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How to Market Your Self-Published Book — that was the theme of the 2022 Local Author Expo at the Birmingham Public Library, which I was a part of yesterday.
The event gave me the chance to sell some copies of my book Find Your Way Back and tell local authors about See Jane Write. And three local authors offered their top marketing tips for independent authors.
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Jelisa Jay Robinson is the woman behind the faith-based writing space called Light Write — a virtual meet-up of writers who seek to worship with words.
Like many of us, Jelisa began to reconsider her priorities during the pandemic. “Every time I wrote out my list of priorities, my faith and my writing came in the top six,” says the Houston, Texas native. “I wanted a space where the two can come together.”
And Light Write was born. During these virtual writing sessions, participants are invited to write in response to prompts. These sessions also include prayer and worship music, but Jelisa strives to make Light Write a faith-based writing space that’s open to all, regardless of their beliefs.
It’s because of her commitment to cultivating community that Jelisa — a playwright, theatre teacher, wife and step mom — is the See Jane Write member of the month for November 2022.
Jelisa is hosting two Light Write sessions this month: one on Saturday, November 5 from 10 to 11:30 am CT (register here) and a special NaNoWriMo write-in edition of Light Write on Monday, November 21 from 7 to 9 pm CT. You can register here.
Read on to learn more about Jelisa and Light Write.
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Find Your Way Back: How to Write Your Way Through Anything is a great pick for women-focused book clubs.
Award-winning freelance journalist Javacia Harris Bowser is convinced that writing is a superpower. She sees her life as proof of it since writing has helped her navigate marriage, a crisis of faith, and body image issues. It also helped her to beat cancer.
As a Black woman from the South, Javacia has used the written word to explore issues of gender and race as well as religion.
Find Your Way Back is a collection of essays that demonstrate how Javacia has used writing to achieve some of her wildest dreams such as being a public speaker, having her own column, and being her own boss. The book also explores how writing, self-love, and faith helped her overcome her worst nightmare: a cancer diagnosis in 2020.
Javacia’s goal is to show readers how writing can transform their lives as well. The book includes prompts throughout to help readers start their own writing journey.
This book is for the woman who has wanted to write since she was a girl but struggles to find the time or the courage to put her words on paper. Find Your Way Back shows that instead of putting writing on the back burner when life gets turned upside down, we should turn to it to help life make sense again.
Book clubs can purchase five or more signed copies of Find Your Way Back at a discounted price of $15 each. Email Javacia at javacia@seejanewritebham.com to learn more.
Javacia is available for live author Q&A sessions with virtual women’s book clubs as well as in-person talks with clubs based in the Birmingham area. Topics she can discuss include: personal narrative writing, breast cancer survivorship, the business of writing and the power of journaling. Email javacia@seejanewritebham.com to book Javacia for your next book club meeting.
Even though Javacia declares in the book’s introduction that “this isn’t really a book about breast cancer,” she does weaver her cancer diagnosis and treatment throughout the essay collection. What things did you learn about breast cancer from these stories?
In the essay, “Chocolate Girl,” Javacia states that she thought colorism had “gone out of style with Gen Z.” What have you witnessed about colorism across generations?
Several of the essays in the book explore feminism. How do you define feminism? Do you consider yourself a feminist? Did the essays challenge your thoughts on feminism and if so how?
In the book, Javacia writes that she once struggled to see how being a feminist could co-exist with her love for the South. Are there any parts of yourself that seem to conflict in this way? Javacia used writing to reconcile these different parts of herself. How have you reconciled your own internal conflicts?
Javacia has said that her favorite essays in the collection are “My Mother’s Daughter” and “Daughters of Eve.” What did these essays reveal about Javacia’s relationship with her mother? Did reading these pieces spark any revelations about your relationship with your mother?
In the book, Javacia explores how journaling helped her deal with a crisis of faith as well as the emotional impact of cancer. Do you journal or do you plan to start? If so, is there anything you learned from the book that you plan to apply to your own journaling practice?
Which pieces in the book resonated with you most and why?
Lots of studies have found that people with higher self-esteem and higher self-confidence are usually happier people too. (You can learn about a few of them here.) But I have always believed that this can work the other way too. I believe that happiness can lead to more confidence.
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Sharing my debut essay collection Find Your Way Back with the world will definitely go down as one of the most joyous moments of my life.
Not only are folks buying the book but they’re reading it, too! (Don’t pretend you read every book you buy. I know I don’t!)
What has made me happiest is that several people have said my book makes them want to write. That’s exactly what I hoped it would do.
If you’re still not sure if Find Your Way Back is a good book to add to your TBR list, allow me to share 3 things you should know about my book.
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