In our Poetry Business Network community, we are challenging ourselves to create and post a writing prompt to engage our audience. Yesterday’s challenge was an MLK writing prompt, but I missed it so I am posting it today!
Writing Prompt / Challenge
Photo by Aukid phumsirichat
Yesterday, people worldwide paid homage to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the only non-president whose birthday is a national holiday.
Today, write your own “I Have a Dream” speech as a poem!
If you were to leave something behind for the next generation to learn from and to be inspired by, what would you say? What is the most important thing the world needs right now in 2024 America?
It doesn’t have to be a speech about race. It can be anything you think is important for this generation.
What words would you want immortalized as part of your legacy?
You may share a snippet in the comments, on your own blog, or scribble it in your own personal journal.
If you post it to Instagram, tag me so I’ll know!
I am going to do the challenge as well. I hope you’ll join me!
In 2020, I thought TikTok was an app for children doing dances to go viral. That is until I went mini-viral myself.
Only I wasn’t dancing, singing, or participating in trends.
I was talking about books, poetry, and Black history.
The impact of people tuning in for these topics in a world where people read comments and captions on social media more than they read full-length books is not lost on me and quite humbling.
I posted a video at the end of 2023 showing the books I read that year, and it currently has over 9K views, over 800 likes, and 453 saves…
…and I’m only showing books!
No words. No explanations. Just a showcase of about six books I enjoyed this year and a dope song to go with it.
Photo by Kishan Rahul Jose
If you are a creative in any field and want to advance this year in a certain area, I hope this inspires you to tap into the power of your authentic self.
You don’t have to be on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube if you do not feel drawn to those platforms. The one calling out to you won’t feel forced, and you will never have to act out of character to succeed.
You can discern this is not just about TikTok and social media platforms.
When we open ourselves up to being the most authentic versions of ourselves, no matter where we are, doors open that we don’t even have to knock on. We won’t have to chase opportunities; they come to us.
Here I am, getting viral-like numbers for discussing topics the average young person would typically find boring in a traditional classroom.
And I’m not even posting every day.
It’s spiritual, how things align when we show up as who we are.
2020 was very challenging for me for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. As I reflect, it was difficult not only because of the tragedies themselves but also because of their proximity to one another.
I remember when I got jumped on as a teen by a group of girls in Chicago. Another quickly followed each blow until I could do nothing but allow myself to fall to the slippery floor of Nicky’s Restaurant and cover my head. They were too fast. The least I could do if I didn’t have the time to throw a punch was protect my face.
I walked away from that fight, blood trickling from my scalp. When I arrived at the hospital, it was so crowded that the blood had dried by the time I saw the doctor. I sat on the edge of a bed in the hallway while the doctor pierced me with the surgical stapler. I was not under anesthesia, but it didn’t hurt. It simply felt like pressure.
The staples dissolved and I healed nicely. I finished school and went on with my life like nothing happened. The scars from that night are invisible.
That’s how it feels to grieve the events of 2020 when I lost my mother and suffered multiple miscarriages in the span of a few months, each blow coming too fast for me to recover fully.
And I wonder if I am just balled up on the floor, covering my head to protect my face.
I saw an Ad on Facebook where the person was telling authors that selling their books on Amazon is a waste of time and that they should sell directly from their website.
And, if you buy the course for $89.95, he’ll teach you exactly how to do it.
Be careful with this kind of advice.
It’s not even that it’s bad, but it is unbalanced.
Questions.
How many people visit your author’s website monthly? Not your blog, your static author website?
How many author websites do YOU visit regularly?
When you think about a book you want to buy, what is the first thing that comes to mind?
For me, the answer is not from the author’s website but from Amazon, and if I am going offline, I am hitting up Barnes and Noble or my local Independent bookstore.
Photo by Ivan Samkov
I have always advocated for author websites because they allow authors to track leads.
You can collect data to keep in touch with readers, like email addresses and phone numbers—something you can’t do through Amazon, which doesn’t show who bought the book. You only know if that person leaves a review.
