Mr. Azuh Arinze is a celebrity journalist of note, having made his mark, not only as a reporter, but editor. Through the dint of hard work and the grace of God, he rose from being an ordinary “IT boy” in a weekly magazine to become an Editor within a relatively short period. He ruled his world and enjoyed fame.
Remarkably too, the publisher of Yes International Magazine has become known as one of the few Nigerian journalists with many successful books to their credit. In this interview by SAKIBU OLOKOJOBI, Arinze tells his journalism story and how he has ventured into writing books and making a success of the enterprise. Among other things, he shares his experience giving details on what it takes to be a successful journalist and author. Excerpts:
You have distinguished yourself as a journalist who is also an author of many books. How did the book publishing or authorship come and what has it been like?
I think it was in 2013 or 2014, the first time I went to the United Kingdom… I was still in Encomium at the time. At the airport – I hardly travel without taking books or reading books. I stumbled on this collection by a writer, Richard Templer. He wrote The Rules of Work, The Rules of Love, The Rules of Management etc. I bought one or two. In London, I was able to finish the books. I went out again to get more. After some time, it dawned on me that what the guy did was nice, and I could also do something like that. That was one of the things that inspired me.
Then, two, there is a journalist called Louis Odion. I went to interview him and he said one of the things about journalists is that we have access, but we don’t explore the access and contacts. Yes, there are some people you can’t go to and say “give me money”, but if they see that you are doing something laudable, they will identify with you and support you. So, I said if you have a lot of people and you write a book, they will buy. Some of them won’t even buy it at the normal price, some of them will do more. The third thing is that I read a lot. So, it just occurred to me one day that “hey, you’ve been reading what other people have been writing, why don’t you write too so that other people can also read.” The last thing is that journalism avails you the opportunity to meet the high and the mighty, to fraternize with them, interact with them and everything…
Let me give you an example with one of the books that I wrote – Anything and Everything Journalism. Let me say 50 per cent of the journalists that you would like to know one or two things about them, I’d interviewed. So, it just occurred to me that I should put it into a book so that people who are interested in journalism can read and learn one or two things. So, those are the kind of books that I do. I can decide to look for 50 senior advocates, talk to them and put it into a book. If you want to become a successful legal practitioner, if you want to become a senior advocate, you can read that.
I do books that if you pick up, you can learn… I did a book called The CEO’s Bible; I did the volume one and volume two; I have Tested and Trusted Success Secrets of the Rich and Famous; Encounters and Lessons from My Journalism Career; I have Success is not Served a la carte; I have A Taste of Success; I have my Tales of Many Colours; I have Conversations with Showbiz Stars. It depends on what I want the story to be about, then I begin to look for people who fit into that theme. I have also helped one or two persons to do their biographies, auto-biographies, ghost writing and others. So, those are the things that made me to go into that line of business. The truth is that I’ve never regretted exploring that sector too.
Journalists are supposed to be the greatest authors in the world because they write every day. So, the difference between what we do and what the writers do is that the writers are able to put a fence around what they write. Most of us journalists are not able to put a fence around what we write.
How many books have you written so far and within a period of how many years?
I have nine books now. I started in 2011. My first book was unveiled days before my exit from Encomium as the Editor.
Writing a book is not something you do on the go. You have to sit down and work. That was why I told you that whenever I’m working on a book, I restrict my movement to an appreciable extent. You need that discipline of sitting down in a place and doing it.
What has it been like, authoring books and doing journalism work at the same time, considering the enormity of the work involved in writing books and working as a journalist?
I’m going to tell you one short story. I have a friend. One day, she saw me at a party, the day after, she saw me at another party. Then, we got talking and she said I’d been at parties these days and that it seemed that I didn’t have so much on my hand, and I said, “No.” I told her I manage my time very well. I make out time for the things that are important to me. My people (other journalists) are posting stories, posting their videos. But I also post stories. Every day, I wake up around 4, 5 a.m., to post stories; every day. If you follow me, I post stories. I have just shared videos now from my YouTube channel. Everyday. People who follow me can bear me witness that there is no morning that I have missed out. It has been like that for years. That time that I devote to my work, nobody can take it away because I know that without my work, I will become useless. I post stories three times in a day.
