Notes from AALBC’s #readingblack Presentation at the 2018 Sacramento Black Book Fair
Troy Johnson, Founded AALBC.com in 1998. Today it is the largest website dedicated to books by or about people of African descent.
However I actively promote other booksellers. Some might see this as helping the competition, but I see their success tied into my own.
- List of Black Book Websites, including Ashay by the Bay
- List of Black-Owned Bookstores, including Underground Books
- List of Black Owned Newspapers, including The Sacramento Observer
Last Year’s Conversation: (2017), I spoke about “The Impact of Amazon, Google, and Facebook on the Black Book Ecosystem”
- Listen to audio from a similar presentation given at the, Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota in Sarasota, FL on January 5, 2018.
- “Google‘s
Adverse Impact on the World Wide Web”
My initial reaction to all of the above was to explore the feasibility of boycotting Amazon’s bookstore. Most agreed, but ultimately the answer turned out to be no.
#READINGBLACK (http://readingblack.com) was born as a result
#readingblack is a more position reaction. The mission of #readingblack is to encourage everyone to read quality books
written by Black people and to purchase those books from independent
booksellers. We strive to develop strategies that will make it easier for book
buyers to support our mission.
…but the reader YOU are critical. If you don’t patronize our businesses, buy our books, we can’t produce the content or profit from it. This is a two way conversation.
Positive Outcomes (just a few)
Kimberla Lawson Roby
Go On Girl! Book Club
David Covin’s Raisins in the Milk
Walter Mosley Recommends AALBC's Self-Publishing Services