Tag Archives: bestsellers

May 2017 Newsletter: Bestselling Books, New Books, Author Info, and Much More

Our May Newsletter is Generously Sponsored by Amistad

Bestselling Books

Bestselling Books: March/April 2017

Provenance a novel by Donna Drew Sawyer, which tops our fiction list, is now a 3-time AALBC.com Bestseller. Number one on our Children’s list is Sydney Sunshine and the Not-So-Magic Mirror, which makes 9-year-old author, Sydney McGee, the youngest bestselling author in AALBC.com history. On the nonfiction side we have 10 Ways Anyone Can Graduate From College Debt-Free: A Guide To Post-College Freedom by Kevin Y. Brown, leading all nonfiction titles.

Check out all the AALBC.com Bestsellers going back to 1998.

We are also in the process of designing a bestselling book seal which publishers and authors may use to help readers discover the books which are attracting the most attention on AALBC.com. We can use your help. Take a look at some of our designs and let us know what think.

AALBC.com Partners with What’s The 411 TV

Troy Johnson with Ruth J. Morrison, CEO of What’s The 411 Networks

AALBC.com has partnered with What’s The 411 TV to bring information about Black books, authors, events, and news to both What’s The 411TV and AALBC.com’s audiences.

What’s The 411 TV reaches 14 million subscribers across the country on DishTV and can also be seen on Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Verizon FiOS, and RCN in New York City. The relationship is a great opportunity to expand our respective platforms, reach more reader, and celebrate Black culture through books.

25 African Male Writers You Should Read

We all know the iconic writers like Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe whose debut novel, Things Fall Apart, is perhaps the most widely read novel from the continent. We may also be familiar with the and Wole Soyinka, the first African to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. We may also be aware of Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o or Nuruddin Farah of Somalia, but there are many other great writers to be discovered; here we highlight just a small sample—enjoy! Learn more.

New Books Coming Out June 2017

Learn about excellent new books coming out this month and the coming months.

Recently Reviewed Books

Once Upon a Lie by Michael R. French

Full of twists, turns and surprises, Once Upon a Lie will keep you guessing until the very end. Though readable and engaging, the real complexity and intricacy is in the telling of the stories and the rich multilayered and multi-dimensional characters that French handily delivers. Jaleel’s story, brilliantly highlights the often unrelenting pitfalls many black men face, in a country too often willing to punish them for simply living while black. And while the ending is in many ways as bleak you would imagine, it is not tragic for whom you’d expect. In fact, I found the book to be nothing like I thought it would be, at almost every turn. And for that I applaud French. Highly recommended.

Recent Videos

Samson Dempsey the “Midtown Player” Turns Novelist

I’ve shot numerous videos of Brothers selling books on the street, but I have not done one in several years. I caught Sampson selling his books on 125th street in Harlem.

The first author I filmed selling books on the street was over 10 years ago, I captured then first-time author Randy Kearse. Randy went on to publish several more books and gain a great deal more prominence. A decade later, Randy told me he had only been out of jail for a couple of months and that he truly appreciated the support I showed him—that makes this all worthwhile 🙂

Inventor of the Portable Backpack Desk, Milton Bertrand

When in Florida, I spend hours in Barnes and Noble and Starbucks working on AALBC.com. Over the last couple of years, I’ve become friendly with Milton Bertrand.

We started talking because I noticed he was sitting in the B&N at a desk that he brought into the store himself. I thought who brings a desk to a bookstore?! We started talking and he explained how his desk actually folded up into his backpack. I thought that was such a cool idea, maybe you will too.

Mystery Novelist Ashley Lynch-Harris

I met Ashley Lynch-Harris at the Oxford Exchange Book Fair in Tampa Florida, on May 7, 2017. She was a little apprehensive when I first offered to film her talking about her book. But her husband encouraged her (they make a lovely couple), and she did a great job describing her new murder mystery, The Hotel Westend, which sounds intriguing.

Vote for Your Favorite Black Author of the 21st Century

We are compiling a fascinating list of our favorite Black Authors. Our new survey expands the scope of our list for the 20th Century, to include Black authors regardless of their nationality. The only requirement is that the authors you vote for must have been alive and published a book in the 21st century. Everyone is welcome to vote. (NOTE: You may vote for ANY Black author, not just the ones pictured).

Cast your vote today! and share the poll with others. This is a great way to discover and share information about new but significant writers from our network of readers. Check out the current results.

Minorities in Publishing (MIP)

Minorities in Publishing is an excellent bimonthly podcast hosted by Jenn Baker who discusses, with other publishing industry professionals issued related to diversity (or lack thereof) in publishing.

Check out the conversation with Tracy Sherrod, editorial director of Amistad Books (an imprint of HarperCollins focusing solely on Black voices). They discuss Tracy’s love of books and publishing, her desire to be an advocate for Black artists, the tenacity it takes to get in and stay in the industry, as well as how important support is from the consumer end to make sure more diverse books reach shelves.

