The gamble that propelled young author to success despite many odds

For motivational speaker and self-published author Kennedy Wangari, 21, growing up through hardship shaped his character quite early. Bathing with soap was a luxury  in his childhood, but he drew invaluable life lessons from such experiences. So far, he has given motivational talks in over 190 learning institutions across the country and uses the venues to sell his books to students and teachers.

The writing bug hit him while he was still a high school student, and he chose to focus on writing motivational books.

“I deliberately chose this genre since there are many authors who are doing literature works like fiction. While they (fiction writers) contribute to a rich literary heritage, less focus is given to motivational writing in Kenya where the most popular motivational writers are foreigners,” he says.

He adds that there are few influential motivational speakers in the country who inspire and give hope to Kenyans. “I combine motivational writing and public speaking for different audiences.”

What inspired Kennedy to start writing are the lessons he learnt while growing up. “I am the firstborn in a family of three. I was raised by a single mother and we faced numerous challenges in my childhood. At one point my mother was advised to throw me in the forest while I was still young but she went against the counsel of her friends and brought us up single handedly,” he recalls.

He was at home more than in school owing to lack of school fees, but managed to finish high school. He wrote his first book when he was eighteen years old, and has so far authored two titles namely Ignite Your Determination and Grade Changer: From D to A Student.

“When you look at the lives of young people, you will realise that most of them lack a guide and that’s what my books aim to do,” he says.

For a first-time author, getting published by established publishing houses can be hard. After struggling with this for a while, he chose to go the self-publishing route.

“The first step before publishing is to research on the topic and writing the first draft. Then comes the editing stage where I give the manuscript to someone to go through it and correct any grammatical mistakes. My editor then proofreads it with the help of my mentor, then the copyright process follows before the work can be approved. After that, I can start printing the books,” he says.

Being his own publisher means he is also the sole marketer of his books. He offers speaking engagements to different institutions like churches, schools and in the corporate world and afterwards, he sells his books in the venues.

“I have so far sold more than 1,700 copies this way and through other ways such as social media marketing. I can say the self-publishing gamble has really paid off,” he notes.

When he began as a motivational speaker, things were tough on him as he had not fully understood the industry. Convincing school heads to buy his books and give him a platform to market himself was also a tall order, but it worked. He began leaving them with a copy of his first authored book for their appraisal and if they were satisfied, they would call him for a speaking engagement with students.

“Some would go ahead and refer me to other schools and that’s how the journey to motivational speaking began. So far, I have done speaking engagements in over 190 different learning institution, and I have taken the marketing a notch higher by posting videos of past speaking sessions on social media. I also receive bookings from this.”

Like any job, writing has its challenges. It is not a fixed business but a moving one. So, on busy days, Kennedy can travel hundreds of kilometres, which can be tiresome and costly. 

On several occasions he has arrived late to a function due to bad traffic jam or his vehicle broke down, but the event organisers would say he has not delivered to their satisfaction. In cases like these, he often has to forfeit his pay.

“During the pandemic, because of the lockdown, scheduled speaking engagements were cancelled at the last minute so the reprints of the books I intended to sell became dead stock at a time I was struggling to make ends meet.”

The amounts Kennedy charges vary depending on the session and the institutions in question, but it usually boils down to how well he can negotiate. An hourly session can cost between Sh5, 000 and Sh10, 000.

He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in counselling psychology and he uses part of the profits he makes from selling books to pay his tuition fees.

[email protected]