I have absolutely no social presence for my book! I have beta readers and friends, but no online presence! With my part one of my series completed and a published date set, my question is, how do I make people want to read it?
Any advice?
I'm sure I'm late to the party but I'm genuinely not a huge social media person. All book releases that I become aware of are come from 'new releases' on Amazon, based on genre. However I happened to slide my little way over to IG and one of my fave authors, Natavia, had her promo videos. They caught my attention so much that they actually made me want to reread books that I've read before.
Once I moseyed my way back over to the Reddit I was disheartened to see that 'we' absolutely hate AI assisted marketing. Or at least the people that don't look like me absolutely hate it. I love the idea of seeing my actual work on a screen. I entered the novel writer world because I only wrote film scripts. Once I realized I was no Issa Rae, I had to pivot.
So my question is, would 'my target' audience boycott anything I released if it had a AI promo video attached?
I'm sure I'm late to the party but I'm genuinely not a huge social media person. All book releases that I become aware of are come from 'new releases' on Amazon, based on genre. However I happened to slide my little way over to IG and one of my fave authors, Natavia, had her promo videos. They caught my attention so much that they actually made me want to reread books that I've read before.
Once I moseyed my way back over to the Reddit I was disheartened to see that 'we' absolutely hate AI assisted marketing. Or at least the people that don't look like me absolutely hate it. I love the idea of seeing my actual work on a screen. I entered the novel writer world because I only wrote film scripts. Once I realized I was no Issa Rae, I had to pivot.
So my question is, would 'my target' audience boycott anything I released if it had a AI promo video attached?
I'm sure I'm late to the party but I'm genuinely not a huge social media person. All book releases that I become aware of come from 'new releases' on Amazon, based on genre. However I happened to slide my little way over to IG and one of my fave authors, Natavia, had her promo videos. They caught my attention so much that they actually made me want to reread books that I've read before.
Once I moseyed my way back over to the Reddit I was disheartened to see that 'we' absolutely hate AI assisted marketing. Or at least the people that don't look like me absolutely hate it. I love the idea of seeing my actual work on a screen. I entered the novel writer world because I only wrote film scripts. Once I realized I was no Issa Rae, I had to pivot.
So my question is, would 'my target' audience boycott anything I released if it had a AI promo video attached?
Anyone interested in beta reading a black romance series? This is my second round with a rewrite and edit.
A little story time and then a little call for help.
The storytime.
I've been writing for forever and it started with screenplays. Honestly at the time screenplays in my opinion were simpler. Only because I didn't want to have to do the whole 'she walked through the large, open, inviting door, feeling scared, annoyed, and absolutely not in the mood to narrate everything that she was feeling, seeing, doing.' Don't judge me I was 11.
Fast forward to today, and I finally dusted off my ring bound college rule notebooks with a renewed sense of creativity.
Enter in an eight book series that has now literally taken on a universe of its own. Over the however many years.... (20+ but saying that old loud makes me sad in ways I'm not ready to explore) the screenplay has grown into a real life novel. Of course the mind of an 11-year-old and a 35-year-old are different... In small ways but not as much as is probably expected.
Whichever. My one little screenplay called The Mistake has morphed into as I said a eight book series that explores the side characters I haphazardly threw into the original body of work just to round out the story. Once those were finished I was like, "wouldn't be dope if they had kids?" That led to a new six-part series connected to the original adult series. Which led me down the wormhole of what if each sets of kids had their own label's and their own stories? So that created 'The Bigs, The Mids and The Littles'.
Well every series has a fully formed outline and trajectory The Mids and Littles books have yet to speak to me. That might have a little bit to do with the fact that some of them are still babies and haven't quite learned how to form full sentences yet. I'm sure by the end of the big series they'll have grown enough that I can tell their story without getting bogged down about the logistics of how a two-year-old has now become 16 over just a few short months. The beauty of fiction writing.
Now that my story time is complete the help. Is there anyone interested in reading my books?
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
It's an African American romance, or a women's fiction, or a family saga. Depends on your perception.
In my opinion it's absolutely hilarious, and sometimes sad, and other times cathartic...
My need is for someone else's eyes to see if it's even worth continuing down the path of 48+ books.
Either way, thanks for reading even just this post, it low-key means more than you'll know. After working on this for so long, even just saying out loud, 'I wrote a book' brings me more joy than I anticipated.
Anyone interested in beta reading a black romance series? This is my second round with a rewrite and edit.
A little story time and then a little call for help.
The storytime.
