Troy

I wonder if Tariq is trying to appeal to a certain class of people. If so he does so at the expense of repulsing others, like myself. Now I'm no prude and an occassional F or N bomb is fine, but he uses nigga so much... Can you imagine Dr. Ben or Clarke or Farrakhan sharing a hour tirade laced with "nigga?" Would it change what you though if them?

... and you won't because Blackivists think they can get this work done on Twitter.

Man there is nothing left of the 1,000+ homes and businesses that were destroyed. Hundreds of people killed. There are a hanfull of businesses on this street and a cultural center.

When civilians kill they generally kill people of the same race. When police officers kill (or lock people up), they disproportionately do this to Black people, which is a very serious problem reflective of a deep seat structural racism which creates the conditions for so called Black on Black crime. Some people in including "just passing by" don't get this. @Pioneer1 I did not have time to listern to Tariq's 2 hour rant. I heard him use the n-word several dozen times. Do you think he needs, or should, do that?

Who, living, would meet you standard for,

Yeah my the Brother R.I.P. I saw Lewis soeak once. I filmed his a acceptance speech for his Nation Book Award: https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=John+Lewis#video

But he was always white, which comes with ridiculous benefits. Really? I started selling books on the web around the same time Jeff did and there were others before me and after me. Do you truly believe Jeff is THAT much smarter? You don't believe his connections to wall st (largely out of our reach) was not a factor? You should define rich because I'm quite sure jeff's family was FAR from impoverished. Funny you should mention greenwood. I was there last week. "Bad" is a colossal understatement. ...and whitey's on the moon. I can understand the sentiment of tearing shit up. I don't like or agree with it, but i can understand the reaction given the conditions.

Dude if you paid me enough I'd clean toliets on an interstate rest stop. Many if not most independently weatlhy people work greed and a desire to do something significant are powerful motivators. Otherwise, what keep jeff Bezos at it?

What?! If you lived in states from LA to GA then you must know what I'm talking about. You'd also know post Black folk in the south are some variety of protestantism. Like I said, Black folk don't own or control that paper. Jeff Bezos does. Again, whose koolaid are you gonna drink when it comes to a critique of a Black man?

@Pioneer1 true, but that also means these people will never be wealthy (save a winning lottery ticket). And that is cool because most entrepreneurs will not be wealthy either. But hourly wage earners, scraping by pay check to pay check, will never be wealthy on top of it being a stressful way to live. I know more people who have stroked out and died during this pandemic that i know who have died from Covid19 and I believe stress had a lot to do with it...

Well you are a very conscious Brother @Pioneer1, which is not typical. What percentage of the average Brothers that you know have heard of all three? No I have not heard Martin speak.

Treatment by whom? How did you learn of the mistreatment? Your answer will almost certainly make my point. Who in the mainstream media is talking about powell's work? How did you learn about it? Man most southern Christians are about as socially conservative as you can get, but they would not describe themselves as conservative, because the GOP have coopted the term and it is now tantamount to meaning white racist. @Pioneer1 there are too many Black people who don't want to live in you utopia (or mine). The racism and the politicization which drives it is what us killing us. I think this system could work if we all could show more compassion for each other.

I basically agree with you guys. What industry is not a service industry? The real secret to wealth, accessible to most Bkack people, as illustrated in Black Fortunes, is entrepreneurship.

I agree. If you are a celebrity it is different. Over the years I've learned nothing I did, directly, on social media resulted in much engagement. It was always someone else sharing something I've done on AALBC that went viral. As a result, I spend very little time on social media (less time per day than it is taking to type this message on my cell phone), and spend most of my time adding content to the site. I think writer should invest most of their time on their craft and much less on social. Some popular authors i know pay others to post on socal. Besides engaging on social media serves to enrich Dorsey and Zuckerberg and don't they have enough already?

You must be from NYC or nearby because most people don't know who these folks are. I have heard them all speak. I was in my home office once and saw Dr. Ben walk by 🙂 I don't like a system where so few people can accumulate so much wealth and so many are struggling. I don't see Jeff Bezos any differently, in concept, than a Louisianan plantation owner. As long as our system is based on consuming more and more things, we really don't need, nothing will change.

The first new car I brought was in 1984. I struggled to make payments and drove without insurance (which was as much as the car note) for a few months. That car was ultimately stolen. The last new car i brought i paid cash for and paid the insurance 6 months, for which the insurer gives you a 15 percent discount. If you have to finance a car you pay a LOT more for it. Today leasing is all the rage. It helps people get into vehicles they could not normally afford, but you actually never get to own it. That last car i paid cash for is still on the road, it is 9 years old and in great shape. I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off. The problem is because people are poor and can afford a cheap new car they end up paying much more than a rich people do. Insurance rates and interest rates are also higher for Black men who live in NY, NJ, and PA. All states i have previuosly lived or worked.

"Black Cancel Culture" does not exist, because we have no media to speak of. Here your opinion of Carson gets equal weight to Pioneer's whose assessment is diametrically opposite. On social media opinions like yours are buried or used as fodder to help elevate opinions like Pioneer's. Which create the impression all Black people have no tolerance for your ideas like yours. Twitter and the white owned media are doing the "cancelling." A minute fraction of Black people express themselves on Twitter -- far from representative of us all. I was being sarcastic @Pioneer1. Diane looks like that puppet from Waylan and madam

Yes, all of it. Where is your audience? Go where they are. Yes advertise (paid) and promote (non paid1) consistenly where it makes sense. Does the advertisement/promotion reach your target audience and are they engaging as a result? I can't recommend platforms. You'll have to do the research and test to see what is effective for your book. For authors who are unknown advertising is as much about exposure as it is about sales. A well known author can generate sales more easily with a advertisement because their audience is already familiar with their work Have you started collecting email addresses for a mailing list? It is one of the best ways to stay engaged with your readers and supporters. More people use email than Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter combined.

The two options you laid out are not mutually exclusive; you can do both. But don't limit yourself to social media. There are many ways to build your platform; social media is just a potential component. Also, im not exactly what you mean by this: Whats the rush?

Sure it makes the most economical sense to buy a used car, but the point is many people simlly can't afford to do something so basic as buying an inexpensive new car.

@daniellegfny with hindsight as an advantage what is your assessment of Carson today? Sex sells. This is old news. The liberals counter with Amy Goodman...

@Maurice whoever you patronize will be happy and of course sales a from a local bookshop support the author and publisher. @O.W. I have not seen the CNN coverage, but the folks at Mahogany are my peeps 🙂

@Maurice I never mentioned that @harry brown had a website, for I do not know that to be the case. It will however be interesting to discover if that is indeed true.

@daniellegfny welcome to the forums! You already have a leg up by creating an account and commenting on another post. I pay extra attention to these types of authors, as opposed to the ones who do the drive-by-guest-post never to be heard from again. The only negative is the promotion of Amazon. If you post on site that sells books and it is immposible to link to the site you are on, it is best to link or mention your own site. Personally I boycott Amazon. Every woke/conscious bookseller should.