons. They don't feel the need to expantiate, how did it happen? Your target audience are young adults and middle-aged females, it's not an academically recommended book.

When you read American romance, it's as if you dey there as dem dey kiss, you'll even imagine yourself kissing, but when you read Nigerian romance, it leaves you feeling empty, it's akin to being fed chaff.

Sounds like porn