Troy

Our bestselling books for Sept and Oct 2016

I did run a quick search and most of this stuff is on social media. Deplorable Scott is a Gay person for Trump. The comments on this video, featuring Michael The BlackMan America, are just as insane as you might think. This whole election and everything associated with it is insane.

Well regardless of the election's outcome, the denizens of Chicagoland have a World Series win. I'd image, for many of them, that is more important than the outcome of the election. What would a Trump or Clinton presidency be without Cynique's observations? With the election less than a week away, voter intimidation is underway. The 100-year-old church burned is in Mississippi. Based upon the result of early voting it appears this form of intimidation is unnecessary, as Black voters are, understandably, not coming out at the same rate that they did for Obama. Regardless of the outcome of the election, the country has made plain how much plain how deeply troubled it is. Neither trump or Hillary is about to heal these wounds. I can only hope they don't make thing even worse.

No, I'm afraid nothing is what it seems. The author's wide grin, the Amazon #1 ratings, it is all designed to get us to consume. This is a very different thing than simply turning us on to a good book. The former is motivated by profit the later sharing useful information. The profit motive adversely perverts everything. There is nothing wrong with making money, but when it becomes the only goal things get twisted. This is the reason Amazon is the only place the majority of us buy and learn about books, but importantly it is the reason why we don't even care.

Found on Instagram. Now this is what I'm talking about! Wahida Clark gets it!

Yeah, I can't get bend out of shape about the historical inaccuracies of a movie that does not bill itself as a documentary. The problem is that many people are educated by films designed to entertain rather than educate, and they end up being misinformed. But I imagine some readers will pick up a book to learn more about the real Nat Turner.

I almost bought the book, Love Warrior, before I realized that I have no interest in these types of books :-) The video is from a page on Amazon dedicated to this book The page was well designed and I took notes. While I don't have access to an Orpah like pitch person, I'm not sure it matter very much any more. When Oprah's book club was at its peak, the selection for her book club was an eagerly anticipated event followed by a boatload of media attention. Today, not so much attention is paid the selection. In fact, I discovered this by accident: Another website was interested in me replacing the widget on their website, with an AALBC.com widget. Their widget showed an ad for the Oprah book (Actually, the ad did its job because I learned about the book, but in the past, I would have discovered the book by through free media coverage). Check out how wide the author's grin is. It was plastered on her face for a full 30 seconds. I have to believe they told her to do that because it is such a big sustained smile it looks unnatural. The book is a #1 Amazon bestseller, but those rankings have become so watered down it has become meaningless to me (though I appreciate, a regular visitor to the web doesn't care). The book is #1 in the Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Marriage & Family category. In the old days, the book would have been #1 in across all book. Right now it is #74, not too shabby but not nearly the same impact as in previous years. Perhaps mainstream media is tied up covering the elections and the platforms covering books have simply been crowded out by everything else.

OBAMA’S LEGACY What He Accomplished By Michael I. Days “Now, as a nation, we don't promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.” -Barack H. Obama, 44th President, United States On Friday, January 20th, as his historic presidency comes to a close, the Commander-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama, will retire as the 44th President of the United States of America. OBAMA’S LEGACY by Michael I. Days, Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, (Center Street, September 13, 2016, ISBN: 9781455596621) offers an objective and comprehensive overview of Barack Obama’s eight years in office. OBAMA’S LEGACY is a compelling summary of the President’s many achievements in education, defense, justice, labor, homeland security, agriculture and stimulating the United States’ economy. Obama’s credits include: · The longest continuous period of job growth in U.S. history · A two-thirds reduction in the federal budget deficit · Rebounding of the stock market to record highs following the record lows of the recession under his predecessor · Implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act · Overseeing the expansion of America’s LGBT rights While enduring unprecedented attacks, open defiance and racially charged commentary from political colleagues as well as some in the media, President Obama’s legacy is both transformative and historic. Through it all, the President who campaigned on a slogan of 'Yes, We Can!' has persevered in his determination to make a difference and left an indelible mark on American politics and the world. OBAMA’S LEGACY is an important book and an invaluable record of the Obama presidency. MICHAEL I. DAYS is editor of the Philadelphia Daily News. Under his leadership, the Daily News has won dozens of national, state, and local awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2010. He sits on the national board of the Associated Press Media Editors and is the former editor of its quarterly magazine, APME NEWS. Days has been a frequent guest and commentator on radio and television in the Philadelphia market and is a sought-after speaker, panelist, and moderator in many venues. OBAMA’S LEGACY Michael I. Days ISBN: 9781455596621 $27.00 Hardcover, 289 pages

