International Shelves

 

What do you see? Do you notice it? Have you found it yet? This is like looking at a giant page of a Where's Wally book isn't it lol.

My book poeple! I'm All In is stacked on the top shelf YAYYY! I'm so happy (smiling with all teeth emoji).

I would have taken a picture of me next to the shelf or had the staff do it but not only is that too ostentatious for me but the staff were not that enthusiastic so it was out of the question, BUT THEY WILL NOT BRING DOWN MY HIGH! 

MY BOOK- FIRST BOOK, IS ON SHELVES PEOPLE! And not just the shelves of customers within their homes although that is the greatest honour, but it is on retail shelves which is the goal of many Authors. Especially for self-published Authors as we have a steeper hill to climb in order to get given half of the same opportunities for distribution and exhibition thus sales, considering our limited resources of not publishing our books with a (commercial) publishing company- BUT I DID IT! BY MYSELF I would like to point out. No publishing house, no distributor, no Publicist, no Assistant just my persistence (meant to rhyme).

I would also like to point out that not only did I forget this year that it was the publication anniversary this month seeing as August is usually a miserable time of year- ANNUALLY KMT. That aside, this opportune time of year in 2021 had the first exciting news of my debut book on retail shelves in July, when I sold copies of it to The Ankh Centre in Willesden (North-West London)! That made my year you don't understand. Simply because it is was full of simplicity, ease and a welcoming attitude. It was the beauty of simplicity and clear communication, no nonsense, just details exchanged, money explained and respectful honest correspondence which was all I needed. THIS IS A RARE OCCASION PEOPLE! Usually in any case it's nonsense, hesitation, an unnecessary attitude from an unprofessional individual, misinformation or contradictions and misleading. There was none of that crap here, everything was what it was AND DONE. Along with the positivity of productivity that came at just the right time.

I'm smiling now at the progress and lack of stress (wasn't meant to rhyme) granted from that experience.

So now, my book is not only easily distributed online and of course sold at the biggest retailer in the world right now (Amazon) but the paperback is also available in hard copy at a store in London (with whom I coincidentally performed at their flagship branch 10 years prior!) More excitingly thus far, that same book is now stocked at a bookshop in Kigali- RWANDA how exciting is that! And not just at any bookstore people but a renowned iconic store of the region, Ikirezi Bookshop. They have lots of great material there I must say; their art supplies, range of text books, business books, history books, self-help, fiction, great children's books and multi-lingual stock by the way (French, English and Kinyarwanda). 

Please note that many retailers set their own prices which does not reflect on me, that goes for some of the ludicrous prices that have been reported to me recently (I would not ask or expect you to pay the far fetched £39-42.00 offensive fee for just one paperback book) given by associated online retailers via Amazon. THAT IS NOT MY DOING. My price is £8.99 as sold on Shop Infiniti and in person at performances and appearances. Furthermore the only price that I agree to on Amazon is the £9.85 listing when it is sold directly through them as the Seller.

 

The pictures were taken at Ikirezi Bookshop, Kigali. Years later and I'm still in love with my cover design. I'm so proud. B*tch don't kill my vibe.

New Book With a WELLNESS Special!

 

I recall a Chef once saying that his father taught him "Whatever you do in life, make sure that you're proud of it." And man, I am so unbelievably proud of this new publication as its purpose is so positively wonderful and its effect is immediate, it even works on me!

Such as my first book (a poetry collection), this came sudden and was prompted by the sad attitudes that rare their ugly heads around Valentine's Day. This year, I particularly found that alot of the hate and anger from those bitchin' about Valentine's Day was largely out of shame and bitterness for happy couples or towards those that had someone to love and was loved. 

At the end of the day, the common denominator from those vocal individuals, in my observational opinion, was that they did not love themselves. This is a common problem among many people regardless of the event, the country or generation and it's sad. Many of us do not truly, love ourselves, thus act like an arse and spew out negativity and hateful behaviour towards others and sadly ourselves as a result. I am not here for it!

Hence how the average grown bully or trouble-making child, are mostly found acting up because deep down they need a hug, have been bullied themselves, been made to feel unworthy and feel the need to take it out on other people with their foul actions and hurtful words. I am SO NOT HERE FOR IT. Especially the old ones that still want to carry on with such foolishness because they refused to work on themselves. YOU NEED TO HEAL. 

