We are pleased to announce that this Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 9pm EST Substitute Me author, Lori L. Tharps will be our guest for #blacklitchat Tweet Chat on Twitter!!!!!!!!!!

 

So grab your book, grab your PJs, grab your galpals and lets have an online book chat with her.  Also if you have questions about natural hair care, have them ready so she can answer.

Umm…who is Lori. L. Tharps?

Lori L. Tharps is an assistant professor of journalism at Temple University, an author, freelance journalist and mom. She was a staff reporter at Vibe magazine and then a correspondent for Entertainment Weekly. She has written for Ms., Savoy, Suede, Bitch, Odyssey Couleur and Essence magazines.  She’s the author of  two non-fiction books: Hair Story coauthored with Ayana Byrd, Kinky Gizpacho and her debut novel Substitute Me.

I’ve heard about Substitute Me, but don’t know what it’s about?

 

Substitute Me reads like ” a modern-day horror story… that will haunt you for days.”
Essence Magazine, August 2010

Where is the source of our identities? Our upbringing, occupation, partners? Kate, a driven public-relations exec and mom coming off maternity leave, tells Zora, while interviewing her for a nanny post, that she wants to hire a “substitute me.” Zora, an upper-middle-class African American, wants the job but worries about betraying the dreams of the women who came before her by becoming a domestic. She then finds her passion in cooking, and practices to become a personal chef by feeding the family as part of her duties. Brad, Kate’s egalitarian banker husband, feels uncomfortable making so much money in the pre-meltdown days. Kate misses her son but throws herself wholeheartedly into her work, putting in exceptionally long days. Brad accepts all these household changes, and finds himself spending more time with Zora than Kate. Friends, lovers, co-workers, and family—all armed with opinions and attitudes—play key roles in Tharps’ lively modern domestic drama about why we are who we are. . --Danise Hoover, BookList

"Lori Tharps's warm and engaging novel about the struggles of juggling marriage, motherhood and a meaningful career focuses on a story we're each living, but also exposes the secrets we won't tell. An enjoyable read."

-- Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

Book clubs: Substitute Me will give you so much to talk, laugh and argue about, you might want to schedule two meetings to discuss it. Days after finishing it, I'm still debating who the villain is. Lori Tharps has written a timely, engaging page-turner that every working mom in America should read!"

-- Carleen Brice, author of Children of the Waters

A fresh, fun, view of "the help" from a writer to watch.

-- Benilde Little, author of Good Hair

After you’re read the book, I’ll add your praise here. (wink, nod)

What is BlackLit Chat?

It's a stream of tweets about books by Black[including Pan-African, African-American, Brit, Caribbean, Canadian Black, etc.] authors in real time during a specified time. Our time  for this chat is Sunday, November 21, 2010 from 9 PM EST.

More about #BlackLitChat is here at my co-host Bernadette Davis’ Black Books Blog. 

 How does it Work? 3 Easy Steps

1. 1. Get a Twitter account, or login, or remember your Twitter Password.
2. 2. Join the chat by clicking this link. http://twebevent.com/blacklitchat
3. 3. Now login with your Twitter Password.

 

Soul Train Awards week in Atlanta kicked off right last night at Shanti Das and Marlon Nichols' ATL LIVE ON THE PARK showcase hosted by Kenny Burns. Surprise performances, sexy ambiance and a room of the music industry's who's who made the evening one of the best shows ever!

Dallas Austin, Kenard Gibbs, Mayor Kasim Reed, Kenny Burns, Frank Ski, Shanti Das & Ron Devoe

Attendees included Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Soul Train Holdings CEO Kenard Gibbs, Doug E. Fresh, Frank Ski, Rodney Jerkins, Dallas Austin, Sister 2 Sister publisher Jamie Foster Brown, New Edition's Ron Devoe, Chaka Zulu, Catherine Brewton, Kawan Prather and many more!

