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CDBurns

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Everything posted by CDBurns

  1. Let's keep building it brick by brick. You have my total support. If you want me to write, you know I will. Just give me an account and I'm on it. I'm working my ass off right now to do something big this year. If I can figure it out, you better believe I will have AALBC in every conversation I have anywhere. That's a fact!
  2. Noted! I got my work out in this morning so I won't write anything that requires a response. LOL!!!!
  3. I'm doing another video tomorrow and needed a topic. I think I will talk about reciprocity and explain how AALBC is Social media for authors on that. What you just wrote about cooperating is what I say everyday. If people only listened we'd be okay, but it's hard to open up ears to the truth without a celebrity co-sign or endorsement. Here is a post on CBP Music: http://www.cbpublish.com/cbp-music-learning-to-help-independent-artists/ You can pull something from that. As far as getting the message out there, all we can do is keep plugging away at it because I just don't think our path will be an easy one. It will be a matter of consistency. If you post that video to your blog, I will press this to my blog and share it. Whether it gets clicked through or just "liked" will be a different story. But that KENP article we commented on my site is constantly bringing traffic to my site so you are right about how building our platforms is much better. I just wish people would understand what they do to themselves by writing all of that info on Facebook. I have a chapter in my new book (see the chapter breakdown in this video: http://www.cbpublish.com/what-im-doing-right-now-episode-14-stop-frontin-youtube/) You can't help but know which chapter I'm going to go off on. On another note I just got a letter to submit my book to the NAACP Image Awards... should I even spend any time on that?
  4. I just read your post from a while back and it still brings me back to my point that Tavis' reach is diminished due to a lack of creativity and integration with grassroots resources. He could quickly parlay his current platform into a national media outlet, but he won't. He must not be interested in doing any more than he is. When I look at the titles he published he did the same thing other publishers do and that's publish the same old stuff. In regard to his website, why not simply go in and turn it into a really nice Wordpress and begin blogging everyday? Why not make a call for writer's and become a small media outlet? Why not hook up with AALBC as it changes its platform and integrate/work with you? Tavis doesn't give the President a pass... I don't give him a pass. I only need a tenth of the reach that Tavis has and I could do incredible work and impact work. I know for a fact if you simply had the backing of 100 indie writers you would kill it! This dude has a huge platform and the President not attending doesn't mean a darn thing to me as the focus should have always been grassroots. If Tavis decided tomorrow to create a platform for Black tech startups he'd be funded a ridiculous amount of money. If he decided to do a "huffpost" type situation it would be huge. What hasn't he done this?
  5. I think my few sales are ebooks because they are quick read business books. I don't sell any fiction at all. The one fiction book I sold, the lady gave it 1 star on Amazon because it was fiction and she thought it was non-fiction. I actually write her and asked her why she blamed her lack of reading the back cover and all of the tags that read fiction and she said, "all handbooks should be non-fiction, you lied." crazy stuff.
  6. The videos are just my way of creating more content. I've finally started getting more comfortable in front of the camera. My routine is so streamlined now that I have time for everything. I just don't have as much money as I want to push things farther. Brandon was just in New York for the Miles Davis Biopic. He's in the film. I'm glad I linked up with him now. I think he's going to be huge next year although he only has a bit part in the movie. Here is his site: http://www.brandonmeeksmusic.com I actually bought the domain and told him to force him to start running a blog. Things have taken off for him now. I like the page the way it is and I do have one more thing to add, lol. The record label: http://www.tunecore.com/music/cbpmusic Right now I only own the rights to a couple of releases, but I'm adding more albums in the near future. I have to find more music worth paying to produce. Here is Darryl Carter's website. I run this site also since he's 76 and doesn't give a damn about the internet, lol: http://www.darrylcartersoul.com He wrote a bunch of classic cuts and I own the catalog. I purchased soul/gospel great Spencer Wiggins' last EP and it's available on all digital platforms. The way I see it something is going to click for me and my life will get easier. Until then I will keep doing everything I like doing. You've been a big help in shaping a lot of my thoughts though and I appreciate that.
  7. That is definitely much easier to do than using "Social Media". Great video.
  8. Dang that makes me look super important! Thanks Troy. It looks good. I was about to share it, but you're missing The 30 Day Project. Might as well add all of the books, lol.
  9. I agree with your statement. Reading has to become sexy again in the black community for book sales to increase, but I see more digital downloads than physical copies from what I do. I think that may be because I don't do any book signings and I'm just not very good at the promotional aspect of it all.
