Troy

Rhonda, I'm afraid there simply are not enough people who think like you. CBC may be saved, but unless something changes in our collective consciousness the remaining CBCs across the country will fold. 20 Years ago NYC had several Black owned book stores. Now Black books are sold in the streets of NYC (and even that business has contracted in recent years). So it is the street or Amazon.

Del, I agree 100% on the lets stop doing the stuff we don't need--I don't even care how we arrive at the conclusion it that is the outcome. I do know almost every major city I visited recently, Tampa, Sacremanto, Altanta, DMV, New York, Charlotte is buried in traffic. In places like Tampa, everyone drives humongous vehicles all by themselves. If we changed our collective behavior I think the population would not be much of a factor.

No it is not your imagination. Facebook actually announced that they have eliminated organic reach for brands. While I was able to use the coupon. I still can not access the AALBC.com Facebook page. This morning I tried to open to post a photo about the summer but advertisement special and I simply could not do it... I suspect the may have put my content on ice, so to speak, since I have not used it in so long to save resources for pages that are accessed more frequently. I can't even get angry about this problem, because I don't even care...

Community Book Center, cultural hub of black community, fighting to stay open BY KATY RECKDAHL | Special to The New Orleans Advocate, June 10, 2017 This article is worth reading because it speaks to the fight many are activity engaged in to serve our communities from a cultural perspective. If we all a profit driven corporations from outside our community do this on our behalf we are lost as a people and will suffer more than we already do. This article really raises the question I asked in another post about the viability of a book store focused on Black books; are they desired by enough people in the Black community to make it a available business? The photo below, of the book store's owner Vera Warren_Williams, was taken by Advocate Staff photographer Scott Threlkeld.

It is also worth mentioning that I also emailed this question to every bookseller, online and offline, for whom I have contact information (over 100 people). I'd hoped to get some feedback from them, but I guess I have to post this on Facebook to get a response. Maybe that last bit was a little snide, but that is what it feels like lately... Still, I refuse to post what I wrote on Facebook to get a reaction. We simply can not achieve Black unity and empowerment on the platforms of those who oppress us. Mel, There was much more Blogging going on 10 years ago. The challenges are numerous but the biggest one is acquiring the engagement to make effort required to run a Blog worth it. It is difficult to justify the time and energy if no one reads the blog or buys the books recommended.... But, it would be helpful to hear from a bookseller, who operates a physical store, what they think of your idea, which seems like perfectly sound advice. However please define for our lurking readers what you mean by, "news hook."

Deadline for submissions to the 2017 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence is August 15, 2017 The Gaines Award honors rising African-American Fiction authors in recognition of Louisiana native Ernest Gaines’ extraordinary contribution to the literary world. Submission may be novels or short-story collections published in 2017, as well as Galleys for 2017 publications. Submissions will be judged by a 5-judge national literary panel. The winner, to be announced in November, will receive the $10,000 award at a ceremony in January sponsored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. This event honors work honors both the winning author and Mr. Gaines. Visit www.ernestjgainesaward.org for information on criteria, entrance forms, previous winners and more.

?!! Del you are incorrigible. I wrote, "Dude I know that math. I don't have to prove it to you, because I know what I wrote is correct." You wrote in reaction, "You are avoiding doing the calculation because you don't know how..." This is the definition of calling me a liar. This is not hyperbole. It is a simple statement of fact. I might even be offended it I thought you were truly malicious with ill intent. You are trying really hard not to understand my simple analogy and are introducing unnecessary complexity, for reasons that escape me.. Del the odds of flipping a coin 100 times and getting 75 heads is possible, but the probability is not 75%, This is intuitively obvious to a high school student, so understanding how to calculate the probability was both unnecessary and irrelevant to understanding the point I was making. I can't believe you held onto that little tidbit for so many years. At the end of the day I believe man-made climate change is something we need to do something about today. All you efforts to disparage my reasoning ability, intellect, and honesty are not going to change this. Again we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Hi @Pioneer1, thanks for the heads up about Truth Book Store. They are in my database: https://aalbc.com/bookstores/store.php?store_name=The Truth Bookstore but I've never visited the store. Do you know what year the store closed? During the peak there were perhaps several hundred independently owned Black book stores. Harlem had several, now we have none,.the closest one is Sister's Uptown and many consider it outside of harlem. Maybe Black people simply do not value indie Black-owned bookstores--at least now enough for them to survive as viable business, as I discussed here. Despite being named Literary Activist of the Year, I'm not getting rich over here. The DMV (DC, MD, VA) had had a very popular and successful chain of Black owned bookstores called Karibu. Authors Carl Weber owned a chain of stores too. , Neither are in operation today. Again it is not clear to me, based upon our collective behavior, that Black people actually want a Black owned bookstore--let alone a chain. White folks can go to any obscure little town and find an indie bookseller, sure they will have Colin Whitehead's book and a few others, but that is about it. We have to go to Amazon to get everything else...

