Tag: amazon

Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews – The Mistreatment of Zora Langston by Lisa W. Tetting

Title: The Mistreatment of Zora Langston (Paperback)
Author: Lisa W. Tetting
Website: https://rebirthoflisa.wordpress.com/
ISBN 13: 9780996142908
Published: March 15, 2015
Publisher: Lisa W. Tetting
Pages: 158 pages
Genre: Coming of Age, Young Adult, Drama, Fiction

The Mistreatment of Zora Langston is a coming-of-age novel surrounding the abuse experienced by nine-year-old Zora Langston. 

Set in Goldsboro, North Carolina, there is so much to relate to and learn in this powerful testimony of abuse, betrayal, and the ability to still love and be loved through it. Ironically, the cause of her father’s death becomes the epitome of tragedy for Zora in more ways than one. His enemies become hers, and when it seems things are getting better everywhere she turns, they only worsen. 

Zora is not given a chance to mourn her father before her mother’s boyfriend moves in. Instead of her shining example of womanhood, her mother despises her existence. Her sister burns with intense jealousy, and her brother’s nonchalant attitude further illuminates Zora’s invisibility. 

As a result of continual physical and emotional abuse, Zora is sent to live with her Aunt Terri and Uncle Jim and, for the first time, gets to experience what it means to be happy and to have a family. I was excited to see her get excited at those little things that children love.

What makes this a moving piece is that it is told from the eyes of a nine-year-old. I did not expect Zora to endure what she did, and the abuse she encountered was shocking. Children tend to be very open and honest even amid grown-up experiences, and Zora is no different. She approaches the situations of her youth with the same level of naïveté as most children. Yet, while Zora’s perspective is rightly childlike, the tragedies she endured strengthen her. Thus, her reaction to the situations surrounding her is in many ways also mature, surprising the adults around her, who are often taken aback.

What I found especially educational is how the author incorporated the life lessons of Zora’s dad and the parenting of her Aunt and Uncle into the tragedies of her life and how those lessons were used to strengthen Zora in the moments she needed them most. Despite her hardships, Zora could still hold on to a level of innocence deserving of a nine-year-old. “I usually wore a swim cap…but that made me look like an alien” (Tetting, 102) is just one of the many sayings of little Miss Zora that made me laugh out loud. I could have sworn I thought the same thing at her age!

The Mistreatment of Zora Langston is a book of shocking revelations and raw emotion. As adults, we have much to learn from children like Zora. It is not just a book about her; we also get to see how adults view situations. 

Debut Author Lisa Tetting proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that “it’s not the love that hurts; its the denial of love.”

Ratings:
Plot Movement / Strength: 4/5
Entertainment Factor: 4/5
Characterization: 5/5
Authenticity / Believable: 5/5
Thought Provoking: 4/5
Recommendation: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5

The Mistreatment of Zora Langston is available now on Amazon!

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Coffee Date: Travels

I am still traveling but I wanted to give you an update while I have some down time. Would anyone like some coffee? Tea? Hot Chocolate? I’ll have a coffee with French Vanilla Cream, no sugar (the cream is sweet enough). And lets make that steaming hot. It’s cold out there!

Since we are having coffee right now, you should know that I am still waiting for more pictures to come back from the Book Signing but that it was a beautiful event.

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My Team

First, I had a team of eight sisters who helped me to put it together and I am forever grateful for their generosity. Because of them I didn’t have to keep watch over the kitchen or escort people to their seats or take my attention away from the presentation. (*Team work always makes the dream work!*) My editor was also in attendance and we were both surprised with gifts from our supporters. Mine was a glass plaque with my company logo on it and some really encouraging words. I’ll upload a picture of it when I get home. It is absolutely stunning!

Order of Events

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The library itself was excellent. Very spacious with a beautiful kitchen to store the food (the pic shown is before we covered it with all kinds of goodies. Still waiting on those pictures to come back). I began with a video of the Book Trailer and a PowerPoint presentation. I decided to do it this way to keep it fresh. The images and moving pictures helped capture and keep the audience attention as I rambled on about the details of the book. There was also a Q&A session.

