THICK book series is NOW AVAILABLE on Kindle

What's woody wood, grasshopper?

All my books in the THICK series are now on the eBook format...

...Kindle through Amazon 

Yes, I've finally crossed the burning sands of eBook Nation

Enjoy your mental orgasm and bust a few nuts for me

Click here to order THICK 1

Click here to order THICK 2

Click here to order THICK 3

Peace

Nah'Sun the Great @ www.nahsunblaze.com

The World Premier of THICK 4

What's woody wood, grasshoppers?

I'm 98 percent done with completing THICK 3 aka the novel commonly known as In The Thick of Things slated for a late-July release

That's why I haven't been blogging as much...writing a book is a bitch...even if the shit it's wack, it's still taxing on the mind and time...

...I'm gonna get back on my bullshit when I finish with THICK 3

And without furher ado, feast your eyes on the book cover for THICK 4 aka Thick and Thin

The Green Book



Peace

Nah'Sun @ www.nahsunblaze.com

Tips for New and Aspiring Authors

What’s woody wood, grasshoppers?

Peep game if you wanna write a book

Thank me later


1. Book publishing is about sales...not your great writing or your fabulous story or your credentials.

2. Professional editing is worth every dime...even if you aced your grammar course and love diagramming sentences, you still need an editor.

3. The more eyes or your work the better...don't hold on to your writing as if it were high-level, classified information.

4. When writing fiction, show don't tell...it is always better to describe a scene or create dialogue rather than straight narrative.

5. Read books on writing...they help.

6. Join professional writing associations...even if you only attend one conference a year or page through one journal, you get to know the industry and feel a sense of belonging to a noble profession.

7. If you have self-published, don't spend money on PR/marketing firms...unless you have a huge advertising budget and money to burn. Yes, PR/marketing firms can get you exposure, but they cannot sell books. Only you can do that.

8. If you feel you must invest in some kind of marketing, spend money on advertising with book bloggers...they are all about books and folks who visit their sites love to read and are seeking the next best read.

9. Reviews sells books...positive reviews are great, but even negative ones help your writing and sell books.

10. Be realistic about book sales...even though publishing is all about sales, writing is about communication.

 
Peace

Nah’Sun @ www.nahsunblaze.com

Writing as a Hustle

Grindin' in front of Black & Nobel, Philly USA

What’s woody, grasshoppers?

Ayo…you have a lot of new authors…some have a genuine interest in writing, while others are fuckin’ up the game by thinking you can make a quick buck
 
The 99-cent eBook sale prices are pissing me the fuck off...it’s ruining the game...you see, people…every author in the game is a part of the same fraternity and sorority…in other words, the actions of one author can cause a ripple effect in the ocean

Kinda like how a single rock that’s thrown in the water can cause a hurricane

I say that because authors selling their eBooks for 99-cent screws up the flow of money making when you have authors LIKE ME that actually have confidence and high esteem for my work

I’ll NEVER sell my eBooks for pennies…I might as well sell them for free…real talk

I think eBooks are the devil for various reasons, but when I DO convert my paperbacks to eBooks, I’m selling them for no less than 4 bucks…I’ll be damn to short change myself for a quick come up…I’m sitting on a goldmine, and I’m not gon’ allow half assed authors to fuck up my paper

Now back to the issue…

Sweepin 'em off their feet in the ATL

Can you come up and make money writing books?

Hell yeah…hecky hell, fam

But like everything in life, you need to work HARD and SMART for the returns you wanna see…you gotta put in work…the overnight success is the exception, NOT the rule

There’s a big difference between the professional and the hustler…the professional lasts forever…the hustler leaves as quickly as they came

I’ll explain the different of the two next week

Aight ya’ll…I’m out

Peace

Nah’Sun the Great

Politickin' with fellow author Michael "Midtown Mike" Evans

Can Writing Get You Rich?

Abracadabra, people

Hey, naaaaaaaah

Ayo, you got a lot of fakers and perpetrators in the book game. Those are the ones who think a quick come up consists of writing a book. Well, they’re in for a rude awakening, baby

A lot of wet-behind-the-ears authors don’t realize that you need to put hundreds of man hours to live strictly on books. And even that’s a risk because you’ll want other streams of income. Editing, speaking engagements, teaching/professing and other side gigs are usually what authors do to keep them afloat in case of emergency

There’s no accident that the book game has a revolving door. People leave as quickly as they come once they realize that publishing is not all peaches and cream. The days of waiting for your book to sell itself are over. There are more books published today than ever, which means you’ll need to bust your ass twice as hard to make a name for yourself

The good side is…

Everything in life is what YOU make it. It’s all about your grind and hustle to shine, baby. Success doesn’t happen overnight. That’s the exception, not the rule. And if you do fail, always remember that failure is the closest thing to success

You need a PASSION for writing to get through the dog days of the book game. It’s not for the weak hearted. There were times when I wanted to give up. My ego slapped the shit outta me and told me to “Get your ass up and make that money, punk!”

