Mel Hopkins

News roundup for bloggers - Genius Media Group, Inc, the company behind the annotated lyrics website, is suing Google and Lyric Find for $50 million. The complaint mentions copying lyrics from the site and using it on the results page. Here's a link to the Brooklyn based media company's complaint filed December 03, 2019, in Brooklyn Supreme Court of New York State County of Kings https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=3E0o8kQz4X3cWcbbid67wQ== Several news sites report Internet Society (ISOC)'s Public Interest Registry, a nonprofit, sold the top-level domain dot-org registry. The winning bidder is a private equity firm Ethos Capital. Allegedly, the dot-org registry is Ethos Capital only asset, but their website ethoscapital.com indicates otherwise. In July this year, ICANN, the nonprofit responsible keeping all things equal and equitable in the domain registrar world, also voted to lift the cap on registration fees. According to news reports, there will be no registration fee hikes. Still, your dot-org registration fees could go up and become cost-prohibitive. Sadly, nonprofits mostly use the dot org extension for their organizations' websites. And other online nonprofit news media websites containing a treasure trove of information also use the dot-org extension. Should those websites not be able to pay the domain registration fee - that information might disappear. If you're a dot org registrant, you might want to secure registration for the ten years to keep your domain name. At least it will buy you some time while these things shake out.

@Troy You're welcome! I have a google alert set for aalbc -

Serving Writers and Readers: African-American Literary Organizations by Diane Patrick Features our own @Troy and AALBC.Com leading the pack of several organizations that help books by and for African Americans thrive. The Publisher Weekly's article lists African American Literary and Culture Society, Cave Canem, The Center for Black Literature, Harlem Writers Guild, and Hurston Wright Foundation. For more of what each organizations offers writers and readers visit Publisher's Weekly November 22, 2019

Universal Music Enterprise (UMe) is a brand of the global music conglomerate Universal Music.

@TroyI was checking out some SEO words I wanted to include in this content I'm writing. So, I put in my search engine Black Books Direct ...to see what would come up AND guest what was number 1 on my google results page? Yep - it landed me right here. Google giveth and taketh lol

The best!

@Maurice UMe is releasing a lot of its catalog in vinyl ... I won't say I'll never buy vinyl again - but they are sure making it hard to ignore.

Yes, that was it @richardmurray ! I mistakenly identified audio with musical but this is what I was referring to when I mentioned you had extensive experience with Kobo. Thank You for the update!

Hahaha! Get it together, @Troy ! But quiet as kept, I always go back and edit my comments for the same reason! Agreed! But you can see how enticing it must be. Amazon always provides the Easy Button. So, we independent authors/self-publishers must include an “Easy Button” in our sales repertoire. Now what would that “Easy Button” look like - is the question we need to answer and act on.

@Troy Did you mean "work with ePub"... that's how I read it. So, I hope you did. And the truth in that statement makes the amazon deal bittersweet. And here's why. Again Amazon.com /Jeff Bezos really understands his market. He helps writers help him become even more wealthy - - Now, the following indictment may not be true of all writers but it must be true of most of us self-published writers or we wouldn't even bother with Amazon. Case-in-point. The last time I was in my KDP account was about two years ago when I decided to unpublish my stories on Amazon. So, today, I sign into my KDP account (long story - but I decided to remove my digital assets from most outside vendor digital platforms) and I delete two of the manuscripts I forgot about. And since there was no option to delete the other two, I thought, at least I could remove the files so CreateSpace couldn't print my book. (Not saying that they would, but "lead us not into temptation.") Anyway, as I was about to delete the file - I noticed KDP offers a free book formatting file. I emphasize "free" because most things free in commerce - come with a hidden cost. But I digress. Once you download this "free" formatting guide to your PC it promises to do the heavy lifting to design a beautiful book. See Images and the link https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GYVL2CASGU9ACFVU Now, this format only works for .mobi . So, you have a beautifully formatted mobi file for an eBook that only works on Kindle readers. So once again, if you're writer with limited tech skills this is a godsend. All you have to do is upload your manuscript, manipulate the template and now you have a mobi file ready for publishing and distribution. All this to say, we writers/independent publishers must make it as easy for our readers to get our books; as Jeff makes it easy for us to publish them.

