From Blog to Book Deal 💻➡️📕
🎙️ New episode: How Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah got "The Sex Lives of African Women" on bookshelves around the world
Hi Bleeders!
This week on The Bleeders podcast, we’re going international with Ghanaian writer
—author of the groundbreaking The Sex Lives of African Women. We dig into how she turned a provocative blog into a sex-positive book published in the UK and the US.Here are some behind-the-scenes gems from Nana’s process of going from blog to book—including a juicy agent story, editing across continents, and craft tips for shaping other people’s true stories with creativity and care.
🚀 Blogging as a launch pad
Before she had a book deal, Nana was already deep in the work. She’d been blogging for years on ‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women,’ sharing intimate, taboo-busting stories. Still, like so many of us, she struggled to take herself seriously as a “real writer.”
“At the time, I'd been blogging for three years about sex and sexualities through my blog ‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women.’ But I think there was a part of me that just thought, okay, that's not proper writing. That's just nothing. That's me, you know, like, vomiting on a virtual page.”
It took encouragement from literary heavyweight Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of We Should All Be Feminists, at her writing workshop in Nigeria to affirm that what she was doing mattered.
This reminded me of something poet Bridgette Bianca said on the show: all writing is valid. Whether it starts on a blog, in a journal, or in your Notes app—you’re building something real. So if you're sitting on a blog or an idea that feels too niche or not serious enough, let this be your sign.
💬 From conversations to craft—writing true stories with creative style
Even though the book is nonfiction, Nana approached the storytelling with intention and artistry:
“It was really, really important to be telling a true story, right?… Everything is true. It's just that I arranged it in an interesting way… I guess I would say I applied creative techniques to how I told the story. But everything was what was told—it was completely nonfiction.”
If you’ve read The Sex Lives of African Women, you know how rich and layered each narrative is. A big part of that came from Nana’s meticulous interview process. She let the stories reveal themselves to her, even after the recording stopped. At first, she transcribed every interview herself. That painstaking process helped her truly hear the story.
“Sometimes in transcribing, I would literally hear something that I couldn't quite hear when we had the conversation. When we had the conversation, it hadn't quite sunk in. So I could go back and have a second conversation. And also transcribing, I would hear what, in the sense, was the most interesting parts of the story. So that was when the crafting of the story would come to me.”
Pro tip: If you’re working on an interview-based project, transcribe your own interviews—not just for accuracy, but to find the emotional heart of each story.
⚡ A lightning-fast book deal
From 2015 to 2020, Nana wrote the book in the margins of her full-time job and various side hustles. But once she landed an agent, things moved fast—faster than most writers dream of:
“Once we actually signed, within three weeks, he had sold the book… Two to three weeks.”
Something her agent told her about her UK publisher, Sharmaine Lovegrove of Dialogue Publishing, made a lasting impression:
“He was like, ‘Sharmaine works really hard for her authors.’ That really stayed in my head, right? And I have found it to be true. Because I have friends who have been published by the Big Five and they make really big advances. But to be honest, their books get published and no one ever hears about it. And I feel like my publishing house has worked really hard to make sure that my books are on bookshelves around the world.”
📚 A tale of two editorial collaborations
Plot twist: there are two different versions of The Sex Lives of African Women! There’s a UK version and a US version—and structurally and editorially, they’re different!
The UK version was published first. Only afterward did her agent sell the US rights, and that sale came with another round of edits.
“I finished the book. It was published in the UK. Then my agent sold it in the U.S. And then I reworked the book for a US audience.”
The US version brings in more of Nana’s own story into the book—including more personal context and vignettes that help deepen the narrative for stateside readers.
“My US editor wanted a bit more of my own story. Wanted to know why I chose to interview the woman—how did it change me, shape me?… She was like, why is this person in this section? Why is that person in that section?”
Two editors. Two versions. One powerful collection of stories built on thoughtful, feminist storytelling and cross-cultural collaboration.
🎧 Listen to the full episode with Nana now.
She shares the whole origin story—how the blog started on a beach holiday, her agent journey, and how she structured this genre-defying collection. It’s a must-hear for anyone dreaming of turning their passion project into a published book.
Happy bleeding!
Courtney
P.S. Now is the perfect time to upgrade to paid because I’m teaching a special workshop—The Personal is Political—for paid subscribers this Saturday, May 17th at 10am PST. We’re going to channel our rage into essay gold!
If you’re already a paid sub, hit reply and I’ll send you the link to sign up for the workshop.
I’m teaching some upcoming workshops you might be interested in:
How to Build a “Platform” for Writers Who Shudder at the Thought
Podcasting for Writers: How to Start, Sustain & Grow Your Podcast
Start a Newsletter to Supercharge Your Platform, Network and Business
So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️
Have YOU ever started a blog or newsletter that grew into a book? Comment below and let me know—I’d love to hear your story.
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