SMASHWORDS!!! & OBAMA WON!!! YEAAA BUDDY!

FIRST CONGRATULATIONS TO OBAMA!  If you are my friend on Facebook, then you know that I have been aggressive in supporting him.  I have my reasons... not only policy but religious belief.  If you are a Mormon, I don't have anything against you personally, I just can't fathom some of the rituals, practices and beliefs you have.  I think they are just a little... okay a lot outrageous and anyone that can ascribe to some of those rituals and believe wholeheartedly in them should have some type of evaluation.  Reality check.  

I mean SERIOUSLY? 
Their marriage ceremony includes getting naked and going into a temple to talk to ANGELS?  SERIOUSLY?  Black people (yes that includes me) are aliens?  Seriously?  The secret golden magic scrolls some dude "supposedly" found in the 1800's trump the bible?  SERIOUSLY... you not only believe all that, but participate in these rituals?  Seriously? DID YOU REALLY SAY... "My family owned slaves, so it's part of my lineage to work closely with black people?" <== YES HE DID GO THERE!!!  And YOU want to RUN THIS GREAT COUNTRY?  OH I AM SO GLAD!  (I was worried I was gonna have to dig out some SPIRITUALS and find an apron if he got elected. )  This economy is seeded in REALITY not fantasy!  This is the only election in my life where I was actually GLAD someone lost!

SO YAYYY OBAMA!

On another note... I FINALLY got published in the premium catalog on http://www.smashwords.com!   It took FOReeeeeeeVER to get past the error messages that wouldn't allow me to get my book to the major platforms like Barnes and Noble, Nook, iTunes etc.  So that was a major milestone for me!  YAYY ME! I'm going to go over some tips and suggestions that I have found helpful for advertising in the next paragraph, so for those of you who are following along because you are trying to launch your book(s) as well... this one's for you!

ADVERTISING N' Things I'VE DONE...YEAAA BUDDY!!!
Here goes nothin'!

The first thing I would suggest is following along on Joe Konrath's Blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ this is a seasoned writer, who is self published on Amazon.com as well as several other sites!  So far the information that I have received from his blog has been invaluable!

The second thing, since I had no knowledge of getting word of my books out to the world was I found a good best seller, in my genre, and googled the name.  My goal was to try and find any resources that I could use for advertising, that wouldn't cost anything.  

Here's what I found:

#1 www.goodreads.com
My links to my books on goodreads:
 Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child
The Black Woman's Guide to Red Flags in Relationships 

#2 Smashwords.com
My link to the one book I have there:
The Black Woman's Guide to Red Flags in Relationships 
(I'll tell you why this is the only book on that site in a little while)

#3 GET REVIEWS ANY WAY YOU CAN! There are book clubs and author groups on Facebook who will read you and give you an honest opinion.  Do a search for groups and get crackin!  Here is an example of a review site I found... African Americans on the Move Book Club they have a website... and when you go there, you can submit your book for review free.  It takes a while for them to get to it, however, once the review is done they'll post it everywhere for you!  This is an amazing resource!  Here is a link to the website, book reviews page! 

#4.... You know, Let's wait on number four... I am beat and it's almost 2 a.m. 

So see you all soon.  Hope I helped, even if it was just a little.
You know, before I let you go, I feel like celebrating!  

A little something I found on the TUBE!  ENJOY!

xoxo

The Black Woman's Guide to Red Flags in Relationships.

Hey EVERYONE!  It's been a little while since I've posted.  Sorry for the delay!  As you know I've been working on another book. The only thing is, it's not the second book to MEMOIRS.  I decided to do a book where I could get some things off my chest.

So I have finally completed The Black Woman's Guide to Red Flags in Relationships!  I love the finished product.  Yes, I did the cover myself... I'll admit... I'm not a graphic designer... AS YOU CAN SEE.  However, it could have been worse!

The book deals with both men and women in relationships.  What to look for in a mate is pretty key when dealing with your relationships and I think it really points out some key things to look for.  I JUST MAY BE a little funny too.

You be the judge.  I am only charging .99 cents for it.  The difference is I am offering it on AMAZON.com, as well as SMASHWORDS.com.  I just want to see how well it does or if it does anything different listed elsewhere other than amazon.

We'll see.

On another note...

I am so written out. I may take a few months break before I go and finish Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child part two.  I think I'm gonna do a new cover... that'll keep me busy!

Well Goodnight guys!

My Reviews!!! I feel so blessed... I cried AGAIN!

