Aswani Nabwire, books writer and online writing trainer. PHOTO | COURTESY
Aswani Nabwire is steadily building a name in the writing world.
Platforms such as blogs and websites have given her a golden
opportunity not only to express her talent but also earn a living.
Her story is a testimony of the vast opportunities of these new platforms if one can rightly tap them.
To
succeed in this field, she says, you first need talent and passion for
writing. On top of that, she adds, patience, endurance and zeal are
vital attributes.
She is involved in diverse genres of
writing - from books, articles, speeches to script translations. She is
now moving into conducting training for budding and enthusiastic
writers.
Ms Nabwire says she first fell in love with
writing while in secondary school where she could write and perform
poetry up to the national stage.
While her desire was rooted in writing and arts, her parents had other “lofty” dreams for her in medical profession.
"My
parents wanted me to do clinical medicine or nursing," says Ms Aswani,
who went against her parents’ wishes to pursue a degree in broadcast
journalism at the University of Nairobi. Writing, she says, is something
she aspired to do right from an early age.
To hone her skills, she launched a personal blog in 2012, where she wrote a wide array of stories.
"After graduating in 2013, I did my internship after which I was employed," Ms Nabwire says.
She
previously worked at Barclays Bank of Kenya (now Absa), Medlink Medical
Centre, Global Health Concerns, Royal Media Group as well as Nation
Media Group.
However in 2018, when she was out of work,
she joined a writing site which greatly helped her to sharpen her
skills. Through her work on the site, the world took notice of her
writing prowess and she started getting enquiries about her services
from foreign countries such as US and Canada.
“I built a
client base in the USA and Canada on the site through small articles
(one- or two- paged articles) I was writing on different issues that
were happening here (in Kenya) especially business-related," she says.
In Kenya too, she has also built a client base for writing, editing and proofreading.
With her list of clients growing fast, Ms Nabwire converted her blog into a website to attract more clients.
"I had to also change the name of the website to make it more professional," she says.
It
was at this point when she published her book Budding Tree which is on
women infertility. Her writing prowess captured the imagination of many
who wanted her to help them write their their stories as a ghost writer.
"I ended up in ghost writing when people wanted me to write stories as they did not have time to write them," she adds.
Ghost
writing is where someone writes articles, speeches, books, blog posts,
email newsletters and web copy for other people without being credited
for the work.
She says the least amount that she
charges is Sh1,000 per project, after which the figure rises depending
on the amount of work being done.
"Every customer comes
with different requirements and obviously there are some research that
you need to do. This sometimes requires interviews, and that means an
extra cost," she says.
She invested about Sh30,000 when she started the website which included photographs, videos and learning materials.
“Starting
to write in itself was zero bob," she says, noting that all you need is
your pen or laptop, your talent and you are good to go.
She has employed three people on temporary terms in marketing, writing and editing.
"Writing books and magazines I do it by myself unless I am overwhelmed," she adds.
She has an editor for her books.
When she began she had a monthly clientele base of three but now this has grown to 12.
"I
do not take so many books. If you take so many of them at the same time
you will not be able to give them enough attention which can result in
shoddy work," she says.
Her advice to the youth is to think out of the box since there are many opportunities out there to apply their talents.
"Do not wait for employment opportunities as people will take advantage of you," she says.
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