"Changing who you are without compromising who you want to be!"

We all know that there is a certain amount of tenacity that is required to make it in the arts.  You have to develop a thick skin to withstand criticism; a calm temperament when you do business with the wrong person and you need a dash of faith with a whole lot of patience.

A few weeks ago, I had to go out of state to attend a book-signing at a small bookstore.  I had done what I thought was the right thing by overnighting posters of the cover of my book to the store in advance to help create some type of a buzz about my work.  The drive took me about three hours one way, and when I arrived, the first thing that I noticed was that there was no one there with the exception of the manager and someone that I assumed to be her assistant.  My hopes of this being a worthwhile visit fell even further when I spoke to the manager about the store taking a few copies of my book to place on their shelves for sale.  I was informed that even though they enjoyed the book very much, they wouldn't be taking any at this time.


But here's the kicker:  A well dressed woman walked in with a copy of my book.  She had heard that I would be there and she wanted to meet me as the author and obtain an autograph for the book she had in her possession.  And where did she obtain the copy of my book?  The book store had sold her the copy that I sent them to review.  I would never have known this had the woman not come into the store to meet me.

And just like that, everything fell into place and made sense.  All of the contacts that my former publicist had made advising her that the bookstores had wanted to review my book before placing it in their respective inventory for the most part had been a sham.  It was free inventory for the shop.

It was at that moment that I had decided to change who I was.  I will continue to promote myself, but I will not be dealing directly with smaller bookstores.  I will not be sending out sample copies of my work...at least not to a smaller shop.  I'll let my distribution firm handle that.  I understand that everyone has to make a dollar, but I didn't work this hard for anyone to make 100% profit off my work.  That's just insane.


The other thing that I've learned is that there are many people in this industry just like myself that will use the social media tools as a means of self-promotion. There's nothing wrong with this practice.  In fact, I encourage it.  But I think that there's a right way and a wrong way to use it.


There are some people that will arbitrarily post their information about their book regardless of whether they know you or not on your page.  There are also people that will TELL you to "Like" their page without even allowing you time to take a look at it to determine if you truly "Like" it or not.


I understand that we all have to do what we have to do to make a dollar.  That's a given.  I just think that there's a way to do and accomplish everything that you want to do without stepping on someone else to do it.


So now as a result, I'm changing.  I'm still about business.  I love to read and write so I will always want to read and promote the works of my constituents.  But I will be fair and I will remain true to myself.  I will not respond to everyone that hits me up for an interview because sometimes, there just isn't enough hours in the day.  I won't be ignorant, but my attention will go to the ones that follow the protocols that I've set in place, because my protocols are there for a reason.  I didn't make them up because I own a publishing company.  I put them in place to be fair to anyone that reaches out to me the right way.  People that do that stand a much better chance of getting what they want then trying to command it without giving anything in return...even if that anything happens to be respect.


So I'm changing who I am...but I will never compromise who I want to be.  Let's just say, I'm still under construction!!

"Wife 101" by A'ndrea J. Wilson

As I read A'ndrea Wilson's book, Wife 101, I had to force myself to think that the reason for this book was to tell the story of Amber Ross, a powerful woman who needed to learn the lessons on how to become a virtuous woman.  When I provided Ms. Wilson with the pros and cons of her work, the cons were simple.  I was afraid that the book would send the wrong message to strong successful women.  I was concerned that women would think that they would have to give up who they were as well as all that they had obtained to satisfy the ego of the man that they hoped to marry.

Now this is not the case.  It is subject to interpretation. Still, I understand that in accordance to Scripture, there is a fine line between being submissive and being subservient.  I keep coming back to that thought because the one thing that I've always thought is that men need to step up their game.  Instead of the woman taking a step back, maybe some men should take a step forward and be the man that the woman needs him to be IN ADDITION to her being the woman that he needs her to be.

Still, Wife 101 is an enjoyable read.  It was well written with just a hint of drama that kept the pages turning.  My hats off to A'ndrea J. Wilson!!




Review of "Wife 101" by J.L. Whitehead of The Examiner


http://www.examiner.com/buzz-in-philadelphia/wife-101-by-a-ndrea-j-wilson-review

Finding Yourself!

I went to my old church yesterday to attend a going home service for one of the priests that served there for many years.  I left this church many years ago...so long ago that I almost forgot the reason why.  But it hit me as I walked through the front doors.  The decor was the same and so were the feelings that came flooding back to me.  I walked up the aisle to see a long time member of the choir that I had been privileged to sing with for over 11 years.  I was asked to put on a choir robe and sing at this service...something that I wasn't prepared to do.  It wasn't until later that I found out that the priest had made the request for all of the members of the choir to get back together to sing at his service ahead of time...and so as I stood on the altar alongside old choir members and we sang, I could feel silent tears sliding my face.  I wiped them away before anyone could see them fall.  All of my emotions were on overload...all of the practices, the friendships, following God together...it was all gone.  And I was feeling the loss.

