Tony Lindsay Releases New Book for Teens

 

Chess not Checkers is a teen novel with adult adventures and situations. The novel’s thrills happen in both urban and rural environments. A twenty-year-old, Thaddeus Adams, is looking back to when he was a self-described “nerd” who stood up to a brutal bully. Earl Jacobson is gang affiliated and heartless, and he adds layers of difficulties to Thaddeus’ life that no teen should have to endure. The challenges require Thaddeus’ strategic planning which shears off layers of his nerd qualities. At times, we see Thaddeus flat on his back, and at other times we see him standing with confidence; he learns to depend on family, community, and friends to survive. Chess not Checkers is sure to become a teen classic. 

 

Tony Lindsay has written four Teen and Young Adult books: two short story collections Fat from Papa’s Head and Almost Grown, along with two novels A Mama’s Girl (Daybreak Jones), and Chess not Checkers. Tony has also been published by YA/Teen magazine Cicada. He creates depictions of Black life on white pages. Please find the links to his YA texts below:  

       

You can follow Tony Lindsay on the following social media sites:

YA Author Blog:

https://yaauthortonylindsay.blogspot.com/

Twitter:

www.twitter.com/tonylinza

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxOqMDI-pUS2Y4Czp7lOp8A

25 Ways to do Author Cross Promotion (Without spending a dime!)

Hello everyone,

I checked my notes and I realized the last post I published on this blog was over four years ago. I took all of my notes and turned my blog posts into a self-help book instead. I recommend the text, Sage Advice for the Indie Children's Author for anyone thinking of going through the publishing process. I include information from starting to write your first book to finding an illustrator. See the link below:
 

Often, when I am online I find authors who are always looking to cross-promote. However, cross-promotion can mean different things to new versus experienced authors. If you are looking to cross-promote with an author, you can build your social media, get reviews, get recommended, and get comments in places where your book appears online. There are a number of ways to cross-promote. I recommend doing this with authors of varying genres and backgrounds willing to commit to getting their work out to the public each week. I have lists and lists of ways to promote my work and I often choose 5 ways to help other authors. Below I compiled a short-list of ways to cross-promote without spending money.  

5 Facebook Tips

1. Like and Follow an author on their Facebook personal profile and author or publishing page.

2. Invite your entire network to like an author's publishing page by sending invites.
Tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CXLWOTpFE

3. Write a review of the authors work on their Amazon author and/or publishing page.

4. Share their posts in your network and the synopsis of their book.

5. Share an author event or invite your friends to the event via Facebook.

5 Twitter Tips

1. Create a Friday follow #FF in your network and list 10 authors to follow and return the follow.

2. Join the Twitter feed using the hashtags #writingcommunity, #urbanwriters, #amwriting, #amreading, #amediting, and identify authors under 10K followers to join the community and follow.

3. Share a blog of a fellow author for your network.

4. Create a meme of common books and include your books and share on social media.

5. Follow each other on twitter and share interesting posts.

5 Instagram Tips

1. Only follow authors who follow you back on this platform.

2. Like interesting posts to give exposure to fellow authors on this platform.

3. Share cross-promotion posts between 5-7 a.m. and 5-9 p.m. (High peak usage hours)

4. Post fellow authors to stories instead of your page.

5. Comment on new book releases to make them visible to your network.

5 Blog Tips

1. Create a listing of five or more books to 'checkout' and include your books and the person you are cross-promoting.

2. Team up with 5-10 authors to do a literary blog tour for 30 days. Feature interviews of fellow authors about book releases.

3. Comment on blog posts of fellow authors.

4. Share blog posts on Facebook and Twitter.

5. Re-blog posts on your blog.


5 Amazon tips

1. Create a list-a-mania list with your favorite books by fellow authors.

2. Follow the authors you are cross-promoting with to find out about new releases.

3. Click on real reviews which are helpful that helped you select a book by an author that you want to buy.

4. Read each other's books and write reviews on Amazon.

5. Share each other's Amazon central page on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to cross-promote.  



Happy cross-promotion!

African American Males Need Books Too...

 

 

African American teen boys need books with African American male characters. This is important, because this validates their experiences and existence within literature. African American males make up a large number of students within the school population. Our ability to connect with these readers is critical to their reading success and helping them to become lifelong readers. Young adult author Tony Lindsay understands this plight and has penned two novels to date for these readers. His latest work, Almost Grown is a collection of short stories for students in grades 6-12. The stories span most genres of fiction and include authentic experiences that African American males can relate to as readers. This culturally relevant text is appropriate for readers of all interest levels and allows the reader to divulge with materials that resonates with them socially and culturally. Tony's work is available wherever books are sold.  



Black Male Contemporary Characters in Series Books

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

I decided a few years ago to write a book series for males under the pen name P. Boyd. I did this to make sure that boys didn’t reject the book simply because the author happens to be female. My focus in penning this series was to ensure that African American males had contemporary stories about their childhood. They needed something positive to speak to their experience about being children in an ever changing world. At the time, I found no books that included young black males as characters willing to change their environment for the better. In short, my aim was to target the middle ground in literature where reality meets fiction. The result was a story that was crafted to include two African American male characters that decided to open up a detective agency. Their goal was to solve the petty crimes in the neighborhood. I wanted to craft the characters are brilliant, ingenious, ambitious, and curious. Some readers of this blog may wonder why I wrote this series. My answer is simple. In order to any child to believe they are worthy, they must be confirmed through the experiences they read about at school. Black males are no different. In order for black males to be confirmed as brilliant, driven, and ingenious, they must have those experiences confirmed in the literature.

Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author 

Books for Black Males Beginning to Read

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

After careful research, I found there are only 3-4 authors that write series books for young African American males in grades 1-3. This is a problem considering there are very few book series written for African American males in the early grades. This is an issue considering early reading is the foundation for reading success. If black males have very few reading choices that include their experiences, how will they become successful readers?

As an author, I knew I had to do something. Therefore, I penned an unusual book series with African American males that are beginning readers as my audience. The Guardians of History is a sci-fi/historical book series about a family of mythical guardians that are charged with traveling back in time to ensure that certain moments in history take place. Key figures in African American history are highlighted in a historical fiction/science fiction format. I plan to pen more books in this series. I am excited about the impact of this series and the positive dynamic of the storylines.

Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author   

Getting Girls Hooked on Reading

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

As a literacy advocate, learned a long time ago that the best way to get girls reading is to get them interested in a series book. Once they realize the joy of reading, they will seek out books they want to read independently. I highly recommend getting girls hooked on reading beginning in first grade through seventh grade. Series books are the best way to keep the fire lit on a child's desire to continue reading. For girls of color, the same rules apply. The issue is finding books they can read that reflect their images.


Happy Reading!

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children's Author

Black teen girls need voice in YA literature….

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

I love that there are at least five authors writing for black teen girls in the publishing industry. This is far more than what existed years ago when I was a child. However, it is just not enough. We need more authors, stories, and narratives that speak to the diversity of experiences of black teen girls. It is not until black girls complain about the lack of images, narratives, and availability of texts is when this is seen as a problem. The books just don’t exist on a large scale. Authors must continue to write a variety of fiction in order for black girls to engage in reading on a large scale. Also, the availability of those texts must remain a priority. Black girls must have voice in the literature in order to provide a more diverse and equitable view of their experiences.

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author