Troy

The American Booksellers Association Chimes in; ABFE Free Speech Report, vol. 2, no. 1, January 2016 ABA Extremely Concerned About Hong Kong Booksellers The American Booksellers Association issued a statement on January 7 expressing “extreme concern” over the fate of five employees of a Hong Kong publisher and its bookstore who have apparently been taken into custody by Chinese authorities and brought to the Chinese mainland. The men are employees of Mighty Current, which is well-known for publishing books critical of the Chinese government. “If it is true that these men have been kidnapped, the Chinese have grossly violated the pledge they made to maintain freedom of the press when they took over Hong Kong in 1997,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. The ABA statement calls on the Chinese government to explain the disappearance of the booksellers and to release them immediately if it is holding them. It also urges the United States government to investigate the case. The ABA was joined by the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, the European & International Booksellers Federation, and PEN American Center in issuing the statement. Who will speak up for and defend Black book sellers in America? I'm growing tired trying... admittedly I'm in a bad mood this morning.

From the Economist “…the alleged abduction since October of five Hong Kong residents by the Chinese authorities has cast a dark shadow. Three vanished in mainland China and one in Thailand. The disappearance on December 30th of the fifth man, Lee Bo, has caused particular alarm. He appears to have been snatched from Hong Kong itself and spirited across the border to the mainland, without his travel documents or any record of his leaving. His fate remains unknown. Like the other four, he was associated with a publisher and bookshop specialising in one of Hong Kong’s more esoteric niche businesses: scurrilous tales of intrigue, infighting, corruption and sex among China’s Communist leaders. A forthcoming title purports to uncover the love life of President Xi Jinping. Many have assumed that the Communist Party’s displeasure with the firm’s output explains the mysterious disappearances. China has not denied it.” Can you image bookseller being abducted in the U.S. for selling books critical of Obama. China already filters the web, all in an attempt to control what get out through censorship. China could be less thuggish, and become more sophisticated, by taking a page from America's playbook: Simply create an environment where booksellers can't make it, and have corporations create filter bubbles to control who and what is heard. This might sound like a conspiracy theory, until you look around and see who controls the Black voice in the media, and when you consider how few, and the condition of, Black bookstores in America.

The $1 per day is excellent, but bang for buck, the large book cover is even better. Here’s why: The book cover image is very large. I have not seen another website that displays book cover images so big—no one, who visits AALBC.com, can miss seeing these large book covers. The images appears on virtually every single AALBC.com webpage. Which means the book covers will be seen far more frequently that the $1 per day advertisements, which only appear on a few pages. Click through ratios of 1% or more are typical. 1% is a very high click through ratio, and means 1 out of every 100 visitors who sees the large book cover will click it. The large book cover ads will also be displayed on our development site (aalbc.org) which is already getting 10% of AALBC.com's traffic. I appreciate more budget conscious advertisers may balk, at least initially, at the $249 price point, which explains the popularity of the $1 per day advertisements. So while this ad is a bit more that $7 per day, you ad will be seen at least 100 times more frequently. The Large Book Cover as is simply a more effective ad type, provided you have an respectable looking book cover. In fact, for this reason, the Large Book Cover will be the primary ad type I will focus on the new version of AALBC.com. How to Think About the Large Book Cover Advertisement (AALBC.com ad placment in general) The Large Book Cover ad is analogous to a book being prominently displayed in a book store’s window, table or shelf (the type of placement for which publishers compensate the bookseller). If the cover is poorly done, or describes an uninteresting subject, readers browsing in the store will simply pass that book for a more visually appealing and interesting looking one. People do judge, books by their covers. Now if a potential reader clicks the book cover, the landing page (the web page the reader is sent to when they click a the book’s cover) is also very important. Will it turn the reader off or peak their interest? Will the read be assaulted by the author’s favorite music as soon as the page is loaded or will they be provided with an compelling book synopsis, video or special offer? Will the reader, who is interested in buying the book, have to hunt for the buy button, or be provided with only one option to purchase the book? Most often AALBC.com advertisers send readers to Amazon, particularly if they are interested in sales. This is a common strategy for popular authors, whose readers will buy their books as soon as they know a new one is available. However, a new author is often better served by directing readers to their website, where a much more compelling experience can be provided for the reader than can be provided on Amazon’s website. Of course the challenge here is creating a website the provides this experience... which is whole 'nother article. Finally, while book sales are an important measure of the success of an advertising campaign, branding and developing name recognition is just as important. Any writer or publisher in this business for the long haul has to get their name and books in front as many people as possible. One simply can not develop name recognition through at 32 day even on a site like AALBC.com. Building a brand is part of a long term strategy which should include traditional marketing technique as well. Obviously I think an AALBC.com should be part of the mix for anyone interested in reaching readers of Black literature. Large Book Cover from AALBC.com, LLC

I liked Jimmy Carter. He was probably the most righteous person to hold the office. Hillary is probably the most qualified person to hold the office out of the motley cast of characters on both sides. But keep in mind this is the same process that has a Donald Trump a leading candidate going in the Iowa Caucuses... I'm still voting for Bernie.

