Monice Mitchell Simms's Blog, page 10
February 24, 2011
Address: House of Corrections Now On Kindle!
fam! the work of an artistpreneur author is never done. as i slave away on the upcoming address: house of corrections - the audio series, premiering next month — it's gonna be sooo hot! — i have a wonderful announcement… address: house of corrections is now available on kindle!!!!
here's the link – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MMEGEI. go and get it right now! tell everybody you know to download a billion copies!
for your viewing pleasure, check out a new trailer featuring what folks are saying about my novel.
thanx for your support, fam! i luv ya! 
February 16, 2011
Monice Featured on Color Online Blog!
fam, i'm keeping it under wraps, but trust, i am working hard to premier something fantabulous for my upcoming address: house of corrections audio series next month.
in fact, i've been blessed with an online interview just yesterday on the color online blog. here's a link to the q & a. hope you enjoy it! http://coloronline.blogspot.com/2011/02/women-writers-of-color-monice-mitchell.html
February 8, 2011
a stone cold blast, honey! – "then ther
a stone cold blast, honey! – "then there's a time/ seems like you'll never find/ someone willing to love you/ keep o… http://ow.ly/1bf9GU
February 7, 2011
a stone cold blast, honey!
ma in bahamas
my momma's turning 60 next week. february 15th. mark your calendars!
for years, i've only thought of my momma's birthday as the day after valentine's day. ten years ago, when she clocked in at 50, we threw her a surprise party. that, in and of itself, was momentous, because my momma has got to be the nosiest woman to have ever walked planet earth.
to save us the stress this time, sistah decided to tell momma that we were throwing her a party. and you best believe it's gonna be a stone cold blast, honey! (sorry for evoking soul train's don conelius, but nothing else explains the foolishness sistah and i are planning to celebrate my momma's 60 years of life.:)
it's been fun checking out the old photos sistah scanned for the this is your life video i'm putting together for the party. and as i look at my mom…a 20-something newlywed wife and mother…a 30-something strong divorcee and single mother…a 40-something stroke survivor and retiree, i can't help but see my 39-year-old-self. right now.
same smile. same eyes and… thighs. lol! i don't know when or how it happened, but somehow i've turned into my momma.
and to think, sistah and i almost lost her. very few people know this, but when i was ten-years-old, we nearly lost our mother to cancer. how would our lives turned out had we not had juanita joann to raise us?
what brings the blessing that is my mother's life further home is the sad fact that my grandmother – her estranged mother – died when she was only 60-years-old.
grandma, the inspiration of my novel, address: house of corrections, died in 1994, and at the time, i thought sixty was old. but now that i'm a few months shy of 40 myself and my own mother will be celebrating six decades of life next week, i've realized just how young sixty really is.
it's young enough to think that the coach of the pittsburgh steelers is "cute." young enough to know all of the lyrics and jam (you hear me?) to hammer's they put me in the mix. and young enough to do a dead on impersonation of a six-year-old girl answering the phone every day i call her.
my mother's fool. and i never would have become the woman i am today without her.
thank ya for beating cancer, momma! thank ya for telling the strokes exactly where they could kiss, momma! and thank ya for your mighty, mighty, mighty love, momma!
i luv you! and haaaaappy birrrrrthday!
note: my mom is the inspiration for my second novel in the series, the mailman's daughter, which i'm feverishly penning now. look out for it next year! oh, and feel free to click on the spinner's lyric link above and check out my mom's favorite group and the best soul group ever to hail from detroit!
buy your copy today! Address:House of Corrections- a novel inspired
February 3, 2011
a quick note. – hey, fam i pray 2011 is
a quick note. – hey, fam i pray 2011 is treating you well so far. back spasms notwithstanding, things are good with http://ow.ly/1bayfx
February 2, 2011
a quick note….
hey, fam — i pray 2011 is treating you well so far.
back spasms notwithstanding, things are good with me. in fact, i've been so busy finishing up the audio mini-series of address: house of corrections, and helping my sister plan my mom's 60th birthday party – a post i can't wait to write – that haven't blogged in a bit.
when the series premieres this spring, hopefully you'll appreciate my neglecting you. lol!
got a quick update — tomorrow, i'm doing a personal book signing with my work family at the the smiley group. haven't worked there in nearly six years and i'm so grateful to still have such strong personal ties with folks i was in the trenches with.
i promise to write you all about it real soon.
in the meantime, check out the cool flier that they made for me and keep writing!
living by my pen,
monice
buy your copy today! Address:House of Corrections- a novel inspired
January 19, 2011
Brown Girl Book Speak Loves "Address: House of Corrections!"
Monice Mitchell Simms is a storyteller.
I don't mean that to sound light or insignificant. In this near epic tale of a bright young girl from Jim Crow era Locust Grove, Georgia to her tumultuous teen years in the Motor City, Simms demonstrates such dexterity in her debut novel.
Merry's tale opens with her life in the South living with her grandmother and her "selfish" younger brother. After, Merry makes an unthinkable sacrifice to save him, the looming consequences leave her grandmother no choice but to send her "up North" to the mother who abandoned her children.
