Every Journalist Should Write a Book: Niran Adedokun’s Call to Stop Waiting and Start Writing

Every Journalist Should Write A Book by Niran Adedokun is a reverberating call to journalists to look inward with a sense of urgency, harness the power of their pens and keyboards, and channel years of experience, knowledge and creativity into books that bear their own names.REBECCA EJIFOMA writes

When you open the first few pages of Adedokun’s latest book, a wave of guilt might wash over you with the line, “You have no excuse not to write one,” accompanied by a deep sigh. It’s a jolt of realization; a wake-up call to journalists across print, broadcast, and digital platforms to explore more than the stations and cities they report from, and the stories they hunt and uncover.

Every Journalist Should Write A Book points out some facts. Every day, across nations and continents, journalists immerse themselves in unfolding stories. They attend conferences, endure marathon workshops and long speeches, join forces at advocacy training and campaigns, and ask sharp, thought-provoking questions at press briefings. They hold one-on-one conversations with specialists, thought leaders, and experts from every field imaginable; document historic moments; and bear witness to scenes in war zones and diplomatic chambers as well. From the passage of new policies to the abolition of age-old injustices, journalists are always capturing humanity at its most defining moments.

Again, the daily life of a journalist is driven by deadlines, perpetually researching and reporting, crafting headlines, shaping opinions through editorials, building narratives in features, and expressing valuable insights in columns. While they are always telling the tales of others, they rarely pause to write for themselves, says Adedokun. This is where his book comes to play when he argues that every journalist already possesses the raw material needed to author a book.

Adedokun’s book beckons journalists to transform their rich experiences into a lasting legacy – a book. The author strongly believes that succeeding at authoring their own book is core to a journalist’s identity.

Although his words make book writing easy as a pie, Adedokun acknowledges that writing a book comes with its own hurdles. He prescribed doable solutions to help the potential authors navigate the obstacles ahead. “Read,” he advised, encouraging journalists to read a lot, and write

a lot.

Fittingly, the content of Every Journalist Should Write A Book holds more weight than its 11 digestible chapters and its 115 pages. Its easy-to-read approach will keep you flipping and flapping until you arrive at the back page. His writing style is simple yet conversational and engrossing. The guides are very practical, relatable and comprehensible. The author addresses topics that position the journalist to excel in book publication and bylines, sharing five concise reasons a journalist should author a book, and explains eight reasons they are yet to author.

In his first explanation, Adedokun attempts to ignite the frail flame for authorship. He highlights the works offamous journalists and authors whose legacy have become chants in the local and international history such as Azu Arinze, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Napoleon Hill, Simon Kolawole, Toni Kan, Olukorede Yishua, Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans, Craig Pittman, and Albert Samaha among others.

Clearly, Adedokun’s literary cocktail demonstrates his act of generosity. He found the secret to gaining more recognition, more financial security and more impact across the globe but refused to hoard it like COVID-19 palliatives. He desires a world where his fellow gentlemen of the press will share their luminous lessons, document their brave experiences and tell their timeless tales to transform and inspire even generations unborn.

With those names listed and their global pedigree, Adedokun warned that many graveyards have snatched the inherent knowledge of renowned journalists whose books, if published, would have been of immense benefits to many journalists, established and rookies. He describes failures of journalists to become authors as a true tale of woe, an irony that should not exist. Hence, he provokes the author out of every Nigerian journalist. “Every journalist should invest and stretch themselves beyond the daily grind of news reporting by writing a book and embracing the possibility of turning their lives around in ways they may not immediately imagine,” an excerpt from his book.

While attempting to fire up the journalist to author a book, Adedokun warns about entertaining doubts, encouraging them to forsake fears and all others – procrastinations and self-limiting beliefs that seek to steal their shine. 

In his attempt to divide the process into doable tasks, the author illustrates the various genres of literature and building narratives among others. He also catalogues genres journalists can explore, turning their beats into book ideas. “Your experiences are valid enough to become a book,” he noted.

While the book can inspire any professional to become an author and succeed at it, Adedokun is addressing traditional journalists who have dedicated their lives and invested their time into the profession from every corner of the earth.

As a foremost media leader and graduate of Performing Arts at the University of Ilorin, Adedokun has worn many hats with great admiration. He worked with major newspapers in Nigeria including The News, Punch and THISDAY. He was also the Editor of Waves Press Club and Editor-in-chief of the Theatre Forum before moving on to become a public relations practitioner. Today, he has six published books to his credit, Adedokun continues to make an impact.

With over three decades in journalism and public relations, the author is galvanizing journalists toward the right direction. He compels them to “Now write”. His arousing and reassuring words of confidence such as “Just go one step forward”, “Put a pen to a paper” were an attempt to fire up the interest of journalists into starting and crossing the finish line in authorship.

Indeed, Adedokun’s veritable manual, Every Journalist Should Write A Book has become the voice crying in the wilderness; one that stops journalists in their tracks to pause, process, and pen their own book. According to him, juggling journalism and authorship is thinkable, doable and achievable. “Time waits for no one, and silence, too, tells a story!”

Like the famous quote of the first President of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, “Show the light and the people will find the way,” Adedokun spotlights the essential tools journalists carry within them to achieve great books. These include sharp reading and writing skills, rigorous research abilities, deep expertise in specialised beats, and the power to craft compelling stories.

With his book readily available on several online bookstores both locally and internationally, Adedeokun encourages journalists to seek God in their journey to authorship.