I like the NAPW's site Shirley. Can you email me a link that shows you book's cover. If you like, you can give me access to you Google Analytics account that will give me the ability to directly compare performance of both ads. This will also be useful for me to have another data point to compare the effectiveness of my advertisements as well. Just go to the Admin section, click user management, then add my email address troy@aalbc.com

Hi Cynique I got you email and replied. Let me make sure the email went out.

Funny I drove to Galveston beach once and it would have never occurred to me that it was a Black neighborhood. What was most striking was the flood damage which seemingly escaped media attention. Shirley what is NAPW? I would like to check out the site and the treatment of your advertisement. Besides sales keep in mind you advertise for branding. So that people know your product. Someone may by your product next year, because they keep seeing your ad and they need to buy some Black mermaid stuff for Xmas. As far as converting visitors. Set up a focus group. Get a few folks to visit your website and ask them if they would buy your product and and what the experience was like. Ideally find someone who would be interested in the product. Try to address any issues they have to improve the purchasing experience. Consider Google analytics, you can see how many people came to your site and which page they visited next. That would tell you where you problems are. If they are not going to the buy page after visiting your homepage page. One thing you definitely need is a call to action. A "buy" button or something that says this is how you buy the book. Right now you have to hunt around for make the purchase.

Yeah i is the year of the white woman Though they are really struggling getting Cosby thrown into jail The prospect of Hillary in the whitehouse still irks me a bit. what kind of country can we have father/son and husband/wife combination become president. The clinton did so much damage the first time around I don't know if I can take another 8 years of clintons. And before anyone asks think; NAFTA, Repeal of Glass Steagall, Mandatory minimum sentencing laws, sex scandals, etc...

A few days ago a friend came across an article in a local magazine, WhereItzAt Magazine. In the magazine was an article, “In defense of Black Bookstores,” which addressed the loss of Black bookstores and why it matters. Of course this is an issue I've covered extensively. Indeed, I have published a directory of Black owned bookstores for as long as I have run this site. My current coverage of Black owned bookstores is probably the most extensive coverage available on the web today. So it should go without saying that I applaud WhereItzAt Magazine's coverage of this important issue. My friend took a photo of the article (shown below) and shared it with me, because my website was mentioned, in the last paragraph, as a resource where one my find a list of Black owned bookstores. Of course I was interested in sharing this article, but I decided to look for an online version which would make it possible for other to more easily read. I found the article, but noticed that the online version did not mention AALBC.com at all?! This just struck me as simply dumb. Why would the website not mention and link to an online resource for Black bookstores--the very thing they are purporting to support? This started as a post on this forum, but I decided to make a blog post of it. You may read the entire article here

@harry brown it was not a critique, just an observation. I do like to see you react to posts though. Chris now that you lay it out like that it almost looks like it is obvious. None of those films interested me, which may be why I did not consider those film when contemplating Star Wars appealing to white females. More striking however is that Star Trek bucks the trend by not highlighting a white woman, but the TV series had powerful white women including Seven-of-Nine and Captain Janeway. They could have added nurse Chapel to the reboot. Once thing Star Trek left out of the rebooted films, that was present in the series, were the moral dilemmas they addressed. The films have none of that--they are just straight up action. Unless they get deeper, I'll probably bore of this film series too.

I watched the third Star Wars recently I think it was Return of the the Sith, but is was the film that preceded this film in the sequence that the event occurred in the star wars universe (as opposed to the order the films were released). It had been so long since I watched this film it was like the first time seeing it. In any case, the film was essential the same formula as the most recently released film, so from that perspective I see that the film was quite good. It just turns out I'm not a big fan of this particular saga. I also watched the latest installment of the Terminator films recently. I actually liked the terminator more than I liked the last Star Wars and i would not rave over the last terminator film. I think Star Trek pretty much owns the sci-fi action genre. Star Trek will never gross as much as Star Wars, but Star Wars is designed to have broader appeal. Do Do you think the pandering to white women that Marlon talks about regarding writers would be too much of a stretch to apply here, given the white female heroine?

