Progress Report

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Summer 2019 has been an extremely productive time for me. In between writing, making YouTube Videos, doing livestreams and making appearances on radio shows I’ve barely had time to blog.

In May I made an appearance on the True Power Is Mine Show where we talked about numerous issues in the Black community and my books. It was a very productive discussion.

I also made my second appearance on the Judge Joe Brown Show in July. On that show we discussed the New Female James Bond and the social engineering agenda to feminize iconic male characters like James Bond.   I talked about how there were so many great original characters like E’steem out there and how Hollywood doesn’t want to spend money on new characters, but wants to push an agenda.

In August I made an appearance on Shawn Stewart In the Morning Radio show. There I promoted THE MAN CRISIS and talked about Men’s issues in the Black community and issues in the Black community.

And I made multiple appearances on Obsidian Radio over the course of the summer to promote THE MAN CRISIS and talk about a series of issues in the Black community. Thanks to Obsidian’s help THE MAN CRISIS has been selling briskly, and is now past 250 paperback and eBook sales and on its way to 300 copies sold.  

THE MAN CRISIS has gotten a lot of positive feedback from readers and many say the book has transformed their lives.

On the nonfiction side the Simp Trilogy books continue to sell well, with Stop Simpin in the Workplace and Misadventures ofCaptain-Save-A-Hoe selling the strongest.

Along with the appearances on radio shows I’ve been doing livestreams every Wendesday and Friday for my viewers and producing daily YouTube videos. So Far I’ve produced over 2,200 videos and I’m getting closer to 11,000 subscribers.

While I’ve done a lot of appearances on shows about Black issues I would love to do a comic show and a Goth show. Possibly something where I can talk about Black fantasy, comic books and sci-fi or the Black Goth Subculture. If anyone is doing those kinds of shows you can hit me up on Facebook or Twitter and we can schedule an appearance! 

On the publishing side I’ve been building momentum on sales of the 2019 catalog books.

John Haynes: Dark Succubus has come out of the gate with strong sales. Building on the momentum of John Haynes: A Conversation With Death, Dark Succubus has been getting a lot of positive feedback from readers on social media who tell me they loved the story.

From what I’ve been hearing from readers John Haynes is starting to build a fanbase and a following. I’m hoping that readers come back for John Haynes: The Man With Nothing To Lose next year. I posted a teaser of one of the TWO covers for the book by Josh Howard and I hope to have Mike William’s cover up when I get it.

I know it’s kind of crazy to put two covers on a paperback, but I figure if comic book can publisher can sell a book with a variant cover a paperback publisher could too.

Isis: All That Glitters also has sold well this year. The book has had strong paperback, and Kindle sales and has picked up readers on KindleUnlimited. People seem to like the story where the Goddess next door takes on GoldenShine the bikini clad bank robber.  

E’steem Goddess of? Also sold strongly over the course of the last nine months. It’s sold well in paperback, Kindle and has gotten a couple of Kindle Unlimited downloads.

On the backlist E’steem The Sands of Time continues to sell well. The Teen Time Travel romance has continued to move over the summer. My take on the Disney princess story has been building momentum over the summer and I’m hoping it continues to keep building an audience.  

As I promoted E’steem: Goddess of? I saw readers picking up back books in the E’steem series. Books like E’steem: like Little Girl Lost, E’steem Ascension sold strongly over the summer.

And to my surprise readers who picked up older E’steem books like The Beast From The Bowels, Faerie Tale, Demons Anonymous and Baptism of Blood. Looks like

John Haynes: A Conversation With Death also continues to sell well. Readers of John Haynes Dark Succubus are coming back to to pick up the first book in the John Haynes series and new casual readers continue to pick up the title.

In addition readers picked up The Temptation of John Haynes and The Man Who Rules The world along with Isis Bride of Dracula and Isis: Escape From Transylvania.

