How to make it as an author

We get Neef's top tips on turning online journalism into a publishing book

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Aniefiok Ekpoudom's debut book Where We Come From set the literary world alight. There was the glittering launch at Southbank Centre, coverage in a range of publications including Complex and HYPEBEAST. The recent shortlisting for the Jhalak Prize. It's release marked a high point in what was already esteemed writing career which includes marquee pieces like profiling the Adenuga family, interviewing Stormzy and a breadth of behind the scenes strategy and creative work for global brands. We spoke to him about what steps were key in getting him to where he is today.

What are some key moments in your journey that felt like key steps in getting to the next level of your career?

I would say probably one of the key moments is I think meeting other writers and becoming part of a community of Black writers and Black people working across publishing. I think that has been so key in terms of learning how to navigate the industry. Learning how to write a book, getting feedback during the writing process, having people you can bounce ideas off who can give you advice and steer you in the right direction and can be a sounding board. I think that has been such a key part of my journey. I feel like I've now got so many friends who are writers and it wasn't like that at the beginning. I didn't know hardly any. I hardly knew any authors I would say whereas now having met a lot of contemporary Black British authors has been a key part of my journey. People like my friend Calum Jacobs. Candice Carty-Williams has been amazingly helpful. Yomi Sode. The list goes on. That's been a really key step.

What do you think writers starting out right now should prioritise doing to get noticed?

I think you should first of all focus on being good. Trying to improve your craft as much as possible. I think locking in on that is always gonna be the most important thing if you wanna have a long and serious writing career I think that it's really important and there's no way of getting away from that element of art with any art form that you practice. I think really practicing and becoming skilled at your craft I think is really really important and then I think after that it's about deciding what kind of writer do you want to be? Are you a poet? Are you an author? Are you a fiction writer? Are you a non-fiction writer? Because the answer to that question is going to map out what you should do next in terms of getting noticed because they will have very different routes and avenues. I think essentially it's about you getting to understanding like what you want from your career. Almost back tracing it like understanding yourself, as oppose to trying to get noticed. You want to get noticed for the right thing.

How did you go about getting on Faber's radar?

I had quite a traditional publishing deal. I had a literary agent and we worked on a proposal for the book together and then your literary agent sends out the proposal to numerous publishers. In an ideal world multiple publishers bid on it, then you decide which publisher you want to go with. That was my process. I think we had three or four publishers bid on the book and Faber is who I went with. The editor I met over there Alexa von Hirschberg was amazing so I was bought into working with her from the first time I spoke to her.

What are some good ways to make ends meet as a writer before paid editorial work starts coming in?
Yeah this is the real question. I'm glad this is in here because realistically a lot of writers don't make their full time living from writing. I don't make my full time living from writing. I freelance full time and do a lot of creative work with advertising agencies and brands which is like strategy work then of course I do the writing alongside that. I guess everybody has their own approach. I never really wanted to work for a publication. I wanted to write about what I wanted to write about. I knew that would mean I would be writing less and for a variety of places as oppose to one place and so I needed to find other avenues which allowed me the freedom to write what I actually wanted to essentially. Something that's really important is obviously if you are gunning for a job in a newsroom, newspaper or magazine that's a very different path. I knew I wanted to right books quite early on not work at a publication. So it was about using the skills I have and find other avenues of work which allowed me to free up my time and focus on writing. During the time period of writing Where We Come From (or a lot of it anyway) I was doing a three day a week advertising contract. Then I was writing or researching the book alongside that. I'm on another freelance advertising contract at the minute. Other people do other things, some people do copywriting. Some people just have other jobs. I feel like that's part of the industry that you would never be able to tell just looking at things externally.

Has anything surprised you about being a published author?

Yeah just how long the tale of a book is, I find is fascinating. Before, having put out mainly journalism, it goes out quickly and then the reaction is quite quick whereas with a book it just continues to extend. I feel like every week there's new readers finding the book who are reaching out to say they've read it or were touched by it in certain ways. That continuing to happen even a year after the book has come out has been a beautiful thing I hadn't anticipated or thought about happening. That long tail that a book has is quite a special thing.

Are there any emerging writers whose work you are particularly enjoying?

Yeah I think there's a whole new generation of writers and creatives and archivists who are doing their own fantastic work which has been also a great part of the book. Being able to engage with them in different ways. Some that come to mind Edward Adonteng, I think he's a great thinker and really interesting in the way he approaches archiving. I first met him at a talk with Elijah and Emma Warren. He was talking about Lewisham social cultural history and we kept in contact since, I think he's great. I would also say Yaya Azariah Clarke I think is great. They used to be a staff writer at It's Nice That. They do some really interesting stuff around Black British visual culture. When I met them at The Roundhouse they interviewed me for the radio show they were doing and again just another amazing thinker. I think great writing is the product of great thinking essentially. Ezra Olaoya, I guess would be classed as a journalist. He's done really interesting stuff in terms of documenting a new generation of Black British music so a big fan of him too. Added to that I'd say Emmanuel Onapa who's work does a similar thing.