BOOK BONUS: "HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK WITHOUT SPENDING A KOBO" BY GABRIEL C. ONYEKAWA

INTRODUCTION

Dear,

Imagine a world filled with abundance, yet we die and languish in shame, stagnation, poverty and penury. Imagine the amount of money being floated by different banks, yet we have no justifiable cash at hand.

Nigeria is said to be blessed with abundant resources, yet we struggle to make both ends meet. What a shame!!!

This night, as I was writing, I imagined the number of persons who toil day and night yet having nothing to show for their sweat. I visualized the number of people who are in the prison that are rottening away because of lack of money to bail them. Remember that some of them are not guilty of any crime. They were humiliated because they are poor.

I thought about those in the various hospitals, who can’t pay their hospital bills just because of poverty.

The Bible acknowledges that the wisdom of the poor man is irrelevant, even when what he says is right.

When will poverty end?

Like a spark of light upon me, I shouted, “Poverty MUST end in my life this night!!!”. Immediately, thoughts of liberation came to my mind. I felt that by extension, you should be mad at poverty and end it now.

Poverty is not welcomed in your life. It is an orphan who stays wherever it is welcomed. The reason for my writing this manual is to pop up your mind to see reasons why poverty must end now.

For how long will you keep on struggling? For how long will you keep toiling, yet at the end of the year, you have nothing to show for your sweat? For how long will you be a victim of debt, poverty and frustration? For how long?

Until you open your eyes and see reasons why you must change position, you are not a candidate for prosperity. Until you accept responsibilities for where you are and what you have today, you are not permitted to make it in life. The reason why you are where you are for years is because you have been repeating the same process for a long time. Until you change the way you think and do things, you are not permitted to have tangible results.

Yesterday’s solutions cannot be applied to today’s problems. What worked in the Agrarian or industrial age might not work in the information age.

A lot of us still do things: transact businesses, dispense services to customers and clients, speak and act as if we are still in the industrial age. Those solutions that you applied and they worked in Agrarian or industrial ages might not work in this present information age.

You need to wake up from slumber! Do things the information age pattern and you achieve the information age result! Period. Today, money is being made at the speed of thought.

In this manual, I want to expose you to one of the greatest money makers of our generation. The third fastest money maker in the world is the information products.

This exposition is based on the seminar presented on Thursday, the 19th of November, 2009. It was entitled, “HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK AND PUBLISH IT WITHOUT SPENDING A KOBO”.

Though the attendance was phenomenal, beyond my imagination, a lot those who could not make it to the seminar started calling in, asking for the seminar material. In fact, I had to switch off my phone because of the numerous phone calls that were coming in. This is no exaggeration. Those of you who later tried my line a day after that day could attest to this fact.

Many people saw the title as fallacious; something that was impossible. They could not believe me. In fact, a man told me that he did not attend the seminar because he felt that publishing a book without spending a kobo was impossible.

However, I made a promise that I was going to extend the content of the lecture I delivered to the general public as fast as I could. Thus was the writing of this manual. In this manual, I am going to expose some seemingly mysteries to you:

 What is a book?

Historical development of books

How to write a your own book

How to publish your book: Offline and online.

Self publishing and Commercial publishing

Differences between a conventional book and digital (electronic book)

E-books: What are they?

Formats of e-books

E-book compilers

How to convert your manuscript into an e-book

And many more. 

I shall explain each topic in a way you will understand and apply it. Then, let us start with the meaning of a book.

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT IS A BOOK?

A book is a collection of facts (information) in an organized format and bound into one comprehensive volume by a string or cover. A book has title. It bears the author’s name (that is, the name of the writer).

Having briefly explained what a book is, it is pertinent for us to trace what led to books development as we see them today. That is, the historical development of books.

1.2: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BOOKS

Dear, it wasn’t easy for me to discover this, I had to consult several books for it but the most significant was what I saw in the Oxford African Encyclopedia for Schools and Colleges (1974: 91). Listen to this:

At first, men recorded their stories and passed

 on information by making marks on hard-

Wearing material, such as wood, clay, stone,

The back of trees, papyrus (the pith of rushes),

And leather. The disadvantages of some of

These materials was that they were difficult to

Carry from one place to another.