So far my reviews on Amazon have been great! I feel so blessed! Here are some of them..

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable!, October 24, 2012
By Floyd James "Floyd" (Georgia) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child (Kindle Edition)This story was well written and captivated my attention from the beginning til the end. The pain was real and it was heartfelt. The author did a great job with grabbing ahold of my feelings. I give this book a two thumbs up and recommend

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart wrenching..., October 17, 2012By Ms. G - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child (Kindle Edition)The excerpt was heart wrenching and I could feel the pain in her words. I look forward to reading the book in full. It really touched me and brought tears to my eyes.

5.0 out of 5 stars cant wait, October 17, 2012By a.burns - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child (Kindle Edition)I anticipate that this will be a great read. From the excerpt I could visually see her in the courtroom. I love books that read like a movie I usually don't miss I predict future bestseller.Thank you all so very much!

DeAngelo Demus @bookit12

@flyshoozdotcom 'Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child' by Myka Frazier now at Amazon. Great book!

You ever feel like you're going in circles?

I'm not gonna bi%*h about advertising anymore!  After this... LOL!  Okay, I might, but It'll be much later... today...  I want non paid ways to advertise!  The only income I have is from this book and my jewelry (yes I make jewelry) and it's not like the book's a best seller and I sure ain't no famous designer like my auntie!  I just can't afford it and school!  OKAY I'm stepping OFF THE SOAP BOX OFFICIALLY!

Anyhoo,  How are YOU doing?  Whatcha' listenin' to?  How'd you find my blog?  Have you read my book?  What'd ya think?  

If you'd like to put in some of your two cents.. I'm here.

Much ADO about NOTHING!

Oh, I almost forgot... So today I was getting out of my car at the gas station and some guy runs up to me!  At first I was started a little, but I quickly gained my composure.  He says to me, "what is that perfume you're wearing?"  I'm like.. "uuuh I dunno, a mixture of sweet pea and Tommy Girl, I think."

He screams out (NO LIE), "SWEET PEA, OH LAWD GAL I COULD SOP YOU UP WITH A BISCUT LIKE SPLIT PEA SOUP!"  The things that go through my mind... Should I be scared?  I mean he looked like he could be a 'MOD' CANIBAL from the 80's... or he could just be flirting in a old bum kind of way.  Why do I always get the embarrassing crazy yelling dudes?  I think that was the first time I just didn't respond to a "compliment".  SMH  

Well, time to get back to work!

C u soon!

Late for class and to top it off...

Okay people are playing with my emotions... Buying my book and then refunding it!  I could choose to say a few choice words about that but... I won't.  At least they didn't refund AND give a bad review... Now I know what other author was talking about!  It's hard to get off the ground when you are new in the authoring business, but I have great hope and a positive outlook on the whole thing!


See my book is about me, and the way it's set up... I understand, people don't get it yet.  I set the first book very short... a cliff hanger, if you will.  So they may read the first book and go... WHAT?  or That's all???  So I do understand, because I purposely did it that way!  So, it's cool... I can shake the HATERS OFF.  I'm still selling, and that's what counts!  I just know I need to come with the second book pretty quick! LOL.  (That reminds me... I need to add a video to this post!)

Anyhoo, let's get to why I'm writing today.  I took a week off from school... middle of the semester... because I got really sick.  Couldn't for the life of me... or anyone else figure out what was wrong with me.  Of course it's me so, I'm overdramatic already as it is...  I was all over the emergency room.  I did everything short of bashing my own head in, my head was killing me something fierce!

The ER gave me antibiotics and pain killers.  A few days later I realized it was a tooth!  So I got the tooth pulled which led to more antibiotics and pain killers!  Finally, the next week, I'm back in school.  problem was, I missed a week's worth of school.  The issue then became, I had 7 days to make up 4 exams and study for another 4 exams that were coming due that week.  Talk about life totally sucking!

I think I pretty much failed the first four!  So I'm sulking this week!

On top of that the book isn't totally off the ground yet, so I need a job.  I finally got one, but guess what?!?!  I have to go through training and the training is 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE Of WHEN ALL OF MY CLASSES ARE!!!


Decision time... should I take the job and finish school when and how I can, or do I turn down the position and struggle to make ends meet (possibly losing my home and credit)?

What do you think?

Leave a comment!  Your help would be invaluable at this point!

Thanks guys... meanwhile, I'm off to class!

Feeling like Mark Zuckerberg -the brains -$$ = AIN'T WORKIN!

