Tunmise Usikalu
Publishing in a Lockdown

Well, what in heaven's name was I thinking going ahead with launching my first book in the middle of a Global Pandemic and one week into a national Lockdown?! Yet here I was putting up my first post about the book on Instagram on the 1st of April.

I was terrified at the very thought of it. I mean none of this made any sense, not on the face of it anyway. I had a major wobble once the lockdown was announced and I had to have a discussion with my family who were helping with planning the soft online launch. I was so concerned it would seem insensitive to go asking people to buy a book when we were in the middle of a pandemic. However, I was quickly convinced that it was okay to go ahead and launch as planned. I wouldn't ignore the fact that the pandemic was happening. I would acknowledge it but I would also draw attention to the value that the book might bring - it would be a welcome distraction from all the Covid19 news we were all consuming far too much of! It was also a story of triumph in itself as it had been such a long time in the making.

So we went ahead and I am so glad we did. I think the lockdown meant people had slowed down somewhat and were in need of some light, nostalgic reading which they found in Memoirs of a 'Lazy Korfa'. I would never know if the book would have done better or worse if we weren't in a pandemic but that's okay. It has had an amazing run so far with some fantastic reviews too so looks like I needn't have worried about publishing in a pandemic.