Getting funds to publish is not easy- Tampo

Preye Victor Tampo is a writer who has published several books , he spoke with Adeola Ogunrinde on the challenges of publishing and his recent book which is about to be launched.

Since when have you been writing?

I wrote my first book 2008, it is more than four hundred pages and I still see it as my first book.Titled  How to live a victorious life, it is all about how to live a victorious life . It is nonfiction, a spiritual book

Is the 17 Dynamic Readers your first book published?

I have three books published before this, I have The World is a School published 2011,by the grace of God I have written 11 books , I have a book I will be launching on my 30th birthday which is Fire in my Blood and the other one is Financial shift from poverty to wealth, an auto-biography about my financial life.

How do you sell your books?

I have marketers , the company that published my book The World is a School, they have people that take their books to bookshops within Nigeria, and there are some people that order for my book from abroad too, people from United states even in Ghana , I send books according to what they order for, the book companies also have website that they use to promote my book, currently after the launch of 17 Dynamic Readers , I am looking for ways to put my book on Amazon.

Publishing involve funding , how do you get the fund to publish your book?

Getting funds to publish is not easy , The World is a school which I printed in 2011 was sponsored by comrade Joseph Eva, he is an Ijaw activist who gave me half of the money, I gave the publisher the money to publish the  book, I did the launching where I generated  money to balance the publisher, for 17 Dynamic Readers is Mr Kenneth Etete from an oil and gas company who gave me 300,000 naira and this book is currently been printed at 496,000 naira, I also source my money from other individuals

For each of your books published , how many copies have you sold?

The World is a school , I have sold thousands of copies, I am trying to do reprinting because there is a  shortage of my books published, I hope it will be available during the book launch of 17 Dynamic Readers?

When is the book launch coming up?

It’s coming up July 11 at Afe Babalola hall University of Lagos , the Chairman of the day is Senator Ben Murray Bruce, the Vice- Chancellor donated the hall free of charge as part of his contribution, many others have contributed to make this launching a success.

What is your educational background?

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I studied Economics in the University of Lagos, I finished my secondary school in Delta State though I started in Lagos, majorly when it comes to education I believe in self improvement , that is what has helped me , reading several books , going to seminars and from one workshops to another, many of the things I write are not what I studied in school, my lecturers are often surprise why is this guy different from what he studied. I had a mind to go into business that is why I studied Economist and not to be an Economist , solving one economic situation in the country , there are so much economist in the country doing that.

Who are your favourite readers that you read to improve on yourself ?

John Maxwell is my favourite, I have read over 40 of his books , I have other authors that I read , Steven Collins , Ben Carson. I also read spiritual books , Pastor E.A Adeboye is my favourite and Dr David Oyedepo.

For authors who want to publish  what advise do you have for them?

You have to learn a lot, gather experience , read a lot , learn from other people’s experience to compare with yours so that you will write a good book, you have to write things that can move people forward and learn from. If it is something a writer wants to go into , publish your work , you can , they should start by writing articles , when I wrote my first published book , it is what  I wrote in several places , collected it and published it.