@richardmurray thank you! I remember when you first mentioned Kobo to me awhile back. It takes me some time to digest all the information I take it - but I rarely forget who shared the information. This is excellent background on Kobo and now I see why Walmart joined them. I did sign up with Kobo using my walmart account. I'll be sure to share how the program works for me too.

@Troy I'm sure you've seen this already - but I just checked my google alerts and saw this https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/81153-aalbc-cuts-buy-links-to-amazon.html "AALBC Cuts Buy Links to Amazon By Calvin Reid | Sep 12, 2019"

@Troy Exactly! We continue to tell authors not to let AMAZON use them, so this is the logical next step. I think sharing my book publishing journey and asking questions like this well help all of us. I do know, once I formatted my eBook for mobi (kIndle) I was able to read it in my kindle for pc. So I didn't need to publish through amazon to use its digital reader. It is literally a standalone file on my pc. I created the mobi file and the ePub file two different ways. I uploaded (import) my manuscript (microsoft word docx) to pressbooks.com. I formatted with front matter(copyright page and introduction), chapters and back matter (about the author, about the series). Export the document in .mobi, .epub, and pdf (for digital). There's a pdf format for print but I didn't use that one because its a short story. downloaded those formats to my pc. I opened the mobi file in my kindle for pc and it was perfect. I open the epub file in my microsoft edge browser - and it was perfect! I created a ePub file of my eBook by: first formatting my microsoft word docx - for ePub/Mobi conversion. This time I used lulu.com to convert my microsoft word document. Because I formatted the word doc correctly, the conversion was successful. You can see by checking out the preview <-This is the ePub file. When I launch it - it opens in microsoft edge. Others might have different results. I haven't used Kobo but I know who is an advocate - @richardmurray ! I believe RM's books and music are available on Kobo. EDIT | A little more about Kobo... "In January, Walmart partnered with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten on online grocery in Japan, as well as the sale of audiobooks, e-books, and e-readers in the U.S. Today, Walmart is capitalizing on that relationship with the launch of a full e-book and audiobook catalog on Walmart.com, alongside its assortment of physical books. The new site, called Walmart eBooks, includes a library of over 6 million titles ranging from NYT best-sellers to indie titles and children’s books. And similar to Amazon’s Audible, Walmart will also now offer a monthly audiobook subscription service. However, Walmart is undercutting Amazon on pricing. While Audible subscriptions start at $14.95 per month for one audiobook, Walmart’s subscription is only $9.99 per month for the same." From TechCrunch - Walmart and Kobo launch Walmart eBooks, an online e-book and audiobook store August 18, 2018

@Troy Correct! On this eBook, I have a standard copyright notice - "all rights reserved." All copies should come from me. Yes, the eBook is created in a EPUB format.

@Troy thank you! Ok 1. A shopper decides to buy a digital book from my woocommerce website store. 2. She completes the purchase. 3. Now can access her purchase (digital book) through the download radio button. 4. When she executes her download she can now save an ePub or .mobi copy on her pc. This now means unlimited distribution. How do I DRM (digital rights manage) my ebooks?

They are so evil lol! Fixed it! https://theleadstory.org/newsroom/ I really have to get better at remembering when I move stuff around! Thank you for the heads-up! In other news, I just re-edited a short story for mobi and ePub format and it worked! The only reason why I direct to lulu is because I haven't figured out where to the store the file for download. Anyway, I'm so excited because I have a lot of manuscripts I put on-hold because I wanted to to teach myself how to format properly. By the way, I also learned that lulu charges for hosting now. I rank it right up there with amazon charging a delivery fee for digital books. smh. Anyway, like I mentioned, now I have to figure out how to store my ePUB or mobi files for one time download without saving a copy. Can you help @Troy ?

@Troy Agreed! I tried to explain - but he seemed to believe that Amazon could stop bootleggers from stealing his book. But with Amazon taking 30- 65% sales commission and charging a delivery fee on digital books. I think he’d do better with bootleggers. At least , the bootleggers would have to pay for copyright infringement. - Here’s a snippet of the law -for all copyright holders “the copyright holder will be entitled to seek statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 for that infringement (as op- posed to having to prove actual damages, if any), and will also be entitled to seek an award of attorney fees. “ I’m on a writers’ rights crusade, It’s our time - and we shouldn’t be “starving!” Thank you for supplying the additional website information. Every writer needs to have eCommerce platform.