My Facebook coupon popped up again today and performance was better this morning and I was able to use it. Facebook is slick; the coupon was for $10, but they prepopulated the ad with $11. It was not worth the effort to figure out how to remove the extra dollar. If the ad is approved I'll let you know how it performs. The image was posted on my Business page (where I was prompted to use the coupon) where is got 8 Likes, no shares, and no comments. The image was also posted on my personal page where is got 94 likes, 4 shares, and 14 comments. The photo was posted on the 23rd of June and since then and 22 people have clicked on the link. Those visitors looked at an average of 4 pages on their visits. Which is a bit higher that the site wide average for the same period. Almost all of those visitors were using a mobile device (your site must be optimized for mobile). I suspect all of the visitors came from the posting on the personal page.

You are being dense because the point was was making was completely lost onyou. and the fact that I made up and example was perfectly fine. So now you are are calling me a liar. Does that too make you feel good about yourself? It does not phase me. I've been called worse by better Did you forget I have the entire freaking Internet at my disposal? Your reasoning escapes me but puts you in great company Del, including the likes of "45." Carry on Bruh...

Yeah I see the author is based in the Caribbean, but the word is so infrequently used in that context I'm surprised the Amsterdam news ran it. Maybe it is a new trend.

Del I believe you are being deliberately dense. That is why the numbers I selected and my explanation of them make no sense to you. My analogy would be obvious to anyone because the math required to understand it trivial. Continue trying to cloak and obfuscate your nonexistent arguments under the guise of superior knowledge of numbers. I'm sure you've helped enlighten many others to become climate change deniersers using that tactic.

Dude I know that math. I don't have to prove it to you, because I know what I wrote is correct. YOU dredged some comment I made 4 years ago to demonstrate that I don't understand the probability of a coin toss. You've failed to show what wrote was wrong and now you are probing the technical minutiae and grasping for straws It is a desperation move and entirely unnecessary. I made an analogy and it valid as it stands. Sure I made up the numbers I could have as just as easily said just because you flip a coin once and it lands on heads does not mean that it will always land on heads. But the would be obvious. Sometime we observe a high frequency of some event and assume that is the way it always is. I chose 75 because it may be less obvious to some. Here is my take on what you are doing @Delano: Lets say you are from Ecuador where the average temperature does not change very much over the course of the year. You go to Chicago for the first time and spend Dec, Jan and Feb there. You diligently take the temperature every day and conclude that is the weather is the same all year round confident because you sampled a full 25% of the year's weather. The reasons why this is wrong are obvious to everyone except to you, You have no concept of how the northern hemispheres get more daylight during the summer months. All you have is your dataset and a prodigious knowledge of statistics. You draw comfort and even a perverse satisfaction in knowing something noone else can comprehend. Not only is everyone less critical, and unable to think for themselves, they are arrogant in this position--not even showing the slightest interest discussing your data. When they try to explain why the temperatures vary much more over the course of a year in Chicago than they do in Ecuador, you ask them to prove it why this happens, they say they can't they believe the scientists. You say to yourself, "What naive fools these mortal are..." What is your underlying motivation? Are you trying to prove you are smarter, therefore better qualified to draw a better conclusion regarding climate change?

