CHARLES NWOKO
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-nwoko-b59ba4216/
Q: Please tell me about yourself – what kind of a person you are, your beliefs, your nature, your follies, anything.
A: I am an easy-going and caring person. Slow to anger and ready to offer help and support. I like to be happy and hates sadness, just as I hate to trust someone who turns around someday to be untrustworthy and become a betrayal. I hate dishonest people. First and foremost, I believe in God. I do believe no one is completely useless as everyone has something to offer. I believe in equal opportunity and level-play ground, and at the same time I believe that less-privileged people in the society ought to be helped and supported. I believe in division of labor, giving preference to who knows better. I like all sorts of music and movies. I enjoy family and small-scale parties. I hate being taken for granted.
Q: Tell me about your writing journey, when and how did it all start?
A: I never thought myself a writer, let alone writing a novel, and never thought that I would ever write beyond college and academic books. My writing career began like this: The death of my mother spurred me into writing. As my father died before he reached 40 years, all our upbringing fell to our mother who was equal to the task, and when she died I was confronted with how to honor a mother who sacrificed her life for her children, hence I wrote and published my first book named IKONNA. I have been writing since then.
Q: Tell me about all the difficulties faced in getting a publisher to publish your book.
A: I believe most writers had difficulties in getting a publisher. I have partially been lucky somehow that some publishers in the USA have offered me a free publishing opportunity provided I pay for the editing costs. My first novel was Print on Demand. How I wish I would one day find a traditional publisher who would take over editing and publishing. Editing is my biggest problem.
Q: Do you believe that marketing is essential for the success of a book?
A: Of course marketing is a very essential integral part of literary work. According to Philip Kotler in one of his best known marketing books, where he stated the importance of product marketing and selling. If there would be no marketing and promotion, nobody would ever be in position of any product. I quite know that book marketing is very important for books to reach the potential customers and for the writer to be encouraged.
Q: What marketing ideas did you deploy for marketing your book?
I have had no earlier idea or plan regarding book marketing, except now I am in the process of engaging the marketing expertise of Messrs AWEsome (www.authorwriterenchanter.weebly.com). I do hope this present plan would enable my books to reach the appropriate audience.
Q: Do you interact with your readers? What do they say about your book?
A: Honestly speaking, I have never made any effort to reach and interact with my possible customers. I strongly hope with the expertise of my recently engaged marketer, I would be able to interact with my customers.
Q: What suggestions would you like to offer potential authors?
A: The truth is that I may not be the best person to make suggestions. Here are the reasons, I do not see myself as an author because I never studied English language or any form of creative writing. I have personally observed and read about big-time novelists who studied English language and Creative Writing, or even Drama. I have only studied engineering and legal studies. I only consider myself a story teller. However, I can only suggest that sentences should be less ambiguous and ought to be kept as simple as possible, including pertinent punctuations. I do believe that the book itself or the main story of the book is entirely personal, as it is his/her story. All forms of editing is important. Authors of Children’s books most know what it takes to write children’s stories that carry no hate, propaganda or vulgarism. Above all, the only way not to be an author is to stop writing, as the only way to be a writer is to write.
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Charles Nwoko is the author of three successful books: Ikonna , Birth of the Witchking , and Climate Change Revisited. His fourth book, a compilation of short stories for children, Story@Time is just out.