140+ Book Events, Fairs, Festivals, and Conferences

Join the Conversation

Is This Photo of Viola Davis Subtly Racist?

Please take our short 4 question survey and let us know what you think. We have been having a fascinating discussion on the subject of racism. Is racism firmly entrenched in our culture or in our minds?

Check out this and other conversations on our discussion forums.

Win Patti Labelle’s New Cook Book

Be one of the first three subscribers to identify three of the five African male writers pictured near the beginning of this newsletter. Email the three names to troy@aalbc.com. The first three emails received with three correct names will win. Desserts LaBelle: Soulful Sweets to Sing About by Patti Labelle. Desserts LaBelle is filled with beautiful images and instructions on making terrific desserts&mdash including Patti LaBelle’s world famous sweet potato pie.

This contest is sponsored by Grand Central Publishing.

Authors: Let AALBC.com be Your Official Web Presence

AALBC.com believes an author is best served by having their own website. In reaction to seeing so many authors give up running their own website and turning to Facebook or Amazon to serve as their primary web presence, we decided to launch a new service.

We can help you register your domain name and direct it to your AALBC.com Profile Page. This will not only give readers a much richer experience with your books, you’ll also enjoy the next best thing to having a dedicated website. Plus you’ll reap the benefits of being on the largest platform dedicated to Black books and authors. Learn how to get started.

Dear Reader,

I’ll be in New York City on May 30^th participating on a panel discussion about Funding for the Arts hosted by Harlem World Magazine; the next day, May 31^st, I’ll be co-hosting the 11th Annual Black Park Party; in Sacramento CA, on June 6th, giving a talk entitled, “The Impact of Amazon, Google, and Facebook on the Black Book Ecosystem” during the Sacramento Black Book Festival; and in Atlanta GA, on June 10th, where I’ve been nominated for, “Literary Activist of the Year,” an honor which will be presented during The African Americans On The Move Book Club Literary Awards.

If you can make any of these events please stop by and say hello; I’d enjoy to meeting you.

Please know that AALBC.com continues to grow because of your support. Please spread the word about our site, post your comments on our pages, and consider purchasing for your newsletter subscription.

Peace & Love,

Troy Johnson,
Founder & Webmaster, AALBC.com

You may receive messages like this directly in your email box by subscribing. It may also be read on your Kindle ebook reader, or any device by downloading a PDF version. Enjoy all of our previous eNewsletters and consider sponsoring our eNewsletter or a dedicated mailing.

AALBC.com eNewsletter – May 24, 2017 – Issue #245

Amazon‘s Echo Look: Exploiting Our Inner Narcissist

7 Replies

The depth to which a corporation will sink to exploit our insecurities and separate us from our money knows no bounds.

Amazon now wants to tell us how to dress. I can hear is now,

“Alexa, do these jeans make me look fat?”
“No, but these jeans, for $79.99 (free shipping), will improve your look. Make sure you share this with your friends.”

Do we really want an organization, motivated solely by money, to become such an integral part of our lives? Is it in our best interest to give Amazon so much of our personal information, not just want we are wearing, but also what insecurities are?

By giving Amazon so much of our personal information we help them, and anyone else they sell our information to, exploit us for profit. We are being manipulated without our knowledge and in ways we can‘t fully appreciate or comprehend.

Protect yourselves by protecting your privacy.

The government is not going to help protect you. Journalists will let you know what is happening and help you understand why it matters, but their platforms and reach are being weakened every day, and are no match for the slick presentations of Amazon.

All of this while Amazon eliminates jobs across the country.

Back in September of last year (2016), the American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics released a full update of their “Amazon and Empty Storefronts” study.

“The updated study again shows that — whether it’s in dollars lost in sales and property tax revenue, far fewer retail storefronts serving local communities, or significant job losses — Amazon has a massive, overall negative impact on the American economy,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. “We need to come to grips with the fact that every American consumer is paying a high price for Amazon’s growth.”
—“Updated Study Drives Home Amazon’s Negative Impact on Economy” By David Grogan, Sep 28, 2016

ESSENTIAL NATIONAL FINDINGS 2015 (read the full report)

In 2015, Amazon sold $55.6 billion worth of retail goods nationwide, all while avoiding $704 million in sales taxes. The cost of lost sales taxes falls equally on state and local governments.
These sales are the equivalent of 39,000 retail storefronts or 133 million square feet of commercial space, which might have paid $528 million in property taxes.
A total of more than $1.2 billion in revenue is lost to state and local governments.
Amazon also operated 75 million square feet of distribution space, employing roughly 111,000 workers.
Even counting all the jobs in Amazon distribution centers, Amazon sales produced a net loss of 222,000 retail jobs nationwide.

Black Books Galore! AALBC.com’s November 2016 eNewsletter

Picador USA – Our eNewsletter Sponsor for November

Read one of the year’s most highly lauded – and highly provocative – books, now the first American winner of the Man Booker Prize. A biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty’s The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. Sure to spark lively conversation and debate, The Sellout is the perfect pick for book clubs looking for a timely and thought-provoking read. Learn more.

