Troy

I agree Del. Now image it everyone behaved as Mel described? That would actually change things. America does not have to function the way it was designed. I can, it must evolve. 45 may be the impetus to change that we needed.

{smile} It took me a minute but I'm glad I finally heard you. I read the article Del linked to and I'm working on listening (and breathing deeply). Yes I can use a staff. If I ever get to a point where I have a paid one, you won't be able to talk to me :-) that would also mean the site would wouldn't need me. That is my long term goal.

But does you belief define your afterlife? That would be something wouldn't it?

Mel I need a publicist. All of the fixed expenses required to run the website are much less than what a good publicists costs. If I actually had the money that would be one of the first professionals I would hire. I think a good publicist could craft that sermon you say I need to appeal to the indie published author. Sure, I could sell my car and hire a publicist. So no, a publicist is not that important to me. I'm not willing to bet that hiring one is worth going without a car and risking not not being able to afford another one as a result of their efforts. "Need" is not the best word. Perhaps not willing to make the tradeoff (sacrifices) describes it better. I also need someone to do some of the basic research required for the website. I need someone to handle sales. Most of my transactions are done online. But I could sell much more if I had someone to pitch the services. I'm not even talking about cold calling I'm talking about following up on phone inquiries I can't follow up on. I also need an editor too much of my copy contains typos. Sure I fix them eventually but it would be better if they did not exist in first place. Shoot, I need someone to moderate Thumper's Corner. As you can imagine, I perform all of the tasks above, and get by, so I think I understand what you mean by "need." I've been doing this 20 years--obviously I don't "need" a publicist. I'm understanding you? If that is what you are saying, I agree, but I sure can use use one ;-) Every author needs to promote and advertise. J. K. Rowling advertises for the same reason Coke and McDonald's does. Again NY Times bestselling authors and their publishers use AALBC. If you are trying to reach readers of Black literature I think AALBC.com is better than Facebook. At least I have not seen any evidence that it is--and I'm looking. But Facebook is selling something I can't compete with. Facebook appeals to some authors for the same reason some want to be authors; If that makes sense. I'm going to publish reviews of your book you might not like. You already know from these discussion forums your ideas will be challenged here. Facebook, on the other hand, will make sure everyone wishes you happy birthday and feed you things to reenforce your world view. I'm working with a company that will contract the service of another company that touts its ability to effectively promote content on Facebook. The strategy they intend to use is nothing I have not heard, or tried, before but it will be great to have the additional data points. Of course if they are successful, I'll be the first to promote the company!

@Cynique happy birthday! You have been a gift to so many. I'm grateful for every minute you spend with us. If I make it to Chitown for Third World Press' 50 anniversary maybe we can connect. When you look uy at the solar eclipse on Monday know that I'll be thinking about you :-) Here is to many more birthdays.

Actually if you ask me you have to wonder why Frazier agreed to work with 45 to begin with. I know an argument is to effect policy and make change from within. But I can't think of a instance when that tactic has ever worked for us. Originally, I had no problem with people like Jim Brown and other Black folks going to meet with 45. In hindsight, I see that was a pointless waste of time. Nothing will change for the collective benefit of the United States until 45 is out of office. One has to wonder why "sisters" like Omarosa (45's director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison) hang on? I guess it is just as simple as a perverse need for fame, money, and power--regardless of the cost.

Wow I'm sorry to read that man. I was kinda looking forward to meeting them . When was the last time you were in the states?

