By Damiete Braide
Emmanuel Olatunji is the founder of Tebeba Publishing Company, a company that has helped writers to become effective and influential in their works. This year, he officially launched the Tebeba School of Writing, a school where exceptional writers are birthed, refined and deployed to do exploits in the world. The company aspires to train at least 20,000 writers on or before 2027.
He disagreed with people who believe that writers are poor people. He added: “The kind of writers I raise through this school cannot be poor. Though, there are people who call themselves writers because they write on social media, however, through this school, we equip people with the needed writing skills to succeed out there as writers.
“At Tebeba Publishing Company, some of the skills that people are taught include content writing, ghostwriting, effective writing, etcetera. Our determination is that no one will attend this school and still be a struggling writer. Everything has been prepared to achieve this. If you attend the school of writing and still struggle with major areas in your writing journey, then no school can help you,” he said.
Emmanuel has written many books, including How To Never Be Broke Again, Book Title Blueprint, Writers’ Manual, Millionaire Writer’s Blueprint, 15 Ways to Choose Affluence Over Poverty, Earn From Your Talent, What Is In. Your Hand, Book Publishing Code, among others.
When asked how he ventured into writing, he said, “I’ve been writing since 2009. But I started writing professionally in 2016. I was a crude writer when I started writing. I didn’t like the idea of writing, but, in 2009, I got the clarity that writing is a skill, so I started to hone the skill. I participated in different writing classes to sharpen my skill. I got myself a writing mentor who held me accountable. I started reading books and I never stopped writing. In 2015, I got the opportunity to work as a content writer for some blogs, while in 2016, I ventured fully into writing.”
He emphasised on consistency and passion as a writer: “I never loved writing initially, but since I realised that writing was an embedded skill in me, I had to develop the passion for it. If you want to see the beauty of writing, you need to ensure you develop a passion for it. Writing is very tasking and draining. If you just write without passion, you will struggle a lot. Writing isn’t a skill you just dabble into; you need to have a level of passion for it.
“Every great writer has a level of passion for writing. That’s why no matter how challenging it gets, no matter how tough the journey is, they still write. That’s passion! You’ve got to have a special kind of love for writing. These are the fundamental principles I really hold dear, among others.”
Speaking on the prospects of the publishing industry in Nigeria, Emmanuel said, “We’ve not actually scratched the surface in Nigeria, and Africa as a whole. So the prospect is huge. There are loads of opportunities in the publishing industry in Nigeria. I once saw research that the publishing industry is even among the top earning industries in the world. In fact, it’s even higher than the music industry. This is to show that the prospect is huge and there is massive opportunity for anyone who delves into it in Africa.
“Through this industry, you can achieve a whole lot, especially now that you don’t need a traditional publisher before you can publish a book. Once you have a manuscript, you can hire a self publisher to publish for you and viola, you are an author. How cool is that? That said, there are several ways you can leverage this industry. You just have to be ready to take action.”
The publisher said, despite the numerous publishing companies in the country, he had brought so much innovation to the publishing industry in Africa: “I can say boldly that my company is the first publishing firm to introduce a three-in-one book reading, book marketing and book publishing platform in Africa for audiobooks, ebooks and paperbacks. It’s called Tebeba Books. There has never been a platform like that in Africa. But the moment I stepped into this industry, we brought such innovation.
“My company has also championed many innovative works in the writing and publishing industries, and we’ve inspired other people who are even in our industry. I have people doing what I do, and they’ve told me how I have challenged them and helped them. So this is why I don’t get challenged by any competitor. If I see anything new, I learn, and find a way to do it better. I believe there is always room for improvement.”
Emmanuel said he wrote How to Never be Broke Again, because he became angry at the level of poverty in the country. “I wrote it to teach people the true secrets of wealth. I wrote it to cause a paradigm shift in people’s minds. I wrote it, because I want to inspire people so that they can do more and achieve more.”