Still working on advertising... trying to think of practical means of advertising.  ** Ding** Lightbulb!  Wikipedia!!!  Yea right... you have to be damn near a genius, like a Mark Zuckerberg to figure that s*%t out!!! ARGH!

Okay, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming!

I feel loved...

My FaceBook friends and Google Plus friends really love me!  My book is doing okay for only having been published for 4 days!  {Insert cheap plug here} If you haven't gotten your copy... click get it here! I decided to put it on sale for a while.  Get some comments and based on what they say... price accordingly.  So far I've had a total of 340 downloads!!! Not all of those were paid, but a nice litte portion are... still no reviews though.  That worries me.  Others tell me it shouldn't because for every 100 people that download your book you MAY get ONE review.  I have two and about 4 FB likes.  I think I'm okay with that :)

I think I've become obsessed with the book and advertising!  I need a vacation!

The Latest In My Advertising Journey

          So, I have a group on facebook called "Authors, Speakers, and Personalities Oh My!" I looked everywhere for a group to join for support for new authors, but I couldn't find anything.  You know me... I made my own!  I want to launch my book on my own, I want to look back and say "I did that! Me!"  So I started the group and proposed to everyone that we work together on ideas for free and extremely cheap advertising!

          My first idea came to me... I know this sounds cliche... but in a dream!  Never mind the dream, but I was like wait!  I am published on Kindle and there are a million plus books published there too!  What do they have that I don't?  So I started looking at the top ranked books and searching them on Google, Bing and Yahoo, what I found was these top selling books were listed everywhere!  More important than that was, not all of that advertising was paid!  So you know "I IMMEDIATELY GOT TA CLICKIN!"

I found a few sites where I could advertise for free and add my book to their library for free.  An example GOODREADS.com has allowed me to add my book to their library through my profile!

http://www.publishedauthors.org/ is another good venue as people are willing to help and are so friendly there!  In just logging in and introducing myself I have gained a few seasoned writers who were willing to read the book and give honest opinions.

Those were free...

Now there are some that, if you join, you just may become a best seller... however there are monthly fees.  (BTW I am not an affiliate of anything, so the links and suggestions I am giving here are totally unbiased):

http://www.bookdaily.com they have millions of subscribers and they will feature 1 or more new books or emerging author every day right along side of best sellers!  A thought to consider, $49 a month just may be worth that to ya!

I'm sure there are more, however, I haven't found em yet :(  but I'll keep you guys posted on my advertising journey!

Okay, I gotta hit the books... I have tests all week this week coming up, and I haven't cracked a book (except my own... smh).

Professional Biography... Figured I better do one

Biography:

Myka LaToya Frazier
Jewelry Designer/Professional Speaker/Psychology Major at Alabama A&M University/Author

For bookings or other inquiries contact:
Inlifestory@gmail.com or contact on blog at http://memoirsofanewageferalchild.blogspot.com/

To place Myka in the category of just being one or the other would be a big understatement. This lady has either seen it all or done it all. Born in Xenia, Ohio and later moved to California, then Ohio and eventually landing in Alabama to finally finish her schooling – she should be referred to as a survivor. Her family will tell you that no matter what the circumstances, or how high she falls from, she always ends up landing on her feet!

Myka's work ethic constantly keeps her working with a full plate. While attending school and maintaining a 4.0 GPA, she still finds the time to volunteer at the local animal shelter, lead the Spanish club and participate in psychology and law clubs activities on campus. All of this and she still found time to write her book, a three part series called “Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child”, AND publish it herself! Leaving little for spare time, when there is, she is constantly looking for avenues to outreach to community youth in whatever city she is in AND design her jewelry (which she also sells on Amazon.com)!

A rundown of only some of her lifetime accomplishments:

• NAACP Youth business achievement award for her Jewelry line and donation collection in 1997
• Outstanding Customer Care and Service Annual Award Teleperformance 2006
• Certified as a Professional Meeting Planner 2008
• Dean's List /Honor Roll Alabama A&M University Spring 2010
• President's Cup/Dean's List /Honor Roll Alabama A&M University Spring 2011
• Certified Public Speaker Winter 2011
• Presidential Merit Award/Dean's List /Honor Roll Alabama A&M University Spring 2012
• Published first book “Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child” October 2012
  
  To give a brief rundown of Myka’s accomplishments is just not possible. She’s done so much on a small scale that, all that is left is for her to be formally recognized in the mainstream. Her goals to help others by bringing about more awareness of teenage homelessness and child abuse are her “passions and motivations in life”. By the time her story is complete, her supporters will be able to tell you she was a survivor on more levels than one, and the world will know what it is that she set out to do, educate, motivate and bring self awareness and knowledge about the dangers in society to the youth of this country. 