Hi @richardmurray, unfortunately all of the ads are sold out. It looks like there are available positions on the website because I have not received the book covers from all of the authors. Actually, the Edit 1st advertisement, at the top of the homepage, is an inhouse ad. I can reclaim the position which would free up another spot, so if you are interested in it please click this link: http://mkt.com/aalbc/aalbc-com-book-on-homepage-special In reality, can simply add another row of books, In fact more book covers on the homepage many actually help. One might think too many books on the page on the homepage would gradually reduce the effectiveness of the ads. But I know that the click through rates tend to be more a function of the book (cover design, subject as related by the title and the author's name recognition), rather than the number of books on the page or even the book's position. On the new website's homepage there will be much less text as images seem to drive engagement (images are clicked more than the article descriptions).

Actually we have Black owned book distributors. Perhaps one of the most prominent here in the north east is run by Brother Nati, Afrikan World Distributors. I assume he is still active. There are/were others including A&B and Culture Plus who used to keep the street vendors humming. But Black book distributors were hurt badly as Black book stores closed and laws for street vending changed. Indeed, the whole Black book economy was hurt, which is why I devote so much time trying to help readers and authors appreciate this and explain why it matters... Of course getting Ingram to distribute your books is not nearly as difficult as it once was. I have an Iplus account and I rarely encounter a book that Ingram does not stock. Setting up the businesses and getting distribution is not really our problem. I know I sound like a broken record here but our problem is lack of support. We have to break down and support the Black book ecosystem. It means, for example, going out your way to buy an book on a site like Shirley's, paying a premium, and waiting three weeks to get the book. This is the process of investing in the businesses that support you, and our culture. In time Shirley will improve, but without the support she will never get started. This same is true for an AALBC.com... Now if you are happy looking a white mermaids then go to Amazon and by your books there. You'll get the book tomorrow, it will be shipped for free, and the price of the book itself will certainly be lower. Amazon, propped up by Wall Street, can take a loss on books indefinitely. Black sellers don't don't have this luxury, we have to sell products at a profit otherwise we go out of business. Worse still most authors will explicitly tell readers to got buy their book at Amazon. They rarely suggest a Black independent book seller by name. I've videoed authors, for free, to promote their work and they will say, on camera, "You can buy my book at Amazon.com." I used to have to remind them that AALBC.com sells books too. @Shirley Gale, it would be interesting to know how many Black authors were published through Authonomy. I'd be surprised if it was very many. If you know of any please let me know about them.

Cynique I have not idea what changed regarding adding images. The developers of this application push out upgrades every 5 minutes. Del, man I can't find the site again to post a link. Once I do I'll post it in a new thread and tag you.

There is an audience for Black stories, from both Black and white readers. The problem is we are so slavishly devoted to what white people validate, whether it is being selected to be reviewed by the NY Times, published by one of the foreign owned conglomerates, being stocked on the shelves of their stores, or making one of their bestsellers lists. These folks are in the business of making money, they are going to target the biggest audience--and it ain't us. So if we want these types of books to be published we have to support the institutions--everything from the authors to the bookseller.

