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Troy is always on point on these things. I can't add anything to what he just said because he's right on point. It's not just for books, but in sneakers as well. This weekend I did a Flash Sale on my site for a 100.00 dollar shoe. I was selling it through my site for 49.99. The price on Amazon was 99.99. I ran the sale for a few hours and not a single sale through my site. I've known this for a very long time that people simply feel more comfortable buying through Amazon... UNLESS... You've built a rapport with the buyer and they know how much it benefits you to buy directly from you. That requires some serious brand loyalty and it takes year to build that type of relationship. There are some brands that are so powerful that they can gain sales through their own sites, but those brands are very established and have really, really good spokespeople. It's like on Shark Tank when people stand in front of the Sharks and say they are getting sales through their site; I never believe them. It's a very difficult thing to do. As far as getting your books into schools... as a former school teacher, you better work on your cold calls and e-mails. Teachers only respond to what is directly in front of them. But I know from experience that if I can have an author come to my class, and replace some of my lecture time, that is the best thing in the world so I can grade papers or take a break, lol. With that said, I think the way to go is to conquer your region first. Make a very nice flyer with the cost of a class set of books for a teacher and send a sample with a purchase order. If it's something that interest the teacher they will get a class set and incorporate it into their lesson plans. That's your best bet. Target Title 1 schools as they have miscellaneous funds available every year for just this type of thing. That would be my advice. As far as Google, hey go for it. The more you advertise the more eyes that see your work, but there aren't any guaranteed conversions. You have to try every path. No one thing work for everybody. Like me, I have in my budget this year AALBC and Amazon Ads. I've found that is the best thing that I can do for my book biz and sneaker biz. Other than that, the most important thing I can do is add another writer to CBP and continue to build content and get people to visit the site and hope that I can convert some of those visitors who visit. I'm also focusing on the Youtube channel in hopes that the information will convert a buyer or two. That's my angle this year.

OMG Chris, I hope you don't mind me calling you Chris. The video is fantastic!!! Of course, it is a little late for me as I have researched and discovered all of what you shared the hard the way. But there is so much more that I know I can learn from your experiences. As for Archway Publishing, I have contacted one attorney. He did not get back to me yet, and I haven't had time to stay on it. But you've just hit the nail on the head. I am not going to rest until I expose them in one way or another. My contract ends with them in February. My new Book Consultant is still calling me to try to get me to buy books from them. However, every time I mention lowering the price of the book, all calls suddenly stop. They really think me to be a fool. I know that people are still being victimized and I just want to get to them before they are too deep into Vanity Publishing. From the packages offered, you see that it could have been a lot more expensive. In addition to the package price, they wanted to order to 1,000 books after publication. Had I done that, can you imagine where I would be right now trying to sell my expensive mermaids. Anyway, all is well with me. I have learned an expensive lesson. God has a way of making me an example so that I can help others. Please incorporate this information as you see fit. I am so glad that I have gotten to know you. I think we will have so much to share. Thanks for all that you do to help others.

Damn!!!!!! I didn't want to hit the like button because this was foul. It happens so much that I'm not surprised, but I've never seen it happen at this cost. I wouldn't buy another book from them. I would consider suing them, but the expenses on that could get pretty big. Your only possible recourse is to pitch it to a class action lawyer and find other parties who have been robbed like this. I just did a video on this, but hearing your story I need to go back and clarify and stress the problem with vanity publishing even more. I'm sorry to hear about this and I hope that moving forward we all can help each other to avoid pitfalls. Here is the video, but I definitely didn't go into enough detail here:

