Persia Walker
So I spent most of yesterday revamping my website. I felt guilty about taking the time away from other (deadline) projects to do so, but revamping the site was way overdue.
I started over the weekend, actually, but had a lot of trouble. The site actually was done for more than 24 hours. (Yikes! What did my legions of fans think! Panic in the literary world!) Finally got the site back up Sunday afternoon and spend the rest of Sunday evening, (much of Sunday overnight) and most of yesterday tinkering with it. I removed all of the regular site and expanded the WordPress part so that it now constitutes the entire site. Much more flexible and easier for me to change, each time a book comes out (like that’s happening so often).
Now, I at least have the cover of my new book, Black Orchid Blues, on the main page, something I was really embarrassed about not having had. I mean, really. 
I’m in the throes of doing a very simple book trailer for Black Orchid Blues, and I do mean simple, and of redoing something for Darkness and the Devil Behind Me. They are sister books, after all, or should that be sequel books. Darkness introduces Lanie Price — I really love her — and Black Orchid Blues takes her on another adventure.
I also revamped my Amazon.com page and added material to the book pages for Darkness and Harlem Redux. One of the things I wrote about there is how, with every book in the Harlem Renaissance series, I try to focus on some aspect of 1920s Harlem that most people either don’t know about or don’t think about. Everyone talks about the gimlets and the jazz. How many people talk about passing and black-on-black class prejudice or about the gay scene?
Anyway, back to spreading the word. I’ve also got a new fan page on Facebook. I’m a fairly modest person and the whole promotion thing kind of … well, unsettles me. I’ve spent my life as an observer. As a former journalist, I was trained to observe and report, not insert myself into the proceedings and most certainly not to try to take center stage. Now, as a novelist, I’m expected to do just that.
I think of it as marketing the book, however. That makes it easier. As a mom, it’s always easier to push your “children” forward than yourself. Right?
