Leaderboard

Ok, I'll get the ball rolling. Black Fire,anthology of Afro American Writing(1969 edition), Memphis 68, Revolutionary Suicide- Huey Newton, What Happened,Miss Simone?, Jimi Hendrix,a brothers Story, Street Fighting Years- Tariq Ali, James Baldwin, the FBI Files, Home- Leroi Jones and Power to the People, World of the Black Panthers.

Commitment: Can I get you to make me a promise? Can I get you to see passed the undertaking of my hearts desires? I promise you love and devotion, which by today’s society is far from the norm. In becoming attentive to the needs of others, one can cause self-harm. My loyalty is more than the trust that I extent to the dedication called us. Faithfulness is the underdog of fidelity when adherence is no longer a must. My resolve said you are worth the time sacrificed, but do I take what is given at the cost of a life. We were supposed to walk as one, an allegiance standing its ground, refusing to retreat. However the bond that brought us back to heel was a facility to the pain, which was real. Your pledge an oath told to the old that promised fairytales to the very young, was the contract that promised mystic retreats had me rethinking the pact that you had made with me. So many decisions were made back then and I was amazed you consider me a friend. I guaranteed you me at the cost of them, not contemplating the contract end. The resolution was supposed to bring me peace of mind but is was only affirmation of a kinder time when you could feel me in the breeze of the night and the vows we made said we’d be alright. Yet reality has a way of creeping in with no assurance of where ties begin. It is only a burden when duty pressures an engagements end, and the arrangements made were to consider the obligation of a lifelong friend. Never the less, here we sit hand in hand with the future untold. We considered the undertaking that was pressed upon us, and welcomed the moment we both got old. The memories that we would never rewrite because in the commitment we learn to fight. Those fights made us bold, and in them we learned to stay beyond the words and pain, the commitment to the future that we never thought we’d see, still makes me think this way. A committed friend.

To be clear, are you saying that one does not need to define an audience for their book? I ask because on this forum, just the other day I wrote: "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." I do know this is common advice and the reason I share it is because I believe it to be sound advice. Of course I understand that some indie authors -- most perhaps -- have a book in them that they must to get out and issues of marketing are of little concern. In fact, issues of how to properly produce a book and sell it are of little concern as well ... until it is too late. I'm including a link to your book here on AALBC: An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones by Wendy Jones

@Mel Hopkins Yeah Living Single was one of the last network sitcoms that I regularly watched. Kim was certainly Black Famous back when the show aired. Do you think she is Black famous amongst millennials and younger? Eric Jerome Dickey is probably Black Famous amongst readers. Do you think he is Black famous amongst the Black general public? Do you think AALBC is Black famous within the the group of avid readers who are also active online? Sometimes I'll run into a Black author who is promoting a book and says they are unfamiliar with my website and I'll joking say something like, "well you must not use the world wide web?" Sometimes that is actually the case, usually with an older person. Other times it is a combination of how the person used the web and how they web actually works. People tend to gravitate to the biggest websites and everything on the web serves to elevate the biggest sites. You need the white co-sign to become famous. Increasingly however -- especially on the web you need the white co-sign to become "Black famous." The celebs of "Black Twitter" would, of course, not be possible without Twitter. The same could reasonably be said for the start of Black Lives Matter. Black Chitlin' Circuit events for books makes it possible for writers to become Black Famous. Without these events it would be very difficult for a writer to have a career based solely upon writing. These events help raise the profile of AALBC -- which is why I do these events. That plus I love being around Black folk who have a passion for stories and knowledge.