Troy

Speaking of "authority" check out this book coming out next month:

@Word Lovers Is this a print publication? What is the deadline? Where can I send people to check the last issue out?

Hey @Delano, will there be any numerological significance to these days next year. 02/02/2020 02/20/2020 02/22/2020 I can image a lot of folks will plan significant event one them. February 2nd is a palindrome (assuming you can apply the term to numbers). How about people who turn 2, 20, or 22 on these dates on those days dates and live in the 202 area code? 🙂

Marketers in publishing houses tend to use social media for online promotion. This is easy, but it is not the best way to reach Black readers -- shoot it isn't even the best way to reach me and I can't promote book I don't know about. I can't tell you how many people discover a book, I thought was popular, for the first time on AALBC.com or through my newsletter. Brilliant.

Hey @Marion Hill here is a link to all the event on the "Circuit" that I'm aware of: https://aalbc.com/events/list.php/ The list also includes the festivals of many types around the world, but you have no problem identifying the event on the "Circuit." 😉 @Mel Hopkins I'm unsure too, but perhaps you are right.

Honestly, don't know if these are the oldest Black-owned websites. They are the oldest ones in my database of 300+ websites, which by my reckoning, is as good a source as any for this information. Of course it you are aware of a site I've missed please be sure to tell me. I'm mostly interested in larger content rich websites, not the site of an individual blogger, but if there is a Black blogger out there who has been be producing content for 20, 25 years or longer, on the same domain, I'm DEFINITELY interested in that writer. That said Howard University sites will be 30 years old next year -- that is ancient by web standards. Today I teach a college course in web design, most of my students were born after I started AALBC -- Howard's site is 8 years older than AALBC! Howard's domain was created a year before the web was made commercially available, so as a university they have an unfair advantage when comparing domain age to commercial entities. The Source is the oldest commercial website and is currently 26 Years, 1 Months). I'm actually trying to determine if the site is Black owned. I know the magazine was started by two white kids while students at Harvard, but the site appears to be owned by the Northstar Group whose owner ship is unclear to me. I've reached out to them to confirm ownership. The Network Journal's 25 year old website is the oldest confirmed-Black-owned, continuously running, website that I know of -- if is even older than the NY Times website. I know the owner of this site. In addition to running a website for 25 years they have been published a Magazine even longer. The Brother, Aziz Gueye Adetimirin, president of The Network Journal Communication, is a keen businessman!

For years I've been maintaining a list of the most popular Black-owned websites. That list of 50 websites is actually derived from a much longer list of over 300 websites. The idea was to track the web's largest Black-owned websites who attracted the most visitors. Again, I started the list years ago and expected it to grow, but to a point where it would be difficult to manage. Despite the pages being one of the most popular on the website, the list has actually been shrinking! I have to review the list periodically to check for websites that are no longer active. Usually the domains are quickly snapped up by other, often unrelated, websites trying to take advantage of the traffic obtained from backlinks from sites like mine or links lead to nowhere and are broken. In any event I have to check the links from time to time. This time I was disheartened to see many sites that I really liked disappear. I removed 20 websites from the list including, ChickenBones: A Journal, which was started in 2001, by Rudolph Lewis. We became friendly over the years as we started a few years apparty (AALBC started in 1997) and published similar content. His content will be a great loss to the web. I already reached out to him to avoid this. Another site I removed from the list, is MelaNet not because the domain is down, but the site has simply not updated in years and is full of broken links. Launched in 1997 MelaNet was one of the first Black websites that I can remember. It was also exciting to see because it produced content that I simply was not exposed to before the web was created -- it was as pro-Black and afrocentric as you could get. One of the better book sites on the web APOOO (A Place of Our Own), was started in 2008 and was in a class of book websites you do not see very much today. These sites were popular, well done, and driven my passionate readers. They provided reviews and interviews. Some of these sites migrated to social media, but those platforms are so restrictive and are a poor facsimile of the former websites. I could go on and on. I always lament the fact that the Web is a far less rich place due to the lost of indie websites. Even the indie websites that have survived that last 10 or 20 years are not as good as they can be. Clearly the average person on the web has no clue what has been lost -- otherwise there would be some outrage. I point to the corporate domination (ownership really) of the World Wide Web as the cause. I described in the past how Google, in a single day, took about 75% of my traffic (along with other Black owned book sites, newspapers and other entities). It took my site over 5 years to recover. Many of the other websites just folded or failed to recover. For many people today, the World Wide Web is comprised solely of Amazon, Google, and a few social media sites. There are still some good and potentially great websites. All we have to do it is take advantage of them.

Hey @Mitchell Z please complete the following forms one for an author profile and the other for your book's information -- thanks. @everyfebruary would you mind completing the same author profile I'll publish your review on AALBC bok reviews section -- thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Here is a banner I stumbled upon researching information on another author. I met this author at a “Chitlin Circuit” event, Black Authors and Readers Rock back in October. Yeah, three Amazon properties are promoted in the banner, but — and this is a big but — the author, Tamiya Davis, also promotes two Black owned booksellers; AALBC and Mahogany Books (who was also at the event)! This is the first time that I've even seen an author actively highlight two Black owned booksellers as a place where one can buy her book, which chronicles her near-death experience, From Fatal to Fierce. Now Tamiya never sent me this banner, but it is obvious I'd be more inclined to support author's who do this. I'm sure my friends at Mahogany Books feel the same 🙂 @B.D.C., the only silly question is the one not asked.