Isis: Imitation of Life continues to sell well. The Fantasy Flashback tale about Isis helping a girl during Jim crow continues to get positive feedback from readers who

Other Isis series backlist titles that continue to do well include Isis: The Beauty Myth, Isis: House of Isis, Isis Bride of Dracula, Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess, and Isis: Escape From Transylvania. Usually the Bill Walko Cover Isis books do better than the hand drawn ones. I’m hoping to do something to put new covers on the books of the first Isis story arc so readers can feel confident about picking up those books. There are so many great stories there that readers are missing out on and I want readers to discover those early stories and why they’re so much fun!

On the Goth side of the catalog, the books of the Spinsterella trilogy continue to sell well. Spinsterella and Spellbound sold well over the summer, and Legendary Mad Matilda gets a lot of Kindle Unlimited reads.

I’m starting to get feedback from people in the Goth scene and they like what they’re reading in the Spinsterella books. I want to write another Spinsterella book, but I gotta find time to do it.

To my surprise I’m starting to see a resurgence of sales on A Recipe for $uccess in recent months. I had thought the cute funy romantic comedy I published back in 2008 as The Cassandra Cookbook had run its course. But it looks like readers are rediscovering the book. With the book being out for over 10 years, I’m thinking it’s time for a paperback reissue!

I’m pushing hard to sell more fiction because I have so many great stories and I want readers to discover them.

While I’ve been promoting the 2019 books on social media and during my livestreams I’ve been working on the books of the 2020 SJS DIRECT catalog. Those titles include:

Coming in 2020! 

John Haynes: The Man With Nothing To Lose where The Man Who Rules The World takes on a The Block, a man who lost everything he challenged John in the first Chapter of The Man Who Rules The World. This one is ACTION PACKED and is gonna be a CLASSIC!

Isis: The Main Event, where the Goddess next door steps in a wrestling ring to conclude the Nemesis story arc and is the turning point for the Isis series.

And E’steem: Blast From The Past which follows up on the events of E’steem: The Sands of Time, where Hell’s aspiring Angel Takes on her evil past self. It’s a battle of light and darkness and shows how much E’steem has grown since her demon days.

And I’m hoping to release a new novel Eternal Night. Eternal Night is the origin story of Lilith Graves and takes us further into the world of Vampires in the SJS DIRECT Universe. As readers get a look into Lilith’s early days as an undead and how she learned how to survive in the realm of the Undead they’ll get to learn more about the SJS DIRECT vampire lore. Spinsterella trilogy fans definitely want to pick up this one, Mad Matilda makes a cameo in this book! 

I’m in the middle of the second round of editing and doing page layouts on Isis: The Main event and John Haynes: The Man With Nothing to Lose. Mike Williams is working on the John Haynes: The Man with Nothing to Lose cover, and I’ve got in toudh with Bill Walko about working on the cover for Isis: The Main Event. If things work out, both these books will be the first out the gate for Spring 2020! 

And I’m in the middle of writing the second act of the first draft of Eternal Night and plotting out E’steem: Blast From The Past.  I’ve been working feverishly to get these books done Hoping to have all the books of the SJS DIRECT 2020 catalog out early Spring for the summer reading season. 

Outlining out the stories to wrap up the second story arc of the Isis series. I want to bring the Cybergoddess back for another story, and I want to conclude things with Isis finally meeting Colleen, from The Thetas. I think it’ll be a nice book end to the Imitation of Life and Death of a Theta storylines.  

Also planning the next two John Haynes books. One is titled John Haynes: Taking Care of Business will feature John working with Lilith Graves, his right hand woman. The second has John and Death teaming up again. Readers LOVE Death and I have to bring her back for another story. This one will be a bit more philosophical and get into Life and Death, love hate and envy.

Got some fun stories planned for the second E’steem story arc. Want to bring Morgan Le Fay Back for a Murder Mystery that’s like a mystic version of CSI, and I want to have E’steem face off against the Witches of Eastland again. Trying to keep the Post Ascension E’steem stories just a light and fun as the Demon ones and trying to give her some challenging new rogues like Avarisk, The Tormentor. 

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working harder and pushing to get to that next level. Trying to get my name and my work out there. Trying to reach new readers and build that audience. Working towards that big break and the sales that will allow me to find a way to make a living writing.