News and notes

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Over the course of the week I've picked up a few interesting bits of news from the internets and decided to share them.

A group of YA and kids' books bloggers I respect and admire have started a movement to get people to buy diverse books as birthday gifts for the young folks in our lives. The mission is to encourage a new generation of readers. Have you taken the Birthday Party Pledge yet?

TODAY ONLY, download a FREE ebook of Creatures Here Below by O.H. Bennett from publisher Agate Bolden. It's a really good novel, well worth the money, so to get it for free is really special. Hopefully, this kind of marketing will help it get some well-deserved attention. Download it today and help spread the word. (Watch this blog for a Q&A with Bennett soon.)

ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Victoria Christopher Murray have joined forces with a book just released this week featuring the heroines of their respective series. Sinners and Saints promises to be a fun read, especially if you enjoy Christian fiction. Or if you, like me, enjoy the shenanigans on "The Real Housewives" (Can a "Real Pastors Wives" be far off?). The two are on tour and may be coming to a book store near you!

Hat tip to Connie Briscoe for pointing me to this article on HuffPo about how books are segmented by genre, race, gender and class.

I had not heard of The Book Look online show, until Dolen Perkins-Valdez posted this on Facebook.

Meet: Connie Briscoe, author of SISTERS AND HUSBANDS

Before we get to the next author for me to introduce you to, please head over to Zetta Elliott's blog and read her open letter to the publishing industry. Powerful stuff! (And look for a Q&A with Zetta here soon.)

Also, please take a quick second to vote for book bloggers you may have met here or seen commenting here including Color Online and the Bottom of Heaven. Both are shortlisted for Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards! Voting continues until this weekend.

Okay, on to introducing you to another excellent novelist! Connie Briscoe is author of many novels with her most recent being Sisters and Husbands.

According to Connie:

I’ve been a full-time published author for more than 10 years, with five novels, one photo-essay book and one novella published to date. I’ve worked with HarperCollins, Doubleday, Ballentine, and Harlequin. My work has hit many major best-seller lists, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today Weekend, and Essence magazine.

My sixth novel, a sequel to the novel that started it all, Sisters and Lovers, which sold more than 750,000 copies has recently been published. Sisters and Husbands was published by Grand Central Publishing in June 2009.

About Sisters and Husbands:

Ten years have passed since Sisters and Lovers, and Beverly, now 39, is engaged to Julian, a man her family and friends agree is the epitome of a great catch: he's gorgeous, loyal, trustworthy, successful, and very much in love with her. Since this is Beverly's third engagement in the past five years, after breaking off the previous two at the last moment, everyone's happy that she's finally settling down. For Beverly and Julian, nothing could be better than being in love and planning their wedding. That is until Beverly's oldest sister's marriage falls apart and dampens the mood of what should have been the happiest time in Beverly's life. Now, second-guessing her impending nuptials, Beverly is forced to wonder if marriage really works. Will she stick it out? Or will her fears cloud her judgment once again?

My conversation with Connie:

White Readers Meet Black Authors: Describe your work for someone unfamiliar with it. What's your writing style like? What subjects/themes do you explore?

Connie Briscoe: I've written novels, a novella and a nonfiction book. The bulk of my work would probably be considered "women's fiction." It is centered around women overcoming challenges and obstacles, whether professional, romantic or otherwise. How can we make ourselves better, stronger, wiser?

WRMBA: What's your latest novel about?

CB: Sisters and Husbands is a sequel to my very first novel, Sisters and Lovers, which sold three-quarters of a million copies. Sisters and Husbands takes place ten years later, and it centers around Beverly, the youngest of three sisters. She's never been married and her challenge is to overcome a fear of commitment to marriage after having been burned or disappointed repeatedly by the men in her life.

WRMBA: What's your goal(s) as a writer? Do you set out to educate? entertain? illuminate?

CB: All three actually. I believe that learning about ourselves can also be fun.

WRMBA: What's next for you?

CB: I'm exploring different ideas, some outside of writing. The real estate market fascinates me, as do many other things. I'll always write or somehow be involved in publishing. I'm just not sure how after my next novel comes out in a year or two. And that's not all because of me. The publishing market is changing so much, and I don't think we can be sure what it will look like a year or two from now.

WRMBA: What's the best book (or whose the best writer) that not enough people know about?

CB: You, Carleen. I really believe that. But I also see that that is changing, fortunately, as you become better known and appreciated.

WRMBA: Connie, Thank you so much! I'm touched that you mentioned me. And a little saddened and scared by your answer about how publishing is changing. If someone who can sell a million books isn't confident...? It's scary times!