Making money through writing after retirement

When Ndereba Muthamia retired from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries seven years ago, he did not have difficulties coping as he knew how best he would spend his time.

Since his retirement, Muthamia has turned writing, a childhood passion, into a means of personal fulfillment and a source of livelihood for himself and his family.

Although he has not made much money through writing so far, he makes enough to meet most of his basic needs. He has written mainly books that target young readers.

“When I retired, I did not have a problem coping. Unlike the experience that most retirees go through, I knew that I would be busy churning out more books for my readers and  keeping myself busy as I earned an extra shilling,” says Muthamia, 63.

He started writing in 1982.

“I sent children’s stories to newspapers and magazines and they would be published. Then I would get paid. It was about Sh90 per story. I wrote out of passion as I was not a journalist,” says Muthamia.

“Although my first book, Could I be the Next Victim? was published shortly before my retirement, most of my other books have been published after I left my job. Since 2007 when I retired, I have written more than five books, including The Heroine (2008), Not All that Glitters is Gold (2009), Neighbour Turns Enemy (2012) and The Day Monkeys Drank Wine and Other Stories (2013).

So far, the biggest achievement Muthamia has registered in writing is when one of his books, The Heroine, got approval from the Ministry of Education through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development early this year as one of the recommended books for schools.

“This was a major boost as it would help in marketing. Morever, it was a pointer that mine was serious work that meets the needs of learners,” says Muthamia.

The book talks about girl child education. The main character, Inaresene, is a bright, promising but underprivileged girl from a pastoral community who is betrothed by her parents immediately she is born.

But as luck would have it, she gets a sponsor who sees her through school, her father’s resistance notwithstanding. The girl is amazed to discover how much power there is in books.

The success that Muthamia enjoys currently did not come easy. Just like the experience many budding writers face, his manuscripts were rejected by local publishers. He then turned to self-publishing, which is not without its challenges.

Money to publish and market the work are some of the challenges he faces as most readers prefer to buy curriculum-based books.

Fictional works can be hard to sell sometimes. “However, two of my works have sold more than 3,000 copies each,” notes Muthamia.

Muthamia says he developed an interest in writing due to the fact that he was an avid reader.

“I used to read widely. I read authors like Ngugi wa Thiong’o, (William) Shakespeare and George Orwell of the Animal Farm fame.

Currently, Muthamia is working on a book that is going to address the plight of the boy child and he hopes to publish more stories for children.

He aspires to eventually have his books translated into local languages.