I have learned not to neglect the physical
because I live on the physical.
How can I ignore the earth when I was born from it?
Not the first womb.
Not the first place my human self called home.
And I have learned not to neglect the spiritual
because it is higher than the physical.
It will help me to transcend the works of my flesh.
Both important.
Both necessary.
Neither forsaken.
Oh nothing, just getting back to my poetry.
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s poetry contest. We crown you, poetic scholars, for your commitment and dedication to poetic excellence on this 28th day of December 2023.
“I’m Living”
@musings.from.my.younger.self
“What I Lack”
@thesensualgenius
“Grace”
@ _olops_
“Grace”
@adariyahysrayl
And congratulations to everyone who participated! There would be no contest without your support. Keep an eye out for the individual spotlight interviews of each poet and details on Yecheilyah’s Annual Poetry Contest, 2024!
Yecheilyah’s 7th Annual Poetry Contest 2024 (Coming Soon!)
Yecheilyah’s 6th Annual Poetry Contest 2023 (Page Being Set Up)
Yecheilyah’s 5th Annual Poetry Contest 2022
Yecheilyah’s 4th Annual Poetry Contest 2021
Yecheilyah’s 3rd Annual Poetry Contest 2019
According to Kindleprenuer, a vetted and well-respected platform for self-publishers headed by Dave Chesson (who has listed me among its Ultimate List of Best Book Review Blogs under Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews), these are some of the best platforms for writers who self-published in 2023. (I put them in my own order, though, lol.)
Book retailers are platforms where you can upload your book directly to their site and sell on their market. These are your Amazons, B&Ns, Kobo’s and more.
Book aggregators are third-party platforms where you may submit your book, and it will be distributed to book merchants all over the world. It is one of the simplest ways to get your book on practically every online retailer’s website without much effort. Draft2Digital and PublishDrive are two of the most prominent book aggregators.
Amazon has an 85% market share over all these platforms, so I will start with Kindle Direct Publishing to get my books on Amazon.
While other platforms, such as Bookbaby and IngramSpark, can send your book to Amazon, I have found it best to use Amazon for Amazon to decrease the chances of my book not showing up or being out of stock.
However, I opt-out of expanded distribution while on Amazon, which will put my book into Ingram’s database under Amazon. I want it under my own company.
After I upload my files to KDP, I head over to Ingram.
Under my own Ingram account, I publish my book to IngramSpark. I have not done this with every book, but I have done it with my last two and in the future. I do this for easier distribution to bookstores and libraries but under my own company name (Literary Korner Publishing), not Amazon.
This is where having bulk ISBNs comes in handy, as you will need one for Ingram different from what you used on Amazon. Ya’ll know I don’t do free ISBNs except for with ebooks.
Then, I log into my account on Draft2Digital and upload my files there to get my ebook on all major online retailers—however, I opt-out of Amazon since I have already uploaded my book there separately.
I also have yet to use their print book version, now available for authors who want to use the feature. I only use them for the digital version of my book so if you’ve tried their paperbacks let me know how it turned out! How’s the quality compared to KDP?
When it’s said and done, I’ll have my book available on Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, and everywhere books are sold online with the option to get it into bookstores, libraries, and schools.
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.
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.
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:
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.
One of the MAJOR misconceptions about the poetry industry is that you have to do spoken word to become a prominent figure.
Performance poetry might be the most popular, but there are other ways to be profitable.
Artists like Rudy Francisco, Jasmine Mans, Prentice Powell (who was recently nominated for a Grammy), Obbie West, and others are dynamic spoken word artists I could listen to all day.
But it is not something I am passionate about doing myself.
I enjoy spoken word and have done it, but I don’t want to make a career out of performance poetry.
I am much better at reciting than performing, and I have learned there is a career in them both.
Reciting and performing poetry are two different areas of expertise we can discuss later.
The Poetry Business Network is a global community where poets learn how to do more with their poetry and create a poetry career.
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.
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