Troy

@Cynique I guess you'll be happy to know that Omarosa's book has been sitting at the top of the NY Times bestsellers list for the last two weeks. Here is the complete list What is the basis for this statement? How would you even know?

Omarosa's UNHINGED enjoys a 2nd week (September 9, 2018) at #1 on the NY Times Bestsellers List. (Click to see the entire list)

After I shared my data you wrote; "I need verifiable evidence." What did you write to suggest that the data I shared had any validity? Why share Mike's opinions when he offers no verifiable data?

"The U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country's citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern universities has concluded." Talk about a statement of the obvious. But I will read the Princeton study anyway. With so many people struggling (invisibly so, because the media are constantly talking about a booming economy) it really is a really bad time to be poor in America. You president want to cut or eliminate the few programs designed to help the poor. People with decent jobs, who live fine communities and great schools don't really see the people (the majority of American) who are struggling. The chickens will come home to roost and when they do we all will be effected. This is the unraveling of America I'm not looking forward to witnessing...

Well @Cynique a perverse side of me wrote here, before it was obvious that 45 would be even the GOP nominee, that it would be interesting to see what a 45 presidency would be like. However, after seeing this twitter addict run the country, I wish I never put the sentiment out into the universe. Watching the country unravel gives me no pleasure. I guess I'm not quite old enough to sit idly by and do nothing about it. Of course I appreciate changing anything about this country is, and always has been, an uphill battle. I don't have nearly as much faith as you do that our progeny will be able to do anything about it. We have large numbers of people who buy into and support 45's positions, people who are climate deniers for example -- we may already be past the point of no return and 45 is only making things worse -- promising to bring back coal, dismantling the EPA... My God! 45 will almost certainly finish the year, has a better than even chance of finishing his term, and may even be reelected for a second term...

You are indeed being stubborn Mel. Seriously, the graphs I showed you are backed by data which can be very easily verified -- it is all on that site. But that is fine. My beliefs are backed by a great deal of data. No one I know, close to this issue, shares your perspective which is backed by nothing, other than your refusal to entertain the ideas or even concede that it might be plausible. Nothing you have mentioned, not ebooks, POD, Brown Girls Books, not indie publishing, nothing, has made up for the loses over the past decade -- which itself was the end of a fleeting period of growth in the number of Black books being published. As far as 45 is concerned; no I was not aware of Mike Farb and his theories. It is interesting that you accept and share Farb's theories, while he is just some blogger without any data to support his conspiracy theories. I give you actual, verifiable data, and you reject all of it. Why? What makes Farb so special? Think about it @Mel Hopkins...

Wait, Jim Brown, a man's man, went on the record to support 45?! Whoa, I was just kidding about Trump being my "friend" (though I know @Delano is wound to tight these days to get that), but now I have to rethink what I think of Mr. Brown. His judgment was a little suspect when he started throwing women out of windows, but I chalked that up to the silliness of youth. Maybe CTE is the problem. Still Google's power needs to be reigned in, and I don't particularly care how it is done.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Anyone paying attention to detail may have noticed I don't use our president's name. However the psychopath may actually do us some good. Reuters reported yesterday: "White House probes Google after Trump accuses it of bias." The man actually has a point -- seriously. I noticed this several years ago as Google out ranked negative information about Zane and Terry Mcmillan over their accomplishments. While I'm trying to learn more about their work as writers Google is shoving all the negative stuff they can find about these sisters in my face -- information I'd argue should be private. At any rate, 45's motivation is entirely selfish and I doubt anything constructive will come out of this, but if President Trump can reduce this gatekeeper's power, I say 4 more years

Hey I'm sorry I missed the fact that this was The State of Black Science Fiction club -- my bad. I'll stay on point next time Hey I'm sorry I missed the fact that this was The State of Black Science Fiction club -- my bad. I'll stay on point next time That said @NubianFellow, regarding getting rid of social media; (1) is not common sense, people really don't know what is happening and if they do know the implications of what this means are lost on them and; (2) social media is addictive (think cigarettes or crack) -- people can't live without their handheld devices. People have written in a humor way about the impact of social media. Now getting back to science fiction; have you seen Black Mirror. They had a brilliant episode, of not too distant future, where people rate each other on all interactions -- not too far fetched, because we are doing this today:

