Special Express Writing and Publishing skills powered by Succestact recently organized a webinar on “Perspectives on Independent Writing Prospects’’
The webinar held on Tuesday, 8th June 2021 had Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, Executive Director Media Career Development as the lead speaker with Mr Sanmi Falobi moderating.
Otufodunrin shared his experience as a writer, prospects for writers and how non-writers can use writing skill to promote whatever they’re doing.
Excerpts of the questions and answers session follow:
What is your experience as a writer?
Otufodunrin: ‘’This is what I’ve been doing for over 35years but now I’ve retired from a regular journalism job but still writing.
‘’Most of the people who claimed to be a writer don’t write consistently and what I have been doing some months ago to keep my writing skill intact is that I’ve been writing about a piece titled ’work affirmation for Journalists’ which I used to share daily to all my social handles. On Saturday I do what I called outreach writing and on Friday, I do Career chat on Twitter.
‘’The point is all these things have sustained me and made me get more recognition. Many media organizations are inviting me because they see what I am doing. For instance, the cable foundation invited me for a Journalist talk for one hour and I went home with funds. For me writing has opened me to many opportunities. If you’re a writer, have an area of specialization and build it up and learn how to generate your own content.’’
How do you determine the audience that you should write for?’
Otufodunrin: ‘’I’ve said it before, you must know about a particular thing or issue then you decide what to write. For instance, I’m writing about my media career, I know when I’m trying to address students or experienced Journalists and also when I’m trying to address a leveller. For example, in my media career, I decided to write about what had happened to me when I was an editor in the newsroom. I wrote most of my experiences and published them.
‘’Recently, I wrote about how I tell my children that I never got promoted after working for so many years. It was a conversation I had with an editor who got frustrated and I wrote about it so many people read it. Another point is, we need to know the audience we are writing to so that we’ll not write above them or below them.
Some people are saying social media is a waste of time, they prefer writing books. What can you say about it?
Otufodunrin: ‘’It depends on what one is using social media for. For example, my activity on social media is just to promote my writing career, unlike some people who are using it without having a resourceful thing to gain from it.
‘’I got many opportunities for being active on Twitter. The work affirmation for Journalists has reached many audiences through Twitter. So, using social media isn’t a waste of time if one is using it to promote his works as a writer.’’
Which social media do use to reach out to your audience?’
Otufodunrin: ‘’I have a Facebook account of 5,000 maximum members and also have a group for media career development but it hasn’t been active. But luckily for me, I have a verified Twitter account and I used to share my works there before Lai Muhammed banned it. Whenever I write, I used to tag people mentioned in the content.
How can you advise others who are not writers that want to write and use social media?
Otufodunrin: ‘’Social media is a tool that can be used by everyone. For instance, if you’re an entrepreneur, you can use social media to promote your business. It would really make more customers buy the goods. Like whatever you do, either you’re a doctor, Accountant, Lawyer: you can be using social media to reach out more audience, make a short video and write about what you’re doing and get it published on social.’’