Award winning author, Marlon James says, as reported in The Guardian's article: 'Writers of colour pander to the white woman' The 2015 Man Booker prize winner Marlon James has slammed the publishing world, saying authors of colour too often “pander to white women” to sell books, and that he could have been published more often if he had written “middle-style prose and private ennui”. At a sold-out Guardian event on Friday night, James said publishers too often sought fiction that “panders to that archetype of the white woman, that long-suffering, astringent prose set in suburbia. You know, ‘older mother or wife sits down and thinks about her horrible life’.” Women, particularly white women, make up the vast majority of regular fiction readers, purchasing two thirds of all books sold in the UK. Almost 50% of women classify themselves as avid readers, compared to 26% of men. (read the rest of the article) ----------- From facebook Marlon James November 25, 2015 · So I'm still unpacking Claire Vaye Watkins' potentially game changing essay, "On Pandering," going almost a section per day. What I'm thinking so far: that while she recognizes how much she was pandering to the white man, we writers of colour spend way too much of our lives pandering to the white woman. I've mentioned this before, how there is such a thing as "the critically acclaimed story." You see it occasionally in certain highbrow magazines and journals. Astringent, observed, clipped, wallowing in its own middle-style prose and private ennui, porn for certain publications. And I knew from early on how to write the kind of story that would get published. Honestly, had I followed that formula (or style?) if I pandered to a cultural tone set by white women, particular older white female critics, I would have had 10 stories published by now. There's an award that I have been a finalist for, more than once, and in both situations I was the only person who knew that I wouldn't win. I looked at the winner and I look at the judges and both followed exactly the same aesthetic. And looked the same as well. I knew right there, what they were looking for in a book and I knew the winner fulfilled it with flying colours, even if it wasn't that great a book. The last contest I judged, the initial favourite was yet again, "bored suburban white woman in the middle of ennui, experiences keenly observed epiphany." And though we'll never admit it, every writer of colour knows that they stand a higher chance of getting published if they write this kind of story. We just do. Anyway, still reading. Like Share Maaza Mengiste, Lara Stapleton, Jeffery Renard Allen and 462 others like this. 43 comments 69 shares Comments Robert Garland Wow. It is pretty much the same creating work and working in my field, ballet. White woman basically run things, although top leadership is predominantly male. In spite of this most casting and artistic discussion happens underneath the top layer, which is predominantly white and female. That, by far, is the real accomplishment of Misty Copeland in that environment. Like · 16 · November 25, 2015 at 6:18am Marie Mockett Loathed this essay on my first three passes and was mystified by why it's affecting so many. Still digesting. I mean sure....no to pandering. But so much of this,.. The whining over being pregnant and having nothing...so in relatable. Like · 6 · November 25, 2015 at 7:19am Joanna Rakoff replied · 3 Replies Marguerite Orane I meet them in the dozens in my writing classes Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 7:31am Raj A Iype An astringent commentary on the state of affairs Sir. Like · 2 · November 25, 2015 at 7:54am Mark Wisniewski Wow. & as I read this I kept thinking: If he'd posted this before having won the Man Booker, he'd have been committing literary suicide. Like · 13 · November 25, 2015 at 7:55am Court Merrigan Nah. That book stands on its own merits. Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 10:28am Swati Khurana The invisible cloak of whiteness allows the writer to not wince while smoking a joint at a hotel pool (acknowledged), and to write things like "Burn the motherfucker down." (unacknowledged) I wouldn't, couldn't, write that because I don't want to get deported and my brother to get on a no-fly list. Thank you, Marlon James for saying things that so many of us can't. Like · 37 · November 25, 2015 at 8:20am · Edited Annie Paul saved that essay to read...this discussion makes me want to dive into it immediately smile emoticon Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 8:26am Christine Amor replied · 3 Replies Marlon James And as someone occasionally monitored by Dept. Of Homeland Security, I know exactly what you're talking about, Swati Khurana. Like · 20 · November 25, 2015 at 8:29am John Domini Dibs on: "Astringent, observed, clipped, wallowing in its own middle-style prose and private ennui, porn for certain publications." As for Watkins' essay, certainly Stephen Elliott proved himself nothing less than abhorrent. Like · 6 · November 25, 2015 at 8:44am Annie Paul hmmm can't access it...link doesn't work, tried several times, wonder if the essay was taken down? Like · November 25, 2015 at 8:47am Annie Paul replied · 2 Replies Porochista Khakpour I tried to address these issues and more in sort of sidebar Twitter essay. It was upsetting for me to read this essay on several levels. All very personal. Like · 6 · November 25, 2015 at 8:54am Porochista Khakpour (^ all personal, and don't know if that's a disclaimer or something I wish I could be proud of. My opinions, my work should matter, I would hope you right? But hard to even digest that. Esp as it got some support but comes in between seemingly endless hate mail about being a brown woman from a Muslim culture who should go back where I came from.) Like · 7 · November 25, 2015 at 8:57am Porochista Khakpour replied · 5 Replies Jana Bent OK so what about finding the backers & launching literary awards that celebrate the content that we want? Uniting and seeking the organizations that have the power to back and promote a literary award that celebrates and reflects our experiences? What's the first step in pulling that together? Like · 3 · November 25, 2015 at 9:06am Marie Mockett replied · 3 Replies Kathleen Warnock I know what you mean. In theater, the preponderance of work seen in mainstream houses is by white men; the 27% that's not (there was just an entire issue of The Dramatist that was devoted to a study called the Count that qualified these figures) is by ...See More Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 9:42am Annie Paul yup its down. see tweet: Claire Vaye Watkins @clairevaye .