with guest Piper Huguley.
My mother’s favorite spiritual out of the many she knew was: “This Little Light O’ Mine.” It was a song that she learned as a child, but was her love of the song was no doubt reinforced by her participation in the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a song that’s meant to reflect God’s purpose for us in the world as we serve him according to his will. So, I meant to choose “SHINE” as my word this year, to reflect what I would hope would happen for me in calendar year 2015—when I released of my three “Migrations of the Heart” novels in a row, two months apart. The journey to this “hat trick,” as it might be called, was not an easy one.
Glow
I have thought about where I might fit in the publishing world for a long time. After my mother-in-law died a few years ago, my family went through some difficult times in the aftermath. That’s when I decided to revisit my writing—something that I missed doing while I was raising my son. I had long thought of the historical as a possibility. I always wondered why there were few stories on the market that told the truth as I knew it. I wanted to read stories like those of my great-aunts as modern-day super heroines who had faith enough in God and themselves to seek opportunities for themselves and their families in another place. Their stories resonated with me like Christian immigrant narratives like Siri Mitchell’s A Heart Most Worthy or of women who went west despite marriage difficulties like Serena B. Mitchell’s The Measure of Katie Calloway. I knew my five great-aunties to be women of faith. Was I up to the task of telling their stories as Christian women?
When I looked back on the path of my life with my education and historical interests already in place because of my job, I knew that I was. I felt that I might have something unique to bring to a larger audience who might also be ready to hear these stories of strength and courage and so the “Migrations of the Heart” series was born.
Only….
I didn’t understand that within the publishing industry, that when something is not there on the market, there is a reason why it is not there. I tried to trace down the truth of why there was, in effect, only one inspirational historical romance like mine that had been published way back in 2001 with African American characters. It had been received with great critical claim and attention that made me think that there should have been others, but no one could tell why there wasn’t. I thought of this as an error. Someone in some marketing department was mistaken and that surely they would see reason, if I would but provide the means.
Glimmer
I knew I would have to find the way to seek my audience. Social media performed that function. I became comfortable with two platforms: Facebook and Twitter. I also decided to develop a blog that traced my writing journey and also sought to have interested readers learn about the history that I hoped to feature in my stories. I knew that the reach of my audience would be one that liked to learn new things. Coming to my blog, which I first called “All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes” in honor of my migrating aunties, would be fine with them. The blog also served the function of having a home place on the Internet where publishing officials could be in touch with me—just in case they were seized with the need to publish my story at any instant. I used to blog every week, but then I saw how that frequency cut into my writing energy, and I cut back to twice a month on the second and fourth Sundays. This schedule has worked well for me.
On Facebook I targeted groups I thought might be interested in my stories: Christian reading groups, genealogy groups, history buffs and other writers. Some of this targeting was rather hit or miss, which I’ll get to in a minute, but this start allowed me to have a meaningful number of followers and friends. Such a list might help in spreading the word about my publishing endeavor. Let me make clear, that at any time, I never formed what some call, “a street team.” These individuals are my friends and followers. I am not anywhere near ready for a street team just yet.
With these I had these social mechanisms in place, I felt confident enough in my writing to enter contests. I was able to get some attention with a contest win, my two Golden Heart nominations, and my quarter final placement in the Amazon Breakthrough contest. What I never expected was that it was because of social media that the next part fell into place.
Sparkle
The changing nature of the publishing business meant that when I found a publisher (as I needed to because of my job), it was my connections on social media that put me in the right place and the right time.
Facebook and Twitter.
Not the query letters, conferences, pitches, or any of that. Social media.
This is one of the ways that I believe the publishing industry will have to come to a new understanding of how people relate to one another and find book titles and information.
There were three publishers who were all at the starting gate with my work in February, 2014. One was a recently started secular company.
One was a recently started Christian company.
The other was an established secular publishing house.
I selected the established secular publisher because they knew how to conduct business and had a presence in the publishing industry. Experience mattered for me at this point. They also promised to get my titles out in a time frame that meant that I could capitalize on the publishing credits that I needed for my job.
I made the right decision. God was by my side because shortly after I made my decision, the editor who loved my work at the small Christian publishing house? She left.
The editors from the new secular publishing house? They didn’t contact me until a year and some later.
So the audience changed from one I thought I was to have to the one I was meant to have. I am grateful for them. They look forward to my releases and connect with the points I’m seeking to make with the history. Some in my audience also say that they have never read an inspirational romance—and they enjoyed it. Mission accomplished.