Dude, you brought up something from 4 years ago that you said I was wrong about. I did not recall the incident. You found the what I wrote and shared it. I read it did not see anything incorrect. I asked you again to tell me what is wrong and you wanna play 20 questions. Since you pulled the quote out of context I don't know what point I was trying to make. I can only divine from you around about way of answering my questions that you are suggesting that the implication behind this statement is false; "...if you flipped a coin 100 times and got heads 75 times it would be false for you to say there is a 75% chance of getting heads on a coin toss." I can only presume the point I was making is that if observe something you can not draw conclusions about the general case. You or Pioneer were probably referencing some personal anecdote and extending it to the general population, which is flawed logic but a natural thing for people to do. Again, what did I write that was wrong?

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Russia's impact on our election is not Obama's fault; Russia is to blame. Now we can argue about what an appropriate response should have been, but we both know virtually anything Obama would have done would have been twisted by the other party and the Trump campaign, or thwarted by the Republican House and Senate.

Del, stop it. Explain the problem with the statement. Is the probability of getting a head on a coin toss 75%. Yes or No?

Thanks for the article Mel. I need to renew my subscription to the Amsertdamn News, I let it lapse... Did the use of the word "Afro" strike you? I guess they used it in place of "Black." I read a lot of Black articles and I have not seen the use of terms "Afro-owned," or "Afro Family" used this way--even in the Amsertdamn News, they must have recently adopted a new style. I just did a search for "Afro Family" and all the results I looked at dealt with Afro in terms of the hair style, there were 86 (ignoring similar results) for "Afro-owned." and the ones I looked at used the work in a different context.

Congrats on you win Elva, I'm sure you deserve all the credit If you decide to get the seal; please send me the revised book cover and I'll update your book's page.

What was the problem with the statement besides the somewhat awkward wording? Was it the mouse/horse tail analogy or the 75% chance of getting heads As far as the second statement, I have nothing to add, for it is clear. I'm not sure what "Wow" means. The reason for your denial of climate change deserves the "Wow."

Del I could spend 80 hours a week doing it. But I'd rather watch the trees sway in the wind. Dude quoting expects is an informed opinion. That is how knowledge is usually acquired, someone who knows more than you tells you something you did not already know or explains something you don't not understand. I don't reject the information of experts. If you tell me something about Astrology and I use that information relate to formulate an idea to someone else that is an informed opinion. Most of us do not create new information, not really. Del I did not need your help in the lab, because I was able to learned WordPerfect, Lotus, and Access on my own. In fact, I performed the exact same job as you my 2nd semester. (What ever happened to that petite sista that worked with you?) I began to sell PC shortly thereafter. It is interesting you remember something I mentioned about probability from years ago, that you perceived to be wrong. I wish I knew what you were talking about--I'd be willing to bet I was not "wrong" But it is also interesting I remember your apparent confusion about sampling rates but your unwillingness to accept information from an engineer like myself. Funny that we both remember things like that. That must mean something.

Black-owned airline (is it in Africa?), please share the link here too! If you organize it Mel, I'll be happy to promote it and to go in with you 50-50% We can discuss the details it that sound interesting to you. I'm sure you have as many good ideas as I do

Harry, you got me thinking about Black Unity and the apparent lack of support for Black booksellers in the age of Amazon. Do you think people would make any sacrifices to support a Black Bookseller? Even the Brother who wrote this book is almost completely dependent upon Amazon to sell his book online... it is an impossible quandary.

