Why You Should Have Your Manuscript Edited

Writing is getting words onto the page, expressing your thoughts and ideas, creating a story. But the process also incorporates a stage often ignored by authors — editing.

The days when you sent a manuscript to a publisher expecting them to work with you are over. While publishers can do edits with an author, it all depends on the author to present their work in the best way it can reflect to the readers how serious they are about their writing.

Many authors, especially those not yet in the professional sphere, will be confident in their writing and not recognize the error in their manuscripts, which is one of the most important aspects of creating a successful novel.

Even the most successful authors in the world use multiple editors to refine their work in the best way.

In recent years it’s increasingly become the author’s job to be their own editor. Knowing you need an editor is half the battle, and making efforts to find the most professional editor for your work is all that’s left. Black Tower Publishers has years’ experience of helping authors shape their drafts into manuscripts that are ready to be published.

There are a number of stages in editing. The first and most important stage is the structural edit, where plot, story, character, pacing and voice will all be considered. This is the main area Black Tower Editors focus on. By working on these aspects first, it ensures the book as a whole is solid, entertaining, and appealing to the public. Therefore, this is where the author will spend most of their editing time. When this process is complete, an author might think about publishing their work.

Once the manuscript has been edited, the author might consider the secondary editorial process, which is proofreading. This is not compulsory, since Black Tower makes sure your manuscript is 99% error free. This secondary editorial process can be easily done by the author. It focuses on finding minor errors like typing mistakes.

For more information on editing services, kindly contact Black Tower Publishers.  
Phone: +2349030331314 (SMS, WhatsApp and Telelgram only).

https://blacktowerpublishers.com/whatweoffer.html

Get Published Today!

HYBRID PUBLISHING

Printing and delivery of your book will cost between N550,000 to N650,000 (40,000 words manuscript and 1000 copies).

This might be difficult for some people, and that’s why we developed Hybrid Publishing. This option is a combination of traditional publishing and self-publishing. This option is mostly for those that can't afford our printing cost. This option will allow them to print elsewhere at cheaper rate, and still use our name and logo as publisher.

Requirement:
1. Before we give authorization for this option, the client must send their work, and we go through it to make sure it meets our standard.
2. After publishing elsewhere, 5-10 copies must be sent to us for marketing purpose. It can be sent through agent.

Benefits of Hybrid Publishing:
1. Authorization letter to use our name and logo on your work.
2. ISBN
3. Submission to book contests and awards like 9mobile Literary Contest and Caine Prize
4. Blog posts/interview.
5. SMS campaign. One page SMS will be sent to 3000 readers nationwide. You can provide us with up to 300 numbers as well.
6. Your profile and bookstores to get your book will be listed on our website.
7. 20-30 seconds video of short positive review of your work by one of our reviewers (Caucasian male/female, British/American accent).
COST: N85,000. (Ghana: C1,275).

For more information on our publishing options, kindly contact Black Tower Publishers.
        

Why You Should Have Your Manuscript Edited

Writing is getting words onto the page, expressing your thoughts and ideas, creating a story. But the process also incorporates a stage often ignored by authors — editing.

The days when you sent a manuscript to a publisher expecting them to work with you are over. While publishers can do edits with an author, it all depends on the author to present their work in the best way it can reflect to the readers how serious they are about their writing.

Many authors, especially those not yet in the professional sphere, will be confident in their writing and not recognize the error in their manuscripts, which is one of the most important aspects of creating a successful novel.

Even the most successful authors in the world use multiple editors to refine their work in the best way.

In recent years it’s increasingly become the author’s job to be their own editor. Knowing you need an editor is half the battle, and making efforts to find the most professional editor for your work is all that’s left. Black Tower Publishers has years’ experience of helping authors shape their drafts into manuscripts that are ready to be published.

There are a number of stages in editing. The first and most important stage is the structural edit, where plot, story, character, pacing and voice will all be considered. This is the main area Black Tower Editors focus on. By working on these aspects first, it ensures the book as a whole is solid, entertaining, and appealing to the public. Therefore, this is where the author will spend most of their editing time. When this process is complete, an author might think about publishing their work.