Yes Mel you are right authors are indeed at different stages, and aalbc cannot help every author at every stage equally. I disagree with the premise that if an author is not using AALBC then they don't need it. For example, I have never used the services of a publicist. However, that does not mean that I don't need one. I don't use one because I can't afford one. The site suffers as a result. Many authors I encounter, perhaps most, cannot afford to advertise. they have spent all their resources on producing their books and unless the ad results in more sales than the cost of the ad it is difficult for them to justify the expense of advertising--even for branding. To address the issue of cost I've made available a number of very low-cost options (less than $50 bucks), But these are not as effective as the higher-priced ads run over a longer period of time. There are a few things to consider when looking at your traffic from Facebook; if you generally don't have a lot of traffic say less than a couple hundred unique visitors a day a day then Facebook might make up a more significant portion of your traffic. But if you have several thousand visitors a day the same level of traffic from Facebook is of no real consequence. Most of my traffic for example comes from search. The beauty of SEO is that the more you focus on the web site's content the better off you are. I also get more traffic from other sites then I do from Facebook. Now we are talking about hundreds of sites sending a handful of visitors a day. But that beats the hundreds of visitors that come to my website from Facebook each day. Also the fact of the matter is many authors promote Facebook far more actively then they do their own websites and they engage on Facebook daily. Indeed the entire culture promotes Facebook. Today it is not uncommon for me to have to visit Facebook when looking for information about authors--and these are authors with websites! So it's not a matter of authors promoting Facebook, Facebook is winning and search. In many cases Facebook deserves to win because they have better content then the other site does-- seriously! In addition to that many authors use Facebook as their primary web presence. So all of these factors and more combine to make Facebook a much better draw of traffic than any other, website especially for websites with low levels of traffic. In order to address this I have begun promoting a free service which allows authors to register a domain name and direct it to their AALBC profile page. I just got tired of people sending me links to their Facebook page or their Amazon profile page. Last week a couple of authors did this but I also noticed they had domain names registered that were not pointing anywhere so I offered to direct those domains to their aalbc profile, which is obviously better than going to some default Go Daddy page. Both authors immediately took advantage of the offer so I made it an official service. Not only does this result and potentially more traffic to aalbc it gives the author a proper website. And more traffic to aalbc means potentially more traffic to the other profile pages. Do you see what I mean? there's a residual effect that benefits all the authors not just the one. Still if the author does not promote their own domain hosted on aalbc they greatly diminish any potential benefit. As you mentioned different authors are at different stages. A midlist or extremely successful author published by a major house will always fare better then an unknown self-published author, whether they actively engage on Facebook or aalbc. There is a little I can do to change that dynamic. However I do believe that a stronger aalbc would benefit the self-published author more than Facebook, who is about as powerful as you can get. There are a number of New York Times best selling authors who advertise every book they publish on the site. Authors who are that successful advertise on aalbc because they know the platform can let a great number of people know about their books. The authors who don't need to worry about name recognition benefit from the site by using it to alert readers about new books. I argue any best-selling author interested in connecting with their fan base could benefit from aalbc. Again it's not a technical issue it's just one of informing the author of what's available and helping them understand how they can benefit from the services. Now of course a great publicist can do a better job then I, but you already know that story :-)

Oh I get your question now. It is actually in our own self-interest to do more for others. In a world where everyone is free to maximize their own potential, we all benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats that sort of thing. Mel would you shave 500 square feet off your house in exchange for never having to lock the front door? That 500 square feet can go toward someone who is homeless. We can reduce crime by simply ensuring that people's basic needs are met. Think about all of the great discoveries that will never happen because so many in our population cannot afford an education. Many of the most successful people who we think we can emulate did not have to pay for college Colin Powell did not have to pay to go to City College. When we started college we could borrow enough to attend. Today many students can't even borrow enough go. Even if they could the quality of the education has gone down a great deal employers do not value it as much so the graduates fare less well. Having large numbers of uneducated or poorly educated people does not serve our culture or Society.

I received this text message late last night: "Watch yourself outside. Two people I know have had encounters with KKK or neo-Nazis in Manhattan today. And yesterday, someone messaged me about a confederate flag in Brooklyn and there was a news report of one in the East Village today."

Why? Because on a global scale there is far too much suffering, poverty, and violence. Collectively Humanity could do a much better job ensuring the well-being of our species. Closer to home wealth inequality is at an all-time high. Americans can certainly do better than that. We just don't care enough about each other to try very hard. We live in a culture where it is perfectly acceptable to lock up huge portions of the population. It is insane. The icing on the cake however is the election of 45. It says a lot about our country, none of it very good.

Sure capitalism and the profit motive which is designed to reward the most greedy has screwed up all types of things including medicine and science. But that doesn't make science bad; it doesn't make science White; it's just perverted, in much the same way greedy ministers have perverted Christianity. I don't think there is a cure for cancer if there was, Steve Jobs would be alive.

