Hello everyone. Most Nigerian writers are being exploited by other Nigerians and foreign clients. I had been exploited too - as recently as December 2023 when I wrote a 35k-word eBook for $350. This eBook is currently selling fast on Amazon KDP and has many positive reviews. We need to stop this exploitation by making better use of our writing skills and helping one another with our experiences on writing for money. That's why I've started this thread. I hope it'll be one of the permanent and beneficial threads on Nairaland for writers. We'll just share tips and experiences here to help one another in the writing business. We can also hire writers from here and pay good rates for their effort. So, you might want to bookmark or follow this thread in case need to find it later. Don't forget to share your opinion and experiences after reading this post.

"writers needed" "need writers" - ignore these keywords. They are for writers to find this post.

I'm Planning To Quit Freelance Writing, and I Think You Should Too.

I've been writing since 2019 but am yet to make the kind of money I want in this life - millions of naira and lots of free time to enjoy it. In December last year, I wrote a book for one of US clients for $350. The book is moving well on Amazon, Audible, and other platforms, with "great" positive reviews. The last time I checked, it had about 50 positive reviews. That means way more than 50 people bought this book already. My research indicates that only about 10% of buyers write reviews on Amazon KDP. That means if 50 people review a book, it must have sold 500 copies. He priced it at $2.99. That means he's sold at least $1495 by now. Minus Amazon's 30% and he's left with $900+. That's over twice the money he's paid me and counting. Remember this is only for Amazon KDP. He sells his books on about 7 platforms. I didn't check those. His book's average prices are within the range of $7.99 - $9.99, and he seems to increase the price gradually. Most likely, he'll make thousands from this book before the year ends. When I saw this, I decided it was about time to quit writing for others and write for myself. I've gone far with my first book for Amazon KDP, a trilogy actually. I also have a political book in the pipeline as soon as these novels get published. The good part is that I don't need any upfront investments to publish my book. And I plan to use a eBook distribution service like StreetLib or PublishDrive, to sell on dozens of platforms in audio and eBook formats. This will maximize the profit. I'm sharing this info with you guys in case some people benfit from it. Start planning to stop hunting for jobs on Nairaland - jobs that most pay less than 10/word which is peanuts by global standards. You can make much more from your skill.

What Exactly Will We Do On This nairaland Thread? I'll List Them Below. Suggestions Are Welcome:


1. Sharing our publishing journey and experiences
2. Asking for advice and help where we face challenges
3. Helping one another with free information and tips for their problems
4. Hiring one another and paying good rates
5. Reviewing or commenting on books our members have written to help them improve their books
6. Finding new ways to make money from eBook self-publishing
7. Sharing strategies for writing and the tools to use
8. Researching the bestselling niches on Amazon KDP for our members to exploit
9. Helping others publish their books in our name to benefit from our popularity and fans (you can negotiate a split)
10. Contributing in whatever way that will help the members of this community
11. Reviewing one another's books on Amazon KDP and other platforms to promote it to new buyers
12. Helping with editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design, promoting, etc. of books by our members, who can pay upfront or after making sales.

"need writers" "writers needed" "need writer" "writer needed"

You can start by sharing your publishing experience on Amazon and other platforms, asking a question, or just telling us what you think about this thread and how it should be managed, such as how we can control offensive language, scams, bullying, and other unhelpful acts.

If you've written a new eBook and want people's reviews or comments, make sure to publish your book first and hold the copyright. You can post a viewable link to the Google Doc file of the book here for people to read and review it. You can disable the link after getting the number of reviews you want. Reviews can be written on Amazon KDP to promote your book. It'll be good to price it low, say $0.99, so many can buy and review it. If few or no body is willing spend $0.99 to review your book, you can offer to reimburse or even reward them after the review - maybe by giving them free copies of your other books, recharging their phone, buying them data bundles, or sending cash. It'll help your book in the long run by telling Amazon to push it up the ranking page and convincing people that this book is worth buying. I'll be one of the willing members to read your books and review them here or on Amazon KDP if I can afford to buy them.
Our country is in an economic mess. We got to help ourselves, family members and others by tapping income from the global economy. We can't do this by relying on the low-paid writing jobs on Nairaland. Let's help each other polish our writing skills and make millions instead of peanuts. That's when we can help ourselves and our people.

I'm talking too much. Time to stop. Please pour in the contributions below. Your opinion is important. Let others learn from you.

