Aaliyah 10 Year Tribute Tonight

 

BET announced in a tweet last month that it would host a tribute to Aaliyah tonight.  Today is the tenth anniversary of her death.  She died in a plane crash in 2001 after leaving a music video shoot in the Bahamas.

On August 25, 2011, it will be ten years since the passing of one of R&B's brightest stars. BET will pay tribute to Aaliyah Dana Haughton with the one-hour special, "Aaliyah: One In A Million" airing on Thursday, August 25 at 8PM. The show takes a look at the life and the short-lived career of Aaliyah with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage and intimate conversations with the family and friends that knew her best. -BET

 

 

Personal note: I am still a huge fan of Aaliyah. I miss her talent greatly and will be watching.

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How PR Works on Facebook

This Morning, while responding to a few phone calls, I skimmed through my Facebook stream and got stuck on this.

An picture of the ARC cover for Bernice McFadden’s upcoming title, Gathering of Waters. 

McFadden is a gifted storyteller. She writes rings around Kathryn Stockett. The New York Times Book Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, and National Book Critics Circle agrees. 

So when I saw her ARC running through my Facebook Stream I had to grab it.

And then I realized…

THIS IS HOW PR WORKS ON FACEBOOK!!

If you create quality work and befriend gatekeepers  like me who can’t keep their mouths shut about great books, then you create preorder buzz about your book.

Hope you’re following us on Facebook

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2011 Christian Fiction Authors to Watch and Read

2011 Christian Fiction Authors to Watch and Read

Catt Chasing 2011 (Urban Christian)
Ever went into a LifeWay or Family Christian Store and saw the same ten authors over and over? I do, I always do. However, I know that there are many more books that never reach the store shelves. And then there are some books you’re not too sure about, because they’re not featured on the 700 Club or recommended by your church librarian. This month I want to spotlight the brightest spots out there and the books you shouldn’t let get away.
Shana Burton ‘s Catt Chasing. Although it’s not listed in Family Fiction (for whatever reason) the novel released in July. It’s in all non Christian bookstores and places where books are sold like: Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, and Booksamillion. It’s also a Black Expressions Book Club summer pick.
Gina Holmes Dry as Rain.
Vanessa Miller Forsaken
Sharon Ewell Foster
Tosca Lee Forbidden with Ted Dekker
Brandilyn Collins Over the Edge
Booker T. Mattinson Snitch
Steven James The Queen


I would also like to share that Sharon Ewell Foster, the award winning, highly acclaimed, Christy Book Awards Winner has returned with a new novel series( The Resurrection of Nat Turner.) The Witness (Simon & Schuster.)

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A Special Thank You to My Friends, The Miranda Parker Collective

Happy Tuesday! I want to thank all my friends who purchased my first novel, A Good Excuse to Be Bad last month. I'm really honored, especially when there are so many books out by BIG authors and back to school shopping, high gas prices, & other things to do with $14. I hope you enjoyed the book. Please let me know.

Twitter Tuesday: Tina Ansa, Bernadette Davis, and…

It’s Twitter Tuesday! I recommend three people and you recommend three Twitter people to me. Let’s go!

 

1. Tina McElroy Ansa

‎"

I hate to give book, movie any more hype, but am stilled distressed by what "Help" says re black women, our voice, our culture, principles." Tina McElroy Ansahttp://bit.ly/r7HVpP

Follow @TinaMcElroyAnsa. She is the acclaimed author of 5 novels (Baby of the Family, Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With, You Know Better, and Taking After Mudear.) She is also the founder of DownSouth Press and Sea Island Writers Retreats. She supports #blacklitchat, replies to tweets and is very generous to her fans (myself included.)

2. Bernadette A. Davis

I I also recommend you follow Bernadette A. Davis @BernadetteDavis. She is the editor of Black Books Blog and co-produces #blacklitchat with me. (FYI: Carleen Brice is our August guest host.) I consider Bernadette an authority on serious African American Fiction. She's also Blogalicious, another bonus. Follow her at www.twitter.com/bernadettedavi​s

 

3. Dee Stewart

: I recommend you follow my handle - @deegospel, because I've been on Twitter for 4 years, since 2007 when it was mostly techies, tech PRs and me. I teach free classes on how to maximize Twitter and I have a list of over 100 bookstores, a list of over 100 libraries, and a three cool Twitter newspapers that are great sources for writers. http://www.twitter.com/deegosp​el Im the owner of DeeGospel PR, I’ also write as Miranda Parker for Kensington Books, so I know a thing or two about Blacks in Publishing.

Now who you got for me?

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Tuesday Book Pick: Kim Cash Tate Cherished

This Tuesday’s Book Pick is Kim Cash Tate’s Cherished(Thomas Nelson, August 2011)
Kelli London once dreamed of being a songwriter. As crazy as it seemed, she hoped that God would use the lyrics that came to her while she slept. She dreamed about Brian too, that the love that they shared would be a forever kind of love. But choices she'll forever regret upended her hope and turned her dreams to dust. When those dreams come knocking once more, she's forced to deal with the pain of the past.
Heather Anderson's life has spun out of control--first an affair with a married man, then a one-night stand with a drummer of a popular Christian band that left her devastated. Broken and alone, she cried out to the only One who can save her. And He did, but that's just the beginning, because now she must leave behind the only life she has ever known.
Two women with shame-filled pasts form an unlikely friendship. What does God's forgiveness look like for them? Will they ever believe that He loves them...and can still offer them a life where they are cherished?

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Monday Moment: Sharon Ewell Foster on Nat Turner

Christian Fiction Online Magazine: Searching for Daylight: Part I

Sharon Ewell Foster is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is the author of Passing by Samaria, the first successful work of Christian fiction by an African American author, and six other works of fiction. Her works regularly receive starred book reviews—which is a rarity among writers—and has won a Christy Award, the Gold Pen Award, Best of Borders, and several reviewers’ choice awards.
Releasing this month is Foster’s highly anticipated new novel, The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witnesses (Simon & Schuster), a story how Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner’s prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves’ eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress’s eyes.
Foster chats with Christian Fiction Online Magazine about this controversial novel, her questions to God about her writer’s journey, and how her readers were her saving grace.
Sharon Ewell Foster is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is the author of Passing by Samaria, the first successful work of Christian fiction by an African American author, and six other works of fiction. Her works regularly receive starred book reviews—which is a rarity among writers—and has won a Christy Award, the Gold Pen Award, Best of Borders, and several reviewers’ choice awards.
Releasing this month is Foster’s highly anticipated new novel, The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witnesses (Simon & Schuster), a story how Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner’s prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves’ eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress’s eyes.
Foster chats with Christian Fiction Online Magazine about this controversial novel, her questions to God about her writer’s journey, and how her readers were her saving grace.

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