100th Blog Extravaganza! (Okay, a progress report, but I'm still celebrating)

Welcome to the 100th post of Shawn James, Black Freelance Writer! I want to thank all the readers who stayed with me since 2006, and thanks to all the new readers who have started reading this blog over the past year for supporting this page.

This blog has grown so much over the past year. Last month had the most readers than in any time of the history of the blog. I actually had over 1,000 hits! One of my goals was to expand my web presence and I met that goal this year. I’m hoping to continue building an audience of readers over the next year and I’m gonna work hard to keep that momentum going.

Thanks to this page, more readers know about my books than in the history of my writing career. I'm hoping everyone continues to help me get the word out about my books and my writing; I have much more material I'd like to share with readers.

I’ve grown so much over the past year as a writer; I’ve gone from publishing with a POD publisher to publishing titles on my own. I can actually put together a page layout form start to finish, and design a cover in Photoshop. I’m releasing articles on a regular schedule. My productivity is finally back to where it was in 2004 when I was writing 1,000+ words a day.

On the promotion side, I’m networking with writers. I’m networking with readers. I’m doing shows like the Harlem Book Fair. Getting the word out about my books. I never thought I’d be doing stuff like this back in 2002 when Isis came out.

Gonna do my first book signing this week at the Monroe College Bookstore. I’m gonna try to have pics of that event for everyone in a future blog.

Around Black Friday I’ll be offering an autographed set of Isis, The Cassandra Cookbook, and All About Marilyn on Ebay, with a piece of original art by me or an Isis T-shirt thrown in. I’d love to do two sets, one where the proceeds are donated to charity, the other for promotional purposes. If the response is good I’ll do more in the future.

The winner of the auction can have a personal message written in each of the books. So if you want a special one-of-a-kind gift for a loved one or yourself, check out the auction that’ll be coming up on November 27th.

For the next hundred blogs and thereafter, I’m going to continue providing a mix of content about writing, publishing and discussing issues about the African-American community. I’ll also continue promoting my self-published books and art.

Work wise, I’m gonna be busy cleaning up The Temptation of John Haynes for the next two months getting it ready for its January 2011 release. I’m working hard on some great articles; next week will start a series about the high dropout rate among African-American males.

Again everybody, thanks for your support.