You can find some information on book deals in Publishers Lunch. It is a subscription based publication that would be a good source, but someone would need to dig through the reports. I do have some real data that would be supportive of my anecdotal evidence that the number and size of book deals are smaller. The graph below is the number of books published by the "Big 5" and a large independent (Kensington) over the past 10 years. Since virtually all of the books in my dabasse were written by Black writers and I have captured all of the most popular books, my data is an excellent sample. As you can see this data reflects a steep reduction in the number of deals over the past decade.. While this data set does not speak specifically to the size of advances. I do know authors who refused deals because the advance was too small. If you don't find my data coupled with my anecdotal evidence convincing -- you are just being stubborn. Admittedly the reasons there are fewer Black authors being published by the large presses are more complex that just being offered a smaller deals. Virginia Deberry and Donna Grant wrote an article about this a few years ago: "Our writing career is officially on HOLD." They have not published a new book since. Of course my finer point, speaking to the lack of books dealing middle aged Black men is part of this. @Mel Hopkins, you glossed over my questions (cutting me deep with the 45 dig ), but I believe the will help you understand the role gatekeepers in determining and indeed growing popularity . Again Whose platforms does this popularity exist? Whose algorithms determine which content rises to the top? Popularity does not happens as organically as you seem to believe. 45's ascendance should help you appreciate this.

I think my previous statements address all of these question. I'm content to leave this alone. You were offended. I intended no offense. The rest of this is just noise. I apologize if you were offended @Delano.

Yes, @Mel Hopkins I was speaking about a life partner (of course this is a subject I'm more interested in lately). The questions you posed for @Pioneer1 are good ones. For the sake of clarity, I'm talking about a life partner that you are also making love to. I think both men and women have varying levels of sex drives over time. @Pioneer1 you should also consider the fact that our culture demonizes women who express a strong sexual desire and place an opposite pressure on men -- if you have not banged at least 10 women before you got out of high school and knocked a few up -- you must be a fag Pioneer, could it be possible that our male dominated culture as manipulated you into believing something about human sexuality that is not supported in our biology?

Yeah today people who start smoking are being manipulated to do so. The fact that cigarettes are addictive just complicates things. The fact they they will kill people makes it just evil. There have been a lot of articles recently that stated that no amount of alcohol is good for you. Will I stop drinking probably not -- at least not until I finish all the alcohol I have in my home After a lifetime of conditioning and 40+ years of drinking (yeah we started early in my neighborhood) it will take some effort to stop. But common sense says I should stop. So I recognize that I'm being manipulated in this case.

Well that is true. Can the one who is truly controlled actually have the self awareness to know that they are being controlled? I don't think they can. This why if is often so difficult to convince one who is being controlled that this is indeed the case. We know people are being manipulated by through the cell phones through social media and other apps without their knowledge. Those being manipulated when made aware of it always deny it, say it does not matter, or find some other way to dismiss it the impact. This is the true definition of manipulation. We are all being manipulated. Some to a greater extent than others...

Because these sites do have the true numbers either. Del you know as well as I do that you can believe everything you read on the Internet -- bottom line Terrui and Tony are probably in the same ball park as far as net worth is concerned which was the point of your I was contesting. Obviously I don't think you are a "lazy" reader in general, because you are quite well read in the subjects that interest you. However you obviously are not sufficiently motivated to read Beloved. I was just trying to convince that it was worth investing the effort to try, but then you got all bent out of shape. Whoa! That was a low blow Brother... low are you trying to insult me

Oh, OK Mel it is just you and I talking (and whoever else wants to join in). You are not researching for a Wall Street Journal article. Still, there are not that many Black authors being published. I would not be so quick to dismiss my anecdotal evidence given the number of people involved -- especially since you don't have any al all... Sure Mel, but how do you think that content becomes popular in the first place? Whose platforms does this popularity exist? Whose algorithms determine which content rises to the top? When you answer those 3 questions you will be begin to understand how gatekeeping works.

