How to Publish a Book in Nigeria

Writing and publishing a book is not an easy task. Many a number of persons have the ability to write books. However, not so many get it right when it comes to publishing what they have written.

Publishing a book goes way beyond just printing the works you have typed. To get a book published, you got to know what it takes.

In this article, I have simplified book publishing for the Nigerian audience. It is a Step-by-Step guide to book publishing in Nigeria with the aim of getting the author the preferred audience and readership.

Quickly, in book writing and publishing, the author, his style of writing, the status if the book publishing company, available resources etc. are sine-qua-non to successful book publishing.

For your book to be pronounced, “Good” and fit for the reading public, it must have the capacity to meet the expectations of the target audience. If your target audience is busy and/or an impatient one, they may not like a book crowded with so much material (content) on one page.

They will prefer fewer words on a page, written with easy-to-understand English and in shorter sentences.

The Market Structure

Before you venture into writing book, there are a few questions you must ask yourself: Why do you want to write a book? Do you intend to publish your book? Will you self-publish or will you try to land an agent? Do you have a platform or an audience?

Remember there are numerous books on that same topic you’ve chosen so, no audience would spend their time on books that give little or sub-standard information. A good book is known for its contents.

To stay above all other authors, concentrate on what you are feeding your audience. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine if you were the one reading the book whether you could call what you see enough or below standard.

How to Publish a Book In Nigeria

(1) Define Your Subject Clearly

The subject of the book is undoubtedly the most intriguing part of book publishing. Before you type the first line of your to-be-published book, invest sufficient time defining what your book is about, its concept and context.

Picking the subject of your book is streamlined along identify your target audience, and develop your book’s approach. Any author who starts writing a book first before thinking about a subject is on the path to failure.

Getting a subject means that you have fully developed the concept. Your book may be academic: for such books, the subject is clear. It may be motivational, fiction or stories: for such books, you need to decide what particular thing you want to write about.

In choosing the subject, you need to be concerned about what your target audience is interested in reading as well as their level of understanding and reading habits. You could write a wonderful book that will never be read by anyone if you don’t get the right things right.

(2) Develop Your Content

For multiple edition books, deciding the content of the book is an essential step. Planning the content helps unfold and add new editions upon publishing of the book. Ensure that your book that is about being published has enough information for consumption by those (targeted audience) who are going to use it.

Looking at books that have been pre-written under such topics should be consulted to see how rich the content is, then you go ahead and improve yourself and do better.

(3) Get A manuscript

The manuscript of a book can be any stage of a book. Some authors create an outline and start filling it in. sometimes, a ‘finished manuscript’ would be the completed version of the book. A rough draft, a final draft, and even an outline can be a book manuscript.

By the time you produce your final draft, it should be void of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors.

This means that your final manuscript has to be proof-read before you can head for publishing. Let your reading audience or reader feel your professionalism, especially in your language structure and usage. This is very important and necessary.

Also, ensure that your manuscript follows the correct and standard format. Editors want to see this, and anything short of this is capable of thwarting the chances of your book getting published.

To ensure a smooth publication process, it is important that you ensure the text and figures of your manuscript are complete. Once you have a manuscript, your publishing process is going to be much easier.

Closely linked to your manuscript is your book guideline. It gives you the various stages you need to follow to have a fine manuscript and eventually a masterpiece.

(4) Decide Your Illustrations And Book Color

Writing children’s books, for example, illustrations are a must. What makes children’s books appealing are the illustrations they contain. Seriously, you will have difficulty getting children read your book if it lacks catchy illustrations and drawings, especially, if the children are primary targets.

For academic books, you have to decide too on how to place your diagrams. Make sure your diagrams are easy to understand and strive for expert diagrams.

On the other hand, for books targeting adults you have to choose your colors carefully while bearing in mind that different colors appeal differently to different people.

Colors have deep concealed meanings that affect our thinking and rationale. They have symbolic meanings that change amongst different cultures and countries.  Before you even begin a design you must choose the appropriate colors that are effective in re-enforcing the brand, message and overall tone.

(5) Finally, Publish And Promote Your Book

When all the aforementioned things have been put in place, then comes the time for you to layout your book and get it ready for publishing. And during publishing, make sure that you or someone from the publishing house is on hand to check last-minute mistakes, especially those that have to do with the layout. Remember, it is the final manuscript that is sent to the printer.

After printing has been done, make sure your book is available for purchase from a multitude of big-name retailers. Meantime, keep a first printed copy of your book to hold in your hands.

Take a moment to enjoy the feelings that come with being a published author! All the while as you follow the steps to publish your book, make sure that you are simultaneously pursuing ways to promote your book.

If it is a self-published book, then the job of promoting it may be in your hands, but on the other hand, if you have a publisher, then they will be charged with the responsibility to promote your book.

Marketing & Profitability

The next big question in the book publishing is how to make a published book get to everybody and make profits at the same time. This, of course, informs the choice of advertising media and publicity. You could work this out by getting your book reviewed and talked about in various media.

See more marketing measures below:

1. Give out Flyers and handbills notifying people of your book launch.
2. Liaison with bookshops and bookseller to place your book(s) on their shelves for sale.
3. Visit places having events such as churches, schools, etc. and advertise your book there.
4. Make a speech at an event and use the opportunity to market your book.
5. Get book a functional website.
6. Promote your book with social media adverts
7. Join Nigerian authors association.
8. Etc.

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