Case study: Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire – Pillars of Statecraft

Case study: Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire – Pillars of Statecraft

Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire is a woman of many talents. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, but residing in the UK, she obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from King’s College London and more recently a graduate diploma in International Relations from London School of Economics and Political Science. She is also a keen marathon runner, having completed a whopping 13 in total. Now, she can also add ‘author’ to her list of titles, having published her first book, Pillars of Statecraft, in 2022.

Kofo got in touch with us when she ran into trouble during the last stages of the publishing process. Her book had been edited by another company, but Kofo was aware that typos and other issues were still present in the PDF version that had been returned to her. Most notably, the references had multiple style inconsistencies, and it was crucial to Kofo that her debut book was watertight in all aspects of its presentation. The daughter of the renowned former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, she sets herself the highest of standards, and we were only too happy to help Kofo complete this project that she had poured years of her life into.

One of our longest-standing freelance proofreaders, Marion Adams, was tasked with proofreading the book, with a special focus on the footnotes. Marion did a wonderful job, highlighting numerous errors that had gone undetected by the previous company, and Kofo was reassured to see that such a thorough job had been done this time around.

However, the project didn’t stop there for Full Proof. As the book was provided to us in PDF format, not in Word, Marion was unable to make direct changes to the document. Instead, she highlighted the text and added sticky notes. The problem with this approach is that someone has to then action those changes in the original file, which can lead to introduced errors – the last thing an author or publisher wants!

Fortunately, Full Proof MD Nick Jones was able to offer help in this department. ‘I am able to edit books in InDesign if the customer requires it, so on this occasion I asked Kofo for the original inDesign files and I then used two monitors – one displaying the PDF proof with Marion’s comments, and one with the original InDesign file of the book – and I applied Marion’s recommendations myself.’

As a result, the project took longer than originally planned, but the advantage of this approach was that Full Proof were able to take ownership of the situation and provide a one-stop solution for Kofo, not just editing and proofreading her book but making the changes to the file directly. Kofo was thrilled with the result, and seeing the end product was probably akin to reaching the finishing line of one her many marathon runs!

Kofo said: ‘Nick and Marion at Full Media Ltd were a breath of fresh air and epitomised professionalism. They provided unrivalled attention to detail and unparalleled responsiveness. Nick also helped create an author website and hand-held me through changes, edits, updates etc. The end result is a sleek, professional website that I’m very proud of. Nick has remained in my corner, guiding me through further updates, amendments etc. Competitively priced, decent human beings and a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend their service.’

It was a great pleasure to work with Kofo on her brilliant book, Pillars of Statecraft, and we wish her every success with it. You can buy the book here.