We are now in the month of June. JUNE!!! The year is already half over!! Where has the time gone? Weren't we JUST celebrating the coming of the new year...? :-O
A bit of house keeping, first. As always, I need to start by celebrating my latest publishing anniversary. For the month of June, I will be celebrating the seven-year publishing anniversary of my Erotica novel "Demure Nights" (CreateSpace, 2015). This was my fifth book, and second novel that I released. It's a little gem of mine, and a bit of a passion project. It was a test to see if I could write something different, something that I wasn't really known for. It was the first book that I'd written that wasn't political in nature, whether fiction or nonfiction. You would think that, because of the subject matter, my sales for it would be much different; much higher that they would be. Even when I write books that would be considered garbage, I still can't seem to gain any support for my works, smdh...
My latest fair "Second Chance Points" (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2022) has been out for close to a month, now. Sales for it so far are slooooooow. I had four initial purchases for it (2 downloads, two physical copies), and then...that's it. People know how to press the 'like' button on social media, but don't seem to know how to follow that up with a purchase. Maybe if I was being backed some corporate literary nonprofit, or highlighted by some celebrity, I might have better sales. Now that gathering restrictions have been eased somewhat, maybe doing face-to-face events will boost my sales. This cyber bullshit just ain't cutting it.
Speaking of doing some face-to-face events...I've been giving some strong thoughts on doing my whole Black/Brown Bookstore Book Tour idea. I've been doing a bit of research, and I know of at least three here in the state of North Carolina. One is a Black-owned children's bookstore here in Raleigh, there's a Black-owned bookstore in Durham & Charlotte, and one Latino-owned bookstore in Chapel Hill. That would at least cover the state. All I would have to do is reach out to them for their available dates, and see if I want to spread them out over a one month period, or knock out two of them in 2 months. That's a bit of traveling, not to mention, money outta my pocket for ordering books & booking travel. BUT...you gotta spend money to make money, right? If I spread them out over a 4 month period, that should ease the financial burden. At the same time, if I do two appearances in one month, that will build momentum for my book(s). Plus, I wanna eventually spread out to the other surrounding states to develop more of a fan base out here. I would definitely love to head out back to my old stomping ground of (central) Virginia, and eventually hit up Tennessee. I know of some indie Black-owned bookstores in Nashville, and one in Memphis that I definitely wanna hit up. At least I'm now living in a state where people actually read...not like in fuck ass Delaware..
But, I digress...
I was able to do a radio/podcast interview covering my writing career overall, as well as the release of Second Chance Points, on a local radio station out here in NC based in Carrboro. I was interviewed on May 13th on WCOM-FM, appearing (via call-in) on "The Chris or Jenny Show". I had an absolute BLAST doing the interview, and hope to be back on there, again. You can check out the podcast on YouTube via the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuULm4I3a94&t=172s
Hope that you guys enjoy the show!!! :-)
Well...that's all on my end, folks. Hope to keep you guys informed on my future plans. I will definitely let you guys know how my plans for the book tour turn out. Hope that you guys will actually come out to the tour locations, and support me.
Keep the fist raised.
#AlwaysOnMyliteraryGrind