In Detroit, her life seems to be heading towards triumph as she's a successful student and bourgeoning pianist and singer. However, her demons get the best of her and she begins to console her not quite teenaged self with alcohol. Merry quickly finds herself on a downward spiral as a teen mom, dealing with addictions, and a hole in her soul she can't seem to fill. Right up to the bittersweet end, Merry never seems to lose her fight even though she fouls up quite a bit along her journey to self.
Don't think that this is a typical, or stereotypical, tale of Black youth gone rogue. There are nuances to this novel not quite expected and while flawed, Merry remains endearing throughout. Every character, from the closeted gay male to the stifled preacher's daughter gone bad to the alluring bad boy, is well thought and fleshed out.
Simms has written such a page turner that it's girth surprisingly never hits any lulls or feels overworked. This debut is also the promising beginning of a trilogy of which I highly anticipate the sequel, "The Mailman's Daughter."
If you like great, meaty stories, do get your hands on a copy of "Address: House of Corrections."
January 8, 2011
For Make Believers – Book Tour in a Box: Phase III
I've been writing long blog posts lately. I guess I've just had so much good information to share that I got a tad carried away.
Well, this time, instead of droning on the microphone like somebody's Big Momma giving her testimony during a Baptist church service, I promise I'm gonna behave.
Let's get right to it.
As you know, I've been writing a series on the steps I personally took (am taking) to
build my author's brand from the ground up and how that made it possible for me to produce a successful book tour for my debut novel, Address: House of Corrections, on a shoestring (no string) budget last year.
In my last blog post, Book Tour in a Box: The Three B's,I wrote about how I used book reviews, book blurbs and book clubs to promote and market my novel. And my tips broke down like this:
8. Submit your book to be reviewed. Notice I said "submit" and not "pay for."
8a. Pursue Official Book Blurbs.
8b. Introduce Yourself to Book Clubs.
Now, it's time to bring this thing home…
PHASE III
BOOK TOUR IN A BOX STEP NINE:
Friends, Family and Framily.
This is your biggest and best resource. With the economy being in the dire straits that is, money is tight for everyone right now. So outright asking for financial donations might be a little tricky. But money isn't the only gift that friends, family or framily (friends who have become family) can offer you. How about ideas, support and word of mouth? You're looking for a free place to hold your book signing, need a free place to crash when you're in town for your signing or want to spread the word about your book and event? Open your mouth and ask for help.
BOOK TOUR IN A BOX STEP TEN:
Location. Location. Location.
Barnes and Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles. A fantastic location? Yes. But if you're an unknown , self-published author like I was (not anymore, because folks know me now, right?), then the odds of a big time brick and mortar book store offering you a slot on their busy calendar is pretty much an improbability. It's not impossible, because nothing is. But nine times out of ten, it does amount to waste of time for you and the bookstore.
My suggestion? Step outside the box. Who says that books can only be sold in stores? Why not in friends' homes? Or beauty salons, galleries, churches, boutiques and restaurants? The more creative you are with your locations and the more intimate you make them, the more folks will feel like they are supporting someone and someone special.
On my tour, I held signings at two restaurants, one book conference, two book stores and one clothing boutique. During my soft launch in Detroit, I even read and held a signing at my God mother's beauty spa. You ain't lived until you've read your book to sistahs getting their hair and nails did. That's right, I said "did." LOL.
BOOK TOUR IN A BOX STEP ELEVEN:
Travel and Lodging.
Let's be real, Fam, airplane tickets are ridiculous and hotels cost a hell of a lot. So, the first thing you should do is ask family and friends if you can stay with them. Then, depending on who opens their doors to you, that will help you decide what city or if you're lucky, cities, you can visit for your tour. I was blessed. I visited Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York and because of timing conflicts, only had to shell out money for hotels in two cities.
Trust me, I know this venture can get pricey. But don't freak out. There are sooo many travel and hotel websites that can help track down deals. And if you're willing to put some lead time, elbow grease and strategy into it, you can book your travel without breaking your bank.
BOOK TOUR IN A BOX STEP TWELVE:
Become your own documentary crew.
Who wouldn't love to have a documentary film crew following them around. But you don't have the money for that. You got a cell phone, though, don't you? Alright then. Take pictures. Shoot video. Use it to tweet and post on Facebook every step of your journey. Folks want to know what's going on with you.
I know…I know…You don't want to be a narcissistic pest. I didn't either. But when I was on tour, I found that the more I posted photos or videos, blogged or tweeted, it drove up numbers on my site , folks bought books or even – which was the most surprising – folks who had friends and family in the cities I was going to be visiting began e-mailing and calling ahead of time to come to my signings.
BOOK TOUR IN A BOX STEP THIRTEEN:
Keep writing!
Now that you've done all of the work — You've built your brand from the ground up, produced a successful tour on a no string budget, you don't want to lose momentum. As soon as you decompress from pushing yourself and your book to the limit, get back on the good foot and start writing your next masterpiece.
I know. It's hellified hard to do. (Apparently, just like writing a short blog post. 
And I actually should be taking my own advice…But this ain't about me, Fam. It's about you! LOL!
Hope this helps!
living by my pen
monice
January 3, 2011
For Make Believers Book Tour in a Box: T
For Make Believers Book Tour in a Box: The Three B's – by Monice Mitchell Simms Happy New Year, Fam! Two days into … http://ow.ly/1aIefY
