The First Seven Days-Thoughts on Self Publishing

So guys, for those of y'all who know, our first release "The Mark of Noba" dropped last week.

It was a whirlwind of fun, and we wanted to highlight the experience the best way we could.

Week Four of OUR Favorites, Day Five:Favorite Authors- Octavia Butler + Ellen Oh's Prophecy/Warrior & Sarwat Chadda's The Savage Fortress/The City of Death giveaway!

So we've officially reached the last day of our event. It's so sad to see we are on the very last day of showing the book blogosphere community all of our favorite works of art that highlight diversity.

We've showed some awesome book covers, highlighted some great digital artists who always manage to draw and paint diversely. We've even showcased some of our favorite book bloggers!

Our last week we highlighted authors. Some of our favorites included newbie to our list Sarwat Chadda, long time favorites such as Emlyn Chand, Barry Lyga, and most of all Ellen Oh.

But there's just one more author who's made a great impact in our lives, and I dont think authors of color, particularly ones who write in the SF/F, Horror or Speculative Fiction genres, would be anywhere with her.

Our last and final favorite:

Octavia Butler

Week One: Covers - Sixth Favorite! The Rivers of Zadaa by D.J.MacHale+ Ellen Oh's Prophecy/Warrior & Sarwat Chadda's The Savage Fortress/The City of Death giveaway!

 This week has been a blast! Book Covers, like it or not, have to be the funnest thing that draws you to a book. Yea a blurb can be something that draws you in but that's assuming only after the book cover excited you enough to pick it up!

This week's final favorite book cover is......

*Drumroll*

The Rivers of Zadaa, Book 6 of the Pendragon series by D.J. Mchale

The promotion of diverse books

Hopefully anyone who reads Twinja Book Reviews comes for the reason we review books.

To reach out and diversify your choice in books.

We admit, our approach to book blogging isn't the most conventional. With reviews for books nearly everywhere on the web, it's difficult to stand out on really, any blog, with just book reviews alone.

Reviewing books that feature main protagonists, and when we mean MAIN, we mean the main narrative in which the story is being told,or if told with dual protagonists, one is of a marginalized group, or at the very least a love interest, who's main objective is more than to making kissy faces with the main character.

Talcott Notch Literary Services' Jessica Negron stops by @ Twinja Book Reviews!

So today's interview is not from the author's perspective but from an agent we discovered during the hashtags #diversityinsff. Not only did she update her submission policy to include works of diverse fiction after that great event but we later found out she's a local!!(we too are based in CT)

So without further ado we'd like to introduce Jessica Negrón from Talcott Notch Literary Services...

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background and what agency you represent?

As you mentioned, I’m based in CT. I graduated from the University of New Haven and from there interned with a few local small businesses in an editorial/design capacity. After a few years, I found a place with Talcott Notch Literary and have been here ever since!

I love breakfast at odd hours, learning useless trivia, video games, witty web comics, movies, and (of course) books. Some of my favorite authors are Juliet Marillier, Thomas Berger, Jane Austen, Garth Nix, Tamora Pierce, and Chuck Palahniuk.

The beginning of a #Diversityinsff Empire-A sit down with Inscription Magazine Founder, Rachel Halpern

We discovered this Fantasy/Science Fiction lover/entrepreneur while scrolling through our facebook updates. An author we're fans posted details about an Indiegogo campaign she had started. Her mission? To allow free access to stories that featured diverse characters in her upcoming online site, Inscription Magazine. When we heard her pitch, we were floored! She seemed to care a great deal fro representation in books, particularly our favorite genres, Science Fiction and Fantasy. Let's spend the next few moments getting to know this amazing individual, Rachel Halpern.