When did you first start writing, and when did you finish your first book?
I've always dreamt of writing and publishing books. From comics I created as a child to my first fiction novel manuscripts I created at around 9-11 years of age with my sister's typewriter (I regret not keeping them over the years), making impact on people's lives through writing has driven me continuously. My parents surrounded me with books and I can still sense the excitement I felt as I walked through library sections with the Hardy Boys and other adventures. Since then I did a lot of creative writing, took part in many essay competitions and have written a good deal of posts and articles over time. The desire to actually write my own book was a repeating thought that intensified through 2012 and in September 2012, I began helping a friend get his book ready when in October, my wife asked me point-blank:"Why don't you start writing books?" Yeah I said, I should and I will. A few weeks later as I commuted to work, the idea for "The A.R.T of Motivation" exploded in my mind like someone just dropped it there. It all made perfect sense to me as I had been actively engaged in Consulting, Corporate training and organizational development. The theme was one that was burning within me and I had gone on a 3-year crusade to help young people starting their careers make good choices and begin to follow their core design. That day the idea came, on getting to the office I began writing like crazy, getting it finished in less than 2 months and ready for Kindle by the Christmas holidays of 2012.
How did you choose the genre you write in?
I can generally flow in both fiction and non-fiction genres thanks to special graces I have received. This helped me write the book in engaging fashion while presenting such an important theme as discovering your core design and motivations. My choice of genre came with the title of the book and its theme which had prior to that point been building for the past 3-5 years. I believe my future books which I am working on will come the same way.
Where do you get your ideas?
I am generally fascinated about a lot of things in life from Art to Business and Technology as I have been on the cutting-edge of IT for over 7 years. So my platform for ideas is quite broad. However, I have a tool for recording ideas that constantly come to me for books and I carry this around with me. Once I sense the energy and release point for a particular work, the ideas start flowing to finish the work. Even though it may seem there was a sudden flash of inspiration to complete writing, I see that there has always been a building like a wave over time within me of a theme.
Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you overcome it?
Yes I have experienced writer’s block but I have gotten to a point where I easily overcome that by doing the following: First of all, I don’t put myself under pressure to deliver and rest in the assurance that ideas are coming and they do come in my daily life and activities. Next, I learned to focus a lot more and become strategic at living by spending most of my time doing what I love most and less of my time on what I am not really good at. This is also discussed in the book and is a major make or break point for everyone in all fields and professions. I learned to be swayed more by what I am really good at and where I feel the most energy flowing at a period in time. Energy is always a Divine signal that it’s time to reach for a goal. If you can make a list of the top 5 books, works or goals you plan to achieve in the next year and circle the top 2-3 of that list that generates the most energy in you right now, you have a clear answer as to what to focus on this year. You see, energy creates creativity and creativity makes you see what others cannot and naturally drives you to completion of any goal. So follow your energy levels. This is the fuel that will drive you to be creative and finish what you begin.
Another powerful way I use to avoid writer’s block is to discuss your chosen theme with anyone, doesn’t matter who. From the car-wash guy to businessmen you know. You will be amazed at the new paradigms that open up to your thinking about a subject.
Finally, make a decision everyday to look at, do or visit 3 things that inspire you or excite you the most. This will keep your fire lit and your creative juices flowing.
Is there a particular author that influenced you while growing up or as an adult?
Oh yes indeed. Arthur Conan Doyle’s: Sherlock Holmes, Nigeria’s great Chinua Achebe, Willard Prices’ South Sea Adventure series and of recent years Mike Murdock on Wisdom and Success in Life, David Oyedepo on Faith and insight, John Maxwell on leadership, Jack Canfield on Success, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich classic and Peter Drucker’s thoughts on Management. In general, a lot of autobiographies and biographies are such a well of inspiration to me.
Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
The first challenge was finding the fastest and most cost-efficient way to get the book published. Being a writer based in Bulgaria and targeting the US, Canadian and UK markets becomes a bit of a challenge. I was graced to discover the Amazon platform years before and the thought of Amazon just never left me. I was opportune to come across video and print material from Ryan Deiss and other people who had mastered the platform. Also bought books and read a tonne of blogs from proven authors on how to handle each stage of publishing and marketing a Kindle book. This helped me overcome that challenge and know what to expect with Free Kindle days, the build-up, the aftermath, what to focus on etc.