Thanks for reading people. I'll post regularly on this thread as I learn more in my self-publishing journey. I urge you to do them same.
Have a lovely day or night.

I genuinely believe that many foreign clients are making a reasonable sum from ghostwritten books, but I've done Kobo books and written for foreign clients through many platforms. One thing no one will tell you is that clients who sell well also spend heavily on ads and marketing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that people can't just make good sales for their books, but much like how social media content creation is hyped for paying millions, the hidden truth is how much is spent on adverts to get the sales or reach the public can see. Kindle, Kobo, etc., all have advertising services that many authors turn to. And to be realistic, many of them do not end up making a lot because ebook sites are competitive; millions of books are published yearly; what are the odds that yours will somehow catch the attention of the audience organically, even if it does what are the odds that yours will become a best seller that makes over 100,000 sales. Once you do the maths and realise that most ghostwriters are looking for money to pay bills and survive, you'll understand why people still write for $350 per book rather than risk becoming self-published.

And not to be a downer, but bestsellers were not self-published. Traditional publishers still hold the highest percentage of best sellers. Do you know how much is spent on advertising alone? A couple of months back, I was researching how to start an indie publishing company, and no matter what you think you want to do, advertising takes up a bulk of every book production process. Make no mistake, most writers here know that being an author pays, but they also know it's not easy. When I wrote my first book and was pitching it to agents locally and internationally, one of the communities I stumbled upon in my quest had a question from another new author, who had gotten a traditional publishing deal with an upfront of $5k, and then royalty only after selling out the upfront in books sales. The author was wondering if it was a good deal, and more than half told him to take it; eventually, one person explained that the chances of books sold at $5 to $15 selling enough to cover $5000 are very slim, and after the first year post-publication, the chances drops by more than half. If it succeeds, then great, but if it does not, at least he had $5k from his first published book. And this is from a foreign traditional publisher.

Another point I want to call out is, for most of these foreigners, $5 - 15 isn't such a big amount that will shake them, so they can comfortably spend on it. Also many of these authors have large clicks on social media and privately, I remember working with one that said he would get his relatives about 15 of them to buy first and then probably friends from social media, hopefully they'll get others to buy. That was his hope. For Nigerian, $5 is what? With dollar exchange at 1400 that's about 7k plus. How many Nigerians are willing to spend 7k to buy a book. And if I remember correctly all these ebook self-pub sites do not accept Naira, and the bank card limit is about $20 now or less, so if I manage to have $20 what I'll want to do is buy book? Dollar that is hard to buy even if it's now in circulation. Until there is a self-pub site that works with Naira, Nigerians will keep suffering the result of all the online limitations our policies set for us.

However, I truly believe that everyone's destiny differs, and you might be lucky to have your book sell well organically. While we all pray for that big break, let's still get the freelancing gigs, because rents must be paid, and food needs to be on the table.

Replying to Dvea.

Thanks for your helpful inputs. I've read every word and you are right in most cases. However, I need to correct you on a few points.

First, I'm not advocating for freelance writers to stop accepting the exploitative writing offers on Nairaland. I'm saying they should start thinking about switching. They should be writing their books while working on these jobs as temporary means of income to settle bills.

I've learned some publishing secrets from the client I told you about. HE DOES NOT SPEND MONEY ADVERTISING HIS BOOKS. Here are some secrets he shared with me:

1. Your book should be in the right niche. Research and discover niches that have fewer books with relatively higher number of reviews. When a niche contains about 50 books and many of them have hundreds of reviews, it's worth considering.

2. People prefer non-fiction books within the range of 30k words, 35k max. Longer and shorter books can still sell well, but this is generally the sweet-spot, according to him.

3. Great cover design. He particularly emphasizes this to me. And many authors confirm this. There are great cover designers in Nigeria and on Nairaland. I can personally recommend a good one if you don't find any.

4. You need a killer introduction. This client shared his killer intro blue-print with me when I was writing the intro. The blue-print comes from AudioBook Income Academy and works magic for this client. I'll share the blueprint with everyone on this thread in the coming days (remind me if I forget). Your intro should have four things:
-It should begin with a story (people are captivated by stories), and they'll not skip it after reading the first line.
-Next is to address the prospective buyer's pain points, his or her problems
-Next is to indirectly and subtly promise to provide the solution (don't be too explicit)
-Finally, a call to action that urges them to buy

5. People like fiction books of at least 200 pages, preferably 300 pages. Your books should also have audio formats on Amazon KDP.