I sold a book on Sunday (Sept 15, 2019). No promotion. No strong-arm selling. Simply, PayPal notifying me I had cash. Here's how it happened. A LinkedIn acquaintance messaged and asked if I would consider purchasing a short story he was selling on Amazon dot com. It would cost me .99 cents. But he'd know if there was activity on his amazon kindle account. I messaged him back and asked if he had one available in print. He said he'd have to do a collection of stories for the minimum print pages. I told him I understood. I want to make a short story available for sale on Lulu.com, too. But I need to do some creative packaging to make it 32 pages. He asked where was my story on lulu.com. I told him I believe in direct sales. But I'd also consider working with distributors who give me the best deal. Amazon doesn't qualify. So, I shared with him a link to my website store to show him how easy it is to sell a digital book direct...and bam he buys one. I thought more about the transaction when I read Seth Godin's blog post, "The relationship with the customer." (Sep 1, 2019) It's worth a read. But here's my takeaway. My associate and I met through a professional networking site, providing us a way to connect. I prepared my digital platform (a website) for such interactions allowing people to engage with me and buy directly. My associate asked me to buy his book. I did. Sadly, the request reinforced my commerce relationship with Amazon dot com. BUT his book-buying relationship, with me, is direct. He said dealing with amazon means they have "skin" in the game. Ultimately, amazon dot com's skin in the game allows them to benefit the most from an author's copyright license. Amazon dot com takes a 65% sales commission on books priced lower than $2.99 and above $9.99 Bottom line: I offer independent author-publishers this insight for their revenue model. If an author-publisher maintains their own basic wordpress website complete with security certificate from godaddy; it would cost less than $200 a year. A WooCommerce plugin and MailChimp mailing list plugin is free (for a small customer list). [not an endorsement - for description purposes only] My royalty was $4.99; which is the price of my digital book. PayPal took .44 cent in transaction fees. I purchased his book for .99 cent. I gained a new customer while he sold a book and earned .35 cents royalty.

I thought it only fitting to leave a departing message since I've contributed a lot comments to the culture, race & economy forum. It appears the conversations here have deteriorated into hateful and fearful rhetoric, zero-sum comparisons and nothing good comes from those ideas. So, I bid this forum adieu. I'm signing off here but not AALBC's readingblack.com

@Troy no. I thought I already mentioned, I'd have a problem with children on a steady diet of violence; bullying, name calling, "cursing" (not to be confused with cussing), consumerism, especially Cardi B & Nicki Minaj and most new school emcees videos because they promote consumerism, spectator sports -(unless it awakens the child's warrior spirit and inspires them to discipline their minds and bodies), and proselytizing any religious beliefs. There's probably a few other social engineering activities that I haven't mentioned that would inspire a teaching moment too. BUT there's no way I'd have a problem with children watching performers express themselves through music, dance, song, and acting. I like Normani's music video. She gave a good performance at the recent MTV music awards too.

Oh snap! This has FEAR written all over it! Even the example you gave about police in the black community is a result of fear. Not fear like “punk” “scaredy cat” but a deep-seated fear that the “ruling” class, those who have a lot of riches, must control certain groups or they will lose wealth. They are fearful and have a need to control everything so they can keep themselves safe. For those types everyone/thing is a possession they must control for their own survival. This describes the “ruling class” of the United States in a nutshell.

@Pioneer1 No. I find that behavior repulsive in humans period. I will never understand nor want to understand why humans have this desire to control anyone but themselves. This trait is the main flaw in humans. A lot of types of men exist. Like isn't a strong enough emotion to be bothered; there also has to be a desire. Still there's only one kind of man with whom I've ever found sexy enough to get naked. A brutish man would never make my list.

Aggression is the number 1 trait of a bully. Animals, including the human species are usually ostracized or put down when they show aggression. They can't be trusted. This dude sounds like a bully. And from what you wrote, this woman saw you , @Pioneer1 put him in his place. That requires confidence and confidence is a hella sexy trait. Most women (and men) are attracted to assertiveness and confidence. Intuitively, we know we can trust people who exhibit confidence.