I'll probably go see it this weekend, now that you basically given it the film a rave review. I was going to wait to watch it on TV but In the one horse town I'm in now, you can go to the theater and watch movies all day long.

The total number of voting age Americans who did not vote is much higher than the number who voted for Trump or Clinton. That is the true majority opinion. Whether you believe that all people are capable of greatness or not. The country generates too much wealth for the average people to be living the way they do. Black or white, male or female, we all should be doing a better job of supporting each other.

Well you can see the output of my passion. However, the site itself is actually not the passion in and of itself. The underlying passion is striving for freedom, not just for myself but for anyone who wants it. Cynique, it would seem illogical for all religions to be "true." They certainly all can't be true. Most contradict each other and none of the world's major religions have been around very long--just a fraction of the time that Sapiens have walked the Earth. But I don't think of it that way. Religions are all man made, but most I imagine started out attempting to enlighten people. As you've pondered I believe the divine is within ourselves and there is more than one way to access it. Different religion whether it is islam or buddhism are different ways of accessing it. Del's numerology is another way, thought he may not think of it that way. The God we seek is within each of us, all matter, and all time. Luke 17:21 says, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” Now depending upon the translation you use the words are slightly different than what I've quoted--so different in fact, the the meaning is different. However, this quote taken out of content is probably the main idea of the whole book It just that the versions we have today the leaders preaching the words don't do a very good job helping us discover this...

Yes I was confused. Thanks for the clarification.

Pioneer Kenneth Frazier is a captain of industry and clearly a brilliant man. For a Brother to get as far as he has in corporate America you can be sure that he is indeed the shit. But The folks held up in the Black community are not picked by use,or anye like us. Colin is a celebrity so he will get all of the attention until he is no longer a celebrity. As Cynique implied it was not exactly a tough decision or big sacrifice for Frazier to step down. He won't get any bonus points from me for that action.

I will try to make this event.

@Pioneer1, when I was first exposed to the teachings of the NOI it was through their messenger Farrakhan. This was over 30 years ago and Farrakhan was then a very charismatic figure his message resonated with me because he spoke about the strength of Black people about Black people being powerful. It was a message that was new to me at the time. Sure, when he said Black people are genetically superior, then one considered that most of the players in the NFL and NBA are Black that would seem to make sense. When he speaks about white people being devils and your think about all the mayhem Europeans have caused over the last 500 years across the globe that make sense too. When you are beat down and someone gives you a message of strength pride and hope, that feels great. Louis Farrakhan made me feel great about myself and the potential of Black people. His message was catered to people outside the NOI, once you dig deep it is a different thing. But for some people it works which is great. Which is wonderful. But religions often teach you things that run counter to science. Personally, I draw the line there. Today we know humans are essentially identical genetically. Blacks dominate the NFL and NBA because they work much harder at doing it. White folks dominate tennis and Ice Hockey; that does not mean they are genetically superior does it? The fact that that flood myths predate the Bible and known across cultures was known before the NOI was created. Actually some people believe the flood myths results from the end of the ice ages when glaciers melted flooding many areas to be destroyed by flood, but that is another story... There is no scientific evidence than man is Billions of years old and that apes came from man. Indeed all of what we know rejects that idea. Not all scientists are white. Indeed many will argue the first scientist were Black. In any case, white people do not own science. In my mind saying "You can put your faith in White science if you want to." is the same thing as saying "talking white" or "school is for white people."

@Delano, I'm going to Tampa today. If your parents are interested I'll pay them a visit you email me the particulars if they are into it troy@aalbc.com (No pressure). Sure people in major cities usually come from other places, which may be one reason they are so different than people from non cities. I've met plenty of Floridians in my travels. Unless they are wealthy, most most are not your liberal, secular, vegan, city dweller. They are socially conservative (usually very religious, not excited about homosexuality), eat plenty of pork, and own a gun. Sure these are generalizations but you get my point. Again, people in Hernando county Florida have more in common with people in Mastic, Long Island or Staten Island than I do, and are much more likely to be 45 supporters

@Del, I was thinking about you the other day after listening to a video of someone explaining why people reject science and facts in favor of their own opinions when it comes to things like climate change, evolution, and religion. Unfortunately I can't find the video and it is not in my history. But here is a video you my find interesting, or not. Let me know.

