From building a community of writers to building a publishing company, Paul Anisiji is a writer, reader and tech entrepreneur braving the odds to make publishing accessible to writers.
Zia: So first, a brief introduction. Who is Paul Anisiji?
Paul Anisiji: I am Paul Anisiji, author and founder of PabPub — Phoenix Awards Books Publications and FWC — Fresh Writers Community. I have written a couple of books but published only two so far. I am popularly known with my pen name, Benjamin Paul, for my book, Chasing Annabelle which features a quite interesting and eccentric character loosely based on the part of me that exists in theory. In terms of skills and general profession outside writing, I am best described as a programmer and a businessman, a typical tech entrepreneur as PabPub is only one of the products and brands I founded for business based on ICT.
Zia: That’s very interesting. What are your other products?
Paul Anisiji: Well, there is Saharan Gait which is a conglomerate enterprise. It is an internet product and services platform that provides businesses and individuals with websites and applications they need. It is made by a team of skilled developers and UI/UX developers. This team is responsible for building and maintaining the PabPub application. Saharan Gait is also responsible for the service of producing paperbacks for PabPub when they are ordered online. Saharan Gait Academy also trains individuals to become professional programmers. It is simply diverse in its dealings.
I have also created TooBookish Store, which is an online (but soon to be a physical store) which provides individuals with products and services relating to books. Ranging from editing services, to cover designs, to actual books. It is through the store that PabPub distributes its paperbacks. Soon, TooBookish will expand to be much more and also sell books and services not connected to PabPub. There are other brands and products, but I will rather end it with the ones that are more connected to books and publishing. Some of the others, I’m not even allowed to talk about right now due to my contracts with partners or because they are not public yet.
Zia: Wow. You really weren’t kidding when you said you were a tech entrepreneur. Let’s go back to Pabpub for a second, what made you start the company?
Paul Anisiji: Well, first I founded FWC, a community where fresh authors were trained to become better, expert authors. We worked a lot on that and it was a significant success, judging from the amazing impact it had on a lot of writers. With this, in 2018, we had a lot of graduates whom we called Phoenixes, from the idea that they rose from ashes and blossomed. It was cute, but then there was the problem of getting published. After a while of adding “publishing” to our curriculum for training in FWC, where we tried to teach people to publish their books, use platforms like Okadabooks, Amazon, Inkitt, teaching them how to write query letters and all that; I decided it would be better if I built a publisher that would allow authors like these to publish their books. That’s why it’s called Phoenix Award Books Publications.
Zia: As a member and leader of the FWC, I can categorically say it had a huge impact on my writing.
Paul Anisiji: I’m happy to hear that.
Zia: Okay so you built Pabpub for the graduates of FWC but it’s become so much more now. How did you get from there to here?
Paul Anisiji: Well, it was not built exactly for them specifically. PabPub was built for authors like that globally, for authors who write pretty good books but can’t easily find a means to publish their works and bring them to the spotlight. Getting to where we are now has been simply a product of consistent work and evolution. My team and I are authors and readers and we know what we need to push and enhance our careers and experiences as authors and readers. So we keep building those things and evolving, one feature at a time. It has been both tiresome and rewarding work.
Zia: Pabpub has certainly come a very long way. So far, what has been your biggest challenge with Pabpub?
Paul Anisiji: Well, there are a couple of things that are difficult, but the main issues seem to be connected to the fact that Nigeria is a difficult country, with lots of poor people and a culture that does not encourage paying for art. There are a lot of people who love books in Nigeria. They are not too many, but they are enough. Unfortunately, a lot of these people are unable and/or unwilling to pay for a book, let alone a book by undiscovered authors.
We don’t have exact numbers on it, but after interviewing some readers, we found that many find and read mostly free books from like Wattpad or download pirated copies online. The remainder of people who pay for books tend to buy books by authors they know or books that are popular on a global level. Some have even confessed to generally being uninterested in books of African origin. This reality is discouraging and has usually discouraged investors as well.
Zia: We’ve seen your challenges, what has been your favourite moment so far?
Paul Anisiji: Okay um, my favourite moment would be when we successfully hosted and ended our first serious writing contest, the Phoenix Quill, 2020. It was really amazing; the energy was electrifying. Everything worked out really really well, the judges worked together nicely, but most importantly we had a great influx of amazing books and people on our platform.
Zia: That sounds wonderful. When is the next Phoenix Quill?
Paul Anisiji: Phoenix Quill is meant to be a yearly program, but after the first Phoenix Quill, we were pulled into a new phase of development involving integrating Paperback publishing as part of what PabPub offers. Since then it has been as though we are relaunching a whole brand and redoing everything we’ve already done. For this reason, Phoenix Quill is paused till we settle again. I can’t promise anything now, but we are looking to have another one as soon as we are ready. Likely latest by 2023.
Zia: I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it. So far, who are the bulk of your users?
Paul Anisiji: In terms of what exactly?
Zia: Readers. Country of origin.
Paul Anisiji: Okay. The majority of our users are Nigerian readers. Followed by Ghanaians. There are users from over 50 countries around the globe, but they are fewer from each region when compared to Nigerians and Ghanaians.
Zia: As the majority of your users, what do you have to say about the assumption that Nigerians and Africans generally don’t read?
Paul Anisiji: Just to clarify, the statement implies that Africans do not regularly consume fiction as a source of art, entertainment, and pleasure. This is true and unfortunate when you compare the market of books to say, music or movies in Africa. Regardless, I don’t think it matters and it doesn’t bother me. Nigeria alone is over 200 million people if I am not mistaken. If only 5% of these people are book lovers, that’s over 10 million book lovers in Nigeria alone. That’s large enough to be one big city. That’s more than enough for me.
Zia: I see. And how do you hope that PabPub will contribute to the African literary space?
Paul Anisiji: PabPub is already contributing to the African literary space. It’s not a hope, it’s something we are already doing, however small at this time.
We have a couple of really good authors that depend on us to keep going in their writing careers. They keep writing and they keep publishing their books only because they know there is a good enough publisher out here that is waiting to have them as long as they get to write a good book.
All that is left to do is for us to scale up and increase what we are already doing — publish more books, increase average author’s earnings, increase the exposure of PabPub books, grow, create and run more programs and opportunities like The Phoenix Quill that excite and inspire authors.