But I wouldn’t consider Amazon a waste of time when they are the number one go-to for people looking to buy books.
This person’s perspective lacks balance. Authors can have books available through their websites and on Amazon. Also, consider everyone’s journey is different:
Some authors need help to afford or do not want to pay for a website, which requires buying a domain name, paying for e-commerce, and the percentage your cart of choice (say Stripe) takes out of every transaction. Meanwhile (at the time of this writing), setting up an Amazon Author Central page is free.
And some authors prefer to add a website outside of Amazon to track leads because they understand that a book is a product. And individuals don’t have products; businesses do. These authors see the value in their books not as the end but as the beginning of a thriving and profitable business, and businesses have websites.
What I Recommend:
The best advice is lived experiences, and I recommend that everyone do what feels right with their souls. Otherwise, we risk stifling an author’s creativity and rob them of the opportunity to learn.
To increase traffic to your static website or landing page, promote it. Let people know the option to buy directly from you is available. Offer your books as signed copies and throw in some book swag. People do buy from author websites if you let them know.
Use your blog as your website. Because they are updated often with posts, they get much better SEO and traffic than static sites. You can set it up for free right here on WordPress. You don’t have to buy a domain unless you want to. (I did because I’m extra, lol.) It is also a great way to build community.
If you opt out of a website, set up your Amazon Author Central so you can send people there to buy your books and follow you. People who follow you on Amazon will get an email the next time you publish a new book!
Experiment! Test things out. Take risks. Sometimes we don’t know what we like because we’ve never stepped outside the box. Let experience be your teacher.
When I was a child, I always carried a diary, journal, or notebook, and I would write about what was happening in my life each day, with dates and everything.
When my cousin got jumped so badly that one side of his face was swollen, I wrote about how terrifying it was to see him like that.
When I graduated eighth grade, but my twin sister didn’t, I wrote about the guilt I felt for having to leave her behind and how nervous I was to start High School by myself.
I wrote everything down, from the boys I had a crush on to the ways my mom and aunts pissed me off. (I was an angry kid.)
It is why I can tell you what my thought process was like on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, because I wrote it down.
I can still feel what it was like watching the Twin Towers collapse like a dissolving palace of snow and what 14-year-old me was thinking at that moment.
I can tell you I was dumbfounded and full of nerves. I had never seen anything like this before that was not in a movie. And they were saying now we are going to war.
War? Will large army tanks cover the streets? Will soldiers greet me at the door? Will I ever go back to school? What does war look like on the soil of the United States? The only wars I knew were my own.
“God bless America,” I scribbled.*
*I laugh at that now, but I was so serious back then, lol.
I didn’t know it then, but I was doing something powerful.
It didn’t really sink in until I was an adult, but writing regularly allowed me to develop writing abilities and maintain my goal of being a writer by keeping it at the forefront of my mind. And even if my friends and siblings dabbled with other careers and hobbies as I grew older, my objective remained constant.
I was to be an author.
We can read all the books and blogs…
Follow all the writing tips and advice…
Listen to all the podcasts…
But the only way to improve at writing is through practice, and the only way to practice writing is to write.
In the words of James Baldwin, “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of what you don’t see.”
Here’s the Game:
Once upon a time, when print-on-demand publishing became more popular thanks to companies like Amazon and Lulu, self-published authors discovered a powerful manipulation tactic: they could reach a higher ranking by reducing their ebooks to 99 cents and getting all their friends to buy them, skyrocketing their books to the #1 spot.
And before you knew it, tons of Self-Published books, both excellently written and mediocre alike, hit the Amazon Best Sellers List. Some authors even put the sticker on their covers.
It was an exciting time…
…for a few minutes.
Most of these authors stayed at #1 for a maximum of a few hours.
Over time, their book sales continued to plummet until the next book, where they repeated this strategy: setting the price to 99 cents and telling all their friends to buy it.