The show's featured acts were R&B vet Donell Jones, newcomer from SoulTrain.com Rhonda Nicoleand Universal Motown/Darkchild Records girl group Purple Reign. However, guests were treated to impromptu performances by Brownstone's Nicci Gilbert and Ron Devoe (who took everyone back to "Poison"). But the highlight of the night was Doug E. Fresh, who did his own fly version of Cali Swagg District's "Teach Me How to Dougie" and sent the crowd into a frenzy. Classic!

Photos: James Pray for Supreme Team Photography

 Doug E. Fresh and Shanti Das

 

    Mayor Kasim Reed, Jamie Foster Brown & Kenard Gibbs

Rodney Jerkins & Marlon Nichols

 

Yelawolf & Dallas Austin

 

                                Kawan Prather and Catherine Brewton

 

            Ron Devoe, Kameelah Williams (702), Chaka Zulu                                

 

Donell Jones does his classic "You Know What's Up"

Doug E. Fresh teaches ATL LIVE how to really Dougie 
      Brownstone's Nicci Gilbert does a rendition of "If You Love Me"

 

       The crowd goes wild for all the surprise performances.        

 

           

 

 

This week Barnes & Noble released Pubit!,  a free direct-to-device self-publishing service for its Nook e-reader. Authors, who own the electronic rights to their books can take their books live in 24 hours for come cases.

A few things of note:

• For authors who don’t have a MAC, you can use Smashwords to configure.
• Your book will be converted to EPub open ebook Standard.
• Your book will be lendable, which means that Nook users can share your book with one another.
• B&N pays royalties on your book's retail price, instead of what an ebook distributors pay, which is usually net (retail less whatever discount B&N demands).
• If you price your book between $2.99-$9.99 use will receive  a 65% royalty of the list price (> Apple, > Amazon which pays of the sales price)
• You can publish direct to Kindle for free as well to DTP with a 70% royalty and your ebook will be available on Kindle devices and Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac, Blackberry, and Android-based devices.

Full Pubit! information

• Read the publishing agreement here.
• The pricing agreement is here.
• The content policy is here .

In my opinion,  if I were seeking to epublish my book, I would:

• publish direct to Kindle. they pay monthly.
• publish to Smashwords only for Epub but not Amazon or B & N distribution
• Publish through Pub-It because your book will be categorized by genre not just ebooks like Smashwords, which is hard for a reader to sift through
• make sure you opt out of Nook for Smashwords when you have successfully converted to EPubit
• join DigiBookWorld, so you can learn the vocabulary and how to format DTP properly, because Pubit is new Thus, you may have to do some reformatting. Which means you need to use a an WYSIWYG ebook editor like Sigil.
• And if I just went over your head, do the last thing I said first.

The purpose of Christian Fiction is to share Good storytellers with you. Sometimes these stories aren’t wrapped in pretty packages. Oftentimes these books aren’t discussed in Christian fiction circles, but they should. So in honor of Banned Books Week I want to share a Good book that some of our churches have removed[or removed] from some Georgia schools.(I live in Georgia.) Moreover, I want to share with you why fiction matters and this book shouldn’t be banned.

Banned Book: Native Son

Synopsis from Time Magazine:

In Chicago of the 1930's, where Bigger Thomas has found work as a chauffeur, he murders a young white woman, the only child of the wealthy family who has just hired him. Though the killing is accidental, it becomes a kind of retroactive act of will. It leads Thomas to an inquiry into his own injuries and humiliations at the hands of a sometimes literally bloodthirsty white society.

Who banned this book: Appling County School(Baxley, GA)  2008

Reason: Language

Response Appling High School English Department Head, Mary Ann Ellis, speaks out against the books' removal.:

Our students are the ones who’ve truly been betrayed by the very board responsible for giving them the best education available. Somewhere down the road when the ministers bring three more books and three more and Shakespeare, what will happen then?  Our students will leave this county unprepared for Mercer, UGA, Harvard, GSU.  Not because of the ministers, mind you. No, they can thank their very own Appling County Board of Education.

 Read her Op-Ed in the Baxley News-Banner.

My response: I read Native son in high school. My high school isn’t far from Baxley, Georgia, so I understand the region, especially Christianity influences there. However, what I don’t understand is how  that church couldn’t find black spiritualism and Christian existentialism as theme threads in. Perhaps because the ministers never read the book [according to the complaint.]