I've been writing for forever and it started with screenplays. Honestly at the time screenplays in my opinion were simpler. Only because I didn't want to have to do the whole 'she walked through the large, open, inviting door, feeling scared, annoyed, and absolutely not in the mood to narrate everything that she was feeling, seeing, doing.' Don't judge me I was 11.
Fast forward to today, and I finally dusted off my ring bound college rule notebooks with a renewed sense of creativity.
Enter in an eight book series that has now literally taken on a universe of its own. Over the however many years.... (20+ but saying that old loud makes me sad in ways I'm not ready to explore) the screenplay has grown into a real life novel. Of course the mind of an 11-year-old and a 35-year-old are different... In small ways but not as much as is probably expected.
Whichever. My one little screenplay called The Mistake has morphed into as I said a eight book series that explores the side characters I haphazardly threw into the original body of work just to round out the story. Once those were finished I was like, "wouldn't be dope if they had kids?" That led to a new six-part series connected to the original adult series. Which led me down the wormhole of what if each sets of kids had their own label's and their own stories? So that created 'The Bigs, The Mids and The Littles'.
Well every series has a fully formed outline and trajectory The Mids and Littles books have yet to speak to me. That might have a little bit to do with the fact that some of them are still babies and haven't quite learned how to form full sentences yet. I'm sure by the end of the big series they'll have grown enough that I can tell their story without getting bogged down about the logistics of how a two-year-old has now become 16 over just a few short months. The beauty of fiction writing.
Now that my story time is complete the help. Is there anyone interested in reading my books?
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
It's an African American romance, or a women's fiction, or a family saga. Depends on your perception.
In my opinion it's absolutely hilarious, and sometimes sad, and other times cathartic...
My need is for someone else's eyes to see if it's even worth continuing down the path of 48+ books.
Either way, thanks for reading even just this post, it low-key means more than you'll know. After working on this for so long, even just saying out loud, 'I wrote a book' brings me more joy than I anticipated.
Anyone interested in beta reading a black romance series? This is my second round with a rewrite and edit.
A little story time and then a little call for help.
The storytime.
I've been writing for forever and it started with screenplays. Honestly at the time screenplays in my opinion were simpler. Only because I didn't want to have to do the whole 'she walked through the large, open, inviting door, feeling scared, annoyed, and absolutely not in the mood to narrate everything that she was feeling, seeing, doing.' Don't judge me I was 11.
Fast forward to today, and I finally dusted off my ring bound college rule notebooks with a renewed sense of creativity.
Enter in an eight book series that has now literally taken on a universe of its own. Over the however many years.... (20+ but saying that old loud makes me sad in ways I'm not ready to explore) the screenplay has grown into a real life novel. Of course the mind of an 11-year-old and a 35-year-old are different... In small ways but not as much as is probably expected.
Whichever. My one little screenplay called The Mistake has morphed into as I said a eight book series that explores the side characters I haphazardly threw into the original body of work just to round out the story. Once those were finished I was like, "wouldn't be dope if they had kids?" That led to a new six-part series connected to the original adult series. Which led me down the wormhole of what if each sets of kids had their own label's and their own stories? So that created 'The Bigs, The Mids and The Littles'.
Well every series has a fully formed outline and trajectory The Mids and Littles books have yet to speak to me. That might have a little bit to do with the fact that some of them are still babies and haven't quite learned how to form full sentences yet. I'm sure by the end of the big series they'll have grown enough that I can tell their story without getting bogged down about the logistics of how a two-year-old has now become 16 over just a few short months. The beauty of fiction writing.
Now that my story time is complete the help. Is there anyone interested in reading my books?
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
It's an African American romance, or a women's fiction, or a family saga. Depends on your perception.
In my opinion it's absolutely hilarious, and sometimes sad, and other times cathartic...
My need is for someone else's eyes to see if it's even worth continuing down the path of 48+ books.
Either way, thanks for reading even just this post, it low-key means more than you'll know. After working on this for so long, even just saying out loud, 'I wrote a book' brings me more joy than I anticipated.
Looking for Beta Readers – Contemporary African American Romance / Family Saga (37k+ words)
Hi everyone!
I'm putting together a small group of beta readers for my debut novel, The Mistake — book one in an interconnected contemporary romance and family saga I've been pouring myself into for years.
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
About the Book:
The Mistake, Kori and Emmet's story. It's an African American romance and women's fiction, with real ‘family’ saga bones — about 40k words, told through multiple first-person POVs, broken into 3 parts for the first book in the series.
