CDBurns

Fewer bookstores, more wing shops and a ton of money being spent on Jordans... that's my perception of the last 15 years. I once had a dream that I would be a writer. I no longer have that dream and I've pretty much relegated my aspirations to blogging and business writing. I don't think I will ever see the day that I make a living off of writing. I often feel like I should have attended an MBA and computer science program instead of an MFA. I mean, my living has gone from being a college professor to selling shoes in the last ten years. That was basically dictated by the difficulty I had in the publishing world. I feel Cynique 100%. The novelty is long gone and my energy is only spent on getting more shoes onto the feet of consumers. That's not a bad thing, but it's unfortunate that what was my world for so long (education/teaching/reading - things that matter), I don't see it providing me with a living so I've given it up pretty much.

Hey at least you have Google as an option. I was banned years ago! lol

Ditto on your Game of Thrones statement. I'm completely avoiding the discussion on the church shooting because since Colorado and Sandy Hook, I've just realized that people really do live in a video game world where shooting people is comparable to playing a first person shooter video game. I honestly think they think there is a reset button and they can start over and if they can't their boring lives are now front page stories and they have something they would have never had in their day to day existence, fame.

I would like to see the blog integrated into the first page of the site and the books, even the paid ads, be featured as blog posts/articles. Basically I'd like the traditional banner, with ad at the top of the page, rotating slider featuring paid ads at the top, an AALBC power list box, a Huria Blog box and then the blogs beneath all of that. I mean really the biggest issue I see is that people are really getting used to the blog format on the homepage as opposed to being a click through. People scroll now and if there is an extra button to click to get to information then I think it hurts. If we can see an excerpt of the blog posts that would be great. The site is so informative it will be hard to decide what to do, but you know how to keep it rocking. As far as making a living from the site, you might want to break down the advertising into a year long billing subscription. I know for a fact if you sent me a billing option that I would pay each month to keep a book on the front page. If the billing option doesn't show up then I keep kind of pushing forward and forget to do anything. (Does that make sense?) Whatever you do I will be ready to look at it and I will help in anyway.

Welcome to the boards! I understand your sentiment. I haven't commented on this subject and I won't. I can't even begin to understand the irritation unless I look at Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke and see how they have appropriated Black cool only when it benefits them. I guess overall, I don't care about her or Bruce Jenner. It's just another drop of crazy in an ocean of fruits and nuts.

Thanks Troy! You are the best. I appreciate your support. As you know it's a struggle, as with anything that has the name "Black owned" is if it isn't ribs or wings, lol. The campaign is going okay, but more than likely it won't fund. That's okay. I already have the shoes set up to begin selling through Amazon. It's a shame I can't sell them through my own site, but hey comfort and ease is a big part of selling.

With the new shoe I've gone back to browsing Facebook in my spare time. Something I really didn't intend on doing, but it is so quick and easy to get lost and away from the norm without thinking too much. Maybe that's the problem. Convenience is killing our browsing habits. It's so unfortunate. In order to stay relevant you have to create content, but if your content isn't sensational no one comes back to read it again, which leads to failed conversions. What exactly is the road here? You've compiled this great list, but it hasn't gone hashtag viral. We need to visit sites, but we really don't take the time to do so. I guess the only real option is to spend our time trying to at least visit one alternative site per day. AALBC is my alternative site, which is a pretty good thing.

I haven't added to this dialogue anywhere. I'm only writing here to acknowledge my agreement with you that if we turn this into something for the improvement of Black biz it would be great.

I think what has to happen is that when we all have a book to be promoted we spend time building a network that can partake in the promotion of the books. Let's say you market your selections through AALBC. You can then send me the blurb or words you want me to share through my site and any other people who have sites can share the article creating a series of backlinks with paid advertising as well. It's just an idea, but I'm always willing to share info if people send me what they want shared.

I hate that "You are not allowed to give reputation to this user" when I like your post, lol. I agree with you on this one. She is right and not right. I know for a fact now that there is a lot of luck and hard work in getting a book to the masses. People read what's popular to fit in. As it becomes harder to browse for books, Amazon becomes more of a factor. The writer will only make a sale if the writer already has some form of celebrity. Outside of that, you are simply selling to those who know you and want to support you. The real test of success is selling to the person who doesn't know you at all. That is when you can breakthrough. The unfortunate part of it all is that no one will know you unless you are famous and you can't get famous unless people share, write and talk about you in various forms of media. I'm working on a video about how the spectacular and sensational is what gains attention. You can have all of the tools to provide people with help for something, but if it's not presented in a sensational way, it more than likely disappears. Honestly it's always been this way. Nepotism rules. You have to get in good with someone of influence and maybe you have a chance, maybe. even then you will have to break your neck to keep the attention of the masses when you're a nobody.

