Mel Hopkins

@NubianFellow A tinge? My post is dripping in it!

My pleasure. I added the links to my original post. @Del love this... @Troy Yes, Alexa is my choice because of the traffic they get via google... When people are looking at your site - the first place they go is Alexa ... Most people aren't savvy when it comes to technology statistics...(Hell, most people don't even know HOW to read statistics) so believing is seeing and Alexa has that on lock. But anyway when you look and compare to other market researchers such as Nielsen and ComScore their rankings of websites are about the same.

Yes Amazon ships directly but the sellers have an account. My friend is a seller and just ships his stuff to amazon. You know about FBA right?

@TroyDo you mean you don't know any black women who are technically oriented that don't have their own websites? Or do you mean you don't know OF any black women who are technologically-oriented ...If it's the latter I can share with you 3 black women silicon-valley darlings who own/founded/and are running 3 very popular websites... 1 (Blavity.com) ranks 13,000 in the us and 36,000 worldwide; another is Awesomely Luvvie 41,000 us and 199,000 worldwide who runs Awesomely Techie and The Wealth Factory I subscribed awesomelytechie - I like her approach as she gets to the "why" behind the stats.

I asked my friend to tag me if she writes a review. If she does, I'll link you to her website.

Didn't you just give away a ton of books? LOL... Actually we no longer have to rape the land for books - especially now that digital is an option. I've forced myself to go that route - we need the trees to breathe. I'll check on that facebook link Maybe She didn't and that's a reseller - notice what the verified purchase comment indicates. My book is no longer available through Amazon - nor is the kindle version and now it retails for $85 ...

A few weeks ago, one of my facebook friends received her copy and posted about it. This was the first time I heard of it. And this seems to be the trend of books lately... Seth Godin, the marketing guru, 800 page book retails for $189 plus shipping and handling and that is the cheapest I've found so far and his doesn't even have record albums.. There's another "pop culture" coffee table I saw on depop that retails for $400 ... I've received beautiful coffee table books as gift. I have a gorgeous Maya Angelou coffee table book but I doubt if I'd purchase one. I'm becoming mindful of clutter and consumerism. Beyonce's BeyHive" ain't no joke and apparently they have cash to spend too!

@Cynique who knows maybe Nubianfellow has it point. Maybe it's the black woman's hair that is the key to black people's success.. My friends call my family the hair bear bunch because we have very long hair that grows from our roots... (see my profile pic - yep that's mine) So, maybe because we don't have weaves it allows us to communicate with directly to the Universe from which all our blessings flow you know god gave it to us for a reason. ...And it makes us super smart so we don't have ever worry about being in the bottom 20% of those poverty-stricken folks. We don't need weaves, because we love showing off our beautiful locks, because, well who doesn't love our hair. By the way loving your hair, automatically translates into us loving ourselves because hair is the major key.. And, of course we attract men who are not deadbeat dads. Because of our flowing Rapunzel-like locks we attract the men who have the most money, best character and family adhesiveness ... As for the men who feel it's ok to lie down create babies and flee the scene. Well, we all know they got that way because of some weave-wearing black woman - who didn't cheer them on when they did something you know, mediocre.... I just can't.

But you don't know. She may not even know. She knows to avoid it but it maybe buried so deep - she's unaware No. But I do ask a lot of questions. I gave birth to my three daughters - and I raised them...and even today, they'll say things that are amazing with a totally different spin on a subject than I would ever imagine. I really do probe. I find sometimes people don't know their own answers until they're asked. I agree with you on being mindful the use of resources to remove the statues but at what cost should they remain? For example, I don't think I've heard of that monster (gynecologist) but in all my life I've never visited a white male OB-GYN... my three babies were even delivered by a black woman obgyn... If someone would have asked me why - I would've probably said I feel comfortable with a black woman doctor. BUT WHAT IF I had heard that horrific story in passing and buried it. This is why I don't "write" verses for people - unless they're in a book. I ask. I'm a firm believer that we give our energy to inanimate objects that should not have it. Think about how much unwitting energy that monster doctor received simply because most people didn't know of his deeds yet walked by him everyday. Yes, those horrific symbols, sucking the life out of folks, need to go. #byefelicia to all of them.

Me too! And I was also referring to the your response to the literary angle too. Many fairies in various parts of the motherland (Africa) had different powers too - some would bring happy endings especially to young girls... and there were other fairies that would act as shapeshifters and their outcomes would depend on if their spirit and the spirit of the story. My stories tend to be bittersweet. I've tried my hand at writing HEA romance but it tends to turn dark. I do like reading /watching HEA romance. As for my own HEA , I haven't had one but I have lasting friendships and wonderful experiences.

@Elva D. Green of course, it is! where would society be without its optimists. By the way, I'm the " pragmatic" Pleased to meet you!

@Pioneer1 Seriously? Why don't you do the work and find out these answers about 75 Percent of Black People who are already successful enough to NOT live in poverty. I've provided evidence that black people can and ARE doing better than expected and then you throw in your definition of success and tell me I mentioned nothing about what's on your mind. I don't live in your world - I definitely have no clue what's on your mind. But this is exactly why NO ONE In my world deals in excuses. Ain't nobody got time for someone whose ratios of excuses to why they can't is out of proportion to solutions to how they can. And now I'm done with this conversation.