Thus, this realization causes another challenge.

I’ve talked with many ministers through the years about the relevance of Christian fiction and the banning of Christian fiction from their churches. And like Appling High School’s banning decision they, too, have never read the novels.

These decisions to ban books—for whatever reason—cripples our society. More so for Christian fiction authors, whose books are banned in their own churches…

Your thoughts. Does your church support Christian fiction? Or any fiction for that matter?

The nation's largest competitive multicultural film fest will convene in NYC

The 14th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks, is proud to announce Urbanworld Digital, an exciting addition to the festival that will be hosted by HBO® on September 15, 2010. This invite-only program will feature executives from Abrams Artists Agency, HBO, MTV Networks, NamcoBandai America, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild of America, East, and SAGindie, who will share their expertise in gaming, social media, new media contracts, and production. A collaboration between Jigsaw Global and the Urbanworld Foundation, Urbanworld Digital will serve as a primer for film professionals who want to learn more about digital media production and make new contacts on the tech side of the entertainment industry.

"We're excited about our partnership with Jigsaw Global, which has allowed us to bring the digital aspect of the entertainment industry back to the festival in its own, unique programming track," says Stacy Spikes, founder of Urbanworld. "HBO is the perfect host for Urbanworld Digital, because HBO continues to innovate in the worlds of film, TV, and digital media."

The festival will continue September 16 - 19 at the AMC 34th St Theater in New York City. Unique programming features include BET Networks' Inaugural TV Script Writing Competition, in which aspiring TV writers will have a chance to win $5,000, and the BET Networks with "My Black is Beautiful" Present: The Tasha Smith Actors Workshop, a two-day instructional seminar offering students the chance to hone their acting skills.
In addition to festival ambassador Kerry Washington, celebs such as Nia Long, Jamie Hector, Omari Hardwick, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Evan Ross, Kid Capri and Clint Dyer will be in attendance to support their respective films.  Spotlight films and programs at Urbanworld this year include: 
* HBO's Boardwalk Empire, a 1920s-era drama set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition (series premiere) from Terence Winter, Emmy® Award-winning writer of The Sopranos® and Academy® Award-winning director Martin Scorsese

* BET's My Mic Sounds Nice, a documentary exploring the role of female rappers in hip-hop (directed by Ava DuVernay and featuring interviews by Missy Elliott, EVE, Trina, Rah Digga, MC Lyte, Yo Yo and more)

* One Night in Vegas, part of ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series, this film details the evening of 1996 when Tupac Shakur was shot and Mike Tyson lost to Bruce Seldon (directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood; starring Mike Tyson)

* Kid Capri Presents: The Lionz Den, a short film about an underground rap battle in Harlem (directed by Kid Capri and Loaded Lux, starring Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and Rakim)

* Sus, a based-on-a-true-story drama centering on the controversial British "sus" laws and their inherent racism (directed by Robert Heath; starring Ralph Brown, Clint Dyer)

* Africa Rising, a documentary portraying the grassroots movement to end female genital mutilation (directed by Paula Heredia)

For the complete slate of films or ticket information, visit www.urbanworld.org. For more information on Urbanworld Digital, visit http://ow.ly/2x1gy.

Usually I spend my weekend reading a novel, but The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Biography of Stieg Larsson , the biography of  the late novelist, journalist Stieg Larsson is just as fascinating. With more than 36 million books sold worldwide, Sony’s acquisition of the movie rights to make an American version of his Millennium series(The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, and The Girl Who Played with Fire), and a partial manuscript for the fourth novel in his girlfriend’s possession with rumors about her completing the novel for his legacy, makes this author’s life and fast claim to literary stardom a must read.

 

How to Open Your Novel

Today I adjusted my opener to Book 2 “Someone Bad & Something Blue",” because it was missing the punch I felt it needed.  Although the opener is big, eventful and fun, it was missing my story’s new inner conflict, the thing hiding underneath the superficial opener. The phantom of the story I like to call it.

