Building narratives: Writing a book that sells

By Fungayi Sox

In last week’s article titled Wilbur Smith: The man who wrote his own epitaph, I took a look at Wilbur Smith’s life and his 55-year career span as an author and how he became an internationally acclaimed novelist with a record of 49 books, which have now been translated into 30 languages world-wide.

Smith was not just a prolific king of adventure storytelling, but will be remembered as a “global best-selling author” who “pleased millions” and sold close to 150 million copies and that to me is no joke.

In preparing this article, I realised that so many authors especially in Zimbabwe struggle to “build narratives that sell” and instead end up “begging” people to buy their books. Sadly, that is a misguided approach and I am of the strong conviction that a book, just like any other product needs to have certain elements that sells it on the authors behalf.

So, what does it really take to write a book that sells?

Although I pointed out Smith’s consistency and passion as an accelerating factor that led to him publishing 49 books and selling 150 million copies world-wide, here in Zimbabwe the story could be quite different owing to low disposable incomes for people to invest in books as well as piracy where books end up getting sold on the streets without the authors permission.

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But again, it doesn’t mean we don’t have our own best-selling authors to have emerged from Zimbabwe or authors who are doing so well under the given economic hardships and it also doesn’t mean people are not buying books. Tsitsi Dangarembga is one of our iconic prolific authors to ever emerge from Zimbabwe.

She recently scooped a German Book Prize for her latest novel, The Mournable Body (2018), a sequel to her debut award-winning novel Nervous Conditions. The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, which has been awarded since 1950, and is one of Germany’s most important awards, worth 25 000 euros. With it, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association honours a personality, who has contributed to the realization of the idea of peace.

In one of the articles a few months ago, I mentioned a title as an essential factor and component which makes a book sell. Captivating titles which in my view will grab any readers attention include Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Charles Mungoshi’s Waiting for The Rains and Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. In this article I will add a few more tips on writing a book that sells.

Value proposition

Everyone who has written or is intending to write a book needs to treat a book as a product and offer a value proposition that appeals to the readers.

By the term value proposition, I mean why should we (readers) buy your book, in fact what is in it for me?

The main purpose of books both fiction and non-fiction is to educate, entertain, motivate, inspire and inform and one should pick out the objectives of their book and map their narrative with enticing and captivating clarity.

For instance, Smith whom I alluded to earlier, will be remembered as a writer who transported millions of readers to places — from Southern Africa to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, to the ancient pyramids in Egypt and Berlin, Germany amongst many other places and countries.

The reason why Wilbur Smith sold many copies is that his value proposition in writing was derived from his adventure storytelling whose main objective was to please millions of readers world-wide through transporting them to so many places in his books.

Thus, instead of paying thousands of dollars in air tickets, readers readily opted to travel by paying for Smith’s adventurous stories which made them travel in a book.

Authenticity

The reason why Tsitsi Dangarembga continues to scoop awards and sell more books not just in Zimbabwe but the world over is because she commands an authentic voice which is traceable from her debut novel Nervous Conditions.

For me she has become an authentic voice and a champion of women empowerment and it is easy to note such consistency through her trilogy of novels where she uses examples of an adolescent woman to describe the struggle for the right to a decent life in Zimbabwe.

It is through being authentic that Dangarembga successfully manages to grab the attention of the African and international audience as many can easily relate to the plight of the girl child and what makes her writing even more unique is that she tackles broader societal issues from inequality to corruption and becomes a courageous voice and champion for the oppressed.

• The writer Fungayi Sox is the managing consultant at TisuMazwi, a communications consultancy firm specialising in writing, publishing, digital media, personal development and education. He writes in his personal capacity. For one-on-one self-publishing coaching sessions, contact him on 0776 030 949, follow him on Twitter @AntonySox or connect with him on LinkedIn on Fungayi Antony Sox.