Second book next the Outsides on the bottom shelf is the Reader and right behind his at the nape of his neck is Wright's Black Boy. People will continue to lurk of course, but I eventually came out of the shadows, lol. All in due time. There is really no rhyme or reason to his bookshelf though. It's not organized at all. Hmmmmm that speaks volumes I think.

Love the redesigned site! I guess we know why his suits haven't been burned. LOL Right off the bat I see the WEB Reader and Richard Wright's Black Boy behind his head.

They aren't appreciated enough I agree, but things are changing. The jazz heritage is alive and kicking and growing stronger every day. When you consider in the last few years Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper and Gregory Porter along with Jose James are all selling a ton of records, you could say there is a revival taking place. As a matter of fact this resurgence is saving Blue Note. I recently helped a Bass Player develop his website www.brandonmeeksmusic.com and he's a young guy who is actually working with a jazz trio of young guys. With the Blues, there is a kid named Chris Kingfish (15 years old) from down the road in Clarksdale who is picking up the torch really well, but it is definitely a dying art in the Black community. My son at 13 is an incredible guitar player, but his teachers are white and he knows more rock music than blues and r&b, which is okay since he is really good and can learn anything. As with all things in our community we have to rely on White folks to keep our stuff alive. The Black Keys actually did a short album of Junior Kimbrough tunes (he was from Holly Springs wihc is also down the road from Memphis) and I could probably guarantee that not a single kid or adult in Memphis knows who Junior Kimbrough was. We have Stax Academy here which is located where the old Stax Records was and the kids sing all of the oldies, but they rarely sing Blues and this is supposed to be a Blues city. Memphis is doing a very poor job of capturing and growing this market. The reason is simple though, we have over 200 churches and Blues is still considered the devil's music by some folks here and is meant to only be played in juke joints and in private...

Yep, but obviously not White men if they've been considering her to run the biggest sport in the world.

What is even more interesting is that this conspiracy theory stuff is hilarious when it's not even grounded in fact. Masonry has been around for much longer than the birth of this nation in 1776. In regard to Illuminati it simply means enlightened, but people would have the world believe that the Catholic church has some grand scheme to shape society beyond just filling its coffers. All of that information can be reshaped in any way we want if we felt like deciphering. The all seeing eye could be an homage to Horus and the original masons of Egypt which would then tie it even more closely to the idea of an Illuminati, but the spiderwebs on the dollar can be analyzed as the web of deceit that holds this country together based on religion. I mean if you look hard enough at anything you can develop a conspiracy theory. As far as the 20, who cares who is on it as long as I can buy food gas and shelter. You can put Eddie Murphy on it in his regalia from Zamunda and if I can still spend it I'm cool.

She can be all of those things Harry and still be considered an important person in the Black community. On a different note I wonder if she is still being considered for this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/09/08/condi-rice-the-one-person-who-could-save-the-nfl/ Amazing lady.

I'm hoping that Memphis finds a way to promote BB in the same way they've done with Elvis. He deserves more than a club on Beale Street and should be featured prominently in the redesigned Beale Street Corridor with a statue. We will see though.

Marc, thanks for joining the convo. Blogging, like reading, is a female dominated business. It's neither good or bad, it just is. I think the idea of income generation from my viewpoint is figuring out how to convert those visitors into potential buyers of a service or books, or whatever it is the blogger is pushing. Blogging is primarily a gateway drug. It's an inexpensive method of delivering your thoughts to the people. Do those thoughts have to earn? No, they don't. However, if there is a product associated with the blog, then obviously the goal is getting the people to support that thing. The problem is that the delivery of information is at a point now where it doesn't even reach a conversion point for people who are relatively unknown. The person who blogs who is a known entity is capable of parlaying that into speaking engagements or book deals, or whatever they like. The person who is not a known entity can spend hours blogging and waiting. I guess the end game is to create content because you feel like doing so and if people eventually catch on and visit then maybe they will continue to come back which could lead to conversion. I guess my overall issue with the blogosphere is that people are not really visiting websites anymore. They spend the majority of their time on Social media and by default this hurts the small bloggers and businesses.

I actually wrote a paper on this topic. I even used the discussion of how Black kids were presented in Children's toy commercials. This was a while back, but I'm sure like this post states the numbers probably haven't changed much at all. The problem begins with how overwhelmingly frustrating the submission process is to get an agent and to get a publisher. Those rejection letters are like daggers no matter how much you love writing. Even when I succeeded in getting an agent, I grew frustrated with the requests for gangsta lit. I write a Young Adult novel for my thesis and while it was just my panel, they thought the book was pretty darn good. My agent didn't even try to get me in the door with that book. I eventually gave up on it and did what most writers do, I got a job. People will only write what they feel will sell it seems. There are probably some pretty good children's lit books out there, but the writer's a frustrated.

