Omar Tyree – Passion Makes Me Write

Omar Tyree – Passion Makes Me Write

 

For all of my 22 years of writing articles, essays, poems, short stories, reviews, critiques, songs, screenplays, and of course, great urban American novels, I have always called myself a “passion writer.” What does that mean to write with “passion?” Well, as I have hear my peers discuss writing a certain amount of hours a day, writing at a certain time of day, writing at a certain place, or writing through a certain kind of method, the only thing that I can be certain about is that I write when I feel the urge to write. So if I don’t feel like writing, I don’t. And if I feel like writing all night long with the time and the mental stamina to do so, then I will. Fortunately, to continue with my writing career, I have always had passionate things to say, which has kept me going. It has been my singular and passionate desire to speak to the people through my words and stories that drive me. And when I no longer have anything to say to them, I guess I will no longer write. But please . . . don’t hold your breath by thinking that I would ever run out of passionate things to say (smile).

 

Omar Tyree, a New York Times best-selling author, a 2001 NAACP Image Award recipient for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, and a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award winner for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, has been cited in 2009 by the City Council of Philadelphia for his work in Urban Literacy, and has published 18 books with nearly 2 million copies sold worldwide.

 

With a degree in Print Journalism from Howard University in 1991, Tyree has been recognized as one of the most renowned contemporary writers in the African-American community. He is also an informed and passionate speaker on various community-related and intellectual topics. Now entering the world of business seminars, urban children’s books, and feature films, Tyree is a tireless creator and visionary of few limitations. For more information on his work and titles, please view his web site @ (www.OmarTyree.com)

Digital Publishing, Professional and Profitable

I know that many writers still labor under old assumptions they have of self-publishing: it’s expensive; the books are either of poor quality or look self-published; they are poorly edited. So much has happened in the last five years, it’s got a new name: digital publishing; self-published books now look the same as any book on a bookshelf; more writers use the editorial services provided by their publisher (smart move, if you pay for it, they have to get it right); with the latest publishing technologies writers can now publish professionally without up front costs ? and still profit handsomely from every single sale.

 

Don’t want to ?sell your book out of the trunk of your car?? Aside from the fact that that?s how mega-authors E. Lynn Harris, Terry McMillan, and countless other successful urban fiction authors got started, if your thinking of going the traditional route, a key question asked by mainstream publishers is ?what is your platform?? Translation: How are you going to sell your book? In these tight economic times, there’s no getting around it, so clean out that trunk, practice that smile, and get your grip on (the grip on the money you’ll be making from each of those books you sell?!) Got a story? Got a question?

 

 

 

Welcome to the Writer’s Blog of the Harlem Book Fair.

Welcome to the Writer’s Blog of the Harlem Book Fair. Why a Writer’s Blog and why from the Harlem Book Fair? The answers are connected. The Harlem Book Fair has served as a showcase for writers, both acclaimed and newly published, for over 10 years. We now have combined our editorial experience from QBR The Black Book Review with our 15-plus years of relationship to publishers, accomplished writers, and publishing professionals, to our relationship with C-Span’s Book-TV as the only nationally televised African American literary festival, to give you the means by which to prepare, publish, and promote your title professionally and profitably.

 

We will answer all of your questions, offering workable solutions, and ask you to share solutions that have worked for you, we are a community of writers. We will discuss those areas where we know a writer can be blocked on their path to publishing. And, we will ask new and established authors to share their personal writing processes. Award-winning author Walter Mosley writes faithfully, every day, from 6 a.m., for three hours and then he is done. What will work best for you?

 

Write Like A Writer Writes is not just for the serious writer; it’s also for the writer who wants to take their writing more seriously and even publish! We promise that, having joined, you will know more about the art of publishing, the art of promotion, and the power of Writing. And, yes, we know Write Like A Writer Writes is a redundant title. That’s what we do, isn’t it? We play with words, Welcome!

 

 

Max Rodriguez, Founder

 

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