Shine
I’ve only been with my publisher for two months, so I don’t know what they think of my books, but I’ve been pleased. I nearly sold out of A Virtuous Ruby at the Decatur Book Festival, but one copy. People are contemplating teaching in my Migrations of the Heart series. I don’t really know what’s ahead for me in terms of my series or for my indie published series. I’ve chosen to believe that it’s my purpose to present my stories of faith featuring characters who pulled through difficult circumstances by relying on God’s hand. That sounds like a lot of inspirational fiction to me, but maybe not to others not so much.
Warning: Do not dim the light!
The disadvantage of social media is that we can hang on to friends and followers even when they become less useful and supportive. I’ve prayed about these moves that I’ve made. Even though I’ve had to make certain moves in times of duress, there are still some who have not been supportive. There are some who will respond to the shine in you as if it burns them.
If that happens, it’s best to move away from all of that. Those who would seek to dampen your shine are not friends and may need to tend to their own inner light. I’ve learned the hard way to protect the light for myself. It is my sacred duty to shine for Him. And only Him.
Does dimming your light help to fulfill your purpose?
Piper Huguley, named 2015 Debut Author of the Year by Romance Slam Jam and Breakout Author of the Year by AAMBC, is a two-time Golden Heart ®finalist and is the author of “Migrations of the Heart,” a five-book series of inspirational historical romances set in the early 20th century featuring African American sisters who move from Georgia to Pennsylvania during The Great Migration. Book one, A Virtuous Ruby was published in July 2015. The second book in the series, A Most Precious Pearl, was published in September 2015. The third, A Treasure of Gold, will be published in November 2015.
Huguley is also the author of the “Home to Milford College” series. The series follows the building of a college from its founding in 1866. On release, the prequel novella to the “Home to Milford College” series, The Lawyer’s Luck, reached #1 Amazon Bestseller status on the African American Christian Fiction charts. Book one in the series, The Preacher’s Promise was named a top ten Historical Romance in Publisher’s Weekly by the esteemed historical romance author, Beverly Jenkins.
She blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.
Today Seekerville is giving away an ecopy of any one of Piper's Migration of the Heart releases to one commenter. (A Virtuous Ruby, A Most Precious Pearl, or a preorder of her November release, A Treasure of Gold.) Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.
And look! Piper's release, A Virtuous Ruby is featured on the cover of the November RT Book Reviews that just arrived in subscriber's inbox.
With Guest Piper G Huguley.
Thank you for having me to this wonderful blog. Seekerville has been such a friend to me and I’m glad to be able to be able to have something to contribute to this storehouse of knowledge. Folks may be in the midst of making a decision about whether or not to participate in the biggest, most prestigious contest of the year and I want to give a few more nudges in anyone’s direction if he/she are unsure if they are going to enter the Golden Heart®. If you meet the qualifications and are not published, you should enter and here’s why:
1. You get a great phone call. I don’t remember who called me last year, but this year it was Leslie Kelly. I immediately dubbed her Santa Claus. Because Old Saint Nick might as well have been calling me as her. Unbelievable.
2. You get a cool place of honor in all social media. Sometime later that day on March 26, all the new nominees get linked together in a place of honor on Yahoo. There are exchanges of twitter handles, e-mail addys, and a new Facebook page. Now you are in a class with some 30+ people. This represents power as shown in number 3…
3. I’m a loner nerd. It is true. In college, I was a worker loner nerd. Now I have sisters! When two of us Dreamweavers (Golden Heart® finalists class of 2014) made the quarterfinals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the Dreamweavers turned out in full force to leave us reviews and good wishes. It was awesome! As for the Luckies (class of 2013) since we have started to publish, we are having a fine time subverting the Amazon algorithms! (There is a very confused someone out in Washington State who cannot fathom why a New Adult novel about young people loving it up the newsroom seems attached at the hip to that Reconstruction era romance about African Americans—heh, heh.)
4. If your family doesn’t understand your current writing issue, your fellow Golden Heart® sisters will! These are folks who are practiced in craft and writing. They are champion readers. If you want to brainstorm, it’s not hard to find help to do that. A number of them already have a well-oiled machine in place to critique and brainstorm, since that’s part of what got them to the Golden Heart® in the first place. But no one minds helping you out in a pinch.