September/October Bestselling Books

Our September/October bestsellers reflect strong offerings from independent publishers. The bestselling book across all genres was Single Mama Dating Drama. Here seventeen talented writers share fictional stories about the woes, pitfalls, and joys of dating while raising kids. From Monica Lynne Foster’s explosive tale of an ex who fights for custody of his child while fighting to gain his ex-wife back from her newfound love; to Candice Y. Johnson’s laugh-out-loud take on a mama whose baby girl prophetically dismisses all of her potential suitors. There is something for everyone not just in this anthology but on our entire bestsellers list.

New Books Coming in December

JJ Smith’s Green Smoothies is the follow-up to her #1 New York Times bestseller 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse. Something Good is the wrenching memoir of Simba Sana, the CEO of Karibu Books, which was the most successful black-owned bookstore chain in the U.S. before closing. Charles Johnson, a National Book Award winner and one of America’s preeminent scholars in literature, brings us an instructive and inspiring guide on the art of writing in The Way of the Writer. Learn more about these, and other terrific reads, on our curated and frequently updated list of soon to be released books.

Black Writers Dominate the National Book Awards — Is it White Guilt?

“BET Presents the National Book Awards.” —Larry Wilmore (MC, 2016 National Book Awards)

Three of the four books honored during the 67th National Book Awards were written by Black writers; Congressman John Lewis (and Andrew Aydin) won for March Book Three, Ibram X. Kendi won for Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, and Colson Whitehead took the Fiction prize for his novel The Underground Railroad. Terrance Hayes presented the Literarian Award to Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady of Cave Canem, and comedian Larry Wilmore hosted the event.

It was a great evening, but it was sad to read comments the following day, on the websites of respected publications, like The New York Times and The Atlantic suggesting that awarding these three writers was somehow the result of white guilt, reverse racism, or liberalism and political correctness run amok. Only a minority of readers were willing to accept that the winners won on merit alone. Check out our coverage of this year’s Awards Ceremony.

The 2016 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Winning Books

The winning titles were announced October 23rd. The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award™ honors the best in Black literature. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. Fiction, debut fiction, nonfiction, and poetry honorees are selected in a juried competition. Each October, the award winners are celebrated during a gala that draws hundreds of literary stars, readers, representatives of the publishing industry, the arts, media, politics, and academia. Learn more about all the award-winning titles, finalists, and nominees.

Submissions for 2017 are now being accepted; the deadline is December 5th.

2017 Reading List for Go On Girl! Book Club, Inc.

Go On Girl! Book Club, Inc. is the largest and most influential book club in the country. Their reading list is compiled from a curated list of prospective titles in the following categories, historical, international, mystery/thriller, novel, short stories, and social commentary. These titles are voted on, by hundreds of members across the country, to determine which ones are ultimately selected for their club’s reading list. In other words, you can’t go wrong reading any of the books on their list—there is something for everyone to enjoy! (Note: The order the 2017 titles will be read is not final.)

Film Reviews

Moonlight
It isn’t bad enough that Chiron (Alex R. Hibbert/Ashton Sanders/Trevante Rhodes) is being raised by an emotionally-unavailable, drug-addicted, single-mom (Naomie Harris). The shy youngster also has the misfortune of having to hide the fact that he’s gay, since he’s experiencing pangs of sexual awakening in the midst of an African-American, ghetto culture which is homophobic to the point of violence.

Consequently, he finds himself not only being teased for being a “faggot” by a school bully (Patrick Decile) but sadistically beaten to a pulp by his best friend and secret lover, Kevin (Jaden Piner/Jharrel Jerome/Andre Holland). This sorry state of affairs has understandably left the closeted kid terribly confused.

Loving
Mildred Jeter (Ruth Negga) and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) committed a crime just by falling in love when they were in the bloom of youth back in 1958. That’s because she was black and he was white, and they were living in Virginia, one of the many Southern states with anti-miscegenation laws still on the books forbidding cohabitation, marriage, procreation or even sexual relations across racial lines.

Nevertheless, Richard was so smitten he proposed and after Mildred accepted, he purchased a vacant plot of land where he promised to build their dream home. However, when it came to time to wed, they had to travel north to Washington, DC, a city where they could secure a marriage license.

Put Your Book on AALBC.com Until December 31st

Your book will appear on our Homepage and our Book’s Main Page for the entire fall (campaign duration extended until midnight December 31st). Buy it now, because there are only two positions left.

All Fall Special advertisers will get a 25% discount on the Winter Special ad. The winter and spring ads will be priced higher than the Fall Special due to the increased level of traffic during those seasons.

Also, if you purchase a Large Book Cover Advertisement we’ll give you a free Author Profile—permanent placement on AALBC.com—as an added bonus!
AALBC.com is the oldest, largest, and most frequently visited website dedicated to books written by or about people of African descent. There is no other website that reaches readers of Black literature more effectively.