Day 29 is like being atop a mountain and looking out on the lay of the land, which are 28 great spotlights and knowing that readers and those who influence readers have the work of 28 more creative authors to consume. Pride and satisfaction are understatements to describe how that makes me feel.
But, making sure The Brown Bookshelf and 28 Days Later goes off like a well-oiled machine can be challenging. What gets lost in the mix is that we, the BBS members, are all authors as well. So thanks to Leap Year, we’re able to remind not only our visitors of that…but ourselves, as well. Promoting others and yourself, simultaneously, not such an easy thing.
So here I go…
The Journey After the Journey
You can check the About Us page or my bio to find out a bit more about me. What’s less known is what happened after my Del Rio Bay series was published. Kensington published the five-book series between 2007 and 2009. My initial goal was to get the characters to graduation. Instead, the series ends at the end of their junior year. I still have readers write me and say – Noooo what happens next?! Tell me there’s another book coming. And those emails never fail to make me smile. I love that readers have bonded with Mina and the clique. But the will of the readers is not always that of the industry.
The series continues to live on in libraries, in the online marketplace and wherever readers can get their hands on it. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find my way back to writing regularly. From the time my series launched until now, writing has always been something that has to take place in between my full-time job and managing a busy family. So one day, my current Work-in-Progress will see the light of day. And if this article, about teens and ebooks, is right – sooner rather than later because ebooks opens up the opportunity for me to try free e-novellas etc…So watch out for me, I’ll be back in “print,” no matter the form.
The Buzz
The Del Rio Bay series was among the first contemporary YA books featuring a multi-cultural cast where the storyline wasn’t strictly revolved around race. I’m proud to say that because of books like mine Nikki Carter and Ni-Ni Simone were able to publish their YA books. The DRB series proved readers, of any race, were looking for books that portrayed a more diverse community. And it proved that readers of color were hungry for books that went beyond historical fiction.