I was having trouble posting it for some reason. I am going to try again. I had to go to start my course. I'm back now to fix it Hello Everyone, I tried to post again without success. I don't know what is happening. Well, I will post it here. Troy if you could move it, to where it is supposed to be, that would be great. This is when technology in its finest drives me crazy. Part Three: Diversity is Not Racism—The Difficult Road through Publication for Three Mermaid Sisters “Why didn’t you make the mermaids White?” he said. “You would sell more books if they were white.” These words still echo in my head. Everything had seemingly come together. At the onset of my dream to bring Shimmer, StarFire, and SeaStar to life, my research directed me to Archway Publishing’s Author Solutions, a division of Simon and Schuster. I went online completely ignorant of what it would take to become a published author. I did know, however, that as a first time, no name, writer, I didn’t stand a chance of getting a literary agent to even think about considering my work. Self-Publishing was my only option if ever I wanted my three mermaids to swim into existence. Archway Publishing offered five packages for getting published. I choose the ILLUSTRATOR Package for $3,999.00 that included everything I needed to get started. The packages ranged from $1,599.00 to $8,499.00. In addition to this package that included only eight color illustrations, I added another four illustrations at $399.00 each so that I would have adequate representation of my characters. You see, I truly believe that Black mermaids should be a part of our mighty oceans. I paid the price for their inclusion. At first, everything was going along well. The timeline toward publication was on point. I paid an additional $250.00 to have my narrative edited. While the editing was taking place, the artwork got started. With only a few revisions here and there, Shimmer, StarFire, and SeaStar were born into literary bliss. They were perfectly suited for their ocean environment. I loved them—their voices, actions and attitudes, expressions, and more importantly, their beautiful brown skin. My young mermaids were complete in every way that I could imagine, except one—the price of integration. During production, Archway told me that they would set the price for my book and that I would not have any input in negotiating a change to lower it. I could request to raise it, but I could not go lower. They told me that the price would be based on color and the number of pages. Honestly, I had no idea that this 60 page children’s fantasy would come back with a price tag of $31.99 for the hardcover and $23.99 for the soft cover. After the book’s completion, I was very concerned at first, but my Book Consultant, along with others that I spoke with, convinced me that all the beautiful color and the great narrative would move my book with no problem. I went along with what they said because the eProofs looked great. The colors were vivid and the mermaid sisters were performing just as I had envisioned. On the day that I received my author’s copies, the color, or lack thereof, was the first thing that caught my attention. The wonderfully vivid colors in the eProofs were not there. The teal blues were teal greens. The color in the soft cover version was a bit richer than the color in the hardcover book. To my misfortune this is where all the back and forth heated discussions began. Everyone on my team at Archway seemed to resent my disappointment with the finished product. To them, my complaints were totally unwarranted. To add fuel to the fire, the book’s title was not on the spine. Now I am wondering if the color of my mermaids’ skin had anything to do with the high costs and the diluted color. Needless to say, the only solution was that I pay more money to send my work back to the illustrators. And on top of that, there was no guarantee that they could improve the colors. In fact, there was a risk of distorting the colors to the point of making my dark-skinned mermaids darker--blacker. I was given the option of having another run at printing to see if the printer could at least get the quality to that of the soft cover print. I was also offered thirty additional free copies to see how my reading audience would respond to the look of my book. I hesitantly took Archway up on their compromise and when the thirty books arrived, the colors were a little more representative of what I’d originally specified. I still could not get the title on the spine. Supposedly, I did not have the maximum page count for this feature. All of my sampled audience enjoyed their books and when asked about the color, they all said that they liked it. What they did not like was the price of the book. There was no way that they would pay such a high price for a children’s book. I was devastated. My first book with my beautiful brown-skinned mermaids was priced for abject failure. However, despite many back and forth arguments about the pricing, Archway Publishing insisted that the book was priced according to industry standards and they could not do anything about lowering the price without drastically altering the book at my expense. Eventually, I did go about trying to market my book without any help from Archway Publishing. I even got Barnes and Noble to purchase a few and put them on display in the local store. The books did not move. My husband ended up purchasing the books in an effort to support me. I did sell four books to faithful friends, along with another five to family members. I purchased an additional twenty-five copies at a 20% author’s discount just so that I could have them on hand to sell or give as gifts. My author’s contract with Archway Publishing will be ending in February 2016. I intend to pull The Hunt for the Magic Pearl from them and do a revision so that I can lower the price. It is a great book that encourages young girls in beautiful darker skin tones to be brave, adventurous, smart, and beautiful. The themes speak to family relationships, loss, and determination. And as Kirkus has stated in their review, “…With it glossary and several paged of mermaid-related information, this book is classroom-room ready, as well as a worthy bedtime tale… “They concluded that The Hunt for the Magic Pearl is “A fun, exciting underwater romp.” The purpose for this Three-Part Post is so that I may share with you how difficult it was for me to be writer of diversity and how difficult it was to be a first time independently-published author. The sharks are definitely alive and well. Please don’t get caught up! My book is available to you on my website, www.readtoachieve2.com at less than 50% of the original price. I would love for you to purchase The Hunt for the Magic Pearl as a gift for a middle grade child—especially a young girl who is not sure of who she is. Please share my story with others who might appreciate knowing a little something about Archway Publishing. Support diversity in Children’s Literature. Please visit my website, www.readtoachieve2.com to purchase The Hunt for the Magic Pearl today.

