Tag: writing

Yecheilyah Book Reviews: A Tale of Three Cities by Alexander McCabe

Title: A Tale of Three Cities
Author: Alexander McCabe
ISBN: 978-0-9940447-1-6
Release Date: November 2, 2015
Advanced Review Copy Edition

 A Tale of Three Cities is a fantastic story involving two women who do not intimately know each other but whose lives become connected in a horrific span of events that will forever change both women. 

While occupying the waiting room of a dental office, bank cashier Melissa Chisholm is reading a magazine when her attention is snagged by a missing persons headline accompanied by a photograph of a woman she is sure she knows. Enticed by the million-dollar reward for any information regarding Kristy Bradley, Melissa sets out to redeem the much-needed cash, being reassured that she does know the woman who changed her name to Lady Penelope Munro. 

According to the article, the two love birds married out of High School. They settled into a financially stable and happy life before Kristy was allegedly kidnapped by Anthony Di Silva, a mob boss masquerading as CEO of a Waste Management Company and currently serving 25 to life after 34 million dollars, and Michael’s wife went missing. Now Melissa is flying from Glasgow, Scotland, to Harrison, New York, to assist Kristy’s poor husband find his long-lost wife.

Sitting in her car outside Michael’s front door, Melissa is unaware of the man behind the smile in the magazine. As she waits nervously for him to read the documents she slipped into his home and to listen to her message on his answering machine, she has no idea of the maniac she has just involved herself with. As she waits, watching Michael faint at the contents of the documents with tears colliding down his face, Melissa doesn’t know about the secret hatred more than love pulsating through his veins. When his true character is revealed, it made me think about the stigmas surrounding a woman’s submission, what it means, and how abusive men take advantage of women who do. Nonetheless, as Melissa waits, it will be a hard lesson for her.

I was pleasantly surprised. I was not too excited when I discovered this book was 500 pages long. However, McCabe has written an adventurous tale that will engage all of your senses. His attention to detail is remarkable, and I found Z’s sense of humor hilarious at times. I also enjoyed how the author displays Michael’s deranged demeanor against Melissa’s sympathy for his loss. Having lost her parents in a car wreck years ago, her loss drives the naivety and compassion she feels for a man who has seemingly, like her, lost everything. I also enjoyed the parallels between Melissa’s life and Kristy’s, and like a single thread that weaves fabric together, the dynamics involving the two women bring it all in.

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A Tale of Three Cities releases November 2, 2015. Please visit Alexander at his social networking sites and be sure to pick up this book! It is a must read. Though I read it already, I would love to still purchase the paperback for my collection when it releases.

Website: http://aasmccabe.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aasmccabe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexandermccabeauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/aasmccabe/

Self-Publishing: Target Markets

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Though it’s a lot of work, one of the many reasons I chose to Self-Publish is the control. One thing that I did not want is to be categorized. If for whatever reason I chose to include biblical text or any spirituality in my writing I did not want my work labeled Christian Fiction or anything unrelated to the kinds of books I represent even if it did contain biblical insight. I use this as an example to show that what I wanted was to produce books according to how I was being led and to not be held back by society’s precepts or interpretations. This does not, however, exclude me from the discipline this field requires, one of which is identifying target markets.

What is a Target Market?

A target market is a specific group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed. This group of people would also be referred to as your target audience. They are the group of people who your work is specifically targeted to. In this way, you can position yourself to be around this group of people off and online more so than any other group because they are the people who are interested in the kinds of books you write or rather, the kind of service you provide.

An example of Target Markets, according to an example given by Google is: “Schools are a key target for apps.” Why is this so? Education and how children learn is evolving just as quickly as technology. The aged old chalkboard is really not as effective in my opinion as interactive whiteboard systems. That said computers and teaching go hand in hand. In this way, schools are one of the major institutions who could support many of the learning apps available to be used in the classrooms. So for app developers, schools are a key target market meaning this is a group that they strive to appeal to in their promotions as the most likely to purchase their product. But to go further, they can break schools down into what kind of schools they are targeting. Public? Private? Magnet? Charter?

The easiest way to break down a Target Market without the confusion is to think about the kinds of readers who are interested in the kinds of books you write and to break these groups down into their smallest group. You can start broad but try to get it down to the most specific group possible: For example:

Women readers between the ages of 18 – 45. To define this further, I may choose to target online fiction readers of African American ancestry who are interested in history and short stories. This market can be broken down into two-three niches: online short story readers, historical fiction readers, and African American women readers. This example can also be broken down even further but I suppose we pretty much get the point. This does not exclude men from having a target market does not leave out everyone else, but it helps you to closely market your books to a group who, more so than others, will support it.