6. Selling on multiple platforms and in different formats, especially audio format. This means you need a good narrator or you can use a distribution service that offers free conversion to audio. One such service is PublishDrive, because they sent me an email three weeks ago introducing this service for Amazon books. I checked it out on their site and found that all you need to do is tick the box that says your book should be converted to audio as well. If you prefer a human narrator, you can focus on eBook and PDF formats until you make enough to high a native speaker narrator.

7. Getting good reviews from early buyers. Here's where this community can help one another. They don't have to pay $5 - $15 for books as you suggested. The author needs to first price the books at $0.99 or even less. Then the author informs people on this thread and shares a link to the book. He can offer cashback, recharge card, data, free books, etc. to get people to buy and review his book. This has two advantages:
First is that books with positive reviews have better ranking on Amazon. The second is that books with positive reviews incentivizes others to buy. This leads to more positive reviews if the book is good and consequently, higher rankings.

8. Using the right keywords for the title and descriptions. This is very important according to the client, and it requires some research.

7. Promoting your book (this isn't necessary). But if you've earned significant revenue from the book and feel you can spend some dollars to make even more, then it's okay to go ahead. You don't need to promote your book to make sales. My client never mentioned this. What mentioned was "fans". You need fans. If you don't have them yet, you can make a deal with an author who has some popularity and let him publish it in his name then split the income. In the meantime, you are working on building your own popularity.

One of the points you noted was about paying with Naira Cards limited to $20. If authors price their books at $0.99 or less, this should be enough for everyone here to buy 22 books a month for the purpose of reviewing them. That's more than enough in my opinion.

I think you also said something about getting your money from these platforms. PublishDrive and StreetLib send payments directly to Payoneer bank accounts. So does Amazon. A better alternative to Payoneer in Nigeria is Geegpay. It is a payment service aimed at Nigerians and offers US bank account (I think even European bank accounts). They also convert your money at almost black market rate and send the Naira equivalent directly to your bank account in Nigeria. You won't need to start looking for who to buy your US dollars.

As for making sales, I urge you to read my previous post again. A book priced at $2.99 generates over $1400 in sales in less than two months (my client published it in February despite me writing it in December. He was probably working on editing, formatting, cover design, etc). He also told me he would add hundreds of images. That was probably what delayed the publication.

You also talked about traditional publishers. It's okay to contact any Nigerian publisher via email and find out if they can publish your book without any upfront cost. They are picky but might agree to publish your book.
But self-publishing is better because it's fast and free.

Any questions are welcome concerning what I've talked about.

Hi all,
Lovely thread, and I'm all ears, pen and keyboard. May I suggest a few things:
1. An affiliated WhatsApp group
2. Periodic physical meets

Personally, the publishing experience has not been very encouraging. I have had a book publishing contract for more than 5 years from arguably Nigeria's biggest traditional publisher, without actual publication. I have had better fortunes in the screenwriting domain, and have credits on content on DSTV, Netflix, etc

Regarding freelance writing, I have all but given up here as some of the rates offered here are downright mind boggling. Rates I won't even offer writers that work with me on a sub contract basis. But, occasionally I have come across decent rates relatively speaking.

My Amazon experience is basically a work still in progress. I took a paid course and believe I know what to do but just have not found the time to follow up my single book on the platform in terms of positioning it in the right niches, etc.
Willing to help with as much information as I have to everyone's benefits.

I fully agree with OP that writers can make a decent living self publishing online, ultimately making redundant the already tired freelance writing hub on NL and others locally. Until these things pay better, they are mostly not a good use of a writer's time and skills.

Replying to joshkke

I like your suggestion that we might need to have another online group different from Nairaland. The problem with Nairaland is the difficulty in controlling spam, rude, and unhelpful content and scammers. There's no way to remove negative posts or easily flag scammers to warn others. It's also impossible to pin important posts like forum rules or free guide documents etc.

But a WhatsApp group requires more time and effort to type long posts (for those who use smartphones only). It is not suitable for this kind of community. I was considering starting a subreddit where moderators can fully control posted content to minimize harm and maximize the benefits to everyone. However, the participation on Nairaland has to be encouraging for us to consider a more controlled space.

As for periodic physical meets, I think it isn't safe unless the community grows to the point of creating a voluntary organization that holds conferences where self-publishers can meet and learn from one another. But I think we are still far from that happening.

