Economy
How to Make Money as a Writer
By Emmanuel Udom
The coming into existence of computers and the internet has indeed reduced our world to a global family. Every profession and vocation has therefore gone online.
These days, it is common to hear words like e-commerce, e-books, e-banking, e-governance e-relationship and of course, e-marriage.
This is indeed a digital age, where with a click of the mouse, you can successfully seal a business deal; get information, network for friendship, marriage etc.
Reflect deeply on what I am about to tell you here. Are you a medical doctor, business person, journalist, fashion designer, plumber, teacher, entertainer, computer expert, entrepreneur, or even a pastor or an Imam? The truth is that regardless of your profession or vocation, you and I are marketers.
The bottom line of our networking, daily hustles, bustles and runs is to market our knowledge, talent, skill, passion, products, services, or ideas. Therefore, with the internet in place, the entire world has become our marketplace. Geographical location is no longer an issue.
Let me now zero in on you, as an aspiring writer, if you are not yet one. It takes a burning passion, focus, discipline, pain and a raw, determined spirit to work towards becoming a world-class writer.
Writing is not, has never been and will never be a piece of cake, or tea party. Ask those who have attempted times without number to write an article, a book, a novel, a script, and documentary or a research paper.
Why do you want to be a writer? This is a personal question that you alone should answer, not me. There are a thousand and one reasons why people aspire to write for the public. I am sure you can list some of the reasons.
However, you as a writer must add value, benefits, information, education, and insight to your readers to remain relevant.
In this computer age, it is not about writing to impress but writing to sell. A writer is a marketer, just like the sales representatives, who go from place to place to market their products or services.
Writers are not expected to move from one locality, state or country to the other. They are expected to sit down and graft quality, promotional articles that will attract traffic (visitors) across the globe.
To graft goes beyond writing to impress. You have got to get the right words and carefully build them into powerful and attractive articles, books, scripts and documentaries.
In my e-book: How To Make Money As A Writer, I have outlined some of the steps budding writers must take to bring their dreams of becoming world-class writers to fruition.
Let me pause here and say this. If your aspiration as a writer is to make quick money overnight, I suggest you drop the idea. Like every legitimate business, it takes pains, commitment, focus, passion and determination to grow your business. Becoming a world-class writer is not exclusive here. Ideas come before money. So, your income from writing will come in trickles and grow with time and
The Basics
As a writer, you are aspiring to publish quality, attractive content for your clients and readers. Whether you want to write hard copies, or e-books, or post your articles on blogs or sites, there are some basics you must know that will help you in bringing your dream to reality.
Discipline
Nobody can achieve much in life without discipline. It has nothing to do with your profession or vocation. You must be focused, not easily distracted, organized and time-conscious to be a super writer.
Read Wide
Content writers are versatile fellows. Read everything and anything on your core, competent area.
The aim is to acquire more knowledge to write as an authority, even if you are a school drop-out or a PhD holder. This is the starting point for attracting visitors and ultimately the money.
Roadmap
It is one thing to aspire to become a writer. It is a different ball game to have a clear plan on how to move from where you are to where you want to be a world-class writer.
So, if you want to write content on fashion, engineering, journalism, business, entrepreneurship, and social media, that will sell and bring you money, you must first and foremost have a realistic and workable plan on the ground.
Challenges
You may not agree with me here. Most of the so-called challenges or problems that come to us daily are self-created.
Remember, I say most, not all. Take it or leave it, challenges are necessary for growth.
It is when you overcome challenges that you grow, not by avoiding them. People will try to discourage you when they see that you are trying to break away from the crowd.
Therefore, when n you make up your mind to become a writer, you have got to have this iron-like passion that no discouragement or run-down words from people could break. Great writers today were ones called all sorts of names by their friends, colleagues, family members etc.
Mentorship
Read the works of great writers and become inspired to be like them. But, there is a nag here. Do not at any point in time try to copy your mentor hook, line and sinker.
You must still the suggestions you receive from others to the test and see whether or not they tally with what you have in mind.
The late Dr Sunny Obaze-Ojeagbasi, the publisher of Success Digest, said: do not attempt at any point in time to copy your role model up to the point of losing your identity. He is right here.
Emmanuel Udom, a journalist and private investigator, can be reached at [email protected]
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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