Oh I forgot to say that in order for a teacher to purchase from you you often have to be on the school district's vendor list. Many schools do this independently, but in Memphis I know they are big on driving everything through the vendor's office which is pain. So before you begin to spend any money on fliers, call and see if you have to be a vendor with the school district first. Keep pushing and making it happen. I'm in your corner.

Thanks guys for the excellent info and advice. Troy, I cannot lower the price of the book as it stands--Archway Publishing has complete control over it. I can only lower it on my website. In fact, the soft cover is priced at $10.99 on my site. I have explained this fiasco in Part Three of my story which I will post right after this. I want people to know about Archway Publishing and many others out there who are killing new authors. Also, I see that people are reluctant to purchase directly from unknown sites. I have placed added security in terms of having the lock displayed on the website's URL and also on my check out. I am hoping that this will eventually help. My shipping is based on weight. For the book, the shipping is $4.50. And the delivery is placed at a standard three weeks because I had to order the books from Archway. I did order some books and have a small inventory. However, I will not order a large quantity of books from them because I am being robbed with their meager author's discount. I can definitely change the shipping time with ease. Next month, I will be pulling my book from Archway. This is another issue in and of itself. Troy, I am certainly going to market/advertise on this site. I love aalbc.com. I left a response on your post for more info. As soon as you get back to me, I will place the order for a spot on the author's page. Thanks for that :). When you read Part Three of my post, you will understand what I did with Archway Publishing. I think I must have bumped my head. Now, I have to fix it! "Live and Learn" is the saying. I would much rather learn and live! It's what you don't know that bites hardest!!! CDBurns, thanks for the advice on getting into the classroom. I will try it. I have much to do. Right now, I have enrolled in Gotham Writer's Workshop, It starts today, so I will be a little busy with the courses. But the fliers are an excellent idea. I have this as part of the plan for my marketing strategy starting early spring. All I can say is that I sure wish I had known about aalbc.com earlier. You all have provided me with so much support. I am very grateful.

Happy New Years

The setting of stories like my little vignette are, indeed, examples of the distinctive culture that is unique to America's black diaspora, as opposed to the Afro-centricism that others want us to claim and adopt. These latter day, self-styled Afro centric grios always lecture Blacks about not knowing their true identity. Maybe we don't know our past. But what we do know is what we have become after being transplanted in a country that forced us to adapt to a hostile environment. Our bodies may have been enslaved but our souls transcended this and we evolved into people who learned how to make the best of the worst. And this included finding ways to enjoy ourselves in spite of our travails. A select few black female authors have capitalized on this, their sistagirl books inured in black culture. And, as usual, TV has provided an alternative to such books because black folks would rather watch than read. So the black-flavored art imitating life soap operas and sit-coms and reality shows that appear on BETand OWN enjoy great popularity. But I've noticed what's now trending in the publishing world are the bestsellers and the subsequent movies based on them, books that fall under the futuristic/fantasy genre, and include series like Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Divergence, all featuring strong young female heroines and aimed at the audience of Millennial readers, If some black author could come up with a black version of one of these type of books, this might be the way to go. . .

