Mazi Nwonwu: Social Media and Publishing

It's April already. Happy New Month. Every Monday in April, we will post an interview on social media and writing, especially as it affects Nigerian publishing. Here is the first in the series, an interview with writer, Mazi Chiagozie Nwonwu. 

Social media and writing: 

Social media for me started with Booksy, an online portal for writers, beyond Nigeria where you can post your work and get feedback. It was international, so we had few Africans there so most times when you write, you don't get the right kind of feedback. They didn't understand where you are coming from or the kind of culture that you are writing from; I wasn't so into it but most of the stories there were my trial stories.

That was before Facebook which I joined in 2008. Facebook also served the same purpose though better because you are connected to Nigerians who understand the culture you are writing from. They can see themselves or people they know in your stories. I used Facebook notes to share my work.  I tagged people who read and commented. They gave me a lot of feedback. Then we didn't have the sort of structure that we have now: creative writers' programmes, writers' meets, all these things came from social media. It was when we met on social media that the conscious thought to meet off social media arose. 

I started blogging around 2007/2008 too. I have two blogger accounts, and a Wordpress account, where I post my writings and thoughts. 

Has social media helped you as a writer? 

It has definitely helped my work. I don't think that a writer can complain that social media is detrimental to their work because if you don't want to see anyone, you can easily block that person and you are free. Social media has been positive for my work. As a writer, you need others, people with like minds, with similar ideas, who do what you are doing. For writers, you need to gain a lot from people you look up to, bigger writers, Facebook is the place that you can actually interact with them though you don't comment, you could read what they are saying and pick a lot from it. I have used Facebook for that to a great extent.

Twitter has been of lesser influence because I think that it is too noisy. So, I try to use Twitter, I realise that you need to pay more attention. I feel that Twitter needs more attention, one needs to follow the information that one has sent out more. Twitter works as a place where you can go to look for links to articles and sites, things to read. Twitter just gives you the links; it does not engage or hold my attention as much as Facebook.

It has to do more with the platform and what you use it for. For Twitter, you give something out, someone gives a response to it, but it is more difficult to follow conversations on Twitter. But on Facebook, you can go back and read everybody's comments-what the person said, how someone else responded. You can always read them; the conversations can get really deep. 

Also I discovered that for publicity, Facebook does it better for me. It has more tools that you can use. There is the events tool, the share tool. Twitter only allows you to mention. I have a bias for Facebook.

Picture from: www.authormedia.com

The Nigerian Publishing Sphere and Social Media

I think that we are scared. I think that for a long time, the publishing industry has not gained much. We publish a thousand or two thousand copies and you sell it out and you are happy. Some may not even finish selling it in a country of how many millions. Someone told me that in Lekki alone, there are about 4 million people; he said that as a publisher, think about going to Lekki and selling 50, 000 copies of your book. In Lekki, you are sure that 3 million can afford to buy the books because they are mostly wealthy people, the upper middle class, those who should be reading who live there. And I wonder, if we have 4 million in Lekki and we cannot even sell a thousand copies for the whole country, then why do we say that we have a publishing industry? I don't think that we have a publishing industry in this country, what we have are a group of people who so much love books and the art of producing them and feel they have to keep it alive so it is not about the business. But it can be about it. It is just about us thinking outside the box.

Publicity, Publishing and Social Media

I am looking at publicity, at moving away from the conventional we-we publicity that we do. On social media, if I am sharing information about book events, I tend to share to those that I know will be interested in it, in writing so I share to those groups that are writers' groups. I am thinking of why not share with groups that are not even writers' groups? Why not move away from this circle of writers that we have, the circle we already know? I think that if the publishers can think of reaching out to people who are not traditionally into books or who we think are not, it may help. 

Picture from moxzee.com

One-on-one marketing and books
A few months ago, I was at an event, manning a book stand, but I was able to sell books to people who are not regular readers because I could interact with them as they kept asking: have you read this book? Which book can you recommend? Because I'd read most of the books, it was easy for me to talk about the books, to sell. So, it could work, I know that it can work, it is just that, it needs resources to work. 

The musicians do one-on-one marketing as they take their music to the streets So we as publishers need to find new ways of reaching the people. And one way you can do that is...  you can use the passenger buses to advertise. It does not have to be the publisher doing it but you can pay people to do the leg work; it needs money. So, I think that's another restriction: money. There is no money to publish these books and advertise them, the way they should. I know in the West before a book comes out, they are talking about it in the media. 

They also need to move away from this cheap and easy publicity that social media grants. They should use it but also look at traditional publicity: TV, radio, billboards. Even paying for adverts on Facebook. Google charges for adverts and they put them everywhere. 

Can the challenge of cash be solved by social media?