A recent post about a book on Black Unity prompted this question. Here is the setup for the question: One of the most significant changes I've made to AALBC.com is that I've designed the site so that I can send readers to any site to purchase a book. Right now, by default, I send readers to Abe Books, Amazon, Books-A-Million, BarensandNoble.com, and Indiebound (a consortium of independent booksellers). I even provide a link to one's local library. I also direct readers other Black owned booksellers; right now, for example, MahoganyBooks is running a sale on Kimberla Lawson Roby's new book, Sin of a Woman. For some publishers, I send readers to the publisher's website. Check out any of "Buy" links for the books published by Black Classic Press, or Just Us Books. Of course, it should be obvious by now that I can also sell books directly. Well, the way it would work is that I would collect payment and have the book shipped directly from the distributor. The problem is that people only buy from Amazon. Sure, some people buy from B&N link but the numbers of B&N sales are so small--I don't even factor those sales into my bestsellers list. and no one by from the other retailers I link to...not a single person ever. Now if you thnk this is only because Amazon has the best prices--think again. Amazon does not aways offer best prices (always price shop). I've offered a popular book for sale directly, that was autographed and priced LOWER than Amazon. Amazon did not have autographed copied and I beat them on price., but still people still bought the books from Amazon! This was before Amazon offered their Prime service, so getting sales away from Amazon is today is exceedingly difficult. The result is that Black owned booksellers, both online and in physical world must fight against Amazon's dominance. I'm afraid we are losing the battle. But it is not a battle we can wage alone. Readers must join us in the fight. I argue it is a fight we must wage because what we have gained in terms of low prices and same day shipping does not make up for what we will lose. Keep in mind, there is also no guarantee that Amazon will continue selling books at a loss once all of their competition has been eliminated or marginalized into obscurity. What is the benefit of an Indie bookseller? The personalized service, curated selection, and passion for books offered by independent booksellers simply can‘t be replicated by an algorithm. Someone who knows you, understands your culture, maybe even your financial position is not available at Amazon.com. I've actually sold books to people on credit--told to send me the money when they got it, because I knew the book I was giving them was something they needed. I took their word they would pay me. Of course, I've given away countless number books too--thought I probably should be selling more of these. I visit books store all over the country. As a bookseller, I'm always amazed to discover a writer or book I was previously unfamiliar with. These books are simply undiscoverable on Amazon, their algorithms don't work that way. Amazon is designed to extract as much money from you as possible. In business school well called that "maximizing shareholder wealth." Independent booksellers are mission driven and have a passion for what they do. Mine is celebrating Black culture. We are also keenly interested in helping you to be as entertained, enriched, and informed from the books we recommend. As a bookseller, my biggest joy is not how much money I make off the reader, but hearing from them how much they enjoyed a book I turned them on to. Readers typically value this service, but I don't they truly appreciate how close we are to losing it Today we have far fewer bookstores and websites than we did 10 years ago. Many of the ones that remain are struggling. Even AALBC.com is in a constant state of fighting for survival. As a result, my ability to sell books and maintain this website is greatly constrained. Obviously, the services provided by indie booksellers don‘t come without a cost. But unlike Amazon, we are not bolstered by Wall Street investors who don't mind us selling books at a loss to gain market share. We must actually generate a profit from the sale of books, collect sales taxes, and do all the other thing you'd expect business to do. It is not unrealistic to envision a time, in the near future, that Amazon will be the only place to buy a book written by a Black person. We already know B&N shelves are not overflowing with books written by Black writers. Many people simply do live near a Black bookstore (there are less than 80 Black owned bookstores in the US). If Amazon owns Black book sales we will not be exposed to the best books; We'll be exposed to the books that make the most money for Amazon. Perhaps it will be the books that Amazon published and are promoting, or maybe it is the book with the largest marking budget. If we allow Amazon to be the only place we can buy a Black book, we will be severely underserved, if not harmed culturally. We simply can not allow a fantastically wealthy and powerful corporation, which is solely motived by money, to control our stories, our history, our very culture. Question: If you truly value the services provided by indie booksellers Are you willing to support us by paying the full retail price, traveling to our stores, or waiting a few days it to have it delivered?

Mel I too noticed that $10 coupon today, but I could not take advantage of it either, by the time I sorted things out it never returned. I agree with you on the level of personal page engagement versus the business side. I noticed that many of my friends using Facebook just to share photos get much more engagement that I do on my business page--and I have well over 20K fans on my business page. Facebook has locked down organic reach on the business side. Google has made it much easier to track engagement from other sites like Facebook with their Tag Manager service. I'm kicking myself for not implementing this years ago, because it is so my better that using the old Google Analytics code. but that is a subject for another post. I don;t honestly believe that Facebook was ever the advertising juggernaut the claimed to be. Now I know they had a lot of revenue, but it is hard to tell, beyond my own site, how effective they were for brands relative to other advertising platforms. I never heard of txt.fyi before now cute That was a crazy story and speaks to the shiestiness of Facebook--image serving ads to dead pages.