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@B.D.C., that was a very thoughtful message and I appreciate you posting it. The vast majority of people coming do not share their ideas or opinion. Perhaps it is the fear of being ridiculed or appearing uninformed. I'm learning something new all the time here. The main reason for my message was to help authors understand that when you pitch your book to a bookseller to carry your book in their store, or website, you can not start the conversation with "Order Now on Amazon." This should be obvious, but it apparently is not, which I why I wrote the message. I wanted to help authors and publishers understand a bookseller's perspective. Amazon sells books indiscriminately, they could be bootlegged, retrieved from a dumpster, written by a terrible writer, or poorly produced. Amazon simply does not care; they are only concerned with revenue. All other booksellers curate they books they sell. We select books we think are worth reading and will benefit our customers. Marketing is a Beast -- definitely. If your goal is to make money with your book, marketing should begin before the book is written. The author should consider who the audience for the book is, how large the audience is, how will they reach the audience, and how much it will cost. Independently published authors rarely do this. After some analysis you may determine not to write the book. Indie authors produce the book then struggle with figuring out how to sell it. Don't discount the "views." People use the site to discover books. If you email me directly to pitch me a book to review -- only I see the book info. If you post it here others will see it -- perhaps someone interested in reviewing or reading it. We review very few books that are pitched to us. Part of the challenge is that having a book reviewed costs money, time, and energy. All the author invests is a book, but the entity doing the reviewing invests far more. We must be very selective in the books we choose to review -- otherwise we'd be out of business. This is one reason we offer a fee based book review service. Finally there are a lot of ways for authors to get their book on AALBC. In our FAQ, I mention 8 ways and most are free.

And @Troy Speaking of the Root's Michael Harriott - he allegedly landed a Seven-figure, two-book deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt this past weekend. That’s right: after an understandably competitive auction fielded and negotiated by Tanya McKinnon at McKinnon Literary, Michael Harriot has closed a two-book, seven-figure deal with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—and as we celebrate the ascension of yet another of The Root’s shining lights into the publishing world, we are thrilled to be relaunching our It’s Lit! section with this incredible announcement.

@Troy If you have the talent - BUT if you don't have the time - send them to me! (can you just hire me already!) I'd love to talk to them about their contributions. I do know Kwame Alexander - and I'm just waiting to get in the same room with him again so I can borrow 15 minutes of his time. I met up with him when he visited Chicago back in 2012 (I think) to give a talk at convention his mother was hosting. This was before his recent success and the imprint. He brought me to tears with his passion. If I can I find the little piece I wrote about his speech, I will share it. It was pure raw emotion. His talent was real and seriously there wasn't a dry eye when he finished speaking. Although my photos from the event were lousy , I will share them too. By the way, shame on them! Posting on social media will never compared to editorial content. A journalist can trigger memories and emotions that just don't come through in a facebook post. smh Also, I've always love the chitlin circuit - but my mom hated when I used the term, so I stopped. I guess the PC term now is "Black Famous" Root Journalist Michael Harriott was just talking about black famous on twitter ... by the way, did you know Bobby Caldwell (what you won't do for love) is a white man? I didn't. But Caldwell is black famous too! lol

Snowy. Christmas. Eve,In. Many. Ghetto. Houses.. From. A. Infestation,Large. Rats. Stirring,Not. Mouses.. No. Marshmallows. Or,Chestnuts. Roasting. Over. A. Fire. More Food Is A Perpetual,Desire. Christmas Day Many Families Won't Have. Joys.. There Will. Not Be Anything For Girls And Boys.. In The Ghetto,Liveable Wages They Are Deprived. Each Day Is A Struggle To,Survive.. Black Mothers Raising Children Alone. Children Fathers,Are In Prison ,Or Somewhere Unknown.. Snowy. Street,Cirners,Prostitutes. Have. Stood. Gangs. And. Thugs. Roam,Neighbirhoods.. Ghetto. Streets. Gun. Shots. Sound. Another,Gangster. Lay Dead. Upon. The. Ground.. Demonic. Christian,Politicians. And. Preacher's. Never. In. A. Humanity. Mood.. To,Help. The. Homeless,,,Give Them,,Shelter. And. Food. Many. Of. The,People,Not. At. Church,To. Hear. Preacher's. Speak. They. Yearn. For. Clothes,Shoes. And. More. Food ,To. Eat.. . To. Each. Other,Have. A,Merry. Christmas. They. Say. When. Christmas. Comes. It. Wil. Be. Just,Another. Ghetto. Day...

I've done this too. Recently I asked paid advertisers to supply links to their site (or use an AALBC page) rather than using an Amazon link. Most have agreed to do this. It seems that people get it when you tell them. This was not the case a few years ago. The tide seems to be changing. Sometimes, however, the author's goal is to make one of Amazon's best sellers lists, so directing readers, in this instance, to an alternative store is not possible. Given that Amazon has a bestsellers list for every category (thousands) some careful planning and pricing by an author can result in a #1 Amazon best selling book. Having a #1 Amazon bestselling book is as prestigious as making the New York Times Best Sellers list in some quarters. The problem with the NY Times list is that it is, naturally, biased against Black books and independently published books, these books typically don't make the shelves of the stores that report to the NY Times. AALBC reports to the Times, but my sales are not enough impact the list (The AALBC bestseller Sulwe, make the list during the period I reported 😀). Imagine, if book promoters directed readers to buy books from AALBC and other stores that report to the Times. We could impact the list and build the Black Book Ecosystem at the same time. Then again, imagine if the AALBC Best selling Books List, published since 1998, carried the same clout in our community as Amazon's or the New York Times' lists. Imagine...