Now, because of the kind of books that I write, usually, I pick the people I will interview, and how I want to do it. Only once did I allow my daughters to transcribe for me. Let me give you an example. For The CEO’s Bible, I interviewed 90 people. I did the transcription myself because if I give to my staff to transcribe, I will go crazy when doing the correction. I found out that it is better for me to subject myself to the pain by doing the transcription once; then, I will read it about four or five times and it will go, than the one I will read 100 times. What I did not want to transcribe in the first instance, I will now have to do it at the end of the day. So, if I want to do a new book now, once all the things I want to write about are completed, every day, I will wake up around 2 or 3 a.m. to write because that is the best time I do my own transcription. I find it hard to concentrate if I get a distraction while transcribing. I do it when everywhere is quiet. It is about creating time. My boss, Mr. Kunle Bakare said a man does not need to tell you what is important to him. If I’m working on a book now, you will need a crane to pull me out to attend to other things. I usually devote maximum attention when writing a book. When I’m not writing a book, yes, you can see me more outside.
I once attended a book presentation where inside the hall, it was announced that the book was not ready. The question was, “Why did they now ask us to come?” I went away with a lesson. Any time I am doing a presentation, the books must be ready one month before the time; I will have them on ground before the public presentation. If I’m going to do a book presentation, I plan it one year ahead. It is a whole lot of work. Even the transcription alone is crazy, and I do it myself. It is not what I want people to do for me. It is what I want to do myself.
How successful would you say writing books has been?
Very very successful, I’m not going to mince words about it. Very very successful. I’ve not done any book that I did at a loss and it’s because I have my own marketing strategy. I’ve seen others whose books are more successful than mine, but what works for you may not work for me. As a person, I’ve come up with my own strategy about how to sell my book and distribute. So, far, so good.
What actually works for you?
What I try to do is that before I leave the venue of book presentation, I pray to God and I would have recouped my investment. So, any other thing is extra for me, and the book remains forever.
You have nine books already. Which of your books would you say is your favourite and which would you say has sold most?
I don’t have any favourite. It’s like asking a father who is your favourite child. But I think the highest selling should be The CEO’s Bible I and II. We have reprinted about four times. Anything and Everything Journalism, we are going to reprint; Tested and Trusted Success Secrets, we’ve done the second or third reprint; Encounters…, we’ve reprinted once; we’ve exhausted our stock in Conversations with Showbiz Stars. We thank God. It’s just that the money trickles in. The joy is that people are reading it; it is not all about money but what people like and commend you for. The CEO’s Bible I and II sell most.
How can reporters make the best of the opportunities that abound generally?
One is, if you write books, you can tap into that; two, you can consult for people. I don’t agree with people who say you are a journalist, you are not a Public Relations consultant. Yes, I’m an associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, so I know the professional things to do. I would advise that if you are doing consultancy, don’t be unprofessional about it. Some people say PR is more than getting to put stories out, but if that is what you can also add to what you do and make extra coins from that, it is also okay.
I’ve not explored this, but Louis Odion told me that some of us have access to some people high up there whose companies produce some products. You can become a distributor of some of these products, put your wife there or set up something. If you have access to the managing directors of some of these breweries, who says you can’t talk to them to make you one of their distributors. Real estate too. You can discuss with them because you have enormous contacts, you can tell them I can guarantee you if you buy from here, nothing will happen. That will be based on your relationship with the real estate company. At least, those you can vouch for. So, if they buy, you can make some money from it too.
Then, you can write speeches for people. There are a number of things you can do. Unfortunately, some of our people are not really exploring them. You can do lobbying for some people. When there are issues, you can tell them, I know these people, if we talk to them, may be we can find solution to the issue. What I do, however, is that I don’t put money first. But I do not think that if you go the extra mile to help some people to resolve some issues they won’t show appreciation one way or the other. Sometime, it is also good you have things properly spelt out so that tomorrow, nobody will feel aggrieved of feel cheated. Also, if you have a website and it is doing well, people will place adverts and you will make money. Sometimes, people will bring stories for you. If you also expand it and set up Youtube channel, if it is monetized, you can also be making little little money from it. People can also invite you to give speeches, book reviews, talk and so on. You can also do trainings. People cannot invite you to Anambra to carry out a training and they will not think of giving you honorarium, pay for your flight and put you in a nice hotel. For me, those areas one can explore. I haven’t explored all of them, but based on my interactions with some senior journalists. I enjoy tapping ideas from them. I have applied some and they have worked. I have not applied some others. Hopefully, I will still apply more.
Let’s go back to the issue of authorship. Every journalist is considered to be a potential author. But why are many of them not writing books?
