Yiro: Yes I have a number of online publications
but just one book, titled, How to Become a Music Maestro
Paul: What types of books
do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors? Why?
Yiro: I love to read just any type of book as long
as there is something to learn and the author is creative in the choice of his
topic and writing style.
Paul: If someone had the
power to step into your creative mind what would they see?
Yiro: They will see ideas that keep passing through
my mind. Some of which cannot be actualize as the environment where I live
lacks to supporting atmosphere.
Paul: What is a typical day
for you?
Yiro: Writing has not started fetching money for
me. As a result I work as a Chemistry teacher in a school. Whenever I close I spend
my time listening to news. In the course of listening to news an issue could
cross my mind and stir it leading to a topic that I will write about and
publish it on my blog. If it is music that I listened to and it occurred to me
to review it, I do that and post it on my blog for music reviews. That blog is
Nightingale; http://nightingaleng.blogspot.com.
If it is on another issue that falls in my general category, I post it on News
Tower: http://newstoweronline.blogspot.com
Paul: In all the years
you’ve been publishing your work, what is the biggest mistake you made that you
could share so others can avoid making it?
Yiro: I cannot remember any mistake I have made. I
am however still in the learning process and pray never to make any mistake
that will make me regret. I pray God to make this possible.
Paul: How do you find the time to write?
Yiro: My schedule is not tight actually. Any time
an idea crosses my mind I just sit and begin to type.
Paul: What is one thing you hope I do not tell the
readers?
Yiro: I cannot think of any now. Not because there
could never be but because none has crossed my mind at this point.
Paul: If you are self-published, what led to you
going your own way?
Yiro: I think this is the most important question
so far. I am Nigerian. In my country there is the issue of piracy for which the
authorities do little or nothing about. When my book was ready, the fact that I
could not trust any publisher in addition to the issue of piracy let me to
decide on independent publishing. I will rather hide my book on Amazon even if
there are no sales than to see somebody making a fortune from my sweat. People
involved in piracy are extremely rich and control the marketing network. It is
easy for them to print and sale any book that appears attractive to the public.
So I chose to self-publish so as to avoid falling victim of their greed.
Paul: Do you plot your stories or do you just get
an idea and run with it?
Yiro: I wanted to play music and be a superstar. I
was afraid of failure though. So I studied the works of the most successful
artists of the genre that I like the most in other to get it right. For some
reasons I could not play even after studying these artists and building my
confidence on how music is made. I however noticed that other young men and
women who want to go into music do not take time to study successful artists
like I did leading to the difficulties they face towards making
professionally-sounding music. An idea crossed my mind that rather than allow
the stuff in my mind to waste away, I could share it with these persons and
have my first book. That is how the idea came. I didn’t want to enrich the
cemetery like some guys who died with their ideas did.
Paul: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find
that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Yiro: I give the book I wrote to someone to edit.
Sometimes however one still sees errors. They could be due to my tampering with
what has been edited when better ways of putting messages across come passing
through my mind.
Paul: Do you have to do much research for your
stories?
Yiro: The book that I wrote involved critically
listening to the artists whose work I studied. I studied the first artist to
confirm my suspicions on how certain things ought to be done. Then studied many
more to further make sure that what I saw in the first was not a mere
coincidence. I believe that this is research even though I was not writing
anything down. I was however writing them in my mind though.
Yiro: How to Become a Music Maestro was my first
and last book. So it remains my recent book for now.
Paul: Do you enter competitions? Are there any you
could recommend?
Yiro: I tried to enter a competition with my poem,
The Boys and the Leaves. Initially they said it was free but as I continued to
the subsequent stages of sending my entry, I reached that point where they
requested for $3. I needed a credit card and I did not have any at the time.
Paul: How much marketing do you do for your
published works or for your ‘brand’?
Yiro: I have paid an organization for marketing but
there is a long story on waiting until the first quarter of the year when
people buy books. I have also paid an orgamoization to send traffic to my
website. They are currently doing that. This is in addition to article
syndication that I get involved in with Ezineartcles for which they send
traffic to my site in return.
Paul: What do you do when you’re not writing? Do
you have any hobbies or party tricks?
Yiro: Get online to read, play music and travel if
I have the money to do so.
Paul: That was great, Yiro. I wish you every success for the future.
Paul: That was great, Yiro. I wish you every success for the future.
Yiro's Blog: Nightingale
Yiro on Twitter: @abarihigh
Yiro on Facebook: Yiro Abari
Yiro's latest book: How To Become A Music Maestro (Amazon)
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