GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - JULY 2016

day write their own travel memoirs!
What were some of the pitfalls you
encountered in bringing your product
to market? What would you recommend
other travel bloggers do to avoid those
same pitfalls?
This biggest thing I regret is not familiarizing
myself with book marketing when I first
started the blog. Writers tend to groan when
someone mentions platform or marketing, but
it’s absolutely essential. If I studied marketing
earlier, I would have known it’s more important
to build a direct connection with your reader
than scrambling to get thousands of likes and
followers on social media. Now I’m playing
catch up.
Also, self-publishing isn’t cheap. Editing alone
can be $1,000. I’m launching a Kickstarter July
1st to get Hola, Morocha into its final phase:
production, editing and design. And I feel I
must mention this: I noticed Amazon or even
Facebook advertising doesn’t really have an
easy way to market to young black travelers.
Morocha, but it’s structure was influenced
from a little known gem I discovered titled Post
Cards from France by Megan McNeill Libby.
It’s still one of my favorite books. I’m going to
read it again!
Stephen King’s On Writing, Ray Bradbury’s Zen
in The Art of Writing, Brena Ueland’s If you
want to Write and Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters
to a Young Poet influenced my writing style. I’m
enjoying The Flaneur by Edmund White at the
moment. But my number one favorite writer
and guy is William Shakespeare!!!
It’s going to be a challenge to set my book
up in the right categories on Amazon to ensure
that my target market finds it. I’ve signed this
petition recently, calling for Amazon to add
more categories. So this is going to be an
interesting journey, but one I’m excited about!
When will the book be released and
where can readers buy it?
marketing plan and basically start looking at
yourself as a publisher: you have to hire book
cover designers, copy editors, proof readers,
purchase ISBN numbers, etc.. etc.. and form
an actual business for tax purposes since you
will be making money on Amazon and any other
platform.
I had to take a year off from blogging, which
can feel like running for homecoming queen in
high school. During my time off, I studied book
marketing and one of the things I discovered
during my research was a direct connection
with your reader is worth way more than a
Facebook like or an Instagram follow. So if
you’re serious about writing and selling books,
you must write, write, write a good manuscript,
learn book marketing, build a direct connection
with your readers and use your travel blog/
social networks as a hub for readers to connect
with and communicate with you.
My travel blog imported-chocolate.com serves
as such a place, but I also provide free resources
and travel guides for other women of color to
start traveling on their own and hopefully one
The tentative release date, depending on how
my Kickstarter goes, is mid August or early
September. I want to get it out before the official
end of summer.
What authors do you like to read?
What book or books have had a strong
influence on you or your writing?
I’m a bibliophile! So for the sake of brevity,
I’ll stick to non-fiction and say Hemingway’s
A moveable Feast inspired the idea of Hola,
Where are you heading next and what
can we expect from you in the future?
I’m heading to Cuba!!! I’ve wanted to go since I
was sixteen and I plan to do Havana and Vinales.
I’m going to start planning for it soon. I’m also
releasing four books in the Hola, Morocha travel
series and all four should be released this year
with the last one releasing in December, fingers
crossed!