Celebrity, wealth and being a white man has its privileges. As far as this site being cherished by the Black media, imagine that. Ultimately as the site continues to grow, and improve, it will be kinda hard to ignore

Jeff Kinney is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and six-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner for Favorite Book. The 11th book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down, will release on November 1, 2016. He lives with his wife and two sons in Plainville, Massachusetts, where he owns a general interest bookstore, An Unlikely Story, which he describes in the video below. In the video, Jeff expresses surprise that more writers don't open bookstores. I could not help but think about how nice it must be nice to be so wealthy that you can wonder about something like that and not have a clue about the answer... But he is opening a bookstore and I wish him all the best.

Beatty went on to win the Man Booker Prize! He is the first American to win this award.

Good2go Publishing – Over 1 Million Books Sold! The publisher is a long time supporter of AALBC.com. Since I've started the website's upgrade and am now able to quickly incorporate large amounts, of information here. The depth of Ray Brown's accomplishments came into light, and I learned he has sold over million copies of his books, across 57 titles. Do I did not ask for invoices from distributors, or otherwise vet the statement, but I believe him, which would seem reasonable given the tendency of indie publishers to inflate sales figures over time, but given his consistency of performance over time in the market place I believe the stat. Selling a million books is a tremendous accomplishment. Congratulations to Good2Go!

Thanks. I'm sure the writers will appreciate it the sharing too @CDBurns. Tony Williams is a pretty deep Brother. He is more uniquely committed to other Black writers and supporters of literature. His Blog is a treasure trove. It reminds me of the type of blogs we have lost due to the changes in the nature of the web over that last decade. It is interesting he used the word "soldier-on;" this is precisely what you have to do in the current environment. Tony is a soldier. If it were not for Publishers Weekly there would probably be no mainstream coverage of the Black book ecosystem.

I updated the link above but here is a direct link: http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2013/07/28/5-things-writers-must-do/ Oh I forgot to mention the biggest benefit is that any sales generated on my affiliate links count toward my bestsellers list--books on the list gets tons of free promotion if makes the list. The bestsellers list are the most popular pages on the website

We just have cameras and the WWW to more easily record and spread the word about these crimes today.

Hey man here is a better link you can use to send people to Amazon: http://amzn.to/2eE5cGA It is better because it has my affiliate code applied, meaning I'll earn commissions on the sale. Read this article for more insight: "5 Things Writers Must Do To Survive Online" I added your book to the site: https://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php?isbn13=9780692756584 I'd forgotten that you'd previously shared the book's info on the website. I wish I thought about it when I first posted about attractive covers. I just added your book to my post. Yes I see you ebook is still #1 in three categories: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Biographical #1 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Biographical ver all it would be interesting to know how many different categories Amazon ranks books in. It could be hundreds I suppose

Sure there are some bad people that deserve to be imprisoned, but you have to appreciate that many of the those locked up are black people locked up low level drug offenses, or buried under the jail before of harsh mandatory sentencing. Your know the U.S. prison population sky rocketed in the 80's all those were not the types of violent offenders you are talking about. Indeed far more than you appreciate were completely innocent. No slavery is nothing new. I think you try to catch 13th. I, for example, learned about ALEC, which explains exactly how "da man" is keeping us down.

It will be interesting to see what Dylan does. Post a link or information about your #1 bestselling book.

Well Cynique, I'm talking about Walmart profiting off the free labor of incarcerated inmates, i.e. slavery. But you are trying to make the an arguement about murderers. Still, no matter how you want to twist it, Walmart should should not be making money off the free labor of locked up people. The only encourages Walmart to pay off politicians to corrupt the system in order to enhance their maximize their revenue. Low wage jobs and cheap products do not make up for this evil.. I don't care if it was Charles Manson doing the work. This is not capitalism, but a perversion of it. Meanwhile, no one is talking about all the mom and pop businesses, that Walmart has put out of business. The mom and pop business are forced to pay a minimum wage while Walmart can use slaves. But hey this is America and we only know how to grow our economy through slave labor...

