It snuck up on me.
A whole five years have passed since I published my first book, Press Play, on April 8, 2020.
Since then, we’ve had a pandemic, rearrangement of supply chains, social protests after the unfortunate murder of George Floyd, an uptick in corporate DEI solidarity, an American president that inspired a riot at the capitol, a British monarch died, tech stocks flew out of the roof, hiring sprees and inflated tech salaries, then firing sprees and deflated tech salaries, corporates saying “DEI must DIE”, politics as usual in Nigeria, the same American president coming back to pardon those same rioters, global tariffs from the free-trade influencers, suspended tariffs, there might be a new update before I finish this sentence.
The whiplash is musscch!!!
I guess a lot has happened in the last five years.
I’m glad I didn’t wait to publish my first book.
The waiting game:
Most of us are waiting for permission to live.
Waiting for a profound moment to do the things you want.
Reality is – there’s never a perfect time to act.
I learned this when I published Press Play. Three years leading up to that, I had drafted a manuscript that collected dust in my deprecating macbook. Then a whole bunch of things changed and within 10 months, I had written a whole new manuscript, ready to be published.
It became the #1 new release in ethnomusicology, music, and creativity.
You don’t write or build anything with a clear goal in mind.
Writing and taking action helps clarify your goals.
9 things I’ve learned from publishing 4 books in 5 years
I wrote a book I didn’t sell.
That was my third book. I wrote it as a personal challenge to see whether I could finish it in two weeks. I’ve learned that a huge part of writing is to watch myself grow. It’s a very important lesson because you have to understand the meaning behind what you do.
But then you have to do the thing first to learn that meaning.
Here are nine lessons I’ve learned over five years of publishing.
1. The action is the goal
Most people want to write with a clear goal in mind.
They wait and wait for inspiration. The reality is you write to clarify your goals. As I’m drafting these lines, I didn’t know where to start but it’s getting clearer with each word and review.
This applies to anything you want to build – a product, service, painting, a beat, or business.
Take action and let the feedback drive clarity.
2. Growth-focus
Focus on getting better.
I had all the help in the world with my first book. An instructor who showed me how to draft a manuscript. A publishing company that took me from manuscript to published book. A team for post-publication support.
I took those learnings to my second book. I drafted it on my own but still used the publishing company for the other steps.
My third book – I wrote it all in two weeks and found a local printer to publish it. By my fourth book, I registered a publishing company and published under my imprint.
With each step, I’m learning. It’s all about the process.
3. Distribution >> Writing
In this era, you can’t just be the writer waiting to be picked.
Free that “pick-me” energy.
You have to be an entrepreneur too. As I’ve mentioned in a previous letter, the cost of creation keeps going down. The bigger challenge is how to get your valuable creation into the hands of the people who need them. This means gaining the right attention and delivering value with persuasive communication.
I’ll say it with this: “The entrepreneur can figure out how to write faster than the writer can figure out how to be an entrepreneur.”
Learn to distribute.
Be an entrepreneur.
4. Community, community, community
Don’t build in isolation.
Find a community of people similar to you or your target audience. Ask them what they are working on. Learn what they would like to achieve. Understand their problems.
Build and use community to learn, connect, and stay accountable.
Don’t be an island. The myth of the “grand reveal” is just that – a myth. Don’t dull yourself.
5. Writing – the externalizer
Writing is creating information.
Sometimes I look at the stuff I write and I’m like “wooh, I wrote that.” It seems clear, crisp, and thoughtful. Oh no, that’s not what it feels like when I’m writing. It feels cloudy and a jumble of words struggling as it spews out of my mind.
I’ve learned that writing is a process of ordering information and externalizing your thoughts and feelings.
Writing plays a more important role than sharing information. It is a personal pursuit. It helps you elaborate what you know, which is a great way to learn.
If you want to learn more about the world, your interests, and yourself, write more.
6. The 80/20 rule of publishing
People judge books by their covers.
You know that noble old saying: “don’t judge a book by its cover.” So cute. Well, in the world of information-sharing, that doesn’t work. Your book cover is as important as your first sentence, which is as important as your first page, which is as important as your first chapter.
If your best material is buried behind boring material, no one will ever read it.
You have to think like a copywriter.
Put 80% of your effort in the first 20% of your writing.
The Title.
The cover.
The headline.
The 1st sentence.
The first chapter.
Those are all invitations to your audience to keep reading.
Do not hide your great conclusion at the end. Deliver it first.
7. Hero’s Journey
For fiction writers, go learn the “Hero’s Journey.” That’s all.
8. Writing – the magnet
I’ve used my books to meet mentors, scientists, investors, musicians.
The biggest advantage of publishing is attracting interesting conversations with a diverse group of people.
For instance, I was once on a sales call with a director at a company that sold fibre optics cables. Before we got into our conversation, he said he had been following my updates on LinkedIn and was happy that I talked about music.
We spent the first fifteen minutes talking about his guitar lessons and how he wanted to get better. You can imagine how that sales conversation went – easier than if we didn’t connect on a mutual interest.
A book is evidence that you care about a topic enough to write about it. It becomes a magnet to attract people interested in a similar topic and aspiring authors.
If you have an interest and want to attract similar people, write a book about it and watch things change.
9. Storytelling confidence
Over the last 5 years, I’ve built more confidence.
Since I started putting my thoughts out there, I’m less concerned with what people think about me. I’ve learned to overcome the daily resistance and the chatter in my head that says “but that’s not good enough.” It happened by writing and sharing consistently through my books, this newsletter, LinkedIn, and X posts.
It all started when I got out of my shell and put something out there with my name on it.
How much will you invest to have more confidence? Go get it then.
Stop Waiting…
Storytelling inspires action and engages the senses.
I hope you’ll build something that will make you more confident in who you are. If not just for yourself, I hope your action inspires others to do the same. To be more confident in who they are.
Don’t wait for others to give you permission.
Give permission to others by doing your own thing.
Yours truly,
Nifemi
P.S. If you haven’t read the classic book about innovation, creativity, and social change, get it here today.