I agree they are potential authors. I hope my colleagues will not crucify me. One of the problems is laziness and the second one is lack of interest. What you are not interested in, you can’t pay attention to. Writing a book is very tedious. Some people are not ready to subject themselves to that torture. Writing a book is not something you do on the go. You have to sit down and work. That was why I told you that whenever I’m working on a book, I restrict my movement to an appreciable extent. You need that discipline of sitting down in a place and doing it. Some are just lazy; some have this lackadaisical attitude. Those are the things, I would say are responsible for many of them not writing books.
Does being a journalist have any effect on writing books for you, and if “Yes”, how?
Of course, it does. If I was not a journalist, may be I would not have written books. Because I’ve always stringed words, it makes it easier for me. May be if I wasn’t a journalist it would be difficult to do that. Being a journalist makes it simple for me.
What would you say are the steps to take to write a good book?
The first thing is knowing what you want to write about. The second is to ask yourself whether people will be interested in what you want to write about, because you are not writing the book for yourself; you are writing for others to read. When that is done, you can now begin to work on the title. A title goes a long way. There are people who buy books not because of you, although when you have been writing books for some time and you are well known, people can buy your books merely seeing your name on it. But when you are just coming up, you need to consider a title that will be catchy; a title that will be gripping and arrest people’s attention.
After that, you start looking at the chapterisation; what the book will be about, how you are going to do it etc.
After you have done that you will now look at who will do the Foreword for you. For instance, I will be writing a book next year and I know who I will be going to for the Foreword. If you can’t do the indexing, you need to look for someone to do it for you; who will publish for you, who will proofread for you. It is not good for you to be the author and finish the entire work. You have to get some people involved because there are some things you will not see that other people would.
I remember when I wrote my first book; when I took it to Dr. Reuben Abati, he told me some things I had to do.
One thing people don’t know about journalism, which is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that at a point, people don’t buy you because of the news that you push out there. People follow you because of your integrity.
Even, there was a time I was doing a series on Facebook every Saturday. It was Chief Tony Onyima who called me and said these things have to be put into a book, that they are too interesting to be wasted. I told him I would but on the condition that he would write the Foreword and he said, okay. That was how that book came to be. Sometimes, you can also test waters by putting out some of these things on the social media to feel the reactions of people. When I was doing the series I told you about initially, I was getting comments as many as 500, 800 and even 1000 comments. Just one story. Even Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu said Azuh, I’m enjoying them. When it was time to do the cover of the book, they did about four designs, it was put on the social media. The one the people chose was not the one I chose, but I had to go with the people’s choice. Infact, one of my mentors, Dr. Tunji Olugbodi, had to do an analysis of why we should go for one cover. So, that is the way I have been doing my things.
Are there comments that you like to make in general, talking about book publishing, journalism and other things. We like you to express yourself more.
One of the other things I want to say is that we should be professional about writing books and doing journalism (whether online or the hard copy). If you do it well, you may not see the big money, but you won’t go hungry. Once you do it well, the big money will not come in millions and millions, but if you don’t have what Yoruba people call “ojukokoro” (greed), you can always get by, take care of your needs, take care of your kids. You may not give them Grade One comfort, to an appreciable extent, you will be able to meet your needs.
Then, hold on to God, work hard and don’t cut corners. One thing people don’t know about journalism, which is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that at a point, people don’t buy you because of the news that you push out there. People follow you because of your integrity. Once anything soils that integrity, people will withdraw. So, as a journalist, you must make sure you guard your reputation and integrity very seriously. If anything happens to it, most people will tune off. People wake up, go to the news stand to buy Punch. It is not because of the story Punch reports today. People wake up today and go to Yes International Magazine website, not because of the exclusive story that we have written today, but because over time they have come to trust and believe in what we do. That doesn’t mean that when your competitors or colleagues have a breaking story, they won’t read, they will, but they will still come to you because over time, you have been able to prove your worth, sincerity, and you have been able to protect them. So, all journalists should have it at the back of their mind that what we are selling is our reputation, integrity, not necessarily the news. They can get the news everywhere. That is why, even those of us in the profession, you see some things online, you’ll say, let me check a particular website, if it there, we’ll know that it is true. We also know that there are sites you read some things, and you will say no, until I see it in a particular place. It is as a result of the reputation and name those people have built over the years. Hold on to God, work hard and be distinct, be creative and “Alubarika lo ku” (blessings will follow).
*Concluded.