@Tin_House site back soon, I'm sure. Meanwhile, consider subscribing to TH. "On Pandering" is in the current issue + print never crashes. Like · November 25, 2015 at 9:51am Annie Paul replied · 2 Replies Sabrina McLaughlin "bored suburban white woman in the middle of ennui, experiences keenly observed epiphany." sounds very boring to me. Also happy belated birthday! Like · 4 · November 25, 2015 at 9:51am Sabrina McLaughlin replied · 2 Replies Robb Forman Dew Your comment is sufficiently insulting and offensive to all women writers--who have a hard enough time as it is--that you need to name the writer or writers, those bored white elderly women, whose writing you think of as "porn for certain magazines." Otherwise you're simply sounding grandiose, whiny, petulant and like you're about fifteen years old. Like · 8 · November 25, 2015 at 9:58am Lara Stapleton replied · 16 Replies Jon Anderson I am in the process of renewing my acquaintance with American lit, and I have noticed a preponderance of stories that fit this bill: "Astringent, observed, clipped, wallowing in its own middle-style prose and private ennui" -- and, at least when it co...See More Like · 7 · November 25, 2015 at 10:13am Terese Svoboda there aren't a lot of people with courage Like · 5 · November 25, 2015 at 10:14am Julia Brown So grateful for this thread. Like · 4 · November 25, 2015 at 10:20am Ifeona Fulani None of the critique in Watkins' essay is new - it's 80s literary feminist criticism reproduced for a younger generation. But the fact that it's such a revelation to many indicates how little has changed; women are still being trained to read and writ...See More Like · 38 · November 25, 2015 at 10:29am · Edited Sabra Wineteer replied · 3 Replies Kaitlyn Greenidge I think the root of it is fear--fear that if you start recognizing stories that don't fit this mold, then how can you tell when anything is actually *good*? It was a shock when I started thinking about publishing what I wrote and realized that there ar...See More Like · 16 · November 25, 2015 at 10:33am Court Merrigan I think the endless and dull stories of the "bored suburban white woman in the middle of ennui, experiences keenly observed epiphany" are the end product of a certain privileged, consumerist culture that has consumed itself into nothing, and now strive...See More Like · 10 · November 25, 2015 at 10:38am Court Merrigan replied · 2 Replies Carolyn Kellogg Not all white female critics want to read Marilynne Robinson, Alice Munro et al. Some of us much prefer the work of Marlon James. Like · 9 · November 25, 2015 at 10:57am Rose Bunch It is why you can can read two years worth of the New Yorker and only remember maybe one of the stories a week later. Like · 9 · November 25, 2015 at 3:28pm · Edited Court Merrigan replied · 1 Reply Emma Emma Emma Torzs White women are the next white men frown emoticon Like · 4 · November 25, 2015 at 11:33am Fragano Ledgister replied · 1 Reply Christian Campbell Listening. Like · 2 · November 25, 2015 at 12:22pm Lorraine Adams I don't write like those women. I will never write like those women. And I have never been published in the New Yorker, which champions that vaguely dissatisfied in Connecticut short story. And I don't give a rat's ass. Like · 4 · November 25, 2015 at 12:30pm Christine Amor replied · 3 Replies Marie Mockett It is a truth universally acknowledged that an essay like this must use the battle rousing word "fuck" somewhere, preferably toward the end, which this does. What mystifies me is that it does not suggest that people "on the periphery" become powerful t...See More Like · 4 · November 25, 2015 at 1:10pm Zoe FitzGerald Carter Not to sound like a bitter white woman, but all the fans of yours I have met Marlon could, roughly speaking, be categorized as "bored, suburban white women." Just sayin. Like · 2 · November 25, 2015 at 2:03pm Melissa Chadburn Okay I just read it the whole way through and I will say this: You both have points. I mean I have forever said that Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower blows McCarthy's The Road completely out of the water. I will also say this narrative you speak of "bored suburban white woman in the middle of ennui, experiences keenly observed epiphany" still stints the relationship of women to power, still supports the patriarchy. I think the first gates are guarded by white men—editors, and it's they who choose to saturate the market with these quiet domestic stories. I'm thinking now also of Otessa Moshfegh's craft essay, How To Shit. Where she speaks of the fact that we can write the thing that sells but what about creating that hell raising shit that hammers at our insides. The art? It's a choice we make. Those of us who are bold enough to make it. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us. Like · 13 · November 25, 2015 at 2:53pm · Edited Marlon James Just in case anybody missed my response to the four accusations levelled above, (insulting, offensive, sexist and racist) here is what I had to say: I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm being insulting or offensive or racist at all, and I'm mystified by the criticism. Maybe a quick survey of writers of colour would provide some of the revelations that we take for granted, but I'm just relaying conversations I've had countless times with writers of colour and everyone in tune with the narrow opportunities for us in this industry. That includes women, some of them white who know exactly what I'm talking about and fight against it— with even the works they publish from white women. But again I'm puzzled by the accