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I know it's been a while since this discussion, but I wanted to say that I appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. I am a new author and am also in the process of opening a new bookstore to be located in Las Vegas, NV. I am excited about this venture despite having seen other stores succumb to the external pressures. I am grateful to see you all talking about this!

Hey Milton, I'd appreciate if you would drop me troy@aalbc.com the name of the event and what happened (or share you experience here). Another problem we have is that many of us are forced to learn the hard way. That is we in order to avoid airing dirty laundry or coming across as "haters", we don't talk about bad experiences that we've had, as a result others get burned more easily. We could use a Black Book Better Business Bureau (BBBBB or B5) or something.

A very deep discussion going on here. Hickson is dropping some serious knowledge. As I get deeper into my own publishing journey I'm encountering some of the same issues y'all are discussing. I had to disassociate myself from an event that I've attended since it's inception because the founder has decided it is better for him to play favorites than to do good business. It's a bittersweet decision but one that had to be made in order for me to continue to do good business and grow my company. To make a long story short, I embrace, enjoy and prefer doing business with my people AS LONG AS THEY DO GOOD BUSINESS. If not, I can't work with them. Period.

TROY, I'VE LONG FREED MYSELF FROM FEELING OBLIGATED TO PEOPLE AND ENTITIES IN PUBLISHING: IF IT'S NOT RIGHT, GHETTOHEAT® CAN'T ROCK, WON'T ROCK! I'M ALSO NOT INCLINED TO JUST "GIVE AWAY MONEY" & NOT CAPITALIZE POSITIVELY ON MY RETURN. YES, IN THE PAST, AND EVEN MOST RECENTLY, I'VE INVESTED MORE THAN GAINING A RETURN WHEN DOING EVENTS, AS I, TOO, TROY, LOOKED AT IT AS AN INVESTMENT. THE DECIDING FACTOR WAS LAST YEAR IN HARLEM: BOOK SALES WERE LOW, PATRONS ATTENDANCE WAS LOW, AND THE BACKBITING WAS HIGH: I STILL HAVE THE MARKS FROM OTHER WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS TO PROVE IT.... I TOLD MYSELF RIGHT AFTERWARDS, THAT IF I DIDN'T SEE AN IMPROVEMENT, THAT I WASN'T ATTENDING. I TOOK IT A STEP FURTHER, I CALLED THE FOUNDER, ONE I EVEN CALL "UNCLE", & EXPRESSED MY CONCERNS AND UNHAPPINESS, NOT JUST WITH LAST YEAR'S EVENT, BUT THE LAST FEW. I THEN GET THE "WHAT SHOULD I DO?" QUESTION. EXCUSE ME, FOUNDER, YOU HAVE A DAMN TEAM OF PEOPLE & YOU'RE ASKING ME? ALSO, WHERE THE HELL IS MY CHECK FOR CONSULTATION? AGAIN, I'M NOT JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE: YOU WILL PRESENT A CHECK TO HICKSON & HANDSOMELY. & PLEASE, PEOPLE, BEFORE I GET THE NEGATIVE RESPONSES: I AM BEING MODEST, AND HELP/HELPED MANY IN THIS GAME, SO PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME THE BUSINESS, UNLESS YOU'RE REALLY GIVING ME THE BU$INE$$.... I'VE PUT IN WORK/STILL PUTTING IN WORK, I CAN SAY THIS, & WITH EASE. SO, ALL THAT TO SAY: GHETTOHEAT® WON'T BE PARTAKING IN THAT EVENT, YET I WISH MY "UNCLE" WELL, & WHEN HE'S READY TO ROCK, HE KNOWS WHAT TO DO, & IT SHOULD START WITH PROMOTING MORE URBAN/STREET WRITERS.... AMAZES ME STILL TO THIS DAY HOW FOLKS TRY TO IGNORE HOW MUCH MONEY & BUSINESS, HIPHOP BRINGS IN THE BUILDING! TROY, DON'T STRUGGLE ANY LONGER WITH PARTICIPATING IN CERTAIN EVENTS, DO ONLY WHAT WORKS FOR YOU: EVEN IF YOU STILL SHELL OUT MORE