  10. I don't know if he's marginalized. He had a really strong platform with his Covenant, but he didn't continue moving forward with it. As a matter of fact if you go to the Covenant website the clickthrough goes to a porn site when you click for a check on progress. I don't think he made his movement enough of a grassroots movement where he involved people on the ground and continued to shape the project. He is also hindered by his time slot on PBS for his show. I don't think many people even realize he is still doing a television show. I think his marginalization happened due to his rift with Tom Joyner more than it does his opinion of Obama.
  11. That picture probably rings true for all people who grew up in a difficult financial situation. That looks like a picture I would have been in without the tall buildings. Funny, I wrote a poem about the fact that although we ate molasses sandwiches, ketchup with crackers, and would go to the store for 25 cents worth of souse, that I honestly didn't know we were poor. Reflection is something.
  12. You know I'm ready to talk about that promotional part, but I'm continuing to discuss the Facebook issue as honestly Facebook is the "best" and most actively used Social platform. I did a video yesterday, but I think I'm failing to really capture and explain clearly what the problem is. Maybe you should do a video and I will link to yours on my video through annotations. My discussion in my video is about starting a business with "no" money and how we (everyone on Facebook) has taken away one of the primary opportunities in making a new small business because of our browsing habits/lack of browsing habits. I think this conversation is the one that will eventually carry the most weight. Once people realize that they have spent so much time giving away their info on Facebook and enriching Facebook that people no longer feel a need to visit the new websites that they create. We have all literally cut outselves out of the Ad revenue and Affiliate revenue owed us for sharing information. Now that I read what I just wrote, I can go back and do another video because that's very clear right there ^^^^^. I will look forward to an e-mail from you or phone call, either one. I think your movement of the book has generated in a sale already. If you got affiliate revenue then I guess we will know for certain.
  13. What do you think about all of these people who sell workshops and events on using social media to grow their businesses?
  14. What do you expect! LOL! Laughing but not really since we are really talking to ourselves about this issue and we still end up right back at the same spot... trying to get people to visit websites more often. I guess I can't complain since I do talk to friends on the platform. But I'm officially only using Amazon Ads for my sneakers and AALBC for my book promotion. Outside of that I think I'm just going to keep creating content. That's the least I can do.
  15. If you reread my statement I'm in complete agreement with you. My main point is that even when Facebook gives you real "clicks" there is zero conversion. Which supports your claim. The problem is people aren't going to understand this and dig because they are not in the fields that we are in. For many Facebook likes and clicks are about popularity and seeming popularity. So if it looks like I'm getting engagement I can sell my status to someone looking for what I'm doing. You know what I mean? Basically if I pay for likes and shares and 500 people like and share, I can parlay this into being a social media expert and then teach classes on how to get more likes and shares on Facebook. People simply don't understand that a like and a share is nothing without conversion.
  16. The most serious issue with running a Facebook Ad even when the clicks are real, which I've run campaigns and the clicks are actually real people, is the fact that no matter what way you set up the ad the people will like the post, but that's it. They will hardly like your Facebook page and they are even less likely to click through to the actual page. This means that even with the real interaction on the site the result is generally the same as the Fake interactions. The only real success I've seen is with people who already have a considerable following, and with music. People will actually do more with music.
  17. You know I'm pulling for you and I didn't think I explained very well, but I guess the frustration is right there for both of us. I tell you for the longest I wouldn't use my picture anywhere on my shoe company because I was afraid white people wouldn't support it, and interestingly enough it has been the white consumer that has kept my little shoe company running. I have two or three very active black supporters, but I know it isn't possible to tell by a name who is white or black, but I would have to guess I'm 90% right, the majority of the time there is a white name that actually converts and buys my brand. Before and after I ran my kickstarter this has been the case. The only time it hasn't been the case is when I set up a local flea market, but those numbers are skewed because the patronage was 95% black. I will keep sharing articles and stories although I know the best form of support is people bookmarking the site and visiting it. You know better than I do how and what people are willing to support in Black literature so I hope that means you will eventually catch lightning in a bottle and figure out how to expand the brand and get people visiting and buying through the site. I know that the only way that happens is with a stable of writers delivering content to the site which leads to more traffic. The question is, how do you get that stable? Since all of the tragic shootings a lot of Black owned business groups have popped up, but before those groups popped up I had long been finding black owned businesses to support. This means that I haven't really "supported" many of the new businesses and they in turn have not supported me. Which isn't really going to help anybody because it's not the recycling of money that helps the Black community. It's the purchasing of goods based on desire and need. Businesses can't sustain because of reciprocal buying. A business needs new buyers buying because they want to buy. That is the issue really. What AALBC needs is a success story that is undeniably an AALBC success story. Born here, grown here, sold here. A story that is so big it can't be ignored anymore. That is going to take money though.
