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I was in a meeting with some booksellers last night and some were surprised that AALBC.com is not a fan of Bookshop dot org. It felt just like the reaction I got from people regarding my feelings about Amazon when I began to express them years ago. People could not understand my aversion to Amazon initially, but today, most people get it. Bookshp is Amazon all over again. Read the article in Publisher Weekly (and the comments) for some insight; "ABA Relationship with Bookshop Draws Booksellers’ Scrutiny"

The challenge to black readers in the very near future may not be where to find great writers, but rather where to find the books that our great writers write. What has been happening for quite some time is that our access to quality literature produced by authors of color has surely narrowed, restricting our voice. If this shocking trend continues unabated then there will be little hope that we will emerge from ‘whatever comes next’ intact as a united people. We must heal. Now. Therefore, the big question is not so much a matter of when but how. While it is human to celebrate change when it holds out possibilities for us, but if we, as a people, are going to put ourselves in a position where we can both manage and control part, some or all of what happens to us, we must heal. Celebrate. Then Heal. To date, what has been so symptomatic of us is that we are so proud of ourselves, and rightly so, for having endured to the end of whatever crisis that has afflicted us, that we don’t allow the healing process that ultimately follows any great battle to complete itself. We must heal. And only we can heal our hurt. No other people on the planet has ever been forced to endure as much as we have had to endure just to reach where we are now. Lord knows, we done paid some dues and in today’s socio/political climate, there is no longer any room for failure so in order to get stronger, we must, by necessity, HEAL! We must heal and rarely will we find anything more transformative for our healing than reading. There has never been a better moment than now for us to seize control of our literary narrative and to use this narrative as the foundation and the building blocks of a more unified black nation. Words possess that kind of power, especially when they are employed specifically to uplift, to enrich, and to empower. If we, by chance, are going to heal then what could be more rejuvenating than immersing ourselves in the depth and richness of our literary essence. During the Harlem Renaissance, the writers of that period took it upon themselves to introduce the black masses to themselves by using their writings as a mirror which reflected the harsh realities they faced. Additionally, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, it was the ink of our writers and scholars that help illuminate the path out of the darkness. It was liberation literature. Clearly, the one the thing that history will bear witness to is the fact that scarcely has there ever been change without the ink of the scholars being the catalyst. It was Voltaire, the writer and philosopher, who sparked the French Revolution with his writings. It was the writings of Marx and Engels that unified the working classes in Russia. And it is rumored that one of the documents that stirred the souls of the early American colonists to unite was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. Therefore, the thunderous might of words cannot be ignored so we must let our writers write but charge them with the duty to educate, and to uplift, and to transform. Otherwise they are useless. The truth never lies so we must not surrender our image or our voice to others so that either can be experimented on and tampered with. Now is the time for us to have our say. We must say NO to literary gentrification where outsiders either encroach on our right to tell our stories, or to restrict where our stories are to be found. The suppression of our voice is as evilly damaging as suppressing our vote, and with few exceptions, a people without a voice are too easily victims. Given the historical range of our suffering, there is no doubt that healing needs to take place in order for us to be whole. Yet, oddly enough, healing is what we have ignored most. And to be honest, the constant barrage of attacks against us has left us little or no room for recovery as we have been kept busy trying not to be consumed by the range and anger of American hospitality. However, if this is our NOW, we must find our center; that one place where we can all connect and where we can feel and explore and experience that which belongs to us------the power of our words contained in books written by, for, and about us. SUPPORT AALBC

Do you know what a truth and reconciliation commission is? Moscow Trials Kirov’s death led to three widely publicized trials that successfully wiped out many of Stalin’s political rivals and critics. Several former high-ranking Communists, including Lev Kamenev, Grigorii Zinoviev, Nikolai Bukharin and Aleksei Rykov, to name a few, were accused of treason. The trials, which became known as the Moscow Trials, were clearly staged events. The accused admitted to being traitors and spies. Later, historians learned that the defendants agreed to these forced confessions only after being interrogated, threatened and tortured.

