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"Do monthly thematics with groups of bloggers by blog subject matter, have an overall monthly theme that everyone participates. Post and follow a schedule to engage on each other's blogs around the theme. Use social media to cross promote the posts about the topic making it something of a month long round table discussion. Win win win for bloggers... readers and demographic impacted by the topics of discussion. Schedule themes around topics that are being discussed globally... have a common place to announce thematic changes for breaking news topic changes like 1)the Cosby scandal when it happened, 2)a new Black Lives Matter incident, 3) political developments during the voting season... Even when it is "entertainment" based blog subject matter discussing how current national news events impact the subject matter covered by the blog." Troy, I'm a marketing professional now. I returned to college to get a BBA in Marketing because I fell in love with it as a result of becoming an author who needed to spread the word about my books. I have four different levels of ways we can execute or implement this in a way that will benefit AALBC. The simplest and riskiest way to implement it would be to send out an invitation to the bloggers you know to sign up and offer slots to be featured during each thematic month for everyone to participate. This is simple because it is first come, first serve and sign up based. Risky because when people don't invest in things like this in MOST cases... they don't follow up on it and participate. This kind of community would require mature commitment, ongoing engagement and a desire to see other blogs increase traffic. If you want to know the other ways, I'll be happy to discuss how to do them so you're able to implement them if you choose.

The Black Panthers were the militant arm of the civil rights movement. They rejected non-violence but were basically demanding the same thing that MLK and Malcom were: equal justice under the law and the end of discrimination toward Blacks or - Negroes as we were also called then. All of these factions played a role in the struggle. And they all were taken seriously by the FBI. People rant about the media, the media, the media. But the Media made all the civil rights leaders larger than life and elevated them to places of prominence in history and pop culture. As an aside, it should be noted that during the civil rights era not all black people were dedicated activists. Only core groups participated in the much publicized sit-ins and picketing and marches. The average people, those in the barbershops,beauty salons, bowling leagues and social organization had their own opinions about their leaders and did not necessarily walk in lock step with everything they advocated, although everybody agreed on the common goal of racial equality. The black ministers in Chicago frowned on MLK coming there and stirring things up by demonstrating for open housing in hostile white neighborhoods. The Black Muslims and their stringent life style were not a popular movement although Malcom X was greatly admired because of his fiery rhetoric denouncing white devils. Yes, Blacks gave moral and financial support to the civil rights movement but activism was the exception not the rule. I, myself, registered my protests by utilizing the editorial pages of local newspapers, to whom I would fire off angry letters denoucimg racial discrimination. In the meantime, like the majority of Americans, I was sitting wide-eyed in front of the TV watching Bull Connor hose down determined demonstrators and sic the dogs on them. Or watching MLK deliver his famous "I Have A Dream Speech" with a lump in my throat. I cannot testify with certainty that my spectator experience was a microcosm of the black community at large during this period. I can just relate how it was in my environment and this environment was wide spread. In Chicagoland, the Panthers did not have a large enthusiastic following and Fred Hampton became more popular after he was killed than when he was alive. Fred first came to my attention when my niece was a student at the local high school, where he incited rioting because, as the black student enrollment increased, its members wanted more representation, beginning with a black homecoming queen. This dispute escalated and the school became a battle ground, which was put on lock down by the police. Around that time, Fred was president of the local NAACP Youth Council. But he eventually outgrew this tame group and moved on to the Black Panthers who were just coming into prominence. The white Liberal element in our hometown loved Fred because he was in the vanguard of the "radical chic" phenomenon wherein these sinister brothers in their black tams, huge afros, dark glasses, and leather jackets became the darlings of the bougeoise white cocktail circuit who held fund raisers to support "The Cause" because it was the "In" thing to do.. Today, the swimming pool at the local park is named after Fred Hampton who has become a hometown legend. I recall co-founder and ex-Panther Bobby Seale whose politics moved to the center, kinda deflating the image of the Panthers, himself, almost amused by their history. Eldridge Cleaver also became diffused and detached in his later years. Bobby Rush, who was a member of the hierarchy of the Panther's Chicago Chapter is now a preacher and Congressman from Illinois who, incidentally, defeated Barak Obama when he ran against him for this office. I'd be interested in hearing the real facts about Huey Newton who I have heard so many rumors about...

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Many contests, and some specific ones for African American and Caribbean Authors and a few for young people specifically...search the lists carefully... check it out. I would enter the non-fee ones, but some of the fees are not very much. Good luck http://www.freelancewriting.com/writing-contests.php

Good suggestions...I'm just worried that they aren't able to be implemented. As an example, I once made a call for writers for my blog. The requirement was the bloggers all needed their own platforms and had all of their ad revenue channels set up so that when they wrote an article that was about a book for instance, they could add their own Amazon Affiliate code. I eventually only added 1 writer and that writer has done a very good job, but consistency is the issue. I'd like to add more writers, but inevitably the writers only want to focus on their own sites. They don't realize that the real strength is in co-ops. It's why I choose to spend my social media time here on AALBC and Facebook. I feel that I have good engagement and it benefits AALBC for me to share what I know or have learned. It also benefits me to be associated with the oldest Black Lit company on the web. I enhance the pockets of the owner as opposed to just throwing away all of my equity to billionaires who sell my info. I choose Facebook because if I do well I will need to be on one of these outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Instagram) to reach those people who don't understand the importance of visiting websites. Whew, that was a lot to say and ask you this, how does this get implemented and started?

My problem is two fold: I have the sneaker site which is where most of my original following and following back derived from, and then I have the CBP crowd where I've been following and retweeting people that are startups or bloggers, etc. So I followed a lot of people early on to create interest in my footwear company. I still need to tweet about both the shoes and the books, so I have a confusing social media platform. I'm now just looking at who adds me on Twitter and then I'm following back based on my interest level. The problem is I only interact with twitter when I share something and someone responds. I don't take the time to scroll through and retweet very often. So my engagement is very topical and without a lot of substance. I have really chosen Facebook as my primary form of social and if I didn't think it looked odd I would delete my Instagram and Twitter since I don't really interact with them. You know like I do how little I get from Social if I don't spend a ton of time on it. At least with Facebook I'm able to post pictures, links, etc and keep up with people. I simply am not interested in posting so much to the Gram and to Twitter. I do realize that the moment I get a big time cosign it won't matter what social media platform I use, I will get engagement. People only want to follow and listen to stars.