I spend a lot of time in Tampa Florida and New York City. Venture outside the cities in both locations and the people do not strike me as very different. Conservative, 45 supporters, the standard complement of good 'ole boys and a sprinkling of red necks. Cynique that phrase "High Yella" just strikes me as a crazy term. The praise is both simultaneously a compliment and insult. The last time I was in Nashville I visited Fisk. I may have seen your Aunt's home, though much of the housing around the school does not look like it goes back o the 40's from what I recall.

Makes sense. In fact yesterday I started collecting email addressed for a author and publisher email list. However, I already have a lot of insight into the motivation and needs of authors already and provide, or can provide, some of the services that can help. It is not a matter of providing authors with services they need it is getting them to use them. In other words, I can run a survey, collect the data, create and promote the services, but the challenge of getting people to actually use them still remains. Indeed I've done this before. Again, the issues are not technical... Here is an anecdote to illustrate the point: We determined that authors were really interested in a bestseller's list that covers Black books. I got together with then Mosaic Books and Cushcity and created a list called the Power List. The list gathered sales from a variety of sources and was far better than any of the bestsellers list' Essence, Blackboard of anyone else produced from a methodology perspective. Some suggested that I should simply promote my list more. I wanted to have a list that was not tied to a particular sources to I teamed up with others. At any rate, the list was published once a quarter for over two years. The list failed to gain any traction with Black authors, ultimately I killed the list, shut down the website and archived the data on AALBC.com. @CDBurns, used to describe the "white co-sign." I believe the list failed to catch on because it did not get the elusive white co-sign. Today, authors are still describing themselves as "Essence Bestselling" authors and Essence has not produced a bestseller since 2009! When they produced a list it was never more that just that a list so content supporting content or even information about the books themselves. But Essence had the white-cosign (maybe because they are white owned). Side bar: when running a query to figure find out when Essence actually stopped publishing their bestseller's list I stumbled across a website the American Library Associations website describing AALBC.com's list; "The people who are viewing the site must be the people who are interested in this literature, and so it follows that those using the site as a vehicle to make book purchasing decisions are part of the African American book buying market. They are truly 'best sellers.' There is a certain straightforwardness to it." I never saw this quote before but I appreciate it. The Powerlist bestsellers list was mentioned on Publishers Weekly, but not a single mainstream published referenced the list in their marketing materials. Now I would argue that acknowledging the list would have created buzz for their titles, but that is besides the point. Because mainstream publishing did not embrace the list, Black authors did not embrace it. I can't prove it but that is my professional judgement. Just this week I posted a newly created AALBC.com Bestselling Books seal There is no other entity that has published a bestsellers list focused on Black books for as long as AALBC.com has. I have made these list available, continuously, for 20 years. Almost 1,200 books have made the bestseller list during that time. Every book is backed by a detailed description of the book, the authors many are reviewed. Yesterday I emailed my mailing list information on how to use the seal. My hope is that publishers large and small will recognize the achievement of being an AALBC.com bestseller and use it as a tool to help create buzz for their books. Of course this will help raise AALBC.com profile when will then allow me to better promote great Black literature. Win-win right? I will continue producing bestsellers list whether they are acknowledged by mainstream publishing or not. My hope is that Black authors and publisher recognize the lists If we embrace it, readers will, and mainstream publishing will have to recognize it. We must claim our own agency and be the ones who validate our work. Now @Mel Hopkins, I know full well this may be more than you asked for, but often when I write here I'm not just replying to you, but I'm replying to other readers interested in this subject, and even to my future self. If you are in an Amazon bookstore one day and see this seal on a book, you know it took decades and a lot of work to make that happen.

Most people, even racists, view and treat celebrities as if they are superior to other humans. But this of course has nothing to do with the person. If I'm a white racist and I don't happen to know you are a celebrity you are just another nigger to me... In any event, this is simply not enough to make a red neck change his thinking about Black folks in general -- unless it was possible to make every Black person a celebrity.