LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, November 23, 2010, during the Formal Session, which will be held at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in room 1340, Councilman Andre L. Spivey and his colleagues of the Detroit City Council will proudly present one of their own, Monice Mitchell Simms, with a Testimonial Resolution. An award-winning filmmaker, WSU graduate and former intern and reporter at The Michigan Chronicle, Metro Times, the Detroit Free Press and Newsweek’s Detroit bureau, Mitchell Simms was entirely educated in the Detroit Public School System. A screenwriter and resident of Los Angeles for the past 13 years, she has consistently used her artist platform to present genuine, three-dimensional images of Detroit in her acclaimed body of work.
Most recently, Mitchell Simms completed a national book tour to Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York for her debut novel, "Address: House of Corrections." The first in a trilogy inspired by the lives of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, "Address: House of Corrections" examines the complicated and often times challenging connections between mothers and daughters. Based in 1940/50s Detroit, it also focuses on a young woman who travels from south to north, grows up on the North End in Detroit and ends up walking the long road to redemption.
"My goal in writing a life-inspired novel exposing my family's experiences was to show readers how positive things can come out of adversity, and that one's destiny is neither determined or dictated by their environment or circumstance."
Motivated by rejection and the declining publishing industry, Mitchell Simms published "Address House of Corrections" through her imprint, flower girl publishing. On sale since March 2010, she has successfully been implementing an avant-garde marketing and distribution strategy using Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to promote and sell directly to a global audience of readers and listeners.
"Address: House of Corrections," the mini-series, is scheduled to begin broadcasting in December 2010. Readers will be able to download the series in written and audio form from Itunes.com, Audible.com, Podcast.com and the novel’s blog site, www.addresshouseofcorrections.com. Readers will also be able to continue purchasing hard or e-book copies of the entire novel from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com
“We’re fortunate to live in this great time of technology and I’m so excited about the possibilities for my novel,” said Mitchell Simms, a journalist for 20 years.
“But truth is, this model isn’t really new. Independent musicians have been successfully using these tools for years. We’re simply pulling together all of the technological resources and taking everything one step further to hopefully turn the stagnant publishing industry on its head and empower authors to take their careers into their own hands.”