5. Make your announcement –any announcement-- in the e-mail forum you will be cheered! You may not think the announcement is such a big deal, but just reveal it to your fellow Golden Heart cohort and they will cheer you on! It makes you feel very good about yourself. I try not to abuse this privilege though. Writers need to be lifted up way too often…
6. If you don’t feel like hearing goofy contest comments, enter the Golden Heart®! You won’t get any here—it’s just a bunch of feedback numbers. I wish I could write a column about doing what you need to do to take advantage of the system, but I don’t know this new system. I know the one from the past two years, so my knowledge is meaningless here. I’m obsolete. I’m sorry. *dodges rotten tomatoes and eggs*
7. If your family is fed up about hearing about your Golden Heart® dress, snap a picture and put it up in the forum. Your fellow Golden Heart® folk will oooh and aaaah over the beauty that is to come.
8. When you get to RWA, you may attend a dinner with your Golden Heart® class. No loner nerd over here anymore! People will eat with me. Just because I wrote a story. That’s pretty cool.
9. It’s only $35.00! Yes, RWA waited until I was ineligible to reduce the price! Seriously. That’s a pretty good deal.
10. I am grateful for all of the friendship that people have extended to me over the years, whatever the origin. People gave me great comfort during the initial loss of my mother. In terms of my writing, I have benefited greatly from all of my writing friendships. The Golden Heart ®has allowed for the creation of yet another kind of writing friendship and I’ve been blessed by it.
Please notice that I did not indicate you should sign up for the Golden Heart® to make connections with agents or editors, to get a heart-shaped necklace, or so that you can be treated like a queen at the conference when everyone sees your pink ribbon. That’s because these things may or may not happen for you. A fair portion of both of my classes, the Luckies and the Dreamweavers, are blowing it out of the water with their agent news, acquisition news or sales numbers. But these things, to me, are icing on the cake. I have far more enjoyed the companionship and the warm embrace. Kind words from others, when people reacted in a way I didn’t expect, have sustained me. I am grateful for all of it.
What do you prize most about your writing friendships-- wherever they may take place?
Today Piper is generously giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one commenter. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.
Piper G Huguley is the author of the “Home to Milford College” series which follows the building of a college from its founding in 1866. The Preacher’s Promise is book one in the series. Upon release, the prequel novella to the “Home to Milford College” series, The Lawyer’s Luck reached #1 Amazon Bestseller status on the African American Christian Fiction charts.
Huguley is also the author of “Migrations of the Heart,” a five-book series of inspirational historical romances set in the early 20th century featuring African American characters. Book one in the series, A Virtuous Ruby won the Golden Rose contest in Historical Romance in 2013 and was a Golden Heart® finalist in 2014. Book four in the series, A Champion’s Heart, was a Golden Heart® finalist in 2013.
She blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.
The Preacher's Promise
“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”—Daniel 3:17
1866 – Oberlin, Ohio
Devastated by her father’s death days after her triumphant graduation from Oberlin College, Amanda Stewart is all alone in the world. Her father’s unscrupulous business partner offers her an indecent proposal to earn a living. Instead, to fulfill a promise she made to her father, she resolves to start a school to educate and uplift their race. Sorting through her father’s papers, she discovers he had carried on a mysterious correspondence with a plantation in Milford, Georgia. She determines to start her teaching work with the formerly enslaved. However, when she arrives, the mayor tells her to leave. There’s no where for her to go.
Virgil Smithson, Milford’s mayor, blacksmith and sometimes preacher man with a gift for fiery oratory, doesn’t want anything to do with a snobby schoolteacher from up North. On top of everything else, the schoolteacher lady has a will hard enough to match the iron he forges. He must organize his fellow formerly enslaved citizens into a new town and raise his young daughter alone. Still, his troubled past haunts him. He cannot forget the promise he made to his daughter’s mother as she died—that their child would learn to read and write. If only he didn’t have secrets that the new schoolteacher seems determined to uncover.
To keep THE PREACHER’S PROMISE, Amanda and Virgil must put aside their enmity, unite for the sake of a newly-created community in a troubling age, and do things they never imagined. In the aftermath of the flood that was the Civil War, God set his bow upon the earth to show love and understanding for humankind. To reflect God’s promise, these combatants must put aside their differences and come together--somehow.
The 2015 RWA Golden Heart® opens to entries on December 2, 2015. Details can be found here.