I read the quote below on Facebook today. I know Paul and heard this story before. But today when I read this story, I thought, a post I made recently made suggesting that Walter Mosley does not support AALBC.com. Upon reflection I was really wrong about that. “Walter Mosley who was probably traveling in Woodson’s spirit when he hooked me up to publish his Gone Fishin’ in 1996. Walter was a best selling author even then. he wanted to make sure that some Black publisher would benefit from his wealth and fame. he made sure that I was in full control and learned the ropes of negotiating 6 and 7 figure deals. with that experience he made it possible for me to serve as Ta-nehisi’s advisor and mentor today, that is territory aside from being his father. Walter did what Woodson visioned. I know Black Classic Press and our readers are forever grateful. Broke as hell I went with into a nest of white publishers that wanted to control that book and me. Walter was a lion. He basically told them to fuck off, keep their money because they were not going to control the book or my publishing. and then he went further, I joke with him about this today, he told them that if he and i had to stand on street corners with tin cups begging in our community for the money to publish we would. Dude was like crazy but on it. short story is we didn't have to an’ the book went on to be one his best sellers.”—W. Paul Coates, Publisher Black Classic Press Often I talk about the "Black Book Ecosystem," one of the most important aspects of this ecosystem is that you derive benefits even if those benefits were not provided directly to you. Walter could have easily sold the book to WW Norton, but he went out of his way to sell it to Black Classic Press (BCP). Indeed Walter may have helped keep BCP in business. BCP supports many other Black business and authors, including AALBC.com. If BCP did not exist or was substantially weaker than it is today, the entire Black book ecosystem would be weaker. Walter's one book deal has positively impacted the Black Book System in more ways than I can possibly envision. I would like to see this happen more frequently. I have a feeling it will. May we all will travel in the spirit of Carter G. Woodson In the video below Walter relates this story.

Yesterday two articles, in which I was interviewed, on the subject of independent bookstores were published. I was also interviewed for another article which appeared in Publishers Weekly earlier in the year that I completely forgot about. It appears there is renewed interest in the plight of indie bookstores. When I first noticed the trend I was alarmed by the apparent lack of concern by the media. I'm not talking about mainstream media, because I know they don't care, but by the lack of concern by our own media. This lack of coverage by our own media, quickly learned was due to the problems they depth and seriousness of the challenges they faced themselves. Of course I'm happy whenever someone wants to help shed light on the challenges indie booksellers face. Black-Owned Bookstores Soldier-On in the Fight to Survive and Thrive by Tony Williams, Caribbean Book Blog (October 20, 2016) Johnson also believes it is necessary for all the stakeholders to have a clear and comprehensive picture of the ‘Black Book Ecosystem’ so that they can have a more informed understanding of the various components and interact better with each other. To this end, the AALBC has meticulously compiled a treasure trove of data, including lists of Black-owned web-based and brick-and-mortar bookstores, Black-owned newspapers and websites and a host of other related information, all of which is freely accessible on the AALBC website. AALBC is also a widely recognized and avid promoter of authors, book and film reviews, book recommendations, event information, discussion forums, writer resources, interviews, articles and videos. Black-owned indie bookstores look forward to the next chapter by Kelsey McKinney, Fusion (October 20, 2016) “There was a larger conversation about books 10 years ago than there is today,” Troy Johnson, the founder and president of AALBC, told me. “Ten years ago, this decline [in the number of black-owned bookstores] would have been big news.” A Glimmer of Hope for Black-Owned Bookstores by By Judith Rosen, Publisher Weekly (Feb 19, 2016) Over the past five years, the American Booksellers Association has witnessed a resurgence in independent bookselling, yet the number of bookstores owned by African-Americans has continued to decline. Between 2002 and 2012, two-thirds of black-owned bookstores closed, according to statistics compiled by Troy Johnson, founder of the African-American Literature Book Club (AALBC). Of the roughly 400 stores that remained, more than half closed in 2013 and 2014. The closings continued in 2015, leaving only 67 black-owned bookstores at the end of January 2016. Much of what motivates me to support independent bookstores is the knowledge of what we have lost and the realization is that there are fewer platforms with the desire to explain what is happening and why it is important. This is why articles like these are important and should circulated widely.

