Author RSSHow to Use Anthologies to Build Your Reading Audience
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...
Breaking the Rules to Success: A Writer's Journey
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...
In Search of Books about African American Fathers: In Honor of Father's Day
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...
How To Translate Past Life Experience into Business
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 ...
The WAR Cycle for Writers
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...
Crop Dusters and Divine Serendipity
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, CushCity.com, my heart leapfrogged ...
Why Black Literature is Important
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,...
Why Story Editing Improves the Quality of Fiction
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...
The Power of Mother/Daughter Relationships as Depicted in African American Lit
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...
The Importance of a Mentor
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...
Using Research to find Writing Topics
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...
The Difference Between a Copy Editor and a Story Editor
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...