And so I did

Book Signing in ATL

I’m too damn great of a writer to quit when I think I’m far superior to a lot of the popular novels that are out today, but that’s beside the point. The point is that if you wanna make a lot of money as an author, you need to...

 

A) Find out your market, and figure out what people enjoy reading

B) Have a passion for writing; it’s a lonely profession

C) Put in the hours to make a name for yourself 

It’s gonna be slow at first…but hey, the Great Pyramids of Kemet (Egypt) weren’t built in a day

Once again, failure is the closest thing to success…don’t give up. GIVE IN!

Aight, ya’ll…I’m out

Peace

Nah’Sun the Great

My book signings WILL be this long...watch me work!

Dumb Things That People Say to Authors

What’s crackin, grasshoppers???

I’m a firm believer that there’s no such thing as a stupid question…

…with a few exceptions

I’m annoyed at some of the shit that people say or ask when I’m on the grind. People can say the most irrelevant shit when it comes to my space as an author. I don’t say that to seem rude or uppity, but common sense should…well…be common

Questions like, “How long does it take for you to write a book?” DON’T bother me…neither does, “Tell me what the book is about.”

That means you genuinely wanna get to understand my art and its process

Is when people say shit like, “I’ll buy your book when I see it at the store,” irks me when they KNOW I have books on my person to sell

I’m gonna run down 10 things stupid shit people can say to an author…it’s more than 10, but I’m sure you’ll get the point

This isn’t a knock to my fan base because I have SMART readers…the dumb shit that people say are usually nosey folk with nothing else to do but waste my time

 

1. Do you have distribution?

It shouldn’t matter if I have distribution when you’re not a distributor



2. How many books you sold?

Book sales have nothing to do with the actual content of the story and its quality or lack thereof



3. Do I need an editor if I wanna write a book?

No need to explain this one



4. I wanna write a book

Yeah, sure



5. Do authors make a lot of money?

Write a book and find out



6. I’m sure you get a lot of girls writing books

I doubt women like me because I’m an author

If they do, they need to holla at Dr. Phil



7. Did you write this book?

Um…DUH!



8. Gimme the book for free

*slap*



9. I’ll buy the book if it was on eBook 

I’m a firm believer that if you REALLY want something in life, you’ll go out your way to get it

I bought the GZA’s of the Wu-Tang Clan Liquid Swords album on cassette when the store didn’t have it on CD



10. Authors are the devil
 

I’m not kidding when I tell you I got that remark before

Now…

Before I get the “snobbish” remarks, put yourself in my snake skin shoes for a sec

Those questions and comments are similar to some dude asking you your favorite sex position on the first date, or a chick constantly talking about your bank account the first few minutes into the conversation

What the fuck does that have to with your character as a person?

Enuff said

I’m out

Peace and Afro Grease

Nah’Sun

The Making of Thick 2 Book Cover

Uh oh…it’s that time again

It’s that time to break down the book cover process…I’m gonna make this brief…Arm wrestling with the hands of time is draining …heck, I’m surprised I have time to draw up this blog

The show MUST go on

Aight…so I wanted a frontal image of a plus size woman…the illustrator for the original Thick book was missing in action for whatever reason

Shout out to Zach…where ever you are…hope all is well with you

Not getting a response from Zach through email had led me to hit up another secret weapon…Joshua…

I was kinda hard on Zach during the process of my Nah’Sun logo and the book cover to the original Thick…but hey…I want my shit done right and exact on the strength of how I see things

Make a long explanation short, I told my new illustrator, Joshua, what I envisioned for the one week assignment…he drew up a quick skeleton before going all the way in

  

That’s the skeleton of the original figure…Joshua felt that the woman needed more attitude…I’m not the type to put a lid on my illustrator's creative juices…so I let him do his thing

I fell back and wondered what he’d cooked up

He came up with…

The drawing was dope…I told him to take out the purple in the hair and parts of the body because this is the ORANGE BOOK of the series…Thick When the Chances are Slim is known as the RED BOOK

I’m tailoring my book covers of the Thick series to the Chakra…I might talk about the Chakra in a later blog when I have more time on my hands

Anyway…I told Joshua to take out the purple, and take out the black lines that separate the body parts…WIDER HIPS was also needed

Yep…I love wide hips…POW!