THAN RECEIVING (I HAVE AND TRAVELED LONG DISTANCE IN THE PROCESS), YOU MUST STILL GET MUCH OUT OF THE EVENT IN OTHER ASPECTS, YOU FEEL ME? SO, WEIGH THE COSTS, AND MAKE SMARTER DECISIONS GOING FORWARD. BUILD YOUR BASE, COLLECT YOUR CONTACTS, DO YOUR "MR. TROY JOHNSON", YOU'LL BE FINE. THE GAME WILL GET BACK TO WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE, TROY, BUT IT WILL BE TOUGH, & TOUGHER IF FOLKS KEEP LOWERING THEIR PRICES NEXT TO NOTHING. DO YOU SEE THE FOLKS AT GUCCI JUST "GIVING IT AWAY"? HOW ABOUT CARTIER? MAURICE VILLENCY? SO WHY ARE WE AS BLACK PEOPLE, GIVING IT AWAY LIKE "CRAZY EDDIE" & GOING "I-N-S-A-N-E!!!"? HOW ARE WE TO COME UP IF WE DON'T PLACE REAL VALUE ON OUR GOODS, BRAND OR INDUSTRY, & OURSELVES? IT'S BAD ENOUGH "THE POWERS THAT BE" ARE TRYING TO CHANGE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS! GHETTOHEAT® BOOKS ARE NOT/WON'T BE FREE INFORMATION: THE BOOKS ARE FULL PRICE, & WILL REMAIN TOP SHELF. TROY, GROWING UP IN HARLEM ALONE, I LEARNED THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR EARLY ON (HOW MANY POOR, INNER-CITY FAMILIES WILL BUY THEIR KIDS EXACTLY WHAT THE KIDS REQUESTED ON CHRISTMAS?), AND IT'S THE MAIN REASON WHY I KEEP MY PRICES TOP DOLLAR. IF SOMEONE REALLY WANTS SOMETHING, HE/SHE WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO OBTAIN IT, EVEN IF IT MEANS PAYING ON IT WITH LAYAWAY, WORKING OVERTIME, OR SAVING CASH OVER A PERIOD OF TIME FOR IT. I WILL MAKE A READER WORK THEIR WAY UP TO GHETTOHEAT®, TRUST & BELIEVE ME...I'VE TURNED AWAY EVEN FOLKS IN THE STREET WHO "CLAIMED" TO BE A DOLLAR SHORT (AS I PERUSE THE LABELS WORN FROM HEAD-TO-TOE, COSTLY AT THAT) AND MADE THEM COME BACK "WHEN THEIR MONEY IS RIGHT"! THEY DON'T GO IN GUCCI & OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS SHORT, ACTUALLY MANY ARE PROUD TO PAY FULL PRICE AT SUCH COMPANIES, EVEN BRAG ABOUT IT, YET WANT TO BEAT ME, A BLACK MAN INDIGENOUS TO THEM, OVER THE HEAD AND GET OVER ON ME? NO, SIR, TROY: THE JIG IS UP! MY FAVORITE BLACK BOOK EVENT WAS THE HARLEM BOOK FAIR, FOR THE OBVIOUS REASONS OF ME BEING A TRUE HARLEMITE, AND JUST FOR LOVING THE GREAT CROWDS OF PEOPLE WHO USED TO COME AND PATRONIZE WHOLEHEARTEDLY! YET, TROY, ANY BLACK BOOK EVENT THAT HAVE WELL-PAYING CUSTOMERS BUYING TONS OF GHETTOHEAT®, KEEPING ME OUT OF SOCIAL SERVICES WOULD INSTANTLY BECOME MY "FAVORITE" BLACK BOOK EVENT TO PARTAKE IN! LOL! TROY, HITTING THE STREET AND GIVING OUT FLYERS WILL BE THE TICKET...I WOULD JOIN YOU, BUT I PURPOSELY BOOKED A SIGNING OUT OF TOWN, TO REINFORCE THE ACT OF NOT GOING. I WANT THE BEST FOR OTHERS, AND I HOPE MANY IN THE GAME WILL SMARTEN UP, WORK HARDER & MAKE BETTER DECISIONS, AS WELL AS NOT ONLY RESPECT OTHERS IN THIS ARENA WHO MIND THEIR BUSINESS WHILE MINDING THEIR BUSINESS, THAT THEY ACTUALLY RESPECT THEMSELVES, ALSO.... WE HAVE TO DO WHAT WE HAVE TO DO: MR. TROY JOHNSON, HICKSON IS DOING HICKSON, SOON LIKE I'M DOING IT ON TV--BECAUSE I WILL BE....

There is no more loyalty in America anymore. Everybody complains about huge corporations but we were the ones that built them. We buy from Amazon and Walmart. We could easily keep our African American (online) bookstores in business if we had loyalty to our people and to our small business owners. But we're all trying to save a buck. We need to fix things about ourselves instead of blaming big business that we give our money to. We can't have everything we want for nothing. It costs just a little extra.