Yes and No.  Yes, social media can come in because they could start talking about a book and people will be like what are they talking about? I want to see this book. They will see reviews of the book and want to read the book. Social media can take it that far but can it take it beyond that the level of "I will like to read this book to that level of I actually want to buy this book? 

I don't think so. I think that's where the money comes in; the cost of the books, our books are quite expensive. For someone that earns about N20, 000 a month and you expect the person to take out N1,000 or N2,000 to buy a book, when the person can take that money to Ikeja Underbridge and buy 10 copies of UK best sellers, interesting books, to enjoy the experience of reading, to be entertained. So, if I can get ten times the entertainment that I can get why should I buy just one? The thing is that I buy most Nigerian books just to support our writers, to encourage them. There is the factor of economics that affects book reading. You cannot say that someone who has not eaten should come and buy books, people are dealing with more physical issues, things that are more pressing to them than spending money to buy books.

On the Nigerian reading culture

Nigerians do read. I buy second hand books and at times, you have to fight with another buyer for a particular book, they will be like "I saw that one first". And people pay. I see people buying 20 books. Publishers need to find a way to bring the price of books down, and the only way to bring the price down is by publishing more. The more you print, the less the price. It's where we need to think towards so that's where the government needs to come in; they should give publishers money to invest in their industry. And government should also buy the books. If they want to encourage publishing, they should go to every publisher and ask "how many books they publish every year; I need 10, 000 copies of each book published this year." The books will not lie in government offices but should be shared to libraries and schools.

Picture from: thetypecaste.wordpress.com  

Reading experience and social media

I think social media is redefining what we know as reading. I got to know a lady on Twitter recently, @toyinfab. She is of the Twitter generation. She writes very well. She writes social conscious stories. She has a huge following on social media. Many of us who are traditional writers do not even know she exists. She is not within that circle of writers. She was at the last Book N Gauge and I think that was her first book event ever. This girl did not go through the traditional route. She just said that "I want to write!" and she is doing just that. People who read her are not even those you find in the conventional writing audience. She has been able to create her own niche. If she wants to publish, she can pack her stories and send them off to Amazon, and she is published. 

Our publishers are yet to understand that the game has changed. They are still looking at that old  way whereby the writer approaches them with the book; they will edit it, the slow route. But it does not happen that way any more.

As an example, I was part of AfroSF, the first Pan-African Science Fiction anthology edited and published by Ivor Hartman of Storytime. What Ivor did was publish it online first. So asides editing, it didn't cost him anything, I think. He wanted to publish the paperback; he had a strategy: the money generated from online sales will be used for that. I think he was looking at five months timeline for the paperback edition. The book was published online in December and by January; there was enough money from sales to do a print run—POD.

Now, people say Africans don't write or read Science Fiction, but that book generated a lot of buzz, more than any other book that was published in Africa last year. It's still online. People outside Africa are reading it. Social media expands your space. I met Ivor on social media. The call for submissions was on social media. We were sent the MS through the internet. All the reviews are online, I see them on social media, he tags me or posts them on the AfroSF page and I see them. So, it's something that will go very far. We just need to frame how we are going to handle it, use it.

Social Media and book forms

I agree because I notice something on the internet, you have to actually love literature to spend that much time reading an article of 5,000 words. People are more comfortable with shorter pieces because of the short attention span, as you are reading this you are looking at other opened tabs. So, people ask: is it short? They will now read. So, if you have a novella of 20, 000 words and you break it down into 2000 words and you are getting feedback, it may work.

Hype, Writing and Social Media

I agree that social media can generate false hype because people can appear to be what they are not. There is Google, anybody can appear intelligent with Google. Definitely, just Google the stuff up and copy and paste, then people will hype you. Fifty Shades of Grey had an interesting story to tell, forget how the story was told, so it is that question of which is more important: the writing or the story? For that book, the writing was not so important to the audience, these are people who do not care much about literary devices, these are people who just want stories. Yarn us make we hear. And she told them what they wanted to hear. It was word of mouth, if you don't like it, you won't talk about it. It was the writerly types that read it and are like “what is this?” I read it and I was like wow because she had a story to tell. It is the kind of stories we had in Hints—they were not serious literature, but people loved them, believed in them, and hyped them.

Social Media and New Nigerian Writers
Social media needs a lot of time, it is a business of its own. Myne Whitman has done a whole lot for young Nigerian writers in recent years; she opened an avenue for them to thrive. She opened the door and a lot of people came in—a lot of people are being discovered through that platform. There is a lot of talent there. This is a place where publishers and movie makers should go to look for writers. There is no type of story you won’t find on Naijastories. However many people who see themselves as serious writers do not like posting their writings there. Somehow I think it is like a ritual of passage for many writers.