Me and Harry
Me and Harry

Since we are having coffee right now, you should know that I had the privilege of meeting a man named Harry. Harry is an older man whose family were sharecroppers and he expressed exciting interest in The Stella Trilogy. For those who don’t already know, I am really passionate about having these kinds of conversations with the elderly or older men and women who have lived during these times. It is a wisdom I think that we should all cherish. My dad in law has given my husband and I very exciting stories of his boyhood and their experiences picking cotton and sharecropping as well. It is most exciting. I believe oral storytelling is a major stepping stone to the writing of books today. Before anything was written down, it was passed along orally.

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Next, we offered food and snacks to the guest as I prepared for the signing and allowed everyone to mingle. This gave me the opportunity to go around and speak to some of the guest. I think this is very important for Book Signings. You want to try to avoid sitting at a table all day. Instead, I wanted to make it as engaging and family oriented as possible. I think its important that everyone feels special and part of the process. After all, these are people who invested in me. It’s only right that I invest my time and attention to them too.

Since we are having coffee right now, you should also know that I was in a Black History Stage Play the day after the event (Sat.) at The Riverside EpiCenter (Blakk Amerika: From Prophets to Pimps) and it was absolutely powerful. I was casted in 3 roles: Besty Mae, a plantation slave whose son was sold away from her. Sheila Jones, Besty’s great great granddaughter some years later, and I also had the privilege of closing the play with a poem.

I’ll have more updates soon. Before we get out of here, I do want to thank everyone for their support of this work so far both offline and across social media.

Until next time, peace and love

– EC

In Paperback and Amazon Kindle

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Good morning Lovelies,

The Road to Freedom – Joseph’s Story is now available in Paperback and eBook on Amazon Kindle. This also means that the Stella Trilogy is complete and all three books are now available on the site, both individually as well as a bundle pack.

In the meantime, don’t forget…. I’m in Atlanta babies!!

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Meet me in person at The Metropolitan Branch Library at 1332 Metropolitan Parkway from 12noon – 4pm for a signed copy of this book as well as the others in the series.

The Best Way for Writers to Use Amazon’s Preorder Feature

Great info over at Live.Write.Thrive on how to use Amazon’s PreOrder feature. Here are some key bullet points in the article that can help you to make wise preordering decisions (please visit the site for the entire article). Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, and best-selling author says:

  • First Time Published Author: If you’re a newly published author, the idea of a preorder probably seems exciting, right? Your book is up on the Amazon site as time ticks down to its release. And while it seems exciting, it’s not advisable to spend a ton of marketing time on the book because you can’t get reviews (though there is a workaround for that), but using this to build a fan base may not be the best idea. 
  • Already Published Author: If you have a book out there (or several), and you’ve built a mailing list of fans, then preorder may be a fun thing to do to build excitement for your upcoming book. 

I would still caution that the lion’s share of your work should only begin when the book is actually ready for purchase. Why? Because unless you are some mega-bestselling author, it’s hard to drive significant numbers to a preorder page.

The other issue is immediacy. If a reader wants something now, they may not want to wait for your book to be ready and will, instead, buy another Amazon-recommended book. Also, this is another reason to keep your preorder time short—which I’ll explain next.

<<<I only gave about 2 weeks for my preorders. Penny explains why you should keep your Preorder time short>>>

  • Timing of Your Preorder: Though I know there are folks who are fans of long preorders, I am not one of them. Amazon allows you up to ninety days, but when I’ve done this, I have found that a month is just about right. That way you can promote it to family, friends, and even your e-mail list, and still build some momentum for it without spending a ton of time pushing a book that no one can read.
  • Promoting a Preorder: Along the lines of what we discussed earlier, I would share this with your followers and your e-mail or newsletter list. If this is your second, third, or fourth book, the interest is going to be stronger than if it’s your first. But even a newbie author should not be discouraged from pushing this to folks who know you to let them know it’s coming. You can do this through images, blog posts, Facebook posts, and Twitter updates.

<<<Don’t Forget The Road to Freedom is available now for preorder at $0.99>>>

  • Pricing Your Preorder: For reasons I mentioned earlier, I would keep your pricing low— even if you plan on raising it later. Why? Well, you’re competing with millions of titles on Amazon and your book isn’t ready (yet), so the immediacy isn’t there. If you want to entice an impulse buy, keep the pricing lower at first, then once the book is live, you can always raise it.