Bookshop deleted my page and noticed my commentary. They took issue with it, obviously, and sent me this comment among other things; "We are determined to be a socially-conscious alternative to Amazon and we will not stop improving our platform to make it better and better for our patrons, our booksellers, and all of our affiliates." I replied; "I’m sure you personally believe Bookshop.org is supportive of indie booksellers, but as someone who has been selling books, independently on the web, for almost 25 years I can tell you Bookshop is not supportive of AALBC.com or any other indie online bookseller – that much should be plain. If I’m wrong; explain to me what I’m missing. Bookshop’s goal, based upon behavior (not public statements) is to become the ecommerce platform for brick and mortar stores. This fosters dependence – not independence. As bookshop’s dominance continues variety on the web will be diminished as online book sales coalesce under the control of two sellers Amazon and bookshop." This short video describes just one way Bookshop.org is undermining booksellers -- especially web-based booksellers -- like AALBC as they continue their march to become the ecommerce platform for every brick and mortar store. It is the "socially conscious alternative to Amazon" that I profoundly reject, because it is bullshit. Bookshop.org wants to dominate book sales on the web, just like Amazon before them. Trust me if Bookshop.org demonstrated any support of online booksellers I would be making better use of my time. Bookshop poses an existential threat to booksellers on the web -- Black booksellers in particular. Now Bookshop.org can do what they want to do. How we, as Black people who care about our book platforms, react is what matters most.

We won’t know until the end. I am giving my all.

Agency. @daniellegfnyIt is interesting to read you reaction. But you've completely the point. You wrote, "Writers should be free to write!" as if @Gibran rejected the notion in what he wrote (again setting up a strawman), which he did not. You quoted what he wrote, but failed to grasp his meaning... His use of the language was clear, so I do not know what else to add. When you write, "While the AALBC is a nice waystop, it’s too restrictive..." again you miss the point. Gibran was not saying the AALBC was they only thing we need to do, indeed he wrote others things we need to do as well. What he offered was not intended as a complete prescription. Danielle you fancy yourself as a writer, as such, you will note that Gibran started with a thesis statement; "The challenge to black readers in the very near future may not be where to find great writers, but rather where to find the books that our great writers write." Gibran was simply recognizing AALBC one platform that advances this goal. I praised what he wrote because he understands what I'm trying to do, something you've clearly failed to divine. Do you reject Gibran's thesis? If so why?

@Delano did you listen to the whole video? Because it did not discuss Dogon cosmology. @Pioneer1 Yeah lol 117 is just about as long as a human has ever lived and probably makes him the oldest person in Earth. Honestly I did not take that claim as serious and overlooked it.... The question about going back to a star tripped me out. The people are shoeless living in a mud hut and this guy is asking them about interstellar space travel. WTF?!

NOW THAT YOU HAVE USED YOUR VOTE USE YOUR VOICE PROTEST THE MARGINALIZATION OF BLACK LITERATURE SUPPORT AALBC!

Del Man..... Trying to talk with you is like talking to a squirrel in a tree...lol. Pioneer: Hey man! Pioneer: I see you're thinking about coming out for a little sun, huh? "I guess I am........." Pioneer: Well........I'm gonna be on my way now. You take care man! Peace!

It just occurred to I never deleted my Bookshop page. I went to bookshop to delete it and realized you can't do it on your own. I guess they never figured anyone would ever want to delete their page. I emailed support requesting that they remove my page on their website. In the meantime I updated my page to indicate that I'm boycotting their business. Let see how long it takes them to delete the page now https://bookshop.org/shop/aalbc 😉 I just did some more research into bookshop and discovered the state of Black-owned bookstore ecommerce is atrocious. The dependence we have on Bookshop is depressing. Many of the Black-owned stores including the ones getting the most attention in the media don't operate ecommerce sites -- bookshop is their website! These websites share precious sales figures and customer data. These sites also completely give up on advertising revenue which for a popular website can easily exceed book revenue. I get it, it took 2 decades for AALBC to ween itself off of Amazon's teat, wasting precious years of lost revenue. Sure bookshop gives these stores 30% on each sale -- which is almost as much as what a store would make if they, did all the work and fulfilled the books orders themselves, so we know the 30% share will not stand very long. Like Amazon taking a loss on the way to building a monopoly is a winning strategy. Like Amazon they will continue this until they taken control of ecommerce for indie booksellers. The only difference is rather than taking the loss with the consumer on low prices, bookshop shop is taking the loss with the Bookstore on the affiliate commission. With Amazon the consumer was happy with the low prices, but the booksellers were pissed. With Bookshop the bookstores are happy (save the ones who can see the con) with the high revenues AND the consumers are also happy believing they are supporting indie bookstores. By the time some independent bookstore wise up Bookshop's hustle they will have made Bookshop dominant and it will be too late to do anything meaningful on the web. It is not enough just to not use these sites. You have to be "anti-Bookshop" and "anti-Amazon." More to come...