--Interview was sent by Temitayo Olofinlua

Favourite Five: Mazi Chiagozie Nwonwu

Mazi Nwonwu is a Lagos based freelance writer and editor. He writes non-fiction, science fiction, present reality and stories set in his world -- the fictional Land of the Seven Hills. His non-fiction has appeared in local and international publications, both online and offline. His fiction has been published by Storytime, African Writer, Sentinel Nigeria, Naijastories and others. He is currently trying to live up to his promise to review every African fiction he reads.

His short story collection Footsteps in the Hallway will be published in the first quarter of 2013 by Melrose books. He blogs at fredrnwonwu.blogspot.com and publishes his reviews via Africanwriterstrust.com and 7venhillsmedia. He also writes a column for DailyTimes.com.ng. We asked him to send us his favourite five books, he had this to say before the list "Five favourite books? Hmm. This is turning out to be harder than I thought. I have read thousands of books and dozens come to mind as I try to zero down on five. Ok. I think I may have to do this randomly."

Grass by Sheri S. Tepper

"Grass! Millions of square miles of it... a hundred rippling oceans, each ripple a gleam of scarlet or amber, emerald or turquoise... the colors shivering over the prairies... Sapphire seas of grass with dark islands of grass bearing great plumy trees which are grass again."

Thus did Grass, which surely will forever be on any favourite list of mine that is not restrictive, begin. Grass is a science fiction novel that will find space on any literary fiction shelf if language is a criteria. Marjorie Westriding Yrarier, the main character, is one of those that you want to meet in person and the conflicts are exquisitely handled.

Imajica by Clive Barker
If I didn’t buy Imajica from a bend-down-select bookseller at Ikeja Under Bridge some years ago, perhaps I would never have started writing a novel about a man who loved his wife so much that he felt it would be better to kill her than to lose her to another. Imajica is one of those books that cradle the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror, only this one does it better than any other I have read. Gentle, the main character stayed with me and the one-foot distance between parallel realms that have little in common was exhilarating.

Blackbird by Jude Dibia

Blackbird is beautiful, it is a book that I want to buy and gift to everyone that has ever told me “...but I don’t read Nigerian writers.” With Blackbird, Jude Dibia showed me that exquisite novels could be written by home based writers of my generation without pandering to script of western literary award organisers. Blackbird for me is one of those books you remember with a smile. Well written, balanced and delightful to read.

Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen
Eghosa Imasuen is a damn good writer. His word usage is the closest thing to Naija speak I have seen in any book. I wrote in my review of this book that it will inspire a new kind of Nigerian writing and I still stand by that. The story of many in my generation, Fine Boys is a statement; a poignant record of time’s passing. Yes, I also want to dash this one to everyone I meet.

African Delights by Sipiwo Mahala

African Delights is the first book I reviewed with a word count of over 2000, yet I still feel that I did not say all I wanted to say about the book. This short story collection could very well be a historical narrative of Sipiwo Mahala’s native South Africa. I loved every story in this collection. I loved the language, the unapologetic telling and the honesty it conveyed. Very few copies of this book exist in Nigeria at the moment and I am gloating over the fact that I own one. Will I buy it to dash? Sure, but my autographed copy won’t leave my house without me.

Five already? Well, as I said, this is random. Now I remember several other books that should be in my favourite five. 

Mazi Nwonwu: On his Farafina Workshop Experience

Mazi Nwonwu strikes a pose

It was my third application. I paused a while before I typed the address into my mailbox. Twice before, 2010 and 2011, I had answered the call for entries for the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop. On both occasions, I got an email informing me that though I made the long list of thirty five, I unfortunately didn’t make into the final list of fifteen.

While I was saddened by the first mail, the fact that it came from Chimamanda Adichie, whose “I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your entry – and to send my best wishes for your continued writing”, eased the disappointment. For me, that mail was a tacit stamp of approval that I was on the right path. In 2011, when I got a similar response, I was mad. How can they turn me down two years in a row? Does this mean I am not good enough or have not improved at all despite my efforts? So, I penned this.

Now, you understand the reluctance with which I applied for this year’s workshop. I felt I did not need any coaching from any writer, no matter how renowned. It was easy to learn about writing, especially with the internet. Having convinced myself that I didn't need to learn from people who turned me down twice, I tried to forget about the call for entries, to ignore the nagging urge to type a small bio, copy and paste one of my numerous short stories and send another mail to Udonandu, whoever that is. 

I sent the mail. And forgot all about it. Instead, I put my effort into getting a place in the Fidelity Bank sponsored programmed headlined by Helon Habila. I didn’t get into that one and no mail came to tell me to continue writing or anything. The depression came then, followed by the usual questions: what the hell am I doing pretending to be a writer? Should I really be wasting my life struggling to write? What have I gained pretending to be a writer? Am I a fraud?