Once the manuscript has been edited, the author might consider the secondary editorial process, which is proofreading. This is not compulsory, since Black Tower makes sure your manuscript is 99% error free. This secondary editorial process can be easily done by the author. It focuses on finding minor errors like typing mistakes.

For more information on editing services, kindly contact Black Tower Publishers.  

https://blacktowerpublishers.com/

Why You Should Publish Online and Sell Thousands of eBooks.

Most Nigerian authors have been searching for publishing companies to help them publish their books. They expect the publishing houses to review their manuscripts and then offer them publishing contracts where the publishing house handles the cost of publishing the book. Well, as long as it’s in Nigeria, that might never happen because most publishing houses in Nigeria don’t operate that way. They can only offer contracts to well established writers like Chimamanda, Wole Soyinka or promising up and coming writers like Charles Umerie. These are people they think they can make profit off their books even if it didn’t sell well. Nobody wants to invest their money into an unknown author; and not just that, Nigerian literary business isn’t that hot for unknown authors to break the market just like unknown music artists do all the time. That’s the simple truth.

A lot of young authors have figured that out, and they don’t depend on publishing houses to give them contracts. Rather they resort to printing their own books. That’s a totally brave move, but very unwise. Unless you have people requesting your book before you print it, and also have a perfect channel to distribute it after publication, you shouldn’t think of wasting money by printing it.

Well, don’t be discouraged by this post because I have an amazing solution on how you can achieve your literary dreams. Have you heard of online publishing? Most people have, but if you haven’t, I think you should really pay attention.

Online publishing can be the answer to the problem young Nigerian authors face today. With online publishing, your book would be available for purchase worldwide! That’s one thing printing your book can’t give you. You can’t distribute it worldwide. And any author that doesn't have an online version of his book isn't a professional author.  

We live in an advanced age, and if you look around, you will notice that printed books are starting to lose value. Everything is read digitally these days. If you go to church, pastors are using iPad/tablets as bible. Even newspapers don’t sell that much again! Why purchase bulky papers when you can read them online- for FREE?!

That’s the world we live in, and writers should adapt too. My advice to them should be they should publish online first. When you publish online, and maybe you are lucky enough to break the internet with your online published work, you will notice how publishing houses would be calling day and night to publish your work because you have proved that your work worth the risk.

Now let’s talk about how you can publish online.

Publishing online is just like printing the book. Both of them are still read. That’s what most online publishers forget. They think since it’s free to publish online, they can treat their work anyhow and put it out for people to see; and still at the same time expecting to sell thousands of it. If you don’t prepare your online work professionally, it will never get anywhere. It would be available to the world, but only to be rejected by the world too.

With my research, it costs about N580,000 to print about 500 copies of your book, and still, most people won’t sell about 50 copies of that book. But do you realize that with just.. let’s say less than N30,000, you can have your book professionally published online? If you can handle the processes of publishing it yourself, starting from editing the manuscript, formatting it to kindle format or epub, designing the book cover and uploading it online, then you do it yourself. But if you can’t, I suggest you meet a professional to help you do it. There are a few publishing houses that help people publish online at a very cheap rate. Check www.blacktowerpublishers.com.ng and contact them.

After your work is available to the world, all you have to do then is promote. As a person, you have friends and families. Share the link to your book to them through Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, and also ask them to share with their friends and relatives too. Then connect with them and build yourself some fan base.

There are many platforms to publish your book online. They include Amazon Kindle, Lulu.com, Okadabooks etc. Amazon also offer print-on-demand. That is when people order a copy or copies of your book, they print the book and ship to the person. Amazon Kindle can be downloaded digitally, but that is mostly for international sellers. Most African countries (including Nigeria) can’t purchase kindle books on Amazon Kindle. But you can still publish there if you still wish sell to international audience that reads mostly kindle books. Then the best ones for Nigerians are Okadabooks and Lulu. Okadabooks is easier, and it has over 200,000 Nigerian readers on their site. Readers can easily purchase your eBook just by recharging their Okadabooks account with airtime. The minimum withdrawal limit on Okadabooks is N10,000, and you can withdraw straight to your local bank account. On Lulu people can easily buy your eBook with their ATM cards, download the book and then read it on their phone!

