Title: Black Coffee: From Empty to Overflowing with Peace, Healing, and Purpose
Author: Bree Gordon
Publisher: Bree Gordon
Published: February 18, 2020
Pages: 122
Bree Gordon begins her book with frank sincerity and unabashed vulnerability. We learn about her trials and tribulations as her marriage unraveled and her mental health suffered. Gordon utilizes her therapy sessions as the basis for telling the stories of the women who made a difference in her life, and the revelation about who these women are will leave you speechless.
In this book, we meet not just Bree but also Linda, Gia, Reena, and Trina. It’s got that How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale vibe.
This book’s layout and packaging are both excellent. Gordon welcomes us with a stunning cover of her enjoying a cup of coffee and then weaves this motif across her chapters. From “Brewing” to “Spilling the Beans,” I like how imaginatively she titled the chapters to enhance the story. It brought the narrative and the title together well.
What truly sets this book apart is the inclusion of therapist notes. It will surely help other women who have had to walk in Gordon’s shoes.
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A 48-year-old might say, “Sheesh. I am almost 50.”
Rarely do we appreciate where we are without becoming anxious about where we are going.
I wonder why this is and if it keeps us from being grateful for where we are. Sometimes I wonder if I fully appreciated my twenties when I was in it.
I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 20/20.
My twin sister and me talk about this often because we don’t like to rush our age. When we turned 36 this year, we didn’t say, “We are almost 40.” We said: “Yay, we are 36!”
This doesn’t mean we haven’t thought about approaching 40 (cause like, do it hurt?), but we don’t like to rush our age time.
I am not 37 until I am 37 and not forty until I am 40.
I hope to keep this outlook on life as I age into my 40s, 50s, 60s, or however long I have left.
Instead of saying how much older we are getting, perhaps we can enjoy every minute of where we are now.
I wouldn’t say going viral is fun. I find it overwhelming. However, it could be less stressful if you are prepared. Here’s what I am learning.
Proper Preparation
When I first joined TikTok, I made my account a business account. I didn’t wait until a bunch of people followed or anything like that because I knew I wanted to use it to increase awareness about my poetry and black history book. I added my website link, which I customized for TikTok like I did on IG.
This made it easier for people to sign up to my email list and visit my website to order books once my videos took off. Without this seemingly small act, I would have been stressed about where to direct all these people. Thankfully, I had somewhere for them to go if they wanted to learn more about me.
Don’t Worry About the Numbers, Just Post Your Content
I immediately noticed that once a video goes viral, people binge the rest of your content. This means that even if your posts aren’t doing well (regarding numbers), you should continue to post! This way, you are not frantic about what to post next after your viral moment.
I had tons of other black history videos, and poetry content people could watch while I worked on creating more videos.
Every post on my page averaged over a thousand views after that one viral video. I followed this up with a welcome video, directing people to my email list, and then I posted again today (7/19) a whole week later.
The viral video is on its way to a million views, and I have reached 15K followers, up from the 3K I had when I first posted.
SN. I have never used ads or paid anything to boost my videos on TikTok. All my growth is organic.
Changes to My Account
After 5K follows, you can no longer see who views your posts. I don’t like this change because I enjoyed being nosy. (lol) I like to see who is just watching versus who is taking action.
You now have the option to create a playlist to organize your posts. I like this because I can now separate my poetry videos from the Black history ones. Even though the black history is more popular, I still do poetry and I don’t want my audience confused. You will get black history but you gonna get these poems too.
You can now have people subscribe to your page instead of just following it, apply to TikTok’s creator fund to start making money and sign up for the TikTok shop.
That’s it so far!
Authors, Are You on TikTok? Do You like it or Nah?
Once upon a time in Alabama, there was a racist white man named Charles Agustus Lamar who was angry with Northern states and their desire to end slavery. He devised a plan to send a ship to Africa to buy Africans for $100 and sell them for $1,500. His ship, called the “Wanderer,” made national news in 1858 that it had successfully imported 370 people from Africa who would be enslaved.
However, the slave trade had been outlawed, and Lamar was arrested for illegal slaving.
That’s when another racist white man, steamboat captain Timothy Meaher, made a bet that he could do the same thing but not get caught.
Photo: Yecheilyah
On July 8, 1860, the ship (called the Clotilde / Clotilda) sailed into waters near Mobile Bay carrying 110 men, women, and children stolen from Africa under the cover of night.
They were bought from the Dahomey tribe at $100 each.
After dropping the people off, they burned the ship to hide the evidence, and it was thought to be gone forever.
On Saturday, July 8, 2023, I and a group of others had the opportunity of a lifetime on the 163rd anniversary of Clotilda bringing our people into this land.
We met and talked with Raines about his journey and findings and sailed to the location of the wreckage, still buried underwater.
It was a humbling experience that filled my heart with much gratitude.
We saw the swamps our people had to walk through once they were let off the steamboat, and it made me truly not want to complain about anything ever again.
A festival was also taking place to celebrate the opening of the Africatown Heritage House.