  18. I definitely see your trepidation in the shift in ARRAY in this situation with the WNDB project. I guess the problem is always that focusing on and emphasizing "Black" anything encounters a backlash. With that backlash comes a lack of coverage and in turn the call to bring attention to Black "whatever" gets less coverage. It's a paradox, but not really. Like you continue to say if we simply share each other's work we gain access to each other and create the networks needed to overcome the lack of coverage. I'm a victim of this problem: I have a nervousness about espousing my blackness so readily as to isolate myself before I even build an audience. I admit this is a problem for me, but it shouldn't be because I don't even have an audience so at this time it would probably benefit me to promote my blackness. I don't know, I guess it's a double edged sword. If I'm too black, Black people diss me and if I'm not Black enough Black people diss me. If I'm not Black, other people think I'm trying to be them, I'm not Black enough, Black people diss me. I can keep going with these scenarios, but I know you understand what I'm saying. Overall though I agree that these shifts to diversity tend to hurt us.
  19. Completely agree Troy!!! I stopped short of saying to that musician, if you had this dialogue on your site you could empower yourself and empower a journalist, but I didn't say it. People are literally contributing their own demise. I try to balance it and get people to leave, but it's all wishful thinking. I eventually resort to using the platform and using my platform equally and unfortunately to my own detriment because ultimately people are simply not willing to spend the moment it takes to register for disqus and comment on your site. You know this well. Oh, money is political, but the politics of it don't stop me from making. If you have what the people want they will buy it. Unfortunately for me, they won't buy it directly from me, but they will buy it from Amazon.
  20. I guess I know that I have very little control over any political issue so I don't worry about that stuff at all. I tend to worry more about how to make more money. I look at President Obama as exactly what he is, a president/figurehead. I am proud that he is a brother and I have no shame at all in being proud of his accomplishment in attaining the presidency, but I didn't expect any real change at all. I have always been a person who looks at the grassroots as the answer to any problem. If you can mobilize enough people you can make things happen. The problem is in reaching enough people to create any disturbance in the force. The Pope/religion/politics are all in place because people tend to have no self control and need an overseer. Troy, I guess it's admirable that you want the media to do their job, but that simply isn't going to happen. A popular musician was posting on Facebook the other day that he wished there were more music journalist. I responded that it would be nice if they were out there and that music journalist sold enough ad space to warrant real coverage, but the reality is that websites have to have clickbait to maintain interest and pull people from Facebook. Unless all music journalists spent time making top ten lists, just having more music journalists around wouldn't help with anything. I bring this up to say that it is the same for what you hope for the media. We could have better media outlets, but it won't matter if the people aren't watching and listening. We end up in the same place complaining about how crappy the news is and how shallow people are in their pursuit of seeing history and saying they were there. Which is basically what is going to happen with the MMM, Occupy and every other faux grassroots movement... the people attending simply want to say "I attended." They don't want to change anything. If they did, they would get active and change things.
  21. Nothing much at all. There is the current campaign to support Women's Films which is doing exactly what you are worried about. It's taking 50 films by women. I can only imagine that this is the Oprah influence more than anything else and that in time, the focus will be places more on films that have the potential to "crossover".
  22. It was between 5-29-2015 and now. I remember getting an e-mail with a conference call discussing the rebranding. I haven't seen any deviation from standard biz as of yet though.
  23. I agree and hope that the work will continue as it has. I'm a rebel so I do get the updates.
  24. While I'm still not selling a lot of books, I've yet to find a way to promote the right book, my sales are primarily ebooks. I guess the price is so cheap and it's non-fiction so it's meant to be read in chunks and can be taken on a per chapter basis so reading on an electronic device isn't bad. I have to assume that non fiction ebooks and audio books are doing better and that fiction is the place where this decrease in electronic will happen.
  25. Wow, now that's a new one. Taking one's celebrity and catapulting it into the mainstream media that is really beginning to promote Black Panther since the Marvel world has been hinting at the home for Wolverine's adamantium for a number of films now and with Deadpool getting set to release the non "popular" character world is gaining serious steam. I guess what's more interesting is that an academic is straying away from the lecture path into "hollywood" territory. This should make West very happy.
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