Everyone

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Although technically speaking anyone who desires to make a profit is targeting everyone, everyone is not a Target Market. It is very unlikely, especially as a Self-Publisher, that everyone will buy your books. That said you have to break reader groups down into the most specified group possible and that’s basically what a Target Market is if you strip it of all the technical language. You are pointing to certain consumers and saying “I choose to market my product to you because we share the same interest.”

While I am still striving to understand the business side of publishing myself, I do know that Indie Authors must realize that their goals should be directly related to their purpose, but that this does not exempt any of us from basic business knowledge and implementation. Meaning that despite passion we still have to target a specific group of people because they are going to be the ones to support our work. We have to do this more so than anyone else because of the stigmas that, though fading, still exists for Self-Publishers. To determine your Target Market, ask yourself:

  • Who are my current customers?
  • Why do they buy from me?
  • Which ones bring in most business?
  • What characteristics and interest do they share?

Blood Line

Slavery-TodayMy nephew has my birthmark on his chest. My face has my mother’s nose, and my smile is etched with my father’s teeth. I interact with the world as if on my own. It never occurs to me that I swing my arms like my Aunt. Or that the decisions I make may have already been made before. They say there is nothing new under the sun. I cannot swim. But maybe that’s because the Great Flood has traumatized me. Can I still taste salt water seas on my tongue? Have you ever thought about the make-up of a blood line?

The possibility that maybe you inherited these ways only to gift them to someone else one day. I smile at the thought. What would a little girl look like with my eyes, my words and my hands on her hips? How do I know my favorite tree did not bleed with the stench of my ancestors? And have I ever fathomed why Hurricanes take the same route as the slave ships? Can it be that bodies still burn like melted ash upon the ocean floor? Its smoke mixed with the wind before marching out to the beat of Negro Spirituals I could have sworn I heard on the radio last night. Or maybe that’s just the Harriet in me. Perhaps I may gather poetry in my arms like the wind released of its chains. Is it possible that words can free those who do not know that they are slaves?

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Arundhati Roy

Good Afternoon Loves, this Writer’s Quote Wednesday is from Arundhati Roy:

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Arundhatiis is so pretty to me and this quote is one of my favorites. (I do feel like I’ve done this one before but who doesn’t like re-runs? lol) To me, this quote is a way of reminding me of the things that are most important in life: to seek joy, pursue beauty, respect strength and most importantly, in the midst of my goals, always to stay focused. To always notice my own insignificance, to never feel the need to over-complicate the simple things and to above all never forget who I am and what I do this for.

About The Author:

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“Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1959) is an Indian author who is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. The novel is a semi-autobiographical and a major part captures her childhood experiences in Aymanam and became the biggest-selling book by a no expatriate Indian author”.

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Resume Writing

This post was prompted by a friend who contacted me because she needed help writing a resume. Before I started fiction writing full time, which I am really only able to do financially because of my husband’s financial support and our collective investment, I was an administrative specialist at a community center. One of my primary duties included helping people to write resumes, complete job applications, mock interviews, and basically the overall job search campaign which included sometimes adult tutoring, especially in the area of computers.

The increase in technology has changed the way that we view everything. From book publishing, printing, and even resume writing. Thing is, you don’t have to do so much writing anymore. What happens now is that your resume will go through a screening process by a computer, which looks up Keywords as it relates to that particular market. If your resume “passes”, that is to say those keywords were found, it will move on to the recruiters’ desk. If your resume “fails” however, it will not even be seen by the employer. Sounds unfair I know but that’s the world we live in.

To make matters easy, you really only need a few sections and minimal writing skills to build a presentable resume:

• Objective OR Professional Profile
• Career History
• Educational Background
• Skills

You can add references as well but that’s even becoming extinct in the area of most importance on a resume (most places want your references during the interview or post resume process). What’s the most important bullet point here? It’s not your educational background, not even your employment history. These days, employers want to hire people they can train and mold into their ideal company representative so there’s a lot of people being rejected because of being “overqualified”. That’s because employers are not really looking for the most intelligent anymore. They are looking for someone who knows how to follow basic instructions and who will not challenge the company’s authority more so than how many degrees someone has. Even when it comes to experience, someone with these basic skills can be hired in a larger capacity than someone with years of job experience in that area. The most important section of your resume today is the “Skills” section.

