African Authors And Diversity In Publishing With Tolulope Popoola

Race shouldn't be an issue in publishing, but it is, and I love the possibilities that self-publishing is opening up for authors who have been generally marginalized. Today I talk to Tolulope Popoola about African authors and Nigerian publishing. This topic is also of personal importance as my immediate family consists of people from Nigeria, Canada, Grenada, a Hungarian-Jewish-Kiwi, as well as White British and I'm proud to be multi-cultural. In the introduction, I mention the lack of diversity in traditional publishing - check out this report on Black and Asian writers in the UK publishing marketplace, & the Salon report on the dominance of white women in publishing. Here's Idris Elba talking about diversity to the UK parliament. Here's the article about The Subversive Women Who Self-Publish Novels Amidst Jihadist War from Wired. Also mentioned, The Times of India on Amazon's 26% stake in Westland publishing, and that India and China are now the biggest growth market for the Kindle. Plus, the Feb Author Earnings report and Lee Child's article on Amazon and bookstores. And, I'm doing a webinar with Joseph Michael, the Scrivener Coach on How to use Scrivener to Write, Organize and Export your Book into Multiple Formats. Thurs 3 March at 3pm US Eastern, 8pm UK and yes, you can get the recording if you sign up. Click here for more info. This podcast episode is sponsored by you! THANKS for all your support on Patreon! You can support the show, and get access to extra Q&A audios at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Tolulope Popoola is the author of flash fiction, romance and short stories and she's also a publishing consultant and coach. She is Nigerian but lives in London. You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below. How Tolu got started with blogging, writing and moved into self-publishing The problem of being labelled “ethnic fiction” Why Nigerians have close ties with the UK How publishing currently works in Nigeria How Nigerian readers find books and read digitally on mobile and devices Self-publishing among African authors in Nigeria and Britain and the problems of global payments. The petition for an Amazon store in Nigeria after the launch in India. The concerns of African authors and how we can promote diversity in publishing It's time to get away from the single narrative that is “allowed” for African writers. Here are some examples of African genre fiction authors to try out. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor – if you want to read Fantasy/Sci-fi Kiru Taye (she has several books and series) – if you want to read sizzling Romance Satans and Shaitans by Obinna Udenwe if you want to read Nigerian Thriller Making Wolf by Tade Thompson for Crime/Thriller and Speculative Fiction The Reluctant Dead by Nuzo Onoh for African Horror You can find Tolulope's books here on Amazon and her services for authors at www.AccomplishPress.com Text interview with Tolulope Popoola My name is Tolulope Popoola and I’m an Author, a Publishing Consultant and Writing Coach for Aspiring Authors. I’ve always been drawn to words, reading and writing. My earliest memories of writing are from way back when I was a little girl, about six years old. I used to read a lot, and I would write my own versions of stories that I’d read, or I would make up my own. But I got teased in school by my friends who thought I was weird, so I stopped. However, I never lost my love for reading and I read anything I could get my hands on. As I grew older and became a teenager, I used to write in secret, because it just came naturally to me. I kept diaries and journals throughout my teen years, and writing was my therapy whenever I was upset. I did well in English and Literature effortlessly in school. Much later, I left school, went college and in Nigeria, you get told by your parents what your options are.