One of the former choir members had come up to me after the service and asked me to come back.  She smiled and said that there was always a place for me there...that this was my home.  And my heart broke all over again.  And as I drove home, I thought to myself that I am still finding me.

You see, in addition to this church...this place that had been my church home for so many years past when I was a completely different person,something else of importance was taking place.   I was now talking to my partner about going my own way.  It would take up too much space in this blog to tell you why we were having this conversation, but the bottom line was that I had lost myself...and now I  needed to find me again.

I lost myself in love, in my career, in my job and everything that I thought I was supposed to be was in direct conflict with who I was becoming. So now I'm requesting a do-over.  I had to put the brakes on everything and re-analyze why things weren't going the way I wanted them to go.  I had to reclaim what was mine.  Being an author is only part of who I am.  Being a writer fits the bill more succinctly.  Being the man that God intended me to be is of most importance.  Now, I have to figure out who that person is and then step my game up to becoming it.

As far as going back to that church...maybe I'll go to church next Sunday...not to sing, but to sit and worship!

Launching your own publicity campaign!!

I have approximately one week until my next book signing and my confidence level is somewhat high.  One of the promises that I made to myself was that I would do things differently this year.  I'm hoping that those different choices will translate to minute success.  I took a few days to step back and look at what didn't work for me in 2011 and one of the things that resonates with me is that no one knows who I am.  The second is that I don't have a marketing campaign in place.

To start off my marketing campaign, I had to go out and put together a promotions kit.  The kit consists of two 11 X 17 pictures of my book cover and a few bookmarks along with my press release.  This kit gets sent to any bookstore that is currently active in the literary community...especially if I'm scheduled to do a book signing there.  This allows the owners of the store to prepare for my signing even if its doing no more than strategically placing the posters in a location that their customers can see.  The bookmarks have the synopsis of my book on the back and the cover on the front.  If someone is interested in the cover, they can then pick up the bookmark and read it...and if the cover has done its job, the person will want to come back to buy the book and meet me.

The next thing (and maybe this should be done before the marketing kit is sent off) is to ensure that the book is available in Ingrams database.  There are many ways to do this but ultimately, I've come to understand that your books inclusion in this database will make it easier for the smaller bookstores to order your book since most of them will not order directly from your publisher and/or website.

Lastly is getting the necessary reviews in about my work.  This means sending it to people that are in the media...people that can make a recommendation about your work that the public will actually listen to.  As I am making myself known with a few radio personalities, it helps to send out a copy of the book to them and have them read it.  I don't know what the outcome will be, but hopefully, they may either like your work enough that they see the merit in you as an author or be able to introduce you to someone that will.  Either way, there is no such thing as a bad connection.

Keep on writing folks.  As I learn things in my walk, I'll tell you all about them since it does me no good to keep it to myself.  I won't earn less money if I do that.  On the contrary, I'm only opening the door to earn more!!

I wish you peace!!

J.L. Whitehead

When you lose a staple you relied on!

I lost my publicist five days ago and I've been in a funk about it.  I knew that the demise of our business relationship needed to happen.  There were things that I needed to do and I was spinning my wheels to try to make it happen.  I'm sure that her job wasn't easy since I'm still an unknown...and as authors, we all know how bookstores treat unknowns.

Still, I wanted to hold onto to this relationship because I realized that as long as I had her, I didn't feel as if I were all alone in this industry.  Indeed, it felt like I wasn't fighting a battle all by myself.  I felt like I had someone that I could actually voice my frustrations to and that person understood exactly where I was coming from.  Somehow, swimming in the sea of the literary world didn't feel so lonely when you had someone swimming right next to you.

In many ways, she was the resounding voice of reason.  When I felt anger over why things weren't happening, she could bring it home and give me the necessary words of encouragement that would help me get to the next venture.

Still, over time, we realized that maybe we didn't have that marriage made in heaven.  There was only so much that she could do based on where I am in my career path.  In some aspects, her hands were tied; and so at the end of the year, we parted ways.

I tried to wrap my head around my feelings about the demise of our partnership.  I knew that it was for the best.  And then it hit me.  Our business friendship wasn't just a business friendship...at least on my part.  What this feels like is a lot like losing a friend or ending a relationship.  Even in our last few exchange of correspondence where she gave me the numbers of all of the bookstores that she reached out to and wished me the best, it felt more like a breakup...and even though we said that we'd keep in contact with one another, I get the feeling that we won't.  Or if we do, the exchange will be of few words.

Either way...I'm going to miss her.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system...it's time to conquer 2012!!!