Until about 1450, most books were single copies

written by hand on specially prepared animals’ skins.

Many of these were decorated- “illuminated” with

pictures and patterns in bright colours and gold leaf.

A book that was made in China about 1100 years ago

has survived. It consists of a roll of 7 sheets of paper about 5m long and about 30 cm high. It was printed with wooden blocks. About 200 years later, a Chinese printer invented types made from pieces of clay. He made one character of each type by shaping each piece of clay in a mould. Then he baked the pieces to harden them. To get the types ready for printing, he sorted them into the correct order and put them into a frame.

In Europe, printing on paper from metal types began

in 1450. Johann Gutenberg probably introduced this

Process, which was to spread all over Europe by the

year 1500. Because of this, printed books could be made in every country in Europe before 1550 and it was possible for large numbers of people to buy and read books.

The pages of early books were bound, stitched and

glued into leather covers. The covers of many of

Them were decorated with gold lettering and

ornaments. Leather continued to be used for the

covers until after 1800. Since then, specially

Prepared cloth (or paper or plastic), glued into

coarse cardboard has been used for the cover.

Now there are printing presses which make books

in almost every country. Many books are produced

With paper covers (not supported by cardboard), these are called, “Paper backs”. Improved techniques have made it possible for colour illustrations to be used more often. In many countries, people who cannot afford to buy books are able to borrow them, free, from public libraries.

There are high speed mechanical printing presses in

several countries in Africa. Including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania.

I know that by now, you are tired of reading the historical development; you just want to know how to write your own book first. Relax, we are at it now.

1.3: HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK

Dear, have you ever imagined plucking monies from trees or printing monies legally? Have you ever thought of turning paper into money? That is exactly what book writing is all about.

It baffles many people when I tell them that I print money legally, well asked, “WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?” I turn paper into money. But, that is exactly what I do for a living. Information on paper is equal to printed money.

Now, How Do You Write Your Own Book?

There are several things you must know to be a creative writer and a best selling author. You don’t write like some of those who just visit the library or the internet, gather together what others have written and put their name boldly on the cover page and announce to the world that they have written books. That is plagiarism and it is against the law. It can even land you into jail.

To write a book, do the following:

Be Passionate: Without passion, a book will only have “bones” and no “flesh”. The top secret behind every best selling or fast selling book is passion. Until you are passionate about a situation, you cannot write well. Your solutions will become irrelevant because they have no “Emotion” in them. Passion will make you see opportunities where others see threats and weaknesses. Passion can create a book out of you. Assuming you just heard that somebody has been raped. Passion can make you feel for the person and fight for him in writing. You seek out ways of curbing the menace of rape in the society. This makes you an author of a book. Make sure that there is a good reason for you to write. Discover the reasons why you must write.

Ransack your brains: What are those thoughts that readily come to mind when you imagine a situation: positive or negative. Put them down on any sheet of paper or any of your writing materials.

View those points and organize them into topics: Itemize the topics of the book you want to write. This gives you insights into what the title of your book will be. Some writers create their titles first before writing. The topics form the title of my book. I like writing in scraps.

Create the title of your book: This helps you in the development of those topics. In the writing of the topics, you will see that your focus will be on how what you are writing is in line with the title of your book .Remember, books that start with, “How to...” Somehow easily become hot cakes. Dear, if you are considering writing your own book, give it such titles as:

• How to make money online.
•  Quick ways to make money online.
• Absolutely unbreakable tips for making money online
• Reliable secrets of success.
• Make millions printing recharge cards
•   Create your own wealth
•   Instant money maker
•   Surefire way of hitting it big in business
•   Strategies for success Internet wealth secrets exposed
•   Get rich rearing cattle. Start with what you have.
•    Ideas for making money online and other related titles.

Who Are Your Target Audience? You have to know your target audience. Who are you writing to? Are you writing to the aged, the youths, graduates, undergraduates, unemployed etc? This goes a long way in affecting the kind of words you use in your writing.

