Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Two years ago, when my colleague, fellow writer, Patricia Phillips, author of recent novel, Last Bride Standing, (and others) came up with the idea of writing an anthology together, I never realized the unlimited po...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press In October of 2000, as I sat on the white sands of Cancun with other fellow literary entrepreneurs, it occurred to me: Things would be different if I hadn't broken the rules. Instead of sitting there, looking out at...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press About six years ago, during a guerilla-marketing effort, I would sell books with a fellow doll maker/artist in what I can only euphemistically describe as street-corner campaigns. On a weekly basis, here in Los Ange...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press As a self-publisher, you become a business person. Your book is your product. Your readers are your customers. When I first made my career change, I didn't think I had any business savvy. After all, I had been in a ...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press In one of his acts, comedian Chris Rock tells a joke where he calls a certain class of men, "Low-expectation-having folks." (Of course, that's not the word he used.) At any rate, he had a valid point about people no...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Last fall, when I stepped onto what I now know is called a "Crop Duster" airplane, in Memphis, Tennessee en route to Houston, Texas for the grand opening of a new Black bookstore, Cush...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press When I first published my first novel, The Ebony Tree, I'll never forget how I found out later that my then, 23 year-old niece ran through the house and screamed with laughter, after she read the book. Now mind you,...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Have you ever read a story, be it a novel or short short, that you loved so much that you have read it over and over? After each new reading, you even noticed something different and took away another message. Do yo...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Recently, I completed a novella called Summer of Salvation, which was part of a larger anthology, All in the Family, spearheaded by prolific romance writer, Janice Sims. This collection will be issued in August 2006...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Growing up in Detroit, Michigan in the 1950's, like many other African Americans of that time period, my family had modest means. (Of course, it was years before I realized this fact.) But anyhow, when I became a yo...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press Through research you can find topics, subjects and 'seeds' for stories. Pick five different topics that interest you, and research them on the Internet, or through your local library. These topics can be virtually a...

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press It is often said that if they had to choose, many novelists would prefer to have the developmental (or content) editing completed on their manuscripts versus the copy editing. Why? Because if the story is good, peop...

How to Translate Past Life Experiences into Business By Dr. Maxine E. Thompson http://www.maxinethompson.com http://www.maxineshow.com As a self-publisher, you become a business person. Your book is your product. Your readers are your customers. W...