In The Press

A good friend pulled me aside today to comment on articles that I have posted on Linkedin since the release of atpL (#atpLMission250!). He mentioned that my articles were confusing in that I wasn’t saying anything about my book but speaking mostly about entrepreneurship. He went on to say that my commentary is befitting of an entrepreneurial type book and in no way speaks to what I have done as a poet – something that I should be rather doing based on the output. Talking about the book more would thus result in me knowing exactly what is contained in the book and drive them to want to buy it. These were wise words and I fully align with what my esteemed colleague had brought to the table. I do, however, have a differing opinion and explain my rationale below.

In my opinion and for those that have read and commented about our poems via our decommissioned blog, as well as those we hired to edit it, our book is good – well at least based on their feedback it is. When we started our blog in 2010, Annie and I made it a point to post something creative from either one of us on a daily basis. After the first two weeks of our blog’s existence we realized that you needed to give feedback to get it. Even though we thought we were sitting on creative gems, no one was visiting our blogsite because we weren’t visiting theirs. Blogging is thus a reciprocity game with you growing your comments based on the number of comments you gave out. After learning that this was the case, we commented as much as we can and through this initiative got more and more people to regularly visit our website.

If you’re good at what you do there comes a time when you establish a following that actually pushes you to write about something, collaborate with them on what they’re working on or be the one to make a first comment on what they’ve put together. We were handed this privilege a few months into running our blogsite. I forget the blogger’s name but she sent me a direct message to inform us that there was a poetry competition which we should enter, including the poems we should enter into the competition based on her having been an avid fan of our blogsite. We entered the competition and one of my poems “Tormented” got me a semi-finalist spot on SABC 2’s Lentswe poetry competition. We also wrote a lot of social commentary pieces based on the goings on in our lives. Another of our readers encouraged us to send these pieces to Melinda Ferguson – Features Editor of the True Love magazine. Our articles were accepted for one edition of the magazine – a humbling moment for the both of us. I was able to do this one more time during our blog’s existence and it confirmed that our writing was good enough to put a longer-length output together. Thus began the writing of our book.

So because we’d tested the waters before we started compiling the book, we were sure that it was going to be a good one. The problem for me was the selling of the book. Sadly for me and anyone out there who’s chosen the arts as a way to make a living, monetizing your talent is a mammoth task. Although disposable incomes within the continent are on the rise, the buying of books from our local authors is way off the beaten path. No matter how much you talk about how great the book is, who edited it, who critiqued it and why you put together – selling 1,000 copies is an achievement worthy of many accolades. Truth of the matter is that although we have many revered African authors, most of their books are not sold on the continent. In the developed world is where they sell the most…

So because I thought our book was good enough, I thought I’d take a different path. My path would be to explain to all those who cared to listen that writing full length novels, short-story collections and anthologies is a business. Because it is a business, I too have to go throw the motions of putting a business plan for my start-up publishing business. A business plan that includes sub-strategies that focus on being customer centred, branding, financial stability, production, sales, marketing and distribution. Going through and explaining these motions was aimed at educating family, friends, colleagues and even foes that it is possible to make a living through art, you just need to put a plan in place that leverages the little resources you have to bring out the best result you possibly can.

To all those who know me, I always like to refer to the Sylvester Stallone example of doing business. To those who know Sylvester Stallone they see him as a phenomenal action film actor. I see a very astute business man. For the first of his Rocky series of movies, Sylvester Stallone sold all of his assets worth USD 1 million and used all of these funds to make the film. He also got his family to work on the project with him as he didn’t have the budget to hire the required professionals. He also made sure that the film was short within the shortest possible time to also contain his costs – 28 days. And for his many sacrifices, Rocky was the highest grossing film of 1976 (USD 225 million) and went on to win three Academy Awards (3 Oscars). An unprecedented return of 11,000 percent. Any business on earth would want to be in this position from a returns perspective…

So I conclude by saying that my roundabout way of marketing my book is done with purpose. First, I am differentiating myself by saying less about the book but more about the business of selling books from a start-up business standpoint. I am also invested in saying things that don’t just inspire people to write a book, but move them to start their own businesses by leveraging what they have – their personal brands, experience, expertise, passion, commitment, resourcefulness and will. I got turned down by several publishing houses with their responses being that poetry is dead as a viable concern. What they didn’t know is that I had done the maths. I need to sell 250 books to break even and also raise enough capital to get my company’s next set of books published. Through “at the poet’s Lounge” I’ve collaborated with a phenomenal author in Annie and trust she will continue to write and someday partner with me to write a sequel to our debut offering. With a shoe-string budget, I am working with two other authors to bring their art to the market. These are interesting times… Get our book! #atpLMission250!

James Maposa