Troy

Even the people who study mortality do not highlight the fact that Black on Black murder is a leading cause of Black male death. I guess they are scared of being labeled racist, or more likely, don't really care, and focus on police violence as a leading cause, while it is obvious other Black men kill far more Black men.

I obviously think she did a good job too. I asked the question because I don't think a Black man, as I described, could deliver the message. I asked about the complexion because I also wondered who else could not deliver this message. Could Gabourey Sidibe have delivered the same message?

Sadly, the science backs this up. #WTA

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America "Risk is highest for black men, who (at current levels of risk) face about a 1 in 1,000 chance of being killed by police over the life course. The average lifetime odds of being killed by police are about 1 in 2,000 for men and about 1 in 33,000 for women."

So Maurice when you this link (or the image below), you do not get the search results shown in the image? Do you see the text big text that says "Learn More About Diary Malcolm X?"

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam is already an AALBC Bestseller for May/June (list will pub in July), and the book does not come out until 9/1/2020!

Yes What's Going On is a great album in my book for just that reason. I would have thought Sgt Pepper's song were related. I had both albums (original printings) for many years but moving and a divorce tend to make things "disappear."

That is curious @Maurice, did you try our search engine? That is the best please to start. Here is a link to our search engine and the results of a Gwendolyn Brook query. The search engine, linked above, is the last item on the menu of every page of the website, except this discussion forum that uses 3rd party software. The search engine on the discussion forum only searches the discussion forum, while the search, linked above, searches the entire site, including the discussion forum. Now I could customize the discussion forum software to search the whole site, but customizations make the discussion forum harder to maintain. Plus the discussion forum's search engine is presumably better at finding things here (blogs, forums, clubs, etc).

@Kiran H. J. Dellimore, Yes I realize the google search (https://www.google.com/search?q=979-8642874554) should have pulled up Amazon. The question is why didn't it. I think the answer is because Amazon would rather people use Amazon to search for books rather than the Google search engine. I under that you might not be aware of this. This is why I'm bringing it up, so that you and other authors are aware. The terms are set by the publish not Ingram, at least this is what Ingram told me when inquired why all the Amazon published books have such bad terms. Again Amazon touts their titles as being in distribution while this is technically true, the terms are so bad as to make the books unattractive to booksellers. Amazon surely knows this and are clearly misleading authors, which make them untrustworthy as a business partner. Of course Ingram is not the only distributor. I also deal with Lushena Books out of chicago, who gives me better terms than Ingram, but Ingram has a much larger inventory and of course they have the software to track and move books. Honestly I was surprised to see that many books in stock (or backorder myself). This is a relatively high number. Are you aware of any extra demand for Walking in Footsteps of Promise? It is worth checking with Lulu. Why so many titles were printed and send to Ingram's warehouses? If this is indeed a POD book, ask them who pays the printing costs and who is responsible for the returns? Yes some absolutely do. Even some booksellers leverage Amazon's site to make money -- largely because no one knows there site exists and Amazon provides the only venue these websites can make real money. But the is at the expense of the the collective benefit of the entire book economy -- especially the Black book economy. (you wrote that Amazon has approximately 50% of the entire print book market, for Black books the number if probably closer to 90%) Simple, we all have to stop using Amazon. Reader will have to leave Amazon too because they will have to go to where the books are being sold. The pandemic has made it clear that there are indeed people willing to support independent booksellers. No, I do not believe this can be done. Nothing short of a boycott will make a difference. I understand that consider the prospect of boycotting Amazon scary -- especially for authors who have published and now sell exclusively through Amazon. Look even major publishers cower under Amazon's power. But again, nothing short of us not using Amazon will make a difference. So either you want an Amazon to be the only company who can sell Black books or you don't. The loss of physical and even web based booksellers is incalculable.

@Maurice, the cool thing about @harry brown, which I suspects escapes most people here is that besides being a poet, all of the books he recommends can be found on this website. You can use the AALBC search engine to do a search on, "Malcolm X Diary" or "Malcolm X Talks" to find the books he recommends 🙂

Yes I listened the the album all the way through, after reading your post, I had never listened to the this entire album. I was surprised by the number of covers which I'm sure there more than three. If I have a few extra minutes I'd take another listen and point out the others. Turns out the only temps albums I have are complications and they quite good 🙂 The other striking thing about the album is that I expect and album, from that era, a good one anyway, to tell a story. All the songs may not be hits, but the songs are related to each other and relate a larger message than any of the individual songs. I don't think (or know really) if this is still true because I rarely listen to an entire new album.

I just updated the guidelines: https://aalbc.com/tc/guidelines/ Thanks again!