The problem with this is it caused many Self-Published authors to lust after that pretty orange tag, even if it only lasted for a few minutes.
They’d refresh their browsers repeatedly to see where the numbers are.
When I first put I am Soul on preorder at 99 cents in 2017, it was #7 on Amazon’s Best Sellers list.
But I had only sold five preorders!
Chile, my bank account was dryer than a Popeye’s biscuit.
It looked good on the outside, though, and I was technically a bestseller on paper, but I wasn’t making any money.
By focusing on more organic ways to sell my book, I became a bestseller on and offline.
It wasn’t until I started to shop my books offline and talked to the owners of bookstores that I truly understood how little being an Amazon Best Seller meant to the outside world. I focused my efforts on getting my name out there and increasing my reviews, and this helped me to become an Amazon Best Seller the organic way.
I was also selling out of brick and mortar bookstores and I didn’t have to beg my family and friends to make it happen.
Back to the Story…
The problem with getting all your friends to buy your book is once they’ve bought their copies, the book stops selling.
And that’s what happened to these authors. Unlike traditionally published authors or Indie Authors who focused on other methods and reached the bestsellers through sales, the self-publishers who used the tactic couldn’t maintain the momentum. In a matter of hours, their orange tags were gone.
It’s exciting and praise-worthy to make it onto the best sellers list, whether it’s Amazon or USA Today. However, it is not something Self-Published authors should stress themselves over or allow to consume their writing career.
If the bestsellers list is a goal, authors should strive to do it more authentically. Instead of trying to manipulate the algorithm, focus on selling the book to your target audience, getting early reviews, offering sneak peeks, running Ads, book signings, book tours (virtual or in-person), speaking, and a host of other creative ways to get the word out about your book.
My husband’s cousins came over to get some Italian Beef meat we brought back from Chicago. We had frozen it for them. They stayed for hours, most of the time comprised of us sitting around the table catching up. Although we have been married for almost 14 years, there are still family members of his I am meeting for the first time.
“So you’re from Chicago too?”
“Yes. I grew up in Robert Taylor…”
His wife, the cousin, tilted her head, her eyes widening, “Really?”
“You know how to fight then huh?” The husband says, shaking up with my husband, “You gotta know how to fight growing up in Robert Taylor!”
I laugh with them, but my spirit settles into uneasiness. I don’t want to talk about me anymore. We changed the subject.
Lil R’s Bday Party. Can you find me in this pic??
People are baffled to discover I grew up in Robert Taylor, and they don’t know what to say. Even those who try to form words still end up saying something that sounds like “sorry.” They look into my eyes as if they can see what I see. They want to know how someone as educated and “put together” as myself grew up in the place their mothers have warned them to stay away from.
But, we were not aliens living on a different planet. We were people, Black people, and where there are Black people, there is joy to be found somewhere. When the first of the month hit, we took advantage of the glints of light that seeped in to offer a reprieve to our distress.
Women sat on the porch laughing and gossiping as their sheets dried on the gates, and children ran back and forth, bellies full of food and hope.
The men and hustlers brought out tables and chairs they carried downstairs to play spades in front of the building. You couldn’t tell them they weren’t sitting on their own front porch instead of in front of a 16-story government building. They talked smack and poured out liquor for the homies they lost.
As for music, it was our salve and savior.
We left our doors and windows open so that the music from the stereo could scream and echo throughout the building. Nobody protested when someone’s entire door was open, and music was blasting. We sang along to Whitney Houston, Mary J Blige, Tupac, Biggie, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and many more, grateful for the opportunity to hear these songs while they were young.
Music transformed our pain into power. It didn’t feel like we lived in the ghetto when cousin Rachel blasted The Fugees from her speakers. It simply felt like home.
Where despair tried to rob us of joy, creativity flourished, and we created our own fun, and I think it’s important to talk about this light, too. It wasn’t all gangs, crack addicts, and shootouts.
The PBS Blog 