You can visit these sites and find which is best for you! Or contact www.blacktowerpublishers.com.ng and request how they can help you publish online. Good luck!

Interview with Orezi Saint Emamezi

Over the years we've met a lot authors and other influential people, and today, we will be introducing Orezi Saint Emamezi.

Orezi Saint Emamezi

She's the founder of ELMORE CHRISTO KIDS CLUB. She said the club is a Christian kids' club for kids and teenagers. It is centered on raising kids up in the fear of the Lord, and making them believe in themselves through reading of books and learning new things.

Elmore Christo kids club 

Elmore has an English and French meaning. In English, it means ; 'river bank' or 'ridge'; while in French , it means 'noble' and 'famous'.

The vision of Elmore christo kids club is to keep kids impacting their generation for God. Our mission is to reach out to kids and help them discover their God given potentials.

Our strategies are empowerment programs that focus on 'yes, you can do it'. With God all things are possible.

She said, "I love kids. I am always inspired by their humility and gentleness. Ever since I was taking care of kids during Sunday school sessions in the church, I have been mentoring kids and helping them shape their character positively."

"My mission is to use 'Elmore Christo kids’ to continue mentoring kids and building their characters in order to change the world, making it a better place for the Glory of God.

It nice to have this chat with you.

Please can you share details of your background with us?

Orezi: I was born in the on 23rd of December, 1989, in Warri and hail from Ofagbe Isoko North Local Government, Delta State.  I attended classical International School Warri, Delta State. I love singing, reading, writing and listening to music.

Are you full time into the writing or business? Or do you have a day job or other businesses that you run?

Orezi: I am not a full time writer. I am still studying for my masters (LLm) at the Girne American University.

Please tell us what your writing is about.

Orezi: My writing is about teaching morals and inspiring the younger generations.

What prompted you to write your book?

Orezi: Actually, I was inspired to write 'Victoria' as a result of the quest for victory over life’s challenges.

When did you first notice you love to write?

Orezi: I will answer it this way; I noticed that I could write 8 years ago after I read 'The Purple Hibiscus' by Chimammanda Ngozi Adichie.

What are the obstacles you’ve faced as a writer and how were you able to overcome them?

Orezi: Some of the obstacles I faced while writing are: Noise pollution and the thoughts of the negative effects of piracy on my books. However, I was able to overcome them through the encouragement of family, and also remembering my message in the book, 'Victoria'.

You mentioned piracy. How do you think the government should combat piracy?

Orezi: Well, the government has made some laws like the Copyright Act to help discourage piracy, but the enforcement of these laws are poor. I think that to help writers from the perils of piracy, the government should through the copyrights commission, issue licenses to all publishing companies, and also keep register of all printers in Nigeria. Every book published or printed should bear the license number of registration number of the publisher or printer. This will help to check piracy.

Orezi Saint Emamezi

Orezi Saint Emamezi is the 2016 Girne American University faculty of Law Moot Court Competition First Price Group Winner.

She's also the 2016 African Students Grand Award for Uprising Entrepreneur.

Why You Should Publish Online and Sell Thousands of eBooks.

Most Nigerian authors have been searching for publishing companies to help them publish their books. They expect the publishing houses to review their manuscripts and then offer them publishing contracts where the publishing house handles the cost of publishing the book. Well, as long as it’s in Nigeria, that might never happen because most publishing houses in Nigeria don’t operate that way. They can only offer contracts to well established writers like Chimamanda, Wole Soyinka or promising up and coming writers like Charles Umerie. These are people they think they can make profit off their books even if it didn’t sell well. Nobody wants to invest their money into an unknown author; and not just that, Nigerian literary business isn’t that hot for unknown authors to break the market just like unknown music artists do all the time. That’s the simple truth.

A lot of young authors have figured that out, and they don’t depend on publishing houses to give them contracts. Rather they resort to printing their own books. That’s a totally brave move, but very unwise. Unless you have people requesting your book before you print it, and also have a perfect channel to distribute it after publication, you shouldn’t think of wasting money by printing it.