@Kiran H. J. Dellimore, thanks again for your thoughtful and informative response. I said I would add Fresh Ereba to the website if the book is in distribution. Unfortunately the book is not in distribution; it is not in the database of America's largest distributor Ingram. In fact the only place the physical book can be found is by going to Amazon and searching direct for it there. A Google search on the ISBN you provided : https://www.google.com/search?q=979-8642874554 turns up only AALBC (the page with the post you made a few days ago). All booksellers are most concerned about the ISBN13, as it uniquely identifies a book bringing in all the book's metadata (provided the publisher provides it). Now I do sell books that are not in distribution, but this is a very small percentage of my inventory. In most cases, when I get an order for a book not in distribution I email the author, they send the book to the customer, and I send the author 50% of the retail price and shipping costs. Now most readers will search for the book's title https://www.google.com/search?q=Fresh+Ereba which brings up a variety of conflicting information different publication dates, book covers, etc. Readers could also search on your name, but name and title searches presume that the reader already knows that information in advance -- which means they discovered the book or author in some other manner before running the query. So how does an author get their book noticed? Amazon encourages authors to give aways their books because it help to get their books noticed. Amazon used these "free" books they encourage authors to give away, because it bolsters the value of their Nook ebook platform. Amazon attracts subscribers because they provide access to so many free books. Amazon limits this for their benefit not author's. If you think it through you'll easily conclude why. I was able to find Walking in Footsteps of Promise in distribution and have added it to the website. It is available for sale now. But here is the problem with selling Walking in Footsteps of Promise: First, check out the screen shot from Ingram's database (shown below). You'll see that the book can not be returned once purchased by a bookseller. This all but guarantees that the book will not be stocked by any bookstore -- especially a physical bookstore. Since the book is in distribution, if someone goes to a physical bookstore, asks the store to order it, the store can do it, but they run into the next problem with the book; and that is the book's 15% discount. That means the bookseller will clear $2.84 for the sale on this book. This does not cover the shipping, handling, and insurance to get the book from the distributor to the store. Now a large bookseller will have shipments coming into the store all the time so the until cost of insuring and shiping the book is offset by being bundled with other books being ordered. For smaller booksellers this may not be the case. As mentioned AALBC would not stock this book; I would have the distributor "drop ship" this book, but again $2.80 simply does not cover the least expensive way I ship books, which is media mail insured. Now I could ship the book media mail without insurance which costs $2.80, which means I would break even (make 4 cents) on the sale but incur the risk of the book getting lost in transit. So while this book has distribution, for all practical purposes it really does not. But here is the real kicker. Ingram has about 500 copies of these book in stock. What happens if these book do not sell? Given the terms described, the likelihood of Ingram selling all 500 copies to bookstores does not seem very good. (*Now of course some Black books may being very well in stores, unbeknownst to me, despite these terms. That seems unlikely -- but I can't know how well all Black books are doing 🙂 ) Basically all of these unsold books go back to the publisher and are usually destroyed (maybe remaindered I don't know much about this side of the business), but in any event the authors royalties are adversely impacted. Of course all of this discourages authors from even seeking distribution, which booksellers can not easily sell their books. All of this encourages authors to go to Amazon to publish print and even exclusively retail their books. Amazon has been brilliant in aligning author, and consumer motivation and behavior to maximize Amazon's own revenue while freezing out potential competitors. Any perceived benefit by the reader and author/publisher is purely incidental. That said, Kiran I would be happy to add Fresh Ereba to the website please complete this form. I can also complete your author profile page: https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Kiran+H.+J.+Dellimore of you'd be kind enough to complete this form.

Thanks for taking the time to point out those typos Kiran. I fix that page and add the new rule for linking to Amazon too.

Yes. In fact, financial institutions were called on the fact that they were trading stocks own their own accounts while their analysts were generating "reseach" to improve their firms firm's position.

I agree, which is why I hijacked your post. Hopefully I will make worth your while. Is it possible to promote your book on Amazon without giving it away? Is the idea that giving your book away would ultimately encourage the reader to pay for the ebook, or physical book, down the road? Do you believe giving something away depresses the percieved value of it? Why do you think Amazon encourages authors to give away their entire book rather than just a few chapters? Is your physical book in distribution? If so, please post the ISBN13, I'll add it to the website.

I know this has nothing to do with your book @Kiran H. J. Dellimore, but hopefully you and others interested in your ebook, reading this will indulge me. Does Amazon still pay you a royalty for the ebooks you give away for free? Is your eBook currently available on any other platforms (Kobo, Apple, Nook, etc.)?

... assuming we have emerged from the global pandemic by then. History of our Annual Black Pack Party — 2021 Will be the 20th Anniversary of its Start Does Amazon host parties to celebrate Black book professionals? I'm just saying...

This is a new rule that I will, when I get a chance, post where more people can see it. I've starting removing hyperlinks to Amazon's website. Posters are encouraged to link to an indie bookseller, their own website, or AALBC when promoting a book -- but not Amazon. Why? Amazon has never allowed their visitors to link to AALBC and while AALBC has sent several million visitors to Amazon's site over the years. When Amazon allow links to AALBC, I'll consider changing the rule. Besides, I'm engaged in a complete (professional and business) boycott of Amazon's services. They have wrecked enough destruction in the Black Book Ecosystem, I can no longer contribute to this on any level.

I did not appreciate that there was a history or tradition of stoicism in the Black community. Can you elaborate @Morris Junior, provide an example, or excerpt?

I like the song in the video, but the rest of the album ... meh. It is mostly covers done better by others. I always liked that song by the Impressions. The video was weird though, did the yiu notice the audience is just sitting there. No one is bobbing their head or behaving as if a band is performing live music right in front if them.

Basically Wall Street will prop up a company allowing it to stay in business. Analysts write rave reviews institutions and individuals buy shares allowing, say Amazon, to selll books at a loss, until the public is convinced they are great and their competitors are decimated. Your local bookseller still has to make payroll and pay rent each month. The can rely on GoFundMe for survival.

Sorry Kiran please feel free to link to your own website. When Amazon allows links to aalbc.com I'll allow links from AALBC to Amazon.

Again, that is what I thought. Snap Chat has still has not made any money, and they have been around almost a decade. They should have taken the buy out from Facebook. Now Facebook does not need it. Big enough to prevent new entrants small enough to be of no consequence....

Join me for the Curator’s Coffee Chat @ the Langston Hughes’ Library Today 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. We discuss running a web-based business in the age of Facebook, Amazon, and Google. Register: https://bit.ly/2AJOdlq