So, you took a paid course on Amazon KDP publishing. That's impressive. I hope you learned a lot and I'm happy that you are willing to share it with others here for free. Also, congratulations on successfully writing a complete book. Could you share the Amazon link to your book? You might get some helpful suggestions about positioning it on Amazon and how to generally improve it.

Splitting subscription costs for writing tools like Grammarly.

dmkara:
Replying to joshkke

I like your suggestion that we might need to have another online group different from Nairaland. The problem with Nairaland is the difficulty in controlling spam, rude, and unhelpful content and scammers. There's no way to remove negative posts or easily flag scammers to warn others. It's also impossible to pin important posts like forum rules or free guide documents etc.

But a WhatsApp group requires more time and effort to type long posts (for those who use smartphones only). It is not suitable for this kind of community. I was considering starting a subreddit where moderators can fully control posted content to minimize harm and maximize the benefits to everyone. However, the participation on Nairaland has to be encouraging for us to consider a more controlled space.

As for periodic physical meets, I think it isn't safe unless the community grows to the point of creating a voluntary organization that holds conferences where self-publishers can meet and learn from one another. But I think we are still far from that happening.

So, you took a paid course on Amazon KDP publishing. That's impressive. I hope you learned a lot and I'm happy that you are willing to share it with others here for free. Also, congratulations on successfully writing a complete book. Could you share the Amazon link to your book? You might get some helpful suggestions about positioning it on Amazon and how to generally improve it.

Splitting subscription costs for writing tools like Grammarly.

Okay, will do, thanks,
Also your comments are well noted

Very lovely thread. I'm following

I think those who say Amazon KDP publishing is hard to succeed at probably didn't do their homework well. I've done in-depth research and studied the characteristics of failed books on KDP. They have a lot in common: unpopular topics, poor cover design, dull introduction, poor titles, grammatical and syntax errors, and many more. I'm giving this trade a very good try and am confident about success. I'll continue to share my experiences here as I forge ahead. Really wish to see lot of successful KDP publishers dropping great tips here from what they've learned.

dmkara:
I think those who say Amazon KDP publishing is hard to succeed at probably didn't do their homework well. I've done in-depth research and studied the characteristics of failed books on KDP. They have a lot in common: unpopular topics, poor cover design, dull introduction, poor titles, grammatical and syntax errors, and many more. I'm giving this trade a very good try and am confident about success. I'll continue to share my experiences here as I forge ahead. Really wish to see lot of successful KDP publishers dropping great tips here from what they've learned.

Again, I do not want to sound like the killjoy here, but research and reality can differ.

I revert to your first example of a client who paid you $350. He probably spent on a professional editor to look through his book; in many cases, editors charge at least half of what a writer will charge, in some cases the exact amount and, in rare cases, twice the amount. Let's even say he spent $200. Then the graphic designer, a blurb writer, an assistant or wherever whoever added all of the images you said he added, let's even hypothetically say he used only royalty-free images, i.e. stock images. I started as a writer in the self-pub industry in 2018. A good book, as you say, will require these services

Topic research - if you are hiring a book researcher who will also do chapter structuring, you are looking at $150
Writing - minimum of $300
Editing - Average of $200 (If the editor is also formatting and imaging, then that's even more expensive)
Proofreading - Minimum $80
Graphic designer - $50 minimum
Burb writer - $30
Book reviewer - $20

You are already at $830 to get a standard professional book with all the critical hot features for success. If you sell at $1, you must sell 800 plus copies to cover up. You might need to restructure if you post on another site, so another cost arises. You'll need to invest $1000 to prepare a good book for the market. How many books sell up to 1000 pieces, even from multiple sites? I have worked in every field I listed above except graphic design since 2018, so I am talking from experience.

Again, please do not think I'm discouraging you, I just always tend to get a tick when I hear people say if this isn't succeeding then you must be doing something wrong just like you just posted @dmkara. Sometimes, you can do everything right and still not sell. So, as much as you want to go into self-publishing, remember that you can check all the boxes, spend all the social time building engagement if you choose not to invest in advertising, and still not break even with how much you spent.