Certain reality TV stars come to mind as I express this and recall some dreadful, 'asking for a slap' behaviour that I have witnessed on television (rightfully deemed as "the idiot box" quoted by Spike Lee) but I shall not credit or shame them on my post of excitement. What I have to share is honestly coming from a positive place my loves, I just have to explain myself to bring more context for you to understand why and how it came to be.

Now I know that many people talk sh*t, preach at you and like to judge while reprimanding others about their short-comings without offering to assist, that's not me. I am offering to assist, my book was made to assist you with that struggle (if you have it) which does not need to be as 'uphill' as it may seem. 

Naturally, as a Writer I know for a fact that words are extremely powerful and can be very healing, uplifting or damaging, which is why my purpose is to reduce the negative and malicious words being put out there or lingering in your mind about how you value yourself (during any season that may make you feel otherwise) and to increase, better yet replace it with positive inspiring words to engrain in your brain and thrive with emotionally. Your mental wellbeing is everything, EVERYTHING I tell you.

This book is about encouraging people with a low self-esteem, those with any level of self-hatred, those dealing with any sort of depression or self-pity, whether you are a man, woman, single, boo'd up, promiscuous, married or divorced. This brilliant book which I very much consider it to be, is to get you to believe in yourself, think highly of yourself (humbly), to generally feel better about putting mindful practice into your personal growth! Pick yourself back up, correct yourself, check yourself, comfort yourself mentally as opposed to beat yourself up (too many of us do that, I've been there) and most of all LOVE YOURSELF! 

Love yourself, respect yourself, know yourself, better yourself, hug yourself with your kind words instead of criticism. Certain messages that I wrote in this book came with the aim to stop you (some people I know personally) from the bad habit of rejecting yourself of feeling better about yourself, and subsequently stop pushing others away because you have a habit of doing as such out of fear of being accepted or not being worthy. YOU ARE WORTHY IF YOU ACT AND ACKNOWLEDGE YOURSELF AS SUCH.

Ahh! You have no idea how much this means to me. I put alot of energy- POSITIVE ENERGY into this my lovelies. This self-help book of motivational, inspirational quotes and affirmations has also enhanced my own personal wellbeing. This is due to all the primary and secondary research gone into it, writing, re-writing, editing and proofreading drafts of the somewhat spiritual (it hit me spiritually) content that helped me keep my own mental health in check, during the process of indecisively selecting and more so repeating said quotes back to myself consciously. 

By the time I got to the final draft, I was shouting them out like I was in the last round of a group therapy session being cheered on by fellow participants, theoretically speaking. I felt great, and proud of what I had achieved emotionally in my own life from what I had written. I always like to practice what I preach so to speak, and if I am going to publish something that has a certain type of message or strong influence, it is important to me that I believe in it too or I won't release it. I have to feel as good or just as inspired as I want my audience to feel. And I do! It feels wonderful. Yet again, I was working on another book project which was long-awaited and no doubt angry with me (I humanise my projects such as many others humanise their cars etc), then I spontaneously released this project replacing its priority....but it was and is worth-it as it will help many (not meant to rhyme).

So in honour of Mental Health Awareness Month of which I only became aware of far into the month by the way, I am offering an added discount off of the books' pre-release price. It has yet to be released on my Infiniti Promotions website of where it will be on sale as official merchandise, hence the branded colour scheme. Appropriately titled #ILoveMyselfBecause, of where the hashtag was additionally intended to contribute to the social media conversation and the lack of social conversation in this regard.

To get your hands on your doubly discounted copy or to buy one for someone you know in need, simply message me via email, comment or DM me on my blog or social media pages; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook quoting the discount code! I will then send you back an invoice with secure payment options applicable for any currency, just as I would do for my card service and post the book out to you. Get your orders in people and regardless of the month or celebration; better yourselves, be kind to yourselves and take care of yourselves mentally and physically.

Love Lauren

ORDER NOW

#ILoveMyselfBecause

(PRE-RELEASE PRICE) £17.99

EXTRA 25% OFF DISCOUNT CODE: MHAW25