Instead of giving my story away let me give you an example of a story phantom.

In the opener of Inception Leonardi DiCaprio’s character, ____ is stealing someone’s thoughts, but the heist goes wrong. His dead wife enters the dream sequence and takes him off his game. From here and throughout the rest of the movie the moviegoer will wonder will his wife haunt his dreams forever and thus ruin every caper? As we continue to watch the movie we learn more, the layers of his conflict about his wife goes deeper, and the real monster/the phantom comes out just before the Climax. In the beginning we know there’s more, but we can’t see it, we feel it, we hear it, kind of like the Phantom of the Opera. Something big is destroying all the plans from the inside. This phantom has to peak out in the beginning of your story and play with our heads most of the rest of it. Or in Inception’s case long after the movie is over.

So if you want your story to pop at the beginning, you should open it with a Phantom peaking from behind the curtain.

Need help with your opener ask here. And save the date.  A Good Excuse to Be Bad, book 1 of my new Evangel Crawford Bounty Hunter novel series releases Summer 2011.

This contest helped me get my three book deal with Dafina. The doors are now opened for your chance. Learn more below…

RSJ 2011 Aspiring Author Contest

(Contest Registration Opens 1 Aug)

Each year aspiring fiction authors take a step closer to having their dreams come true by entering the Romance Slam Jam Aspiring Author Contest. The winners' manuscripts are read by an editor or agent with a chance at publication or representation.

Previous winners and prizes. ( I won 3rd)

Genre: Black Romance/Women's Fiction

Prizes:

1st Place: Manuscript reviewed by Editor Latoya Smith from Grand Central Publishing for possible publication.

2nd Place: Manuscript reviewed by Editor Selena James from Kensington Books for possible publication.

3rd Place: TBA

Submission Package:
To help prepare contestants for submitting to publishing houses and agents, the entries will resemble a submission package sent to agents and publishers except remove your name from the query, synopsis and sample pages. You can call yourself Contestant. Submissions are electronic (sent via email). The file should be a Microsoft Word document. In the body of the email, be sure to give the name you registered in the contest under and the title of your novel.
Format:
• 1 inch margins all around
• Font Times New Roman, 12pt

Include (one email, 3-4 attachments):
• 1 page query letter single spaced addressed to:

Ms. C. Judge

2 Busy St.

New York, NY, 10101

Sign it Contestant.

Your query letter may be in the body of the email.

• Synopsis double spaced (3 page max).

• 15 sample pages double spaced.

• Cover page (this page does not count toward your 15 sample pages)
• In the manuscript header, place the Novel Title / Author and Page Number
• If you need an extra page or two to complete a scene, that’s okay.

• Contest registration form if you have not already submitted it.

Note on Eligibility: If you have not had a full-length novel published by a traditional publisher, you are eligible for this contest. Therefore, if your publishing credits are, short stories, novellas, poetry, non-fiction and or you are self-published, you are eligible.

Important Dates: All submissions must be received by 28 February 2011. The winners will be announced at the Emma Awards Banquet during RSJ 2011. Winners not in attendance at the the Emma Awards will be notified by email the first week of May 2011.
Contest Fee:
Please make a $30 money order or cashiers check payable to: Romance Slam Jam
Mail payment and Contest Registration Form to:
Romance Slam Jam
c/o Deatri King-Bey
P.O. Box 822
Tolleson, AZ 85353
If you'd like to pay using PayPal, the fee is $35. Email payment and registration form to deatri@romanceslamjam.org

Once payment and the Contest Registration Form have been received, instructions will be emailed to you on where to send the submission. Please note, registration fee is non-refundable.
Refer any questions regarding the Romance Slam Jam Aspiring Authors contest todeatri@romanceslamjam.org

Good Luck!

Last month I began brainstorming Book 2 of my series* tonight.  Unlike my first book, whereby I had all the time in the world to build a book, I have a deadline July 15 to turn in an outline. So how do a newbie published author transition from hobbyist to professional writer? er um… how do you write under a deadline?

For me, all I need is One Note. Microsoft’s One Note.