You may have mislaid thing you felt was stolen. You should not spend time with people you don't trust.

I defintely appreciate the sentiment. Merry Christmas my Brother. Now I did not say anything about the media and truth. Truth is incidental with the media, which is increasingly social media. The coverage of 45 should tell you that, but they'd love a story about the patenting AIDS and using it in an effort to commit global negrocide. Social media is why conspiracys spread so quickly. Planes crashing into both towers and both buildings collapsing on themselves seemed unbelievable to me. Then a skyscraper a block away just collased for no apparent reason... like vaccines causing autism it seems very plausible and there is a ton of support of any conspiracy theory. But I don't believe we blew up the World Trade Center.

No I don't understand the patent document, so it is not proof to me that AIDS was created by the government to kill all Black people. There are however more indicators, like the complete absence of Black platforms and journalists covering this issue. Why are they not covering this and raising hell? Surely they've heard of this conspiracy. I was aware of it long ago. You say it is as simple as 2+2, so why hasn't main stream media picked up this story. It is the kind of story they salivate over. Why hasn't the New York Times, Al Jazera, or The Guardian picked this up. Has Democracy Now done as story? They love this stuff -- sticking it to the man I guess they must be all be in on it too. More likely the whole idea is so absurd it is not even worth refuting. Side bar: How can two relatively intelligent Black men, who are obviously supportive of Black people, "race men," even have such divergent views on this issue?

@Kareem So our Goverment created AIDS? You mean to tell me that the peanut farmer from plains Georgia was in on this? The evidence you referenced on the YouTube video was posted 13 years ago by someone you has only posted one other video (a rap video) and Google has flagged the video as misinformation citing a more reliable source (Google has serious problem propagating misinformation, pirated content, hate speech, and conspiracy theories.) I agree. The Tuskegee Experiment is well documented. Besides I previuosly wrote, "Obviously, they are capable of genocide every so often." No I don't think all white people are demons. Sure many over the course of history have behaved in demonic ways. But they have, more often been victims of evil than the perpetrators of it. No, that is not it. I don't believe it because your video and patent doc is not enough to refute common sense. I think you believe this conspiracy theory because you WANT to believe it. I understand why, because some white people over the course of several hundred years in the country have committed unspeakable atrocities. If you believe they are all demons, then the government creating AIDS to kill all Black people is perfectly plausible.

Sorry man I simply don't believe that white folks created AIDS as a weapon to kill Black people. Obviously, they are capable of genocide every so often. I just don t think they did this. Besides why would they file a patent? I followed that link and could not heads or tails of the text. Why would they invest so much time and energy looking for a cure and developing medications that render aids far less lethal than smoking cigarettes which kills 10 times as many people worldwide.

Well I guess it depends on where you get your information. I never heard of Nispey before he died either, but there are many Black people doing great things. their stories don't make mainstream media and most aren't goifing around on Twitter. This is one reason the lost of black owned newspapers and magazines have been so devastating. Our culture is obsessed with celebrity. It is a sickness...

Funny last year I would have said the site could not survive on book sales alone. But now that I stopped directing people to Amazon. I'm making more money than ever selling books. It could be holiday sales, but we'll see. After reading what you wrote about ads i removed some from this forum. The interstitial ads here get on my nerves too. Google used to say they would lower a site that served these ads in their search engine rankings -- now they put these ads in their own ad network! Google is full of sh-t, but they have a monopolies in search and their ad network, so you have to deal with them. The ads on the main portion of the site are really unobtrusive and most are directly related to Black books. I'd agrue you are missing information blocking ads. Here are a couple of inhouse "ads" currently running that you won't t see because you are blockings ads

To be clear, are you saying that one does not need to define an audience for their book? I ask because on this forum, just the other day I wrote: "If your goal is to make money with your book, marketing should begin before the book is written. The author should consider who the audience for the book is, how large the audience is, how will they reach the audience, and how much it will cost. Independently published authors rarely do this. After some analysis you may determine not to write the book. Indie authors produce the book then struggle with figuring out how to sell it." I do know this is common advice and the reason I share it is because I believe it to be sound advice. Of course I understand that some indie authors -- most perhaps -- have a book in them that they must to get out and issues of marketing are of little concern. In fact, issues of how to properly produce a book and sell it are of little concern as well ... until it is too late. I'm including a link to your book here on AALBC: An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones by Wendy Jones

@Mel Hopkins Yeah Living Single was one of the last network sitcoms that I regularly watched. Kim was certainly Black Famous back when the show aired. Do you think she is Black famous amongst millennials and younger? Eric Jerome Dickey is probably Black Famous amongst readers. Do you think he is Black famous amongst the Black general public? Do you think AALBC is Black famous within the the group of avid readers who are also active online? Sometimes I'll run into a Black author who is promoting a book and says they are unfamiliar with my website and I'll joking say something like, "well you must not use the world wide web?" Sometimes that is actually the case, usually with an older person. Other times it is a combination of how the person used the web and how they web actually works. People tend to gravitate to the biggest websites and everything on the web serves to elevate the biggest sites. You need the white co-sign to become famous. Increasingly however -- especially on the web you need the white co-sign to become "Black famous." The celebs of "Black Twitter" would, of course, not be possible without Twitter. The same could reasonably be said for the start of Black Lives Matter. Black Chitlin' Circuit events for books makes it possible for writers to become Black Famous. Without these events it would be very difficult for a writer to have a career based solely upon writing. These events help raise the profile of AALBC -- which is why I do these events. That plus I love being around Black folk who have a passion for stories and knowledge.

Man this is hyperbolic. Thinking people know better than to prejudge an entire group of people based upon the behavior of a few individuals. Besides the most dysfunction behavior, as you define it, is engaged in by white men. There is a white gay man who is a front running for POTUS. The catholic Church, which is run by white men, is riddled with pedophiles. Surely, the people from abroad that you say are judging us can see a stark difference between President Obama and 45. Why would they not use this as an example by which to judge Black people -- using your analogy?

Well Amazon has already begun to replace the USPS. You see the trucks and vans everywhere now. Since I've been selling books directly I use the USPS daily and can't imagine a world where I have to pay Amazon to ship something. Actually I can image it... When Amazon produces a book for a self-published author, Amazon also makes it impossible for another bookseller to sell that book for a profit. When Amazon controls shipping they'll make it difficult to ship products that they have not produced or somehow have their greedy hand in.

Hey @Chevdove good to read you again; happy holidays Queen! @Pioneer1, come on man... You actually believe that some white men have arranges for these contest to be won by Black women to cull the Black population? Seriously? You are giving white folks too much credit. Good old fashioned colonialism has far more effective. We don't need the conspiracy theories. Happy holidays Pharoah!

Yeah after 15 years, The Black Woman: An Anthology Edited by Toni Cade Bambara is still in print

Here on AALBC.com, I maintain a list of bookstores in America and a few that are abroad -- stores that I've visited in Nigeria, Jamaica, and other places. The Source of Knowledge Bookstore in Newark is a store that I have not yet viewed but from what I can they are definitely worth a visit -- I plan to check it out.

@B.D.C., that was a very thoughtful message and I appreciate you posting it. The vast majority of people coming do not share their ideas or opinion. Perhaps it is the fear of being ridiculed or appearing uninformed. I'm learning something new all the time here. The main reason for my message was to help authors understand that when you pitch your book to a bookseller to carry your book in their store, or website, you can not start the conversation with "Order Now on Amazon." This should be obvious, but it apparently is not, which I why I wrote the message. I wanted to help authors and publishers understand a bookseller's perspective. Amazon sells books indiscriminately, they could be bootlegged, retrieved from a dumpster, written by a terrible writer, or poorly produced. Amazon simply does not care; they are only concerned with revenue. All other booksellers curate they books they sell. We select books we think are worth reading and will benefit our customers. Marketing is a Beast -- definitely. If your goal is to make money with your book, marketing should begin before the book is written. The author should consider who the audience for the book is, how large the audience is, how will they reach the audience, and how much it will cost. Independently published authors rarely do this. After some analysis you may determine not to write the book. Indie authors produce the book then struggle with figuring out how to sell it. Don't discount the "views." People use the site to discover books. If you email me directly to pitch me a book to review -- only I see the book info. If you post it here others will see it -- perhaps someone interested in reviewing or reading it. We review very few books that are pitched to us. Part of the challenge is that having a book reviewed costs money, time, and energy. All the author invests is a book, but the entity doing the reviewing invests far more. We must be very selective in the books we choose to review -- otherwise we'd be out of business. This is one reason we offer a fee based book review service. Finally there are a lot of ways for authors to get their book on AALBC. In our FAQ, I mention 8 ways and most are free.

Amazon as been selling bootleg books for as long as I can remember, but the idea that they allow 3rd parties to sell trash as new under the Amazon brand is disgusting. You Might Be Buying Trash on Amazon—Literally Wall Street Journal Article, December 19, 2019 One publisher describes how they bought 34 of its books from Amazon and Amazon’s third-party sellers. At least 30 were counterfeits! New York Times Article, June 23, 2019 If I did any of the above I would be thrown under the jail. The tide a turning regarding public sentiment of Amazon. Everyday there is another article revealing Amazon's shady business practices. When I stopped selling books as an Amazon affiliate my book sales went up -- way up! I'm certain this would not have happened just two years ago. Today I'm getting more order and larger book orders. Yesterday someone purchased 100 (different books) in a single order! That never happened when I dealt with Amazon. I've been told more than once by a customer who said that they are happy to buy books from me now that I don't use Amazon. While our government serves as Amazon's hand maiden, it seems that the people are beginning to reject Amazon.