The Sunday Table follows a close-knit group of lifelong friends whose bonds get tested by love, loyalty, and the fallout of one decision that changes everything. Underneath it all, it's really a story about relationships, friendship, forgiveness, healing, and the families we build for ourselves.
If you love emotional, humourous one liners, character-driven stories with tangled relationships, messy family dynamics, a slow-burn romance, and a big ensemble cast you can get attached to — I think you'll feel right at home here.
If you enjoy authors like; Natavia, LaToya Nicole, Kennedy Ryan, Alexandria House, Christina C. Jones, Brittainy Cherry, Brenda Jackson, or Tia Williams, this one's probably for you. And hopefully not unrealistic in my confidence.
What kind of feedback I'm after:
I want the honest stuff — what's working and what isn't. Specifically:
\\- Are the characters likable? Do they feel like they're growing?
\\- Did it hit you emotionally where it should?
\\- Funny or trying too hard?
\\- How's the dialogue land?
\\- Pacing — any slow spots or places that felt rushed?
\\- Plot holes, confusing scenes, continuity slip-ups
\\- And just... did you enjoy it?
Grammar catches are always appreciated, but that's not what I'm here for — I want your gut reactions.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
Timeline:
I'd love feedback within 4–6 weeks, but life happens — just keep me in the loop and we'll figure it out together.
The bigger picture:
This is book one of eight in an interconnected series, and books 1–5 are already drafted. So if you're someone who loves getting hooked on a series and sticking with it, I'd especially love to find readers who want to come along for the whole ride.
If this sounds like your kind of book, drop a comment or send me a DM — I'll share the first few chapters first so we can both make sure it's a good fit before I send the full manuscript.
Thank you so much for even considering this. It means a lot. 💛
— K. Sherman
A little story time and then a little call for help.
The storytime.
I've been writing for forever and it started with screenplays. Honestly at the time screenplays in my opinion were simpler. Only because I didn't want to have to do the whole 'she walked through the large, open, inviting door, feeling scared, annoyed, and absolutely not in the mood to narrate everything that she was feeling, seeing, doing.' Don't judge me I was 11.
Fast forward to today, and I finally dusted off my ring bound college rule notebooks with a renewed sense of creativity.
Enter in an eight book series that has now literally taken on a universe of its own. Over the however many years.... (20+ but saying that old loud makes me sad in ways I'm not ready to explore) the screenplay has grown into a real life novel. Of course the mind of an 11-year-old and a 35-year-old are different... In small ways but not as much as is probably expected.
Whichever. My one little screenplay called The Mistake has morphed into as I said a eight book series that explores the side characters I haphazardly threw into the original body of work just to round out the story. Once those were finished I was like, "wouldn't be dope if they had kids?" That led to a new six-part series connected to the original adult series. Which led me down the wormhole of what if each sets of kids had their own label's and their own stories? So that created 'The Bigs, The Mids and The Littles'.
Well every series has a fully formed outline and trajectory The Mids and Littles books have yet to speak to me. That might have a little bit to do with the fact that some of them are still babies and haven't quite learned how to form full sentences yet. I'm sure by the end of the big series they'll have grown enough that I can tell their story without getting bogged down about the logistics of how a two-year-old has now become 16 over just a few short months. The beauty of fiction writing.
Now that my story time is complete the help. Is there anyone interested in reading my books?
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
It's an African American romance, or a women's fiction, or a family saga. Depends on your perception.
In my opinion it's absolutely hilarious, and sometimes sad, and other times cathartic...
My need is for someone else's eyes to see if it's even worth continuing down the path of 48+ books.
Either way, thanks for reading even just this post, it low-key means more than you'll know. After working on this for so long, even just saying out loud, 'I wrote a book' brings me more joy than I anticipated.
Looking for Beta Readers – Contemporary African American Romance / Family Saga (37k+ words)
Hi everyone!
I'm putting together a small group of beta readers for my debut novel, The Mistake — book one in an interconnected contemporary romance and family saga I've been pouring myself into for years.
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
About the Book:
The Mistake, Kori and Emmet's story. It's an African American romance and women's fiction, with real ‘family’ saga bones — about 40k words, told through multiple first-person POVs, broken into 3 parts for the first book in the series.
The Sunday Table follows a close-knit group of lifelong friends whose bonds get tested by love, loyalty, and the fallout of one decision that changes everything. Underneath it all, it's really a story about relationships, friendship, forgiveness, healing, and the families we build for ourselves.