Continued from Part One In order to give life and purpose to the three faceless mermaids that hang on my wall, I had to first give them names. Shimmer, StarFire, and SeaStar came to life in my literary vision. I could see them at long last and they were beautiful, brown-skinned,orphaned, mermaid sisters. They reached out to me every time I passed their stilled images on the wall. I had to tell their story. The voice that continually awakened me up in the middle of the night, beckoned me to write a book. Always three and four o’clock in the morning, I could be found in my dimly lit bedroom frantically writing. The question that plagued my thoughts was this: What were my mermaids doing out there in the vastness of the mighty ocean? Of course, they were hunting. But, hunting for what? Well, in my mind, since they weren’t supposed to be there in the first place, they were hunting for magic. Why magic? Because, magic had to be found in order to protect them. Protect them from what? They needed protection from predators. What kind of predators? The Great White Sharks, of course. So, where would this magic come from? And why would they need protection? So many questions popped into my mind. I often looked into the vastness of their blank faces for the answers. Now, that I had the beginning of the plot for my fantasy, I still needed to see the three mermaids on the pages of the book that I’d titled The Hunt for the Magic Pearl. With pencils and paint brushes in hand, I set out to give my half human, half fish their faces—beautiful brown faces. However, each time, I contemplated making them African-American, something inside of me cautioned against it. I had to keep telling myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Why shouldn’t they look like me in skin color, hair texture, and body build--strong hips and thighs? Why at my age and cultural experience was I having trouble with my own skin color and reflection? Could I, me, still be subconsciously brainwashed in some way--influenced by a horrible history that should be relived only in my past? I know that I loved me and I also knew that I wouldn't change one single thing about who I am--especially my skin color... My struggle served to let me know what our children are still experiencing in terms of acceptance of their African-American features and identity. This realization also warned me that there is not nearly enough diversity in our children's literature. I was in a battle to resist my warped concept of beauty. Despite my unfounded reluctance, I did it. I drew samples and painted them to have brown skin. But I still did not like these images as much as I liked them with White skin. I forced myself to move ahead with illustrations and had my illustrator to produce exactly what I was visualizing. My three mermaid sisters came to life at long last on the pages of my book. They are beautiful renditions of myself. I am pleasantly pleased that they are very much a part of the audience that I seek to reach and teach. I am still drawing and painting my mermaids--turning them from blank, penciled images on white sheets of paper to strong, dark, powerful princesses that protect the Kingdom of Merland. Please see Part Three for the conclusion of this story. Part Three: Diversity is Not Racism—The Difficult Road through Publication for Three Mermaid Sisters “Why didn’t you make the mermaids White?” he said. “You would sell more books if they were white.” These words still echo in my head. Support diversity in Children’s Literature. Please visit my website, www.readtoachieve2.com to purchase The Hunt for the Magic Pearl today.

Troy, I know that's right. We do need more stories like Cynique's, yours, and mine. However, my recent experience with trying to acquire representation is telling me that the literary powers that be aren't really interested in our stories right now. I have started using more racy language and scenes in some of my writings. It is not so much that I want to--however, I am finding that this is what gets more attention. The more F words, the more eyes are on it. What a pity to have to do this. I just want to write for the purpose of empowering our youths. Unfortunately, all of us couldn't be born with a silver spoon. But you know, I think that's what makes our stories so rich. I, for one, will never sell out. I will publish, promote, and market my own if it comes down to that. I am no longer struggling with my brief stint of identity crisis . By the way, I saw Hateful Eight last night. OMG! While it did disturb me to some degree, I was rather entertained despite the language, racial insults, assaults on the woman, etc. See what I mean. The more trash the merrier the audience. This is our sad world!!!!