Another challenge was making sure the book catered to a wide audience as it is indeed written to an audience ranging from 9 year olds to Generation Xers. I overcame this challenge by comparing my thoughts and writing with other thoughts on the subject through personal interviews and communication with people across the Globe via Skype and Facebook, forums and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I did have a world view on the subject and the feedback I got enriched and completed the book even more.
My richest source of feedback was of course my family and people I coach and train who were excited to hear about and help with the book.
If you had to do it again, is there anything you would change?
I would not just double-plan a book release and post-release campaign but triple plan it and then check it again to ensure reaching a maximum audience I did a lot of research and mind-mapped my plans etc but could still do better. My first promos saw 1000+ downloads which was great for a first 5 days and I can multiply that number 50-fold by even better planning and research. This would equate to optimizing time and tools for maximum impact in shorter time.
How do you market your work?
Have you found some avenues to be more successful than others? I marketed my work first of all by word of mouth through friends on social networks, then through my facebook community page which created a great deal of buzz for me with posts surrounding my book theme prior to release. I also dug up a great deal of facebook pages which I could use to advertise my work and these brought in the greatest traffic.
Is your book based on real life experiences or all pure imagination?
I stood before a Customer Service New Hire Trainee group a few years ago and posed the question where they saw themselves a year from that time. The blank stares caused a passion to rise within me to help others the world over have real direction. The A.R.T of Motivation is based on real-life experiences and is the result of years of Consulting, Coaching and Corporate training. Personal and organizational development has been a passion of mine for so many years. One of my main life goals is to help others discover their own Life goals and live fulfilled while living them.
What was your favorite chapter to write and why?
The book is divided into 3 sections for each letter of The “A.R.T” of Motivation. My favorite chapter was Section Two’s Third Chapter: Energy- A Divine Signal I believe your energy is more important than your time and your money. Many people spend time and even entire lives pursuing goals or staying at something that does not inspire them and remain mediocre at. The key to fulfillment is to discover what you are really passionate about and drives you. What is it that you feel like you’re plugged into 50,000 volts of energy when you do it or experience it? This is who you are and you need to focus on. Like I said earlier, energy causes creativity and we begin to see the impossible and bring forth revolutionary and innovative results. Follow your energy from your list of goals and plan your daily schedule around what inspires you most.
How did you come up with the title?
The title flashed through my mind while commuting to work on a very gloomy day. My car had just broken the back-axle and a promotion I had waited for to show up for years was delayed yet again. This was not your most inspirational setting. I however decided after saying goodbye to my wife to focus on my goals and dreams. During that period, my wife had asked me why I did not begin writing. Following her advice and my energy, I suddenly began to come across videos, posts and books with stories of how other great writers were able to come out with their books. I found myself looking at books in my library and saying: “hey that’s me, I can write something as good as this”. Then I began to wonder what theme or topic to write about without even recognizing the very theme that had been engaging my thoughts for years on end. When the idea came to my mind, it was so natural.
What project are you working on now?
I am working on several books at the moment. Some main ideas are already written down but again, I am following my energy and the two closest to my heart are related to the “The A.R.T of Motivation” – A Parent’s Guide on how to help raise children to follow their heart passions. A lot of people were never really trained how to do this from childhood and have experienced a lot of setbacks and disillusionment on the path to success. The other one is about fixing talent development issues. There is a whirlwind of 100m.p.h problems that businesses and organizations go through with talent management. From hiring to promotion or exit. It discusses how to weather the never-ending storms, even if there are no proper HR processes or insight to do so while making sure people are hired and positioned in areas they can excel.
Are there certain characters you like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
Yes, I think I’d like to write a best-seller book on “the billion-dollar people-factory blue-print”. A blue-print of how to merge people development with tools and processes to create success. I’d also love to branch out into the movie industry to some extent. I have played a plethora of roles in drama, sketches and plays and keep seeing myself actively involved in this. Actually have a friend in the movie business that has organized things for many million dollar movies and am taking him up on an invitation for a tour.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Follow your Energy and Inspiration and don't get too side-tracked by what seems to sell only. You will only be a ten when you are who and what you are and remember you are not assigned to everyone in life. There are always millions waiting for you to show up because you have the solution to what they need. You then need to simply find them and write to them. My other piece of advice is to never give up because you cannot see how things will play out. Focus on the what and the how will show up. Start writing the first few lines and create a system/process to process and regularly review your book ideas. Finally, drop your pail into the well of other people through social platforms and get opinions as well as interview people or ask provoking questions on your subject of writing to see that you have a wide specter of views and can appeal to a greater audience. Then find opinions of leaders of thought on the subject to understand where you stand and how your ideas stack up against the best.