Recently I came across two really attractive book covers. Of course perceived attractiveness is purely subjective, but I think most folks will find images on these covers attractive. Of course we can argue about the relative merits of each cover regarding how well they relate to, or convey, the book's contents. In an online world we could also have to consider how well each cover looks when it is scaled down to thumbnail size. But right now I'm just talking about the visual appeal of the books in isolation, independent of the book's contents. Do they pique your interest? Do you want to know what each book is about? The book on the left is collection of poetry by Laini Mataka, who I recently called a powerful poet. The book in the middle is a historical romance novel by Cerece Rennie Murphy who I just praised for being supportive of AALBC.com. The book on the right by Terrance Coffey is an award winning novel by a new participant on these forums. Does knowing what each of these books are about make a difference? Are they more or less appealing? Do book covers matter?

Well keep us posted!

In a time when an increasing number of authors are resorting to Facebook, or Amazon, as their primary web platform, it is refreshing to see an author establish their own web presence. @Cerece Rennie Murphy is one prime example. Cerece recently took advantage of our Fall Book Special. I'm not just the type to place an ad and forget about it. I actually check out the author's work and even provide unsolicited suggestions from time to time. From my perspective it is a long term relationship not merely an anonymous financial transaction... but I digress. After checking out Cerece's website, watching a couple of videos in her "For Authors" section, I came across her book store. Which included logos and links to IndieBound*, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Booksamillion. I followed each of the links and realized that I give Cerece a much better treatment of of her work than all of those websites. So I asked her to add AALBC.com logo to the page--which she did in a matter of hours (screenshot below). I know for authors like @CDBurns, and @Mel Hopkins, this type of activity is a no-brainer. But in practice, it really isn't. This is why I'm taking the time to point out what Cerece did in the hope other authors will follow her lead and do the same thing, not just for AALBC.com, but for the independent booksellers of their choice. Cerece is not the first author I asked to do this, but she is the first I asked in quite some time. One of the reasons I stopped asking is that most authors don't manage their own websites so the requests often went no where. But a more alarming reaction I would get is that the author did not want to risk alienating other indie booksellers by recognizing any individual bookseller single "over" another. I always found that last response exasperating because those very same authors would prominently display Amazon's logo while excluding all other Black indie booksellers. It is absolutely not preferable to ignore all the other platforms who have committed their very livelihoods to selling the author's work. But if you visit any author's site most will link to Amazon and most will not link to (support) an indie bookseller. Now if you ask any author if indie booksellers, online and brick and mortar, are important they will, universally, say "yes." It is important that authors appreciate that indie booksellers, particularly the Black owned ones, can benefit a great deal more than Amazon by a simple link on an author's. Of course increased support will benefit the authors themselves as the number of platforms available to promote, critically reviews, and sell their books grow in numbers and strength. *Indiebound represents independent book sellers, but Black owned stores are not represented well. Just a quick query of Manhattan shows a bunch of stores that have closed and does not include the last remaining Black owned bookstore in Manhattan Sisters Uptown.

I watched 13th last night. It was well done and depressing. Cynique, the argument you used is exactly the same one used by people like Bill Clinton who put these horrible laws in place and the right wing who want to expand them further. Of course the argument is flawed because it completely ignores the overwhelming differences in the way the criminal justice system treats Black people. "Poor innocent Black people are treated worse than guilty rich white people." The biggest difference between inmates pressing license plates for the state and making products for Walmart, is that Walmart is a for profit entity. Walmart works with other corporation to literally craft legislation to increase their profits in everything from the prisons themselves to the exploitation of the slave labor the inmate provide. I know it is hard to see past the marketing hype and propaganda to see Walmart for the criminals they are. I also appreciate the terms I'm using like "slavery" and "criminal" might seen like exaggerations, but they truly are more indicative of the behavior of these corporations. Again, it probably seems like hyperbole because we are not accustomed to the truth being told in plain terms. But being clear is the only way "widespread outrage" will occur and change will happen. There are signs of hope, because of film like 13th more people are being made aware of what is actually going on.