OK $24 and $40 are essentially the same given the fact that these site do not have access either woman's financials and are largely guessing. Also why did you not take the information for each women from the same site so that we have a bit more certainty that at least the same methodology was used. In any event, you make it sound like all Tony got were some awards while terry got all the loot which is not exactly supported -- even with the specious "information" you've provided. At the of the day, none of it this justifies why you felt insulted by a simple observation and a stab at an explanation. I already know why you asked whether I read Beloved and why you refuse to respond to my inquiry as to why you did it

Mel, here you go again: you want to tell me about TV and film and female celebrities -- when I'm talking about books, and more specifically as they relate to the invisibility of middle aged Black men. The data that you are requesting for Black books does not exist. My information is based upon 20 years of observing the publishing industry and tracking published authors. As far as advances this is based upon conversation, usually confidential, I've had with authors. They complain about not getting new deals or getting advances so low they they either stopped writing, went to an indie publisher, or just self published. Virtual all of them are making less money. What is your source of information @Mel Hopkins? Actually, I probably have enough data to run a meaningful query of titles published by the big five over time. It won't be perfect, but it will be better than anything that is currently available and an excellent proxy. I'll run the query tomorrow and look over the data for any potential biases. Lets see if the huge explosion of Black books is revealed. Mel for every so called break out author you scrape up, I'll tell you about Big five Black imprint that shut down along with the professional who worked in them. Even if I entertain your distractions, where are all the movies you are talking about? ...Let me think Black Panther, Sorry to Bother You, and Black BlacKkKlansman” you can tell me about the names of the 3 or four others... but with the year 3/4 over it sounds like par-for-the-course to me. Also, how to you define "gate Keeper?" In terms of movies I define it as someone who can green light a major motion pitcure. Are there really that many Black folks in that position today? Or are we still talking about less than a handful? Again, I can't talk to TV the only thing I'm watching now is Bill Maher and John Oliver's shows, Luke Cage, and Fauda. So I'm not going to talk to you about that. Besides I've already explained my thing on the issue So Apple is in the movie business now wow! You realize there will be a glut of movies and there will be some losers -- big ones. Don't think for one second that Black folks won't feel the greatest impact when this bubble explodes. As competition the competition heats up there will be downward pressure on subscriptions prices. The ones with the most cash will win... This will result in gate-keeping steroids!

Del my engagement with you on this topic demonstrates patience if nothing else.

No Mel, book deals by Black people are fewer and those signed are getting smaller advances (at least not compared to the early 2000's). Perhaps I know this because I'm looking at the actual books published and not at social media. Here is a list of up coming books ow many of the really bug books are y talking about am I missing: https://aalbc.com/books/comingsoon.php I can't speak to movies but it is not like there have been an explosion of Black movies lately -- unless I'm missing something. Do tell. As far as TV, the streaming services are competing for content I image that this drive higher demand for any quality content. But I suspect, if history is any indicator, any benefit to Black folks will be short lived and really only benefit a few.

I'm reading Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier -- which I'm sure does not surprise anyone here I just finished reading, Raisins in Milk by David Covin and interesting story based upon his family. I also in the middle of Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston, which is out online book club pick.

...mic drop! Hey @Cynique why didn't you just say that in the first place This are the articles that deserve a big platform IMHO. I'm clipping this one now.

LOL! But how can you joke about this when your progeny will have to live through the nonsense?

Yes @Delano all of Seuss' books have a deeper meaning. This was something that escaped me as a child, and that only I discovered while reading them to my own children as an adult -- the deeper meaning only increased the pleasure of reading his books to my children. This is why the books are so special to me. Again comparing Seuss to Morrison is only an insult to you in your own imagination. Now my comments are chauvinistic too?! Del now you are just talking crazy I'm not going to even try to defend that Is the real problem your contempt for elitists? Is that why you are so hyper-sensitive on this issue? Did an elitist hurt you in the past? Also, don't be so sure the Terry has more money Toni. While I'm sure Terry is no pauper. Toni is very well off perhaps far better off the Terry. Besides, since when did money become your barometer for success? Also, in case you missed me asking the question the last 4 times, why Del did you ask me if I read Beloved?

I prefer Cyniques response to anything Rock might say on pretty much any topic--especially women