Today
I’d like to welcome author and blogger extraordinaire Myne Whitman. Her educational and entertaining blog has become a money maker. (I made sure to take notes during this interview.)
NP:
Please tell us a little about yourself.
MW: Myne Whitman is a
pseudonym, I was born Nkem Okotcha and that is what has been translated loosely
from my first language, Igbo, to English. I have lived in three countries
Nigeria where I was born as well as the United States where I currently live
with my husband, and Britain where I spent several years in between. These
countries all play a role in who I am today. But the most important aspects of
my background can be found in the thousands of books I’ve read.
NP:
How long have you been writing?
MW: I’ve always loved
reading and writing, exploring one’s thoughts and engaging with others on
their’s as well. I started writing in my early teens. I was struggling with the
transition between primary and secondary school and not being a tomboy or
spending a lot of time outdoors playing anymore. Writing about young girls
having adventures and doing the things I missed doing helped me at this point.
I will however say I really started writing when romance became a big part of
my life in my late teens, I wrote the dreams I had of healthy relationships
between my heroines and the men of their dreams.
NP:
When did you start blogging?
MW: I started blogging
in 2009 after I got married and moved to the States. I had just started writing
again and a writing partner suggested getting feedback from an audience that
would more easily identify with my stories than an American would. I was also
hoping to get the attention of a publisher or movie-maker.
NP:
At what point did you start making money from blogging?
MW: That was in late
2011. I applied to the Blogher Network and was accepted. It has been growing
since then.
NP:
Does blogging sustain you financially or do you have another job?
MW: I don’t have
another job. My husband is our family’s main earner, but what I do earn through
blogging and my books is now enough to do most of what I need to do personally.
NP:
Now tell us your secret, how did you start making money from blogging?
MW: LOL… there is no
secret. It’s all about having the content that people like and promoting your
site. By 2011 when I converted my blog to a business, I had self-published two
of my books, and the online promotion that made them Amazon bestsellers had
also catapulted my blog to winning the Nigerian Blog of the Year in 2010, and
increased the traffic almost 10times. These things are easily verifiable and
advertisers send me emails asking for me to promote their business or products.
NP:
Your titles hook me to your blog posts. How do you come up with such catchy
titles?
MW: Thank you. I guess
it’s the mind of a writer. It also helps to check out what others who’ve been
there before you do, and those you look up to. My best mentors are writers who
are also in the Blogher Network, Linda Ikeji and Bellanaija.
NP:
What’s next on the horizon for you?
MW: My best friend
will say I’m building an online media empire, lol. I just want to keep writing,
growing a community with a thirst for stories with a Nigerian and African bias
whether online or book published and create a platform to promote others. I
hope to grow a viable business with this model.
NP:
Before you go, please give an analogy of what writing is for you.
MW: Writing for me is
that link that binds us together, sharing stories, building communities,
finding identity.
Thank
you so much for being on my blog, Myne. Here is some information about her
romance novel. Check out her blog, you will not be disappointed.
Contact
information:
A Love Rekindled Blurb
When Efe Sagay receives a transfer to the branch
of a prestigious hotel chain in the Nigerian capital, she accepts it, happy to
return home to family after years in the United States. Also, Nigeria is a big
place, right? There should be nothing about her new city, Abuja, to remind her
of the heartbreak of her relationship with ex-fiancé, Kevwe Mukoro.
However, Efe is facing Kevwe across an office
seven months later, swamped by emotions she’d thought were dead. When Kevwe
claims he’s never stopped loving her, and asks why she abandoned him, Efe
stomps off, incensed. It was the other way around!
But they are unable to stay away from each
other, and buried desire flares. Ultimately, passion is no match for the bitter
memories of broken promises. Efe and Kevwe have to resolve the traumatic events
of the past before love can be rekindled.
A Heart to Mend blurb
Gladys moves to live with an estranged aunt in
Lagos and to continue her search for a job. Before long she lands the job of
her dreams with the foremost oil company in the city and makes several new
friends. She also gradually resolves the mystery of why her aunt previously cut
all ties with their family. But the best part about her new life is meeting
Edward Bestman.
Edward is good-looking, super rich but
emotionally scarred. Gladys gets him to see that she loves him and that
together they can surmount all their differences. However, when they return
from a romantic trip abroad, they find that some unnamed people are about to
take over his business empire. Edward's past has come back to haunt both of
them as Gladys is enmeshed in the loss of several million shares of the Bestman
Group.
Who are the people close to Edward who want to
betray him and destroy his happiness with Gladys? Will Edward overcome his fear
of love and commitment and put his trust in Gladys?
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