21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?: Literary Awards – Talent or Popularity? One of the first revelations I had when beginning in the literary industry is that it is ext...

Literary Awards... Talent or Popularity?

Literary Awards – Talent or Popularity?

One of the first revelations I had when beginning in the literary industry is that it is extremely cliquish. It was quite disturbing to realize that a lot of popularity didn’t actually come from talent, it was more about who you associated and social-networked with.

There are those few that have a natural God-given talent that were inevitable to be successful but for every one of the rare people that applies to, there are ten more who just know and associate with the right person. Unfortunately, we have even made the mistake of making a talentless person relevant in the industry just because of their association with us. Unfortunately, we are still paying for that mistake. But that is not what I wanted to share today. I am wondering what my fellow peers think about the Literary Award winners and nominees.

Obviously, we at 21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing specialize in urban fiction. I will have to do an entirely different post regarding my feelings surrounding the exclusion of mainstream publishing awards and well-deserving urban authors. 

Because of this, the urban industry has come up with a few of their own award ceremonies. The nominees for these awards are often the same year after year. Some of these are well deserved nominations as these authors are continuing to put out quality work but in my humble opinion, some of these are based strictly on a popularity contest and nothing to do with skill or sales; therefore, are the awards being given worth any merit? I know popularity is a factor, but in the urban industry, it seems to mostly be the only criteria for winning an award. 

Should we respect these wins or just congratulate them for remaining relevant? 

Should it be based wins on actual numbers of sales and talent or are the only numbers important the amount of Twitter followers or FB friends the only numbers relevant? 

I always assumed awards were given based on talent, sales, etc. I am curious as to what my industry peers opinion is on this. Maybe it is a popularity contest and I am just naïve to believe that hard work, hustle and dedication to a craft should be award winning as opposed to who has the most time to social network and beg for votes. What say you literary friends? 

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21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter: Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter K'wan Foye The world of urban fiction which seemed to be stagnant after Donald ...

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Self-Publishing Package

21st Street Urban Editing & Publishing: Self-Publishing Package: Want assistance Self-Publishing your book? All you have to do is provide us with the manuscript... Allow us to take it from he re . We ...

Self-Publishing Package

Want assistance Self-Publishing your book? All you have to do is provide us with the manuscript...


Allow us to take it from here. We will apply for your ISBN Number, Priced Barcode, LCCN Number, Professional Editing, Typesetting, Book Cover, (Front Cover, Back Cover and Spine).  


We will also provide you with 100 copies of your final product and all of the completed files so you can continue to do print runs for the low price of $1799.00. Individually, the cost for all of this averages around $2700.00...


Payment arrangements are available as well as excellent references. 


Contact us. info@21StreetUrbanEditing.com 

Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

 Cash Money’s New Leader, Icon and Trendsetter

K'wan Foye

The world of urban fiction which seemed to be stagnant after Donald Goines and Iceburg Slim gave it a genre has made a comeback in the last ten years. With the self-publishing craze in full effect and Amazon and Barnes & Noble allowing anyone to upload and sell a story, there are thousands of books now available. Amongst the now thousands of urban authors, there is one name whom every single one of them will recognize. K’wan. He is the definition of a mononymous person in the urban industry and has been since his debut over ten years ago.

A lot of urban authors have found their niche for writing while incarcerated for lengthy periods of time. This may be the reason a lot of urban stories are so true to life. They are quite often, experiences the author has lived. Although K’wan’s story of tough times and strife as a youth growing up in Harlem is similar to other authors who write urban fiction, incarceration or reform is not what drove him to pen novels.  

K’wan’s mother was an aspiring writer. She unfortunately passed away before her ultimate dream came to fruition. Because of that, K’wan was inspired to begin writing as a way to honor his mother and fulfill her dream. Entering the literary industry with only his mother’s dream and a pen and paper was not easy. He had no ideal of the industry politics he would incur or how to handle them. In his words, “You are only as good as your last favor.” This revelation came to him through many trials and tribulations during the onset of his career. People he trusted had totally taken advantage of his eagerness to write and entertain readers just so they could make a dollar. He still to this day, has work out there that he has not been compensated for. Instead of allowing the frustration of deceit to get the best of him, he took all of the bad situations and turned them in to learning experiences that would make him the successful, savvy author he is today.