The changes were on point…I wanted a spaced out background…since the woman is the Queen of the Universe, I thought an orange spaced out background was fitting for her existence on earth (the black grass in the bottom of the book represents the earth)

I wanted the book to have an orange theme for the background…he went back to the drawing board and came up with…

Too red

Aight, chill…no worry

I told money about the red background…stubborn minds led to this…

Leave it to me to help out the sport...this version kinda reminds me of Storm from the X-Men

I didn’t wanna stress my guy over a minor (but major) part of the illustration…it’s not about getting angry or panicking over the small stuff…it’s about helping those who are helping you

The old saying of “one hand washes the other” when you’re on a team is perfect for a great outcome instead of acting like a dick at the first sign of trouble

I searched around for some orange coloring I wanted for the background…I found a few and sent the 3 bottom photos for him to work with

Color for the author header block

Shading of the background

main color

He thanked me for the alley oop and slam dunked my vision for the background

Heads kept asking me “what’s her race?” because of the heavy facial features on the drawing…Joshua faded out the facial features to leave her vague…He also used blends and shadings to separate the body parts instead of black lines to make the drawing appear more artsy

The black lines would’ve restricted the flow of the illustration…he obliged and cooked up…

The Finish Product

That’s what I’m talkin’ 'bout

As you can see, coming up with a book cover that reflects my original intent is a process itself…I’m not a believer of slapping anything on the cover just for the hell of it

I treat my book covers like artists back in the day treated their albums

And guess what???

The book cover ACTUALLY has something to do with the story...SHOTS FIRED!!!

Aight, ya’ll…I’m Audi 9G

Peace

Nah’Sun

The World Premier of "Thick in the Nick of Time"

Abracadabra, grasshoppers

Ya guy is still grusslin in the book game…I don’t grind hard…I grind SMART

Feast your eyes on the unveiling of my upcoming novel Thick in the Nick of Time aka Thick 2

The book is the SEQUEL to Thick When the Chances are Slim

I'll break down the illustration process tomorrow

 

The tentative date for Thick 2 is late 2012-early 2013

#TeamThick

If you haven’t copped your copy of the original THICK, hit up the link below to purchase

www.nahsunblaze.com

The joint is only 15 bucks…each page is cheaper than gas prices

Aight, ya’ll

Peace

Nah'Sun

Skinny Bitches are Evil

Ayo…I wanna give a shout out to a supporter right quick…A sista whom I met awhile back when ya boy was out and about in NYC gettin his lounge on



Gi Gi copped my joint Thick When the Chances are Slim last week and supported a brother by not only purchasing a copy, but also posting the pic of the novel on Facebook

Her posting of the book infamously known as THICK has led to members of her friend’s list to either purchase a copy on the spot, or make a note to do so later on



WORD OF MOUTH is VERY crucial for independent authors such as myself…that’s the greatest promotion without coming out of pocket…real talk

It’s hard to turn book buyers into advocates especially when they don’t have any incentive

I don’t wanna get too sappy or sentimental…just wanted to show some appreciation to a supporter who looked out when she didn’t have to

Always remember….there’s a BIG difference between a buyer and a supporter

Buyers are reactive…Supporters are PROACTIVE

Marinate on that, grasshoppers

Aight, ya’ll…I’m Audi 5000

CLICK HERE to order your copy…I’m not gonna tell you why you should buy the book, or what separates my art from the rest…Just know I don’t half ass when I write

And that's the honest truth...RUTH!

Peace

Nah’Sun

(Stupid) Shit That Authors Say

In honor of the Shit That (insert here) Say videos that are popular on the net, I’m doing a written version for authors…only the STUPID shit they say.

The last blog advocated my fellow colleagues…now I’m gonna expose the dumb shit I’ve heard from authors in my travels...some of the nonsense posted are things I've said in the past.

I didn’t feel like doing a video version and posting it on YouTube…I’m a writer…I’ll leave the movie star shit for others.

Aight…peep game 


1) "I’m shooting a movie version of my book next week"

Unless your joint is low budget, Hollywood ain’t fuckin’ with you when you have less than a million book buyers

 
2) "I sold out of books at the last signing"

See my last blog


3) "I sold over 10,000 copies"

Again, see my last blog…if you sold over 10,000 (I’ve heard authors say 100,000) then why are you leaving the game if the game is so good to you?

The average book sales for an independent/self-published author for a single title is between 100 and 1,000 copies…if you’ve sold more than that, you’re on your way to greatness


4) "I don’t work a day job"

CLICK HERE to see where I’m coming from as well as a cross reference to point 3

Don’t get it twisted…writing books is not my only profession or “hustle”


5) "I don’t write for the money"

Okay


6) "It doesn’t matter if the book I’m writing is about sex, violence, and drugs…as long as people are reading"

I HATE when authors say that load of fuckery...That’s probably the most back handed comment to the consumer I’ve heard since stepping into the book industry…LOL


7) "I write about the hood because that’s all I know"

Yes, and you also write hood shit because your imagination is limited


8) "It’s about the art…fuck the business"

Yep…and that’s why you’re broke


9) "My books are too deep for the reader…that’s why they don’t get it"

Well…maybe…maybe not…material that’s light on the mind will always sell more…you gotta target the right people and build your buzz around them

 
10) "My shit ain’t selling because people are stupid and they don’t like real shit"

I feel your pain…I’m gonna drop a jewel from something a wise man once told me, “put the medicine in the ice cream and people WILL get it”


Aight, ya’ll…that’s my Top 10 in no particular order…I could’ve posted more…I fell back on that impulse…I didn’t wanna appear as a “hater”...whatever that means.

Until next time

Peace and Afro Grease

Nah’Sun