Kappa Sweetheart here, So I might be biased. .But I'm so glad the Nupes have been with him since he took a stand to kneel.

@Troy Exactly... and that's why it's important to probe. Yes, even your cousin, because to assume is a cop out. You denied her a chance to express why she believed what she did - and instead it seems you supplied your own internal conflict to her suffering. Further, do you really believe there's something you or anyone can do to change another person? No one can change another person's belief or nature . Yes, you can provide a catalyst such as removing a statue or simply standing in place and being a beacon of LOVE in hopes that will change the person - but Change is an INSIDE JOB.

@richardmurray Thank you for an alternative perspective. There are as many in our history as there are people. Still the key to balance is being aware that our differing angles exist.. Thank you!

@Troy Surely, your cousin attached some other trauma to the American flag to deem it racist. She wasn’t enslaved under the American flag or confederate flag but the latter is the symbol of those who wanted the right to enslaved people to prop up their economy. In fact, from this story, it seems she avoided neighbors for whom Old Glory symbolized something different. And I suspect, the American flag signaled her neighbors intent on doing harm I have no sort of trauma attached to the American flag - other than one was given to my mother for her husband's ultimate sacrifice - Aside: Embracing any symbol, such as flag, is strange; especially when the focus should be on its principles instead. Also, Neither Del nor Cynique wrote that Jefferson wasn't trash. They responded that the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings was nuanced. From my POV, their statement doesn’t absolve Jefferson of anything. And speaking of Jefferson and Washington, while either may have performed alleged treasonous acts against England; they were founders of the Union. A statute of either would be more appropriate than one of Benedict Arnold. So, a statue of someone such as Lee who fought against the union wouldn’t be welcomed here either. I can see those in the confederate states remembering their war dead - but statues of the losing generals are disrespectful. Imagine one of those mosque here in the U.S. erecting a statue of Osama bin Laden. We now know those statues are symbols that emboldened those filled with hate. It's best they go. For whatever reason, however, there's a statue of George Washington in England’s Trafalgar Square. So maybe the Queen doesn’t hold a grudge. Or America is still a colony.

What does it take to get to a Happily Ever After? It's 2017 and romance novels are still the best-selling trade books in the America, maybe even the world. I'd go out on a limb to say the reason is two people always find their happily ever after. But how about outside the book covers? In life? What does it take to get HEA? In today's podcast, I explore the reality. Do you have what it takes to hurdle the obstacles to achieve your happy ending? Transcript available on melhopkinsdotom in the comment section.

Wow, what a class act! I never missed a Jerry Lewis movie and now I feel like he was the man I thought he was behind the character.

@Cynique I'm glad you did. Thank you for sharing <3

@Del , this is my belief too - if consciousness survives - then it only stands to reason what we believe survives too. In fact, when consciousness comes into question in tv/film dramas , this seems to be the trend as well.

@Pioneer1, You must be confusing nice with kind. I'm kind to people but I'm never nice. The etymology (origin) of Nice - is not know , ignorant, stupid... while people may use it to mean Kind - I don't. I don't waste time being stupid of ignorant of people's foolishness. As for your question, the majority of black people in the United States are successful in every sense of the word. The majority (73%) of black people in the inner cities of America and the majority (80%) of black people in the suburbs are living above the poverty line. This means 20% of suburban black people and 27% of inner city black people are poor. Source: The Atlantic

YES!!! We're communicating now (sending and receiving)... but you do need-need a literary publicist, though Actually, you really do need a staff! MAN!!!

And he wasn't even the first man to leave the council. Tesla's Elon Musk left in June because as he said, "Climate Change is Real"....LOL

@Troy, No, I wouldn't give 500 square of my house to anyone because are people are full of sh*t. I can't even trust them not to lie to themselves. What I would do, is what I have done every day of my life. I DO NOT SUPPORT people, institutions or entities that ensure someone will be homeless, incarcerated or beat down . To be candid.. If you can't tell by now, I don't support most bullsh*t thinking or bullsh*t activities that folks participate in that have an adverse effect on our society. I don't wait until its fashionable - I live my life in a way that people or other living things aren't crushed under the weight of my decisions. Case in point, I've just learned about godaddy and their game-hunting CEO now I'm looking to extract myself from using their services. Peter Thiel founder of paypal - isn't someone I want to do business with so now I'm looking for another company (oh wait I see that's going to take me a minute) ... Those are the latest on my list - show me who you are and how you harm and you can forget about me supplying you anything. This is why I'm not impressed by anyone running around trying to take down monuments and undo what they participated in to build up over the years. Why do you think I spend so much of my time working for FREE with people who are helping themselves - because I believe in focusing on those who are looking to make a change. If we don't like results society is handing us just STOP PROPPING IT UP!

Yes, this appears to be the case with the majority of author websites. They write books so why would their individual websites attract several thousand visitors a day? If their websites were attracting several thousand visitors a day - why would they need AALBC? This is the point I'm making... find out why they would need AALBC - determine how AALBC can remove the pain-point. Facebook is providing them something they need. THIS! Yes... You found how to ease one of the pain-points!!! The self-published author with no audience is the one for your congregation - This is the group that is searching for a church home... You just have to prepare a sermon to communicate to them, the services and support (a la carte ) they would get from aalbc.com as if they were under a publishing house.