If you love emotional, humourous one liners, character-driven stories with tangled relationships, messy family dynamics, a slow-burn romance, and a big ensemble cast you can get attached to — I think you'll feel right at home here.
If you enjoy authors like; Natavia, LaToya Nicole, Kennedy Ryan, Alexandria House, Christina C. Jones, Brittainy Cherry, Brenda Jackson, or Tia Williams, this one's probably for you. And hopefully not unrealistic in my confidence.
What kind of feedback I'm after:
I want the honest stuff — what's working and what isn't. Specifically:
- Are the characters likable? Do they feel like they're growing?
- Did it hit you emotionally where it should?
- Funny or trying too hard?
- How's the dialogue land?
- Pacing — any slow spots or places that felt rushed?
- Plot holes, confusing scenes, continuity slip-ups
- And just... did you enjoy it?
Grammar catches are always appreciated, but that's not what I'm here for — I want your gut reactions.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
Timeline:
I'd love feedback within 4–6 weeks, but life happens — just keep me in the loop and we'll figure it out together.
The bigger picture:
This is book one of eight in an interconnected series, and books 1–5 are already drafted. So if you're someone who loves getting hooked on a series and sticking with it, I'd especially love to find readers who want to come along for the whole ride.
If this sounds like your kind of book, drop a comment or send me a DM — I'll share the first few chapters first so we can both make sure it's a good fit before I send the full manuscript.
Thank you so much for even considering this. It means a lot. 💛
— K. Sherman
Looking for Beta Readers – Contemporary African American Romance / Family Saga (37k+ words)
Hi everyone!
I'm putting together a small group of beta readers for my debut novel, The Mistake — book one in an interconnected contemporary romance and family saga I've been pouring myself into for years.
The series itself is called The Sunday Table .
Book Blurb:
One decision. One night. One betrayal no one saw coming.
Kori Grant is finally getting her life back on track — one week after ending things with Emmett Taylor, she's laser-focused on finishing her PhD and rebuilding her peace. Then a shocking incident inside her own apartment, involving Emmett and her best friend Tasha, shatters everything she thought she'd already survived.
As her friends demand answers, Kori chooses silence over confrontation — until the story rewinds to show exactly how she, Emmett, and Tasha collided in the first place, and just how inevitable this "mistake" may have always been.
Some betrayals are accidents. Others are disasters waiting for permission.
About the Book:
The Mistake, Kori and Emmet's story. It's an African American romance and women's fiction, with real ‘family’ saga bones — about 40k words, told through multiple first-person POVs, broken into 3 parts for the first book in the series.
The Sunday Table follows a close-knit group of lifelong friends whose bonds get tested by love, loyalty, and the fallout of one decision that changes everything. Underneath it all, it's really a story about relationships, friendship, forgiveness, healing, and the families we build for ourselves.
If you love emotional, humourous one liners, character-driven stories with tangled relationships, messy family dynamics, a slow-burn romance, and a big ensemble cast you can get attached to — I think you'll feel right at home here.
If you enjoy authors like; Natavia, LaToya Nicole, Kennedy Ryan, Alexandria House, Christina C. Jones, Brittainy Cherry, Brenda Jackson, or Tia Williams, this one's probably for you. And hopefully not unrealistic in my confidence.
What kind of feedback I'm after:
I want the honest stuff — what's working and what isn't. Specifically:
- Are the characters likable? Do they feel like they're growing?
- Did it hit you emotionally where it should?
- Funny or trying too hard?
- How's the dialogue land?
- Pacing — any slow spots or places that felt rushed?
- Plot holes, confusing scenes, continuity slip-ups
- And just... did you enjoy it?
Grammar catches are always appreciated, but that's not what I'm here for — I want your gut reactions.
A quick heads-up on content:
This book goes to some real places — adult language, sexual content, pregnancy loss, violence(on page), trauma, family conflict, emotional abuse, and grief. Wanted you to know what you're walking into.
Timeline:
I'd love feedback within 4–6 weeks, but life happens — just keep me in the loop and we'll figure it out together.
The bigger picture:
This is book one of eight in an interconnected series, and books 1–5 are already drafted. So if you're someone who loves getting hooked on a series and sticking with it, I'd especially love to find readers who want to come along for the whole ride.
If this sounds like your kind of book, drop a comment or send me a DM — I'll share the first few chapters first so we can both make sure it's a good fit before I send the full manuscript.
Thank you so much for even considering this. It means a lot. 💛
— K. Sherman