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I am quite sure that many of us have heard this before. The challenges facing minority authors, black authors in particularly seem overwhelming. Like many black people, I grew up watching many of those early science fiction movies and television programs. The Day The Earth Stood Still, They Came From Outer Space, Lost In Space and my all time favorite…Star Trek (The Original Series) were my favorites. I never bothered with diversity questions until I entered high school during the early 1970s. Like many teens during those integration years, I became deeply affected by the lack of diversity in subsequent science fiction movies and television programs. I loved the original 1977 Star Wars movie. I saw it 22 times over a two-year period. Something grabbed me and has not let go to this day. I believe that I am not alone when I say that Star Wars, despite the bad physics, impacted an entire generation and beyond. Yet, that obvious question came up. Where were the black people in Star Wars? I mean, let's face it, if your entire galaxy is populated, then there has to be more black people than Lando Calrissian. Even when Stargate changed from an African/Egyptian origin to a European/Ancients origin, I could still watch the show. I found out that complaining about the lack of diversity in books, television and movies does little, if any good. So, like many other writers of color, I wrote my own science fiction novel. Researching, writing and publishing a novel, though, is the “easy” part. Getting your novel out to the readership is a whole different ball game. To make a long story short, I am using a variety of methods including Facebook, a personal website, blogs and other resources to get my work out. I knew, from day one, that it was not going to be easy. I, like many authors of color, knew of the serious challenges that we face. I stumbled onto this website a few hours earlier and liked the discussion forum. I feel encouraged as I read the experiences of fellow writers, as well reading the great business tips on self-publishing and selling. Peace. Facebook Page Twitter Page Web Site E-Book Video (4.40 minutes)