Have you ever gone out in public with your shirt on backwards, or your slippers on, and when realizing it, just said screw it?
I have had a few minor gaffs similar to this in public as my mind analyzed a gazillion things or ideas but more often not. My convictions are to dress the way I want to feel so I do take extra care in that area.
How does your writing process look?
(Consistent with regular amounts of word counts daily/weekly, or more sporadic with a gush of words all at once and then you abandon it for a while?) I always have my iPhone handy and filed information on ideas for new books, new thoughts on current books, articles, corporate trainings or my blog. I read autobiographies/biographies a lot and this keeps my creative writing juices flowing all the time. This is one of my main energizers to the whole process. The work of mentors like John Maxwell, Jack Canfield, Peter Daniels and other successful people constantly spurs me on. As with The A.R.T of Motivation, the title flashed across my mind and I've noticed that is how my process kicks in so to say. I follow up on the phrases or concepts that come to my mind and it all begins to build like a wave for days and weeks as I focus deeper into the theme at hand. I am currently working on two other books and I see this as a process that I follow, with the book generating the greatest passion coming up out of me really fast while the others come in consistent but less frequent inspirational moments in portions. I generally follow my strongest passion and energy flow in the writing process and The A.R.T of Motivation took me about a month and a half to complete although the theme of seasonal motivation versus core design has been at work in me for years.
What would you like your readers to know about this book or you in general?
One of my main life goals is to help others discover and live their life goals. I want people to read my writings or meet me and from that point experience a surge in their excitement to life and fulfillment. The A.R.T of Motivation is the result of years of work with people across the US, Middle-East and Europe, many hundreds of whom have been able to successfully position themselves in life working with tools I have learned and given them. Questions are the most powerful part of any conversation. This book is not just a good book with ideas but with powerful questions used as tools that intertwine with experiences and an engaging literary style. I was so excited writing this book and still read it and fell good about it. The book will help anyone from the high-school student to the CEO of a large business. It touches on issues that we all deal with throughout life. Are we living strategically, with passion doing what we love or are we mere opportunists, living on seasonal motivations alone?
Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
Following years of training people and positioning them in various professions, I saw a lot of young people do not like what they do, do not like their lives and have lost hope or buried their true core design. I felt a release and that I was finally doing something that can really help world be a better place by having young people get a head start on life and career people who had lost the drive or motivation make a major comeback to living fulfilled. Nights through the work, I could hardly sleep as ideas raced through my mind and could hardly wait to get up to continue writing. The passion can be felt throughout the book as one who has actually gone through the struggles and possesses a wealth of experience and bandwidth on the subject. I’m excited recommending the book to anyone. I was at a youth group in another city where I was invited for an interview about the book and it was so fulfilling taking questions form young people starting their careers and seeing them get answers that would help them skip years of struggling.
How does your family and friends feel about the book?
My family is excited about the book and they are all scattered across different continents. My wife and daughter remain as always, a major source of inspiration to me. I received a good deal of encouragement and help getting the word out on the book. Still have people liking my community facebook page that they recommended and another friend from years before in Nigeria, currently residing in the UK said this was the first book in a long time she felt inspired to actually read.
What types books did you read as a child?
Both my parents wrote lots of speeches which we used to listen to at home in the evenings after dinner as they frequented all kinds of ceremonies and occasions. My earliest memories in Nigeria were of the Colonial capital where my mother served as a curator and specifically exciting was the Old Residency museum situated on a picturesque hill overlooking the Cross-River and Atlantic Ocean. That atmosphere inspired thoughts of travel to foreign lands and meeting other cultures and drove the hunger to read extensively and gain a world view. They encouraged us to do a lot of reading and surrounded us with books. We visited libraries and book bazaars regularly.
Books that excited me as a child were my children’s story bible, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, The Hardy Boys Adventures, South Sea Adventures and history books which my mother had a treasured collection of in our home library.
If your book was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each part?
I’d play myself with relish as I have a great deal of artistic ability, featuring in TV and drama productions from childhood up to a few years ago before small to large audiences. The other characters would be interesting to choose as a cast as I have Africans, Americans, Israelis, Greek, Dutch and Bulgarian roles to feature. Will take me a little while to come up with the star cast. I do think Omar Sharif would do a good job with Markos Spanoudakis Greek role though.
Do you prefer to write in a quiet room, or do you need noise to keep your creative juices flowing?
Definitely in a quiet room to hear my thought flow.
How did you feel when you realized that being an author was no longer a dream, but a reality?
I felt a great sense of fulfillment as I had always dreamt of this as a child. The added fact that the theme of the book was something that can actually help people all over the world added a totally new level of satisfaction and I sense a flood of other books breaking forth from my being in future.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I like to plan and spend more time with my family who next to God, are my greatest priority. I read a good deal but really like to coach and motivate others. I do a good deal of public speaking and even began a webinar recently teaching young people how to apply the principles I’ve learned and they have been so fired up each session. I post details of upcoming webinars on my community page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yubis-The-ART-of-Motivation-Book-and-Training/526930244003666
Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?
Yes. The message is we have one shot at life and we must live it strategically being who we are and enjoying it to the fullest.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I would say the Number One book of all time that has influenced me is the Bible. Next to that I would say Kenneth E. Hagin’s book on Plans, Purposes and pursuits in life, Mike Murdock’s book on “Secrets of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived”, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and John Maxwell’s writings.
If you had to choose, who would be your author mentor?
Definitely John Maxwell or Jack Canfield. They have been among my top mentors for a while.
Do you see writing as a career?
Oh, beyond that. I see it as a part of my life and future. I have a goal to write over hundreds of books in different genres in coming days, months and years. I see that when you discover who you are, it is never just a temporary hit that fades over time but should result in repeated successes.
How did you become interested in writing?
I have always had it in me as a child. The more books I read over the years, the greater the desire grew until autumn last year when there was a breaking forth through the idea for The A.R.T of Motivation.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Avoiding distractions of smaller dreams and meticulous planning of time as at the time of writing I had a couple of other projects but had to follow my energy and plan so as to finish the book while the inspiration as flowing.
What was the hardest part about writing your book?
The hardest part of writing the book was choosing not to keep editing the work as ideas kept progressively flowing and actually finish it while staying focused on a central theme. I believe this is because a lot of themes are currently at work within me that are intertwined but focus is of the utmost importance and I succeeded and learned more of how to do this when writing.
What advice would you give writers on the publishing process?
My advice is to go for the Amazon Kindle Platform so that you can focus a lot more on what you do best –writing and get as most exposure as you can. I then advise that you consult and do research on how to then expand into other platforms and reach other readers. You need a plan, mind-map or diagram of how it will all be done and then go through it step-by-step. My other piece of advice is to get some good editors from authormarketingclub or goodreads etc who are writers to critique your work before it is published. Whether or not you totally follow their advice, it will provide a safe launching point.
What was the hardest thing to cut from your manuscript? I wanted to add more stories from interviews I did with successful people but decided to add them in the audio version of the book so watch out!!!
What time of day do you write?
I began to write in the afternoon around 20 pm on getting to the office before beginning work for the day.
When you rip out a page from a spiral notebook, do you leave the tabby pieces or do you pull them out?
Uugh! I have to pull them out otherwise I have an unpleasant feeling inside.
If you were a superhero or villain, what would your power be?
Hmmmmmmmm. I think I would be the one who can read people’s minds, actions, motives and future, appearing before people in natural settings and using that information to tell people out of the blue how they could move forward in life or stop them from making dangerous life decisions.
About the Author
Ubong Ekpo has helped hundreds of people the world over through Consulting, public speaking and corporate training to position themselves in chosen careers and inspired them to higher achievements. Following years of a seasoned career in training and talent development, he has helped build and launch teams, projects and improve performance globally through Corporate Learning endeavours; talent development consultations with business leaders in various organizations and leading Sales/ Marketing projects that have boosted conversions. He is currently a contributing author on the Project Management Institute (P.M.I) Website Career Section and his top passion has always been studying and optimizing systems around people development and team achievement.
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