K’wan did have a few blessings as well. One of those blessings was L.A. Banks (RIP). She directed /encouraged him to submit to St. Martins Press. Banks told her editor, “This kid is gonna be huge one day and you need to check him out.” She helped him in a big way but most have never heard this story because she wasn’t the type of person to do something to say she did it. When Leslie helped him, it was from the heart. Although Leslie is no longer here, she is thought of often by K’wan who still appreciates her recognizing his raw talent. K’wan humbly contributes her encouragement and belief in him as a big part of the reason his success came so quickly.

Anyone dabbling in the industry knows, being a genius writer is just not enough for long term success. K’wan had to learn industry standards, the ins and outs of publishing a book, and monitoring who his social interactions where with in order to remain one step ahead of the game. He also learned that always staying true to his self would be in his best interest. He is not one to jump on bandwagons or follow fads which have been the unfortunate demise of a lot of authors before their career has even taken off and he now has a wonderful agent that he works very closely with when making business decisions.

After recently becoming a free agent for the first time in eight years, K’wan has signed with a new publisher. Cash Money Content recruited K’wan and the announcement for his decision to accept their contract was made in December, 2011 at a private celebration. He is very excited to be working with Ashley and Jaquavis Coleman, two authors whom he respects very much. Being able to confide and consult with them encouraged his decision to sign with CMC. Congratulations to Cash Money Content. Cash Money Content is an extension of Cash Money Records whom we all know for bringing us some of the greatest talent in the hip hop industry such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Juvenile and the Hot Boys, and will now without a doubt, be the new powerhouse in urban fiction.

Hopefully K’wan’s next goal of writing and directing films will be as successful. The determination and drive he possesses is like no other. He is definitely a leader, icon and trendsetter in the literary community. If you’d like to follow K’wan, you can click here to join his fan page K'wan's FB Fan Page directly on Facebook at  or if you’re on Twitter, you’ll love the tweets. Click here to  be directed to K'wan's Twitter page .

Professional Editing Tips for Self-Publishers

I know you don't want to hear this but it needs to be said (again)...
You should have your book edited by more than one editor! I've said this in the past and upset some people who think because they gave Joe Editor $300.00 their book is now perfect. Here are some real facts...
*Publishing a book (correctly) is expensive and a large part of that expense is EDITING. Even more so for first time authors or if you have no formal training in writing properly. Your work is going to need much more extensive editing.
*Proper editing TAKES TIME. Coming with a deadline of 3 weeks or a short, strict timeline is foolish. It's not because the editor is lazy or not working on your work. This is a timely, tedious process when done properly.
*Learn the difference in editing and proofreading. Did you know that Random House's proofreaders catch an average of 200 errors and if they don't catch at least 150 errors when proofreading an average length manuscript, it is sent to another proofreader to be gone over again. This is AFTER being edited by 2 of their on staff editors.
*Do some research instead of waiting for your FB friend to tell you about it.
*One person can not successfully edit and proofread your book. You need an editing team (of at least 2 people but preferably more).
*You get what you pay for. If you pay $600.00 for typestting, book cover, editing and business cards or whatever else is thrown in there, that is going to be the quality of your work. Don't then complain about the outcome, that's what you paid for.
*If you pay Joe Editor to edit your book, then go to print, don't blame Joe Editor. It is your responsibility, as an author/self-publisher to go through the proper steps to put out a proper product. Now- if you've had at least 2 edits and a proofread and your book is still filled with errors - then you should sue the hell out of those 3 people but if you're not doing what you need to do as a professional by following all of the steps, then take the blame your self.
Obviously, as a service provider and not a client, I am on the editor's side today but I also follow these rules. Our editors don't work for us for free. As publishers, we have to pay them to edit our books we publish as well. It sucks to own an editing service and have to pay for editing, however, I know that to put out a professional book, I must pay 2 (or more) of our editors to get it right as well as proofread it myself when it is done... If I, as the owner of an editing service have to pay for edits, why wouldn't you? Or, you can keep blaming the editor for your un-professionalism in following through the proper steps to self-publish and continue putting our sub-par (Not measuring up to traditional standards of performance, value, or production) work.
THAT BEING SAID, our editors are the bomb :) I appreciate you all, Jason Rashon Scott, Jill Alicea, Shannon Fields, Aquila Butler, Jason and Windy Goodloe. Check us out and let us help you complete this project professionally.
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You can also visit our website at www.21StreetUrbanEditing.com