Fly Girl

This is Sade Adeniran photographed by the blogger at Goldsmiths College, London, on 13 March 2008 at the 'On Whose Terms' conference. Earlier that day in Kampala, she had been announced as this year's Africa Regional winner of the Best First Book (it was an all-Nigerian affair, as Karen King-Aribisala also won the Regional Best Book Prize for her novel, 'The Hangman's Game). This, for a debut novel, Imagine This, that she self-published. Things could have been a whole lot worse. Earlier last week my interview with Sade Adeniran was published on BBC Africa Beyond. Excerpt below.
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Sade Adeniran, talking about the her road to (self) publishing.

Where to start? The manuscript took 5 years to write and when I finished, I gave it to friends and acquaintances to read. Their feedback gave me the courage to submit to publishers. I did this with little success, however some of the replies were encouraging. I figured I needed a new strategy; so I went into self-publishing. I remember reading about GP Taylor who self-published, then got a book deal. I thought, that could be me. I knew nothing about the business; I was just focused on getting the book out. So I got myself an ISBN number, found a printer, learnt about book formats and paper, got an editor and proof-reader and cajoled a friend into designing not only the book but also my website.

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That was the easy bit. Getting 'Imagine This' into bookshops was a Herculean task that I never managed to solve. So I called up Independent bookshops like Crockatt & Powell, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and The Pan Bookshop (before it closed). After seeing the finished product and reading 'Imagine This', C&P and Mr B’s ordered copies and are pushing the book. It's available on Amazon; and you can place orders for copies from WH Smiths, Borders and Waterstones.
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• Read the full interview.

• Author's website