Leaderboard

Today, April 8th, is the birthday our fearless leader, Troy Johnson. I'd like to wish him a good one along with many happy returns. I'd also like to express my appreciation for how he conducts this forum and his sincere dedication to all things black and positive. He is an "Alpha Male" who makes this world a better place. More power to you, ol buddy! Luv ya.

Happy Birthday, Troy. Friends are gifts you give to yourself.

I'm working more closely with authors and publishers across the African Diaspora and Africa. Over the years I've discovered restricting the books I cover and the audience I attempt to reach to American is unnecessarily limiting. In fact, it is narrow-minded. Here are 25 female African writers you should read. Some have realized great fame and wealth in the Unites States. Others are relatively unknown in America but are very successful in their respective countries. These writers come from different African nations and write across genres. Who won't go wrong reading any of their books. Actually, since I add ever book on this site by hand, that should go without saying ;-)

I was reading this like, "Wow, someone else's birthday is today too." Thanks so much for you kind words Cynique. I truly appreciate you, you are a gift to us all every day of the year!

You know it's funny. We have to use Amazon Affiliates and Amazon services because the consumer simply isn't willing to take 1-3 extra steps to find us. It's frustrating, but at least I'm really seeing the benefits of backing off of social media and working on the sight. Traffic is up considerably and growing month over month. It reminds me that in the end search still rules the day, but you knew that already. I will update you when I make a decision. Right now I'm driving the Lyft and working on the site. That's a big change over the last few years of big money. Everyday I consider opening the Amazon store back up. I haven't done it and I really am working hard to make something happen that replaces at least a fraction of the income from that channel. if I can just get 5% of the money I made there it would help. As always I will pop in and keep you posted.

@CDBurns , one of the enhancements to the site is that I can create customized buy links for each individual book. So if you want me to direct readers to you, lighting source or any other place all I need is the URL. The cool thing is that this is something Amazon is not likely to ever do, so I have a small competitive advantage over them.