AALBC
Top 10 Sellers for all of 2001
(to learn more about the book click the title, to learn more
about the author click author's name)
During 2001 AALBC.com expanded book sales into author signings and other off-line events. Additionally, we increased to the number of autographed books well sell directly. We also joined Amazon's affiliate program while retaining our relationship with B&N.com. Off line books sales increased dramatically, while on-line book sales remained flat compared with 2001. A late year spike in book sales, due primarily to joining Amazon's affiliate program, promises a very strong 2003 season -- thanks for your support over the years!
During 2000 AALBC.com sold 937 different titles - 35% more than 1999 and 130% more than 1998! The following titles represent the 10 books most frequently sold during 2001.
#1
A Day Late and a Dollar Short Click to order via Amazon Format: Hardcover, 448pp. A Day Late and a Dollar Short is also reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller's List Much-heralded and long awaited, Terry McMillan's tour-de-force novel introduces the Price family-matriarch Viola, her sometimes-husband Cecil, and their four adult kids, each of whom sees life-and one another-through thick and thin, and entirely on their own terms. With her hallmark exuberance and cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page, the author of the phenomenal best-sellers Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back has given us a novel that takes us ever-further into the hearts, minds, and souls of America-and gives us six more friends we never want to leave.
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#2 The Seventh Octave: The Early Writings of Saul Stacey Williams Click to order via Amazon Saul
Stacey Williams, Jessica
C. Moore (Editor) Publisher: Moore Black Press Hailed as "a dreadlocked dervish of words...the Bob Marley of American poets" (Esquire), Saul Williams is a gifted young poet who is opening up this literary art form to a new generation of readers. Like his writing -- a fearless mix of connecting rhythms and vibrant images -- Saul Williams is unstoppable. He received raves for his performance as an imprisoned street poet in the Trimark Pictures release Slam, winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes and the Grand Jury prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. The consummate spoken-word performance artist, Williams has also been signed by producer Rick Rubin to record a CD of his poetry.
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#3 The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: The Early Years, 1898-1939 Click to order via Amazon or get autographed copy directly from AALBC.com) by Paul Robeson Jr. Format: Hardcover, 400pp. The long-awaited, untold, inside story of the rise of the legendary actor, singer, scholar, and activist. The first volume of this major biography breaks new ground. The greatest scholar-athlete-performing artist in U.S. history, Paul Robeson was one of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century. Now his son, Paul Robeson Jr., traces the dramatic arc of his rise to fame, painting a definitive picture of Paul Robeson’s formative years. His father was an escaped slave; his mother, a descendent of freedmen; and his wife, the brilliant and ambitious Eslanda Cardozo Goode. With a law degree from Columbia University; a professional football career; title roles in Eugene O�Neill’s plays and in Shakespeare’s Othello; and a concert career in America and Europe, Robeson dominated his era.
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#4 Take a Lesson: Today's Black Achievers on How They Made It and What They Learned Along the Way by Caroline Clarke Click to order via Amazon Format: Hardcover, 304pp. This inspiring collection of lessons culled from candid, intimate interviews with famous and prominent black achievers features advice on how to get ahead in business-and in life. Contributors include groundbreakers in a broad variety of industries-from investment banking to entertainment to politics-who share valuable advice with people of all ages. From entrepreneurs to corporate stars, the contributor list is outstanding, featuring some of the most well-known and well-respected leaders in the black community, ranging from Ken Chenault, President of American Express, to filmmaker Spike Lee. Contributors also include Bryant Gumbel, Johnny Cochran, Maxine Waters, Terrie Williams, and more.
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#5 Format: Paperback, 272pp. Silk sheets...jazz playing softly in the background.
The many moods of Eros are explored in this rich and diverse array of
black erotica, written especially for this Plume collection. Author Bio: Carol Taylor is a former book editor now working as a freelance editor and writer. She co-edited and contributed to Sacred Fire: The QBR 100 Essential Black Books.
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#6 Format: Paperback, 114pp. "Who says poetry
does not sell?" -- Troy Johnson AALBC.com AALBC top 10 bestseller every She is a fascinating and unique collection of interconnected poems by this multi-talented star -- and marks the beginning of an incredible and totally original artistic career.
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#7 Any Way the Wind Blows by E. Lynn Harris Click to order via Amazon Format: Hardcover, 352pp. At the end of Not a Day Goes By, the terminally bisexual John Basil Henderson declares: "I'm back, in full form. And I'm out there. Roamin'. And switching lanes." Now, in Any Way the Wind Blows, Basil, good-looking gadabout and homme fatal, is back at the top of his game (razzle-dazzling both the women and the men). All is well until Basil's picture-perfect life starts to unravel ... Left at the altar a year before, jilted Broadway bombshell Yancey Harrington Braxton stages her comeback-this time as a recording star-but has she forgiven ex-fianc� Basil, or does she still need to even the score? As Yancey's star continues to rise, her past threatens to catch up with her and she fears someone may be after her as well ... In a wicked little dance of revenge, Basil and Yancey struggle to keep their lives on track, while a chorus of unforgettable characters either come to their aid, or make matters worse. In the mix are: Yancey's mother, Ava "Mama Dearest" Braxton, a diva's diva and a second-rate showgirl housed in the body of an aging supermodel; the wise and wonderful Windsor Adams; and the new guy in town, Bartholomew "Bart" Dunbar, a rogue's rogue and handsome hunk of a man who stands to make Basil look like a choirboy. With just the right amount of wickedness, love, and compassion, Harris's masterful storytelling and delicious plot twists will have fans and newcomers alike frantically turning pages trying to find the answer to the ultimate question: Does revenge ever really pay?
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#8 Words Don't Fit In My Mouth by Jessica Care Moore Click to order via Amazon Format: Paperback, 151pp. |
#9 Format: Paperback, 1st ed., 302pp. Preface: "We now are nearing the final decade of the 20th
century. Recently, there has been an unraveling and an analysis of the
core issue of the first global power sysem of mass oppression-- the
power system of racism (white supremacy). One the collective victim
(non-white population) understands this fundamental issue, the ultimate
organizing of all of the appropriate behaviors necessary to neutralize
the great injustice of the white supremacy power system will only be a
matter of time. The length of time required to neutralize global white
supremacy will be inversely proportional to 1) the level of
understanding of the phenomenon; plus 2) the evolution of self- and
group-respect, the will, determination and discipline to practice the
appropriate counter-racist behaviors--on the part of the non-white
victims of white supremacy."
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#10 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem by Ntozake Shange Click to order via Amazon Format: Paperback, 1st ed., 64pp. From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world. |