Memoirs+of+a+New+Age+Feral+Child

Memoirs+of+a+New+Age+Feral+Child

Please Note... Advertising Sucks!!!

Okay, so the book is published... you can download it free, today only!!! So that part is done... now to find readers!  Oh my... it's like finding a virtual needle in a haystack!  I mean I'm giving it away and people aren't taking it... then on top of that I try to fix the cover and description and none of it is working!  ARGH!!!


Anyhoo, missed class today for an interview, this was interview #2.  I was so confident "I got this in the BAG!' - Or so I thought... LOL he set me up for another interview!  It's okay tho, I think I'll be ready!  I'll have to miss a class again tomorrow though.  I am getting so behind on everything! It's making me sick how much work I have piled up, and you know me... well not really yet... but the more that piles up, the more I don't want to do it.  Aaaaaah... I've learned to force myself to do things I don't want to, so I'll figure it out. :-)

Done with today... time to catch up on homework!


Toodles!

Hallelujah!!!  I just finished editing the final changes to the book!  I decided to go with it as a trilogy!  There is so much that I have seen and been through.  Too much to add to just one book!  So I'm going to release the first part as an introduction to my life.  Nothing major happens, just small things here and there that led up to my being a homeless teenager.

I have the same fears as everyone... will it sell? Will people that download it like it?  I really hope so, otherwise book two won't be read... and that's the juicy one with everything in it.  I've had a few people read what I've written so far and they like it... but it's people I know, so of course they are going to be intrigued.  I need an honest opinion!  Besides, I have written and re-written it so much, I'm starting to miss some things!  I guess that's just one of the pains of self publishing!

Another new thing I decided to do was donate a portion of all proceeds to organizations that help foster kids and children on the streets.  Kids that can't speak up for themselves or provide for themselves like I had to.  This is a major deal for me... being able to give back to a community that helped me when I couldn't help myself!  I am so excited!


Well... it's three o'clock in the morning, and I have class tomorrow!  Tomorrow is also the day, I start the publishing process!  So, excited... I may not sleep... but I have to try...


Goodnight all!


Myka

Finally, writing a book

     Yes, the time has come.  I have been through a tremendous amount of turmoil in my life.  So much so that I decided it was time to write a book.  Memoirs of a New Age Feral Child.  Yes I have seen it all and pretty much done it all.  Don't worry though, it's only quick snapshots into some of the things I have experienced in my life.  Not EVERYTHING... you'd be reading for months if that was the case.

     Later in this blog, I'll go over some of the chapters and some of the experiences I've had over the years.  In the meantime, let me introduce myself!  I am Myka Frazier.  My roles in life are daughter, granddaughter, auntie (recently), student, employee (soon... hopefully - at least until my book is released), girlfriend, mother (one day hopefully), church member, game developer (I am designing a children's learning game for iPhone, iPad and Mac due to be released after my memoirs) and I am one hec of a lady!

     I had a family as a child, but eventually I was raised in the streets of San Diego and eventually Los Angeles California.  When I say I have either seen it all or done it all... I literally have (with very few exceptions).  Whether you found this blog through my book, a seminar or speaking engagement I've done, youtube, or one of my video games (still in the making)... this is where you can find out more about me.  Ask questions, or just read what I've been up to on a day to day basis.  This blog is literally going to be my online diary from today on.

     You can see just how screwed up I am and what decisions I make and have made, and see where they leave me.  Sometimes, I'll leave my life decisions to up to you... like take a poll.  I have found that when you're on the outside looking in, things are a whole lot clearer, so I'll ask for help from time to time.

     Sooooo, until next post!!!

Oh, p.s. I love to add videos, pictures and little extras for entertainment.  Sometimes things can be offensive as I DO BELIEVE IN GOD AND JESUS, Im not perfect so sometimes I may curse or say mean things or I just may post a Lil Kim video or something derogatory... so just to give fair warning, don't take anything I say or do here too personally. (NOW IF THAT WASN'T A RUN ON SENTENCE... I don't know what is... WHEW!)

Myka

P.s.s.  It's Myka (mēē-kuh)  NOT MICAH... PLEASE DON'T CALL ME THAT!