Write As If You Are Talking To Your Friend: To write a book that will sale in the market place, online or offline, you must write as if you are talking to a friend. This makes the reading of the book easier. Not just that, it makes the facts of the book to be arranged in sequential order and logical too.

Do Not Write to “many People At Once”, Write to a Single Person: To write a book that will sale in the market place, write as if you are addressing a specific person, probably your friend. Do not make the work look boring. Write as if you are just talking to a single person directly. This puts “The soul” to your book.

Pour Down Your Heart First: While writing, write what comes to your mind first. That is, your thoughts. After writing, you can then visit other sources like the library, the internet etc to source for other materials that you can use to further substantiate your facts. You don’t write and research at the same time. It may lead to plagiarism; that is, copying other peoples’ works (book and materials) verbatim. Besides, it will make you not to pour down your heart again into the work.

The Knowledge You Have Within Your Mind Is All That You Will Need To Develop A Successful Book: Think about this! There is something you know that a lot of peopled don’t know. Even if they know it, they can’t do it the way you do it. Why don’t you write a book on that? Knowledge of palm kernel cracking is enough knowledge to land you into the world of millionaires. You tend to underrate what you know. A lot of people want to know a bit of what you know. You have the knowledge. Why don’t you share it, liberate minds and make money cheaply. I have tested this and it worked for me. Why not try it. There is something that you are very good at, just think about this, write a book on it and money will be forced to come to you cheaply.

Write A Book To Solve A Problem: Let your book solve a specific problem or challenge. Make sure that it satisfies any of the human want and needs like making money, saving money, investing money, saving time, gaining more leisure, improving self, security etc.

How Do You Know The Problems And Challenges? Find out What Most People Are Talking About: Though you might be passionate about a subject that does not mean that the book will have an instant market for it. To write a hot selling book, you need to survey the environment, know what most people are talking about. You can join groups online, to achieve this.

Remember, even if somebody has written on the topic you want to write and he/she has been giving the information out for free, that does not mean that your book will not sale. In fact, people will pay for your information even though they know that it may be available for free at another book or magazine. This is because most people are very lazy and lack confidence in things given out for free.

Write In Bits: Pick your book idea and break it into parts. Each part should deal with a portion of your idea. This will help you to eliminate writer’s block. It will also help you to focus. Not just that, it makes your book easy to read. This is because the major parts will come under titles, headlines, and subheadings. You must create your work step by step.

Follow A Logical Sequence: To write a book, make sure that you write logically. Let your work have a good coherence. If possible, make references to previous parts of the book to ensure that the reader still keeps up. Most people tend to forget the beginning of a book by the time they get to the middle. You need to help these people!

Edit Your Book Thoroughly: Most book writers are always in a haste to make money out of their written works. They forget the most important part of book writing which is editing. Research has it that 80% of books, especially e-books published in Nigeria fail in this area. They contain too many typos and they look really ugly. Therefore, do not add to this number; after writing your book, send it to a professional in that field to edit it. Worthy of note is the fact that your best editor is not that person who congratulates you after reading your manuscript, but that person who critically and analytically studies your work to unveil errors and mistakes. He is the person who suggests some logical and correct solutions. He is the person who edits your work based on spelling and grammar, coherence, saleability, professionalism, etc.

Avoid Distraction: You should locate an environment that is quiet and suits the kind of writing you want to do. Sit down there and write your book. Some of us write well in a noisy environment (though it depends on what we are writing), others write well when alone. But, I think, the best time to write is when you are in seclusion (when you are alone).

Now, with the information given, I know you can write your own book. Let us just assume that you have written your own book (which is technically known as,” Manuscript”). How do you go about publishing it? Follow me in the next edition and you'll be glad you did? (But, if you can't wait to be reading excerpts from this book, "HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK AND PUBLISH IT WITHOUT SPENDING A KOBO", order for a copy of its e-book by calling me on +234 803 933 5121 or, e-mail: adnbooks@gmail.com).

May the Lord honour you mightily in Jesus name!!!