It felt like 150 degrees out there and ya girl put this scarf on me. Imma let it slide cause she from Kenya, lol.
Once our people were freed, they built their own community and called it Africa Town, which was the original name because the founders ruled it according to the laws and customs of their African homeland. By the early 1900s, Africa Town (later spelled Africatown) was the fourth largest community in the nation governed by African Americans, attracting the attention of Booker T. Washington and Zora Neale Hurston.
Today, Africatown is on the brink of disappearing, though it is a huge part of why this story has been preserved, as the Clotilda prisoners passed it down to their descendants.
More on Africatown and the Clotilda will be covered in the book!
What’s Next?
On our way back from the site, we discussed hopes that there is more focus on preserving the community of Africatown and providing it with the resources needed to thrive. With the money pouring in from the Heritage House, the fear is people might want to come in and gentrify the area. The hope is there is money going into the community to help the people too.
We also hope they do not remove the Clotilda wreckage from the water. Not only will it cost millions of dollars just to remove it, but it might also decrease the value of the wreck and the area.
We propose that instead, a replica of the ship can be made. Again, this will bring resources to the community as everyone wants to see the actual ship. There could be tours conducted to view the replica, the Heritage House, and finally, a boat tour through the location (the same as the one we took this weekend). It can be an exciting three-day or full-day adventure with resources going toward rebuilding the Africatown community.
Photo: Yecheilyah
Africatown is the only known Black community that still exists today that was founded by Black people who had come straight from Africa.
Title: The Weight of Salt: A Gripping Story of Love and Courage (Angelina Pirrello Saga Book 1)
Author: Sandra Montanino
Publisher: Edwards Publishing; 1st edition
Published: January 13, 2021
Pages: 358
The Weight of Salt follows a Sicilian Italian family as they make their way through early 1900s America via the perspective of fifteen-year-old Angelina Pirello. In detail and filled with such emotion you’d think you were in the room, the author opens with Angelina watching her mother give birth for the seventh time. We are in Ybor, Florida, and the year is 1906.
The midwife is not very helpful, the baby is breached, and the doctor is delayed because of other patients since his wife won’t tell him that the Pirellos need assistance.
The reader’s exploration of Sicilian culture, religion, and family life begins with this event. Since the family is deeply Catholic, I sensed from the beginning that Angelina would be unique. She first rejects the idea that her infant brother (the one who passed away during birth) cannot enter paradise and will remain in limbo. The doctrine holds that everyone has Adam and Eve’s original sin, which must be washed away via baptism. However, unbaptized infants who pass away live in limbo and are not entitled to the gates of heaven.
Angelina is floored, and we see glimpses of her impending rebellion against tradition.
As fate would have it, she falls in love with someone her father, Domenico disapproves of. He then tries to give her an arranged marriage. Meanwhile, he is hiding college letters.
A lot is going on here, and there’s something in this book for everyone.
In the beginning, Angelina getting into a fight with the doctor’s wife (yes!) had me dying laughing. (Like, ma’am, why are you fighting this little girl?) For romance lovers, Angelina and Fabian will scratch that itch. For history buffs, there’s something in it for us too. Angelina learns the story of her parents and neighbors’ arrival at Ellis Island and how her neighbor’s family (not being wealthy) endured long lines and cruel examinations.
This book is lengthy, and you would want to savor it slowly. I enjoyed it mainly because it gave me a break from nonfiction, which I’ve been writing and reading a lot lately. (I’ve missed fiction!) It is complex, with numerous facets, themes, fully realized characters, and a masterfully structured narrative. Readers who prefer historical romance should definitely check it out, but historical fiction fans will also love it.
Ratings:
Plot Movement / Strength: 5/5
Entertainment Factor: 4/5
Characterization: 5/5
Authenticity / Believable: 4/5
Thought Provoking: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5 / 5 stars
To have your book reviewed on this blog apply here. The registry is open UNTIL AUGUST 1ST!
Be sure to apply BEFORE August even if your book releases after if you want a review on this blog.
Stay tuned for our next dope read!
Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews is a reputable review service that features writers from all over the world, both traditionally and independently published. We are listed on Kindlepreneur as a top-tier book review blog and Reedsy as one of their vetted active book blogs that provide insightful, excellent book reviews.
High achieving authors (Indie, Trad, or otherwise) tend to fall into a few categories:
They publish high-quality books (well-edited, dope cover art, and well-formatted, to name a few).
They collaborate with other authors and business people.
They use their book to create additional income streams through businesses and services.
Today, I want to focus on that last one, although all these are important.
No matter the route, book publishing is hard work, and most of the work happens after the book is written and published. Most of us find ourselves saying, “Dang, now what?”
Depending on what your book is about, there are so many creative things you can do to leverage your self-publishing career.
Here are a few things I do based on the kinds of books I write:
From writing black historical fiction, I lecture at schools.
and so on…
Some authors even have high-ticket courses based on the chapters in their books. Podcasts and workshops based on the book are also ways people leverage their books.
The key point is to look at the book not as the end but as the beginning. Let it (the book) stretch you to new heights!
The PBS Blog 