Depending on what kind of job you’re looking for, make a list of your skills as it relates to that particular position. Write it on a spare piece of paper or whatever but just write down as many as you can. Go to your resume and under “Skills” list them all. Here’s an example of someone applying to a job in the area of Social Media Specialist:

• Strategic Planning
• Business Development
• Brand Identity
• Twitter Management
• Digital Asset Management
• Media Planning /Buying
• Facebook Advertising
• Market Research
• Technology Implementation
• Project Management
• Blogging /Blog Commenting

You may notice I included terms like “Blogging”, “Facebook Advertising”, and “Twitter Management”. This may not seem important but it is, leave nothing out. Any skill you have can be listed here. Sometimes people are looking for employment without really having had a job before and they think they have no skills. You’re alive and breathing aren’t you? Then you have skills! Everyone has something they can do or that they are good at. I don’t care if it’s babysitting, that’s something you can write down. It’s all about understanding the language. Turn “I watch my sister’s children” into keywords like:

• Child Care Development                    < you are responsible for their well-being
• Cooking / Meal Preparation               < you cook for the children
• Creative Initiative                               < you have to find something for them to do
• Cleaning / Antiseptic Management   < you clean up after the children

This will ensure your resume gets through the computer screening process. Now all you really have to do is polish up the other parts of the resume. It is also important, in my opinion, to have more than one resume for the different jobs to which you are applying. This is because a resume for Lead Cook at a restaurant will not look the same, or have the same keywords, as a resume for a school teacher. It is also important to update your resume at least yearly. If you change jobs often, every six months.

Remember, the resume is not designed to get you the job which is a truth I think many of us lose sight of. If you aren’t hired it’s not because your resume was bad, it’s because of other key factors that play a role. Your resume’s job is not to get you the job, its job is to get your foot in the door and by foot in the door I mean: past the screening, into the recruiters’ hands and your butt in the Interview chair.

Note: Oh, and if you can, try to limit your resume to one page. It looks more professional. Here’s a sample:

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The Little Things

I’m a person who is either extremely excited, over the top silly or deeply saddened or concerned. I am either very serious or very silly. There is no lukewarm with me. There is no in-between. That said I try to also be very appreciative in my life. Appreciative of being alive another day. Appreciative of having a loving husband. Appreciative of loving family. Appreciative of supportive friends. Appreciative of a healthy mind and a healthy body. Sometimes you’ll see me get excited over certain achievements that may not look to be much but that mean everything to me. That’s because I think it’s important to always notice the little things.

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It’s just that, the little things, that tests whether or not we are ready to move forward. It is the small steps we take every day, the trys that determine if we are worthy to move on. Without appreciating the small things it is not possible to hold on to the greater gifts to come. If I want my marriage to last I have to appreciate what is before my face now. Today. And when tomorrow comes, I can move forward and step into the shoes of what the future brings. And if I cannot for whatever reason appreciate what I have today, it is only hypocritical to think I am worthy of having possession of this relationship for an extended period of time.

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I use my marriage just as an example, but we can apply this to our lives in general. Even when it comes to blogging. Yes, I blog a lot and I publish a lot and I share the work of others. I do this because I’m an all or nothing type of person. I am either going to put my all into it or I am going to abandon it. If I choose to give it my all, I will do so with the intent to nurture what I have been given and to plant the seeds that will grow to produce the kind of fruit I need to help to keep me fueled in whatever capacity that is. I believe blogging has been just as instrumental in my writing development as anything else in my life and though I do not see myself doing this forever, I take nothing for granted; or at least I try not to. The big things are always there and always will be there. They will always be at the forefront and on the top. They will always appear to be more shiny and glamorous and breathtaking. They will always promise to either validate you or break you but when it comes down to goals and ambitions and planning to implement a vision, it’s really not about the big things at all. It’s the little things that will actually help you to grow.

#Book #Review for Stella Book #2: Beyond The Colored Line by Christa Wojciechowski

Title: Stella Book #2: Beyond The Colored Line
Author: Yecheilyah Ysrayl
Published: July 27, 2015
Released: August 24, 2015
ASIN: B013PQCKK8
Pages: 64
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Black Literature, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Short Story

Nothing is Simply Black or White

Stella: Beyond the Colored Line is a fascinating walk through the ages–from slavery, to segregation, to the black power movement, to modern times.

Through the eyes of one mixed race woman, the author touches on major events in African American history, allowing the reader to experience them in real time.

The story deepens when Stella decides to live as a white woman and raise her children as whites. As her family grows and develops within a changing society, Stella and her children reveal complex perspectives and attitudes that make it clear that it doesn’t matter who your ancestors were. Nothing is just simply black or white.

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They are coming in slowly but they are coming! Special thanks go out to Christa for this review; it makes my second five stars! OK so its only two reviews BUT both are five stars, I’ll take it! Every small victory is worth appreciating. In case you’re wondering why these reviews are so short, it’s really a short read, a novella if you will. If you would like to receive a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review please email me. It really will not take up too much of your time. In any event, I appreciate both the positive AND constructive criticism I am getting on the back end. It lets me know the reviews are real deal  and is EXTREMELY helpful in the polishing off of Book #3, whose release date and book cover I will be announcing soon. The Stella Trilogy is almost complete!