I just added the photo to the newsletter, which I will email this afternoon. @Shirley Gale, there is one thing I did notice, that is worth mentioning not just for your consideration but for any other authors who read this conversation.
When deciding which photo to use, I noticed you included the text "Available at Amazon.com." There was a time when that would be considered sponsorship and a company would have to pay for that kind of exposure--and that time was not very long ago.
One of the things I observed in recent years as that everyone gives the largest corporations free promotion. I know part of the reason social media is so very popular is that we all aggressively promote those platforms. We plaster their logos on all of our promotional material and refer readers to these platforms often before our own websites.
It is not just Black authors who do this it is most business, from individual enterprises to large corporations, (though I have to believe the larger corporation plugging social media are not doing it for free).
A buddy of mine recently designed a graphic to promote our Annual Black Pack Party. He put the logos of three popular social media platforms on our flyer. I did not ask him to do that, he did it on his own; collectively we have been trained.
Don't get me wrong people should use Amazon, and social media, but lets not let they them get more out of us than we get out of them. As Black folks I think the issue is even more important because this free promotion, based upon my observations, has come at the expressive of our businesses.
I have always suggested that Black authors, if they are going to plug a bookseller for free, plug a Black-owned store too. In 2016, one can pretty much take it for granted a book will be available via Amazon, explicity saying it only reinforces Amazon.com brand--again at our expense.
I also know authors feel there is still some level of credibility that goes along with saying that their book is available at Amazon, But today anyone can make their book available via Amazon, there is no longer any cache in saying this, at least not in the way there might be to saying your book is available in a Barnes & Noble brick and mortar bookstore, which despite their size carries relatively few books written by Black authors--especially independently published ones.
I hope for a day when Black-owned businesses can benefit from free promotion too.