Unlike the past, the depression did not last too long as I found reasons to keep writing and to interact with my writing family—we call ourselves Nerdz 21. Through Blackberry, Nerdz 21 talk about everything; there, I got hints about the Farafina shortlist mails. First, Richard Ali announced that he was in, then Abdulaziz Abdulaziz. I was still hailing their success when an incoming mail alert beeped. I stared at the Farafina Trust address for a while, just dreading another rejection. I had just announced my own good news when Samuel Oluwatosin Kolawole,  indicated that he too is in. We celebrated. 900 entries from across Africa and four people from our group of twenty five made it, worthy of some virtual champagne popping if you ask me. This post is not about Nerdz 21 or its membership, so let’s take a step back and continue along the right path.

Participants at the Workshop

I should tell you how I packed for the workshop, the books I took with me and how I got to Waterside Hotel in Lekki Phase 1 to find most of the participants already waiting before my Lagos-based body got there, but that won’t serve much here. Let’s skip that; what I won’t skip is the hotel room. 

Richard, Abdulaziz and Tosin, my fellow Nerdz, greeted me just as I stepped into the first floor lobby. We all walked to my room near the end of the hallway and they, cheeky guys, stood back as I marvelled at the large room I would be spending ten days in. The room is almost as big as my sitting room and the mirrored wardrobe is one I was sure my wife would bug me about when she sees it, and she did when she came visiting: can’t we get something like this, it’s fine o. 

I love that room, still do. I even miss it. Now I shouldn’t be talking about hotel rooms with nostalgia, but I recall us Nerdz lounging in that room that first day, planning how we would rock the ten-day holiday. That was before the classes started and the intensity of the work caught up with us.

Thinking about it now, I can’t help but wonder if the facilitators had not planned to ensure we work hard for the comfort provided. I remember complaining to a friend that the time I had spent sleeping on the large bed in my room wouldn’t have amounted to ten hours, and this was five days into the workshop. We had piles of stories to read, assignments to do and little time to do it. Ok, I am doing it again, running ahead of you. 

From the first day at the workshop, preconceived notions started falling like ripe mangoes whose host branches are under the ministrations of an eager youth. First, though the introductions did not say much about the abilities of the workshop participants, once we started reviewing entry stories, the quality of each person started to emerge, and the mark for each person was astonishingly high. In the group were Nigerians, a Nigerian-American, a Ghanaian, a Cameroonian, an Indian American and a South Africa based Nigerian. We had published authors and others whose work had been accepted for publication, but then there were greenhorns whose workshop entries were their first stab at writing. We had people from the middle class and upper middleclass, with degrees from universities overseas and we had serious ajekpako types who are products of the worst Nigerian education could offer. With this mix, you would be forgiven for thinking there were underdogs in the group. Well there wasn’t, not one. At the end, I could not point to one person and say, he/she has a brighter future on the literary scene. It could be anyone, or everyone. 

Second, Chimamanda defied all preconceived notions about her person, we knew we were coming to see an intellectual, but met a genius. One hour after I met her, I knew I was fooling myself thinking I only came for the networking. The lessons came, flowing through her soft words and finding willing receptacles in my hungry mind. She opened my heart to the craft in ways I never thought possible and she did it not by teaching in the conventional sense, but by talking to us as equals, as writers in our own right. After Chimamanda, it was easy to flow with the other teachers: 

• Aslak Myhre, the Norwegian who showed us the dangers of allowing outsiders write what should naturally be our stories; 
• Jeffery Allen, the black American that embraces his African heritage more firmly than we do, who taught the importance of writing with confidence; 
• Robert Spillman, the American writer and publisher, who opened our eyes to the possibilities that exist for our writing and showed us not how, but why our writing should be worth something; 
• and Binyavanga Wainaina, the force of nature, whose intellect can only be experienced, not described.

From them, we learnt valuable lessons about ourselves and our place, as writers, in our communities. Beyond lessons, we bonded. I can’t recall anyone in the group who wasn’t sad when Aslak had to go back to Norway days before the end of the workshop or who wasn’t touched by his “intelligence quotient” video that the class watched and reviewed. With the other teachers, we had our goodbyes at the literary evening that marked our graduation from Farafina Trust Writing Workshop. 

It was just ten days, yet it seemed like years. In all, it took ten days to make us not just better writers, but better chroniclers of our individual realities. We have been Farafina certified, and our work henceforth will speak this truth.

The Garden City Literary Festival features writers workshops yearly. This year, the prose workshop- would be facilitated by Doreen Baingana; poetry workshop by Lola Shoneyin and the children creative workshops would be facilitated by by Sola Alamutu and Polly Alakija.