Many WRITERS of books, especially those in South Africa, often complain that their books are not being sold in the way they want, so much so that some have given up on this because they see it is not doing anything for them.
However, the increase in the number of books written by writers from this country and from different countries that are chosen by the producers of television shows – to be turned into plays or films – is one of the things that seems to help them the most.
This is proven by the fact that right now, a writer from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe but based in Johannesburg, Sue Nyathi, who wrote a book entitled The Polygamistmany people are raving about its show on Netflix.
In an interview withIt’s the weekend about this, Sue said that getting such an opportunity encourages them as book writers to continue working hard in this work of art, which is often a steep climb to get people to buy it.
“Therefore, this opportunity, which I have also received, has helped me a lot to promote the beauty of my work around the world, which I believe is a very good thing as it will help me to make a profit from my work which has been there for a long time but it was difficult for me to do something visible with it,” said Sue.
Continuing, he said that because of all this he is already motivated to continue his literary work, as he plans to release his sixth book titled Man-Hood: Confessions From The Heart, published by Kwela Books.
One of the writers who have benefited from this, Nozizwe Cynthia Jele, of the book titled Happiness Is A Four-Letter Wordhe said that he thinks that the most helpful thing for them to get these opportunities is that the producers of television shows are looking for interesting stories.
“So if we are writers, we will be diligent to tell such stories and increase the chances that our works of art will get opportunities like this, which is very good if it happens because it gives you the opportunity to grow with knowledge of art and to be able to make a profit that would have taken a very long time to achieve that yourself,” he said.
He said that one of the things he likes about these opportunities is that it makes it easier to market their work, especially because writing a book is not easy and it is expensive to do all this work yourself, it also discourages the lack of reward in the end.
“This should encourage other writers to continue to tell important stories and bother with research to do justice to the stories they tell, which will affect young people because they are many around the world,” advised Nozizwe.
Author Angela Makholwa, who has had two books adapted into television dramas The 30th Candle which became a film withRed Ink which became a series on Showmax, he said that it is very important for him to increase the number of games based on books, especially because it makes the work of producers of television shows much easier.
“I’m saying this because the books we write take away from the page the story we’re going to talk about, which means that when they’re turned into television shows – the work doesn’t increase much for the producers who take on this work,” he said.
Continuing, he said that these opportunities helped him a lot to make a profit from his work and also helped him to learn a lot about how television shows are written and produced, which is the knowledge he is now using to enter this television role.
“I encourage other writers to continue to write stories that will affect people directly, I see that it helps if you tell it in the right way, which is insightful and speaks to people – it can help you get opportunities like this,” said Angela.
Some popular books by local writers that were adapted into television shows areThe Hlomu Series by Dudu Busani-Dube, which was shown as a show on Showmax, the title is The Wife. There are also Deon Meyer’s titles Trackers is-Devil’s Peak, The Shining Girls kaLauren Beukes ne-Love and Murder kaSally Andrew.
Other world-famous books that were adapted into games areGame of Throne of George R.R. Martin, The Witcher ka-Andrzej Sapkowski, House of the Dragon based on his book and George RR Martin Fire & Blood is-The Handmaid’s Tale kaMargaret Atwood.