Well, don’t be discouraged by this post because I have an amazing solution on how you can achieve your literary dreams. Have you heard of online publishing? Most people have, but if you haven’t, I think you should really pay attention.

Online publishing can be the answer to the problem young Nigerian authors face today. With online publishing, your book would be available for purchase worldwide! That’s one thing printing your book can’t give you. You can’t distribute it worldwide. And any author that doesn't have an online version of his book isn't a professional author.  

We live in an advanced age, and if you look around, you will notice that printed books are starting to lose value. Everything is read digitally these days. If you go to church, pastors are using iPad/tablets as bible. Even newspapers don’t sell that much again! Why purchase bulky papers when you can read them online- for FREE?!

That’s the world we live in, and writers should adapt too. My advice to them should be they should publish online first. When you publish online, and maybe you are lucky enough to break the internet with your online published work, you will notice how publishing houses would be calling day and night to publish your work because you have proved that your work worth the risk.

Now let’s talk about how you can publish online.

Publishing online is just like printing the book. Both of them are still read. That’s what most online publishers forget. They think since it’s free to publish online, they can treat their work anyhow and put it out for people to see; and still at the same time expecting to sell thousands of it. If you don’t prepare your online work professionally, it will never get anywhere. It would be available to the world, but only to be rejected by the world too.

With my research, it costs about N280,000 to print about 500 copies of your book, and still, most people won’t sell about 50 copies of that book. But do you realize that with just.. let’s say less than N30,000, you can have your book professionally published online? If you can handle the processes of publishing it yourself, starting from editing the manuscript, formatting it to kindle format or epub, designing the book cover and uploading it online, then you do it yourself. But if you can’t, I suggest you meet a professional to help you do it. There are a few publishing houses that help people publish online at a very cheap rate. Check www.blacktowerpublishers.com.ng and contact them.

After your work is available to the world, all you have to do then is promote. As a person, you have friends and families. Share the link to your book to them through Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, and also ask them to share with their friends and relatives too. Then connect with them and build yourself some fan base.

There are many platforms to publish your book online. They include Amazon Kindle, Lulu.com, Okadabooks etc. Amazon also offer print-on-demand. That is when people order a copy or copies of your book, they print the book and ship to the person. Amazon Kindle can be downloaded digitally, but that is mostly for international sellers. Most African countries (including Nigeria) can’t purchase kindle books on Amazon Kindle. But you can still publish there if you still wish sell to international audience that reads mostly kindle books. Then the best ones for Nigerians are Okadabooks and Lulu. Okadabooks is easier, and it has over 200,000 Nigerian readers on their site. Readers can easily purchase your eBook just by recharging their Okadabooks account with airtime. The minimum withdrawal limit on Okadabooks is N10,000, and you can withdraw straight to your local bank account. On Lulu people can easily buy your eBook with their ATM cards, download the book and then read it on their phone!

You can visit these sites and find which is best for you! Or contact www.blacktowerpublishers.com.ng and request how they can help you publish online. Good luck!

Review: Across the Desert

Today I will be discussing Across the Desert by Charles Umerie. This book is not out yet, but I was privileged to read it. The author did an amazing job putting the story together. The book discusses feminism, religion and other social issues we face today. And the author did it within an intriguing story. This is not the type of book you will get tired of reading, because it’s totally something new. The culture and the people are not what we are used to, and you will definitely learn a lot reading this book.

It’s a historical fiction that took place in the 15^th century. The author also painted a picture of how people in that era behaved, especially how they treated women. One of the things I learned from the book was that the empire this book was centered on was once the world’s supplier of gold. I also learned that someone from the empire discovered America 200 years before Christopher Columbus.

There are a lot of things to learn in this book, and it’s also a quick read. If you are really into Historical fiction and love movies like Troy or 300, this is a book for you.

That’s all I can share now about this book. Once it’s out, I will do a full review on it.

I advise you to follow @charlesumerie on Instagram and Twitter so you will know when this book is out. There might be some discounts, so don’t miss your chance.