That shirt is gold!!!! I think it has to be made though. You have to take a chance and produce the goods or it will sit. Online selling takes a lot of time and effort, but I really do feel that AALBC is worth it. Like I said, I would send you books in a heart beat and I'm quite sure every writer on this site would do the same. You simply have to create an e-commerce platform that is personalized. The thing about being small is the personal touch. People will always buy from Amazon, but there are those who are aware and will support independent biz. While I haven't sold a ton of shoes, I have come close to selling 1000 ARCH shoes. I've sold six times as many Nikes, but I've sold ARCHs and if I can do that with an extremely small audience AALBC can change the game with this Huria Blog list and personalize online shop. Oh my reason for bringing up Yelp was to reinforce the fact that no one is making money on these sites except those who are turning money over with each other. In other words, Black folks aren't making money because we don't turn it over with each other.

I didn't finish it, but I guess I have a grasp on the issues and I'm not a very political person so it kind of falls flat to me although the issue is important.I already work to disseminate information and to try and pull people away from their routines. I also work to get people to discuss things that they can actually control. Like you said though, people don't even realize that they are contributing to their own eventual demise in regard to business. Every time I talk to someone about business, they simply don't understand the need to support local biz as opposed to chains. They don't realize that they should support individual websites by visiting those instead of launching more and more groups on Facebook. I won't stop trying and explaining, but I guess that's what will eventually place me in a different position than most... I hope.

I got about 10 minutes into it. I will try to pick up and listen to it when I'm stationary again. It's a bit dry.

Troy, that shirt is wack, lol. The font doesn't work at all, but the words are dope. A better graphic and I think that would sell. You are right though, taking on the process of opening a store would require you to do packing and shipping on a daily basis. It is definitely a job and it would require your attention which could pull you away from your mission. My goal is to introduce ideas for monetizing. I think the idea of generating money from blogging is a dying art. While I know a lot of people say they are able to not work from blogging or that they are doing well enough to only blog, I don't believe them one bit. When I discuss blogging it is in regard to generating content to gain traffic in order to sell people on something on your site. I think people who run affiliate sites and that is all they do can potentially generate a lot of revenue, but that would be all they would be doing is marketing and getting people to click through. In regard to working with other people to fulfill, I get the concept. Amazon's FBA is a very big business, but in this instance you pack up all of your stuff and send it in to their warehouse. Then they process and ship. Your decision to work with a company and take orders and have someone drop ship was risky and not going to work very well. When running an online store, you have to control the inventory because then you have a vested interest in the product getting out of your hands. When you are drop shipping the need for the product to sell is diminished because you don't see it daily. You have to be in it to run an online store so maybe that isn't the way you go about monetizing. I guess it will take time to figure it out. We are definitely in a different time where I just don't think it's easy to monetize sites anymore. Hey look at Yelp: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/report-yelp-looking-selling-itself-170217974.html

When I was talking a store, I meant a real deal store. There is a company named Out of Print (I'm not linking to it) that makes these amazing literary shirts. They have purchased the copyright to classic lit and can make shirts with the books on them. Cafepress styled companies are falling by the wayside because their is nothing personal about slapping a logo onto a shirt. People won't buy that stuff. However, I have tees and my wife has tees from Out of Print and when I was going to open the art gallery I was going to carry the Black authors items. I have all of the wholesale contact info but I just haven't jumped into that water yet. You however would probably kill with the Invisible Man tee or Their Eyes Were Watching God tee. More important, because all of the authors contact you, you have the ability to offer us a consignment deal. I would autograph copies of books I have in stock and send them to you on consignment in a heartbeat. This is the type of store I'm talking about. Simply based on the amount of people coming through your site having signed copies of books by New Authors is more enticing that what any bookstore could offer and it only cost you the time to pack and ship which doesn't take much time at all if you buy packing materials from U Line. Cafepress, zazzle, spreadshirt, none of those companies really work. They are too generic and lack soul. They are aren't real pictures. The only reason I can sell a shoe no one has heard of is because I have all of those articles and pictures that show me cleaning the shoes and making boxes. I have pictures of the real thing. There is a basketball shirt that list the starting five of the Bulls championship team. That shirt has been copied a thousand times with Dead Black Leaders. If you made a tee shirt that read Hurston & Walker & Angelou & Bambara & Morrison It would sell. A simple black shirt with white words. If you had a shirt that read Ellison & Wright & Baldwin & Hughes & Baraka It would sell. Shirts have to make you feel something. As far as the bigger writers supporting they just don't get it and they never will, but during your revamp of the site for the mobile stuff, I do think a store would be very, very beneficial.

That quote sums up the whole point very well. I don't have anything else to add except this, the visitors who stay 5 minutes or more are the customers that can be monetized. The goal is to reach those customers with content that can generate into potential revenue. The goal is to keep creating content and then when the long tail becomes the method of generating visits over the lifetime of the site. What I found this morning through analysis is that focusing on social leads to the less than 5 seconds crowd. We know this and as long as we continue to explain this to people then they will begin to see the value in visiting the websites vs sitting on Facebook. Great stuff Troy!