A good book requires good hands, and good hands cost a lot of money. Even if you get Nigerians to do all the jobs, pros will charge you well. The chances of earning as much as you spend are low, but there is always a possibility. That being said. I look forward to seeing authors here succeed. As an author once said to me, publish a book because you want your ideas and opinions out into the world, not because you want to make big bucks, if you manage to do both then raise a glass to your self.


book will cost on average $1000

Replying to Dvea

Many people narrate a sad story about Amazon self-publishing. I'm aware of all that. They wrote and published a book or books but people didn't buy. According to the client I told you about, you have to write what people are actively seeking to read. You don't just write a book solely for your passion in the field. It's business and you must produce according to demand. I know this because I suggested new book topics related to the one I wrote but the client didn't approve it after his research ---- telling me it's a niche that isn't moving well. So, it's absolutely important to discover a trending topic to write about. Another thing I noticed about this guy's books is that they are in low competition niches such as prepping, homesteading, doomsday, fasting, etc. Because when I search similar books in that field, there are usually very few. I saw one book by a Nigerian in that niche that got more 500 reviews in less than a year and it sold for about $7. Remember that no more than 10% of buyers review books. That means this guy has sold thousands of copies.

Obviously, your KDP experience wasn't good. The #1 reason why most authors fail is "giving up too soon". According to the pros, you should follow all the success tips by successful authors and ensure to publish at least 12 book (a dozen) before considering to quit. They also advice against writing fiction in the beginning. As a non-native English speaker, you'll have a better chance with non-fiction books. One guy said the fiction approach that gave him a breakthrough is trilogies. He didn't make any reasonable amounts with single novels. Note that there are non-native English speakers making good money with fiction and have a lot of English fans. If they can do it, why can't you.

So, how many books have you or did you publish on KDP? Because numbers matters a lot, according to the trilogy guy. And in what niches did you publish? What's the competition in that niche? Were they fiction or non-fiction? Did you do the right cover design, because there's a lot of secret to cover design. You must understand these secrets and tell your local cover designer in Nigeria. You should also be involved in the process. Don't design the cover yourself if you aren't a professional designer. Leave it to the pros. In Nigeria, you can get a great cover design for N3000 - N10000 depending on where you live. Go to any of the roadside computer shops that design calendars and talk to them. Unless they are amateurs, they'll definitely come up with ideas and designs that appeal to you. The boy I'm working with for my cover is less than 18 years old but he's so gifted that people praise him everywhere in the town. N5000 is a big amount to him. He's shown me design samples that are way better than thousands of crap I see on Amazon KDP. Understand all the ingredients of a super attractive book cover and explain it to your local designer. You'll be surprised what they'll do for from their years of experience designing wedding calendars, flyers, Business/Invitation cards, etc. Your book cover is the first marketing tool. It's the first thing most readers will see and if it's attractive, they'll read the title, and if they find it attractive, they'll click through and read the intro, and if they like that too, it's already a successful book unless negative reviews spoil the show. So, remember this very important rule: Don't design the cover yourself unless you are a professional designer. Of course you must do SEO well for people to see your cover. But the cover must be good for Amazon to take your book seriously. this is just about cover design. As time goes on, I'll talk about Niches, competitive analysis, keyword research, titles, introductions, and promotions. I do plenty of research and analysis. I focus on people's experiences not some theoretical work. And I know where to look for them and how to get the info I need. So stick around here and you should learn enough to spare you the research.

Can you share a link to the book you published on Amazon. I want to scrutinize the following features of the book to see where you might have got it wrong:
1. The niche
2. Competition
3. Keywords
4. Book cover
5. Title
6. Introduction

You are saying the cost of publishing a 35k-word book on Amazon is about $1000. I disagree. First, I'll personally write, edit, and proofread my books. When I wrote for this client, his editor did NOT change much (less than 2% of the word-count actually) in the book. Proofreading is even easier. Just give your eyes a 48-hour rest between writing and editing, and editing and proofreading. And you should be able to make sufficient improvements to it. cover design won't cost more than 5k at my little friend's shop. This is pretty much the only amount I'll spend to publish the book. I'll just provide him with several great book samples. In fact, I promise to share his final design with this community at the right time.

So, publishing my first book won't cost more than N5000 or approximately $4.

Hello everyone. I just discovered a Reddit sub where you can give people a few downloads of your books for free and hope for reviews on Amazon. If you write a great book the reviews will be good and many.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KindleFreebies/

For those who think it's impossible to launch your first book on Amazon KDP and make hundreds of sales within days. Read this readdit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublish/comments/1c4apf9/2342_books_sold_after_launch_now_what/

Still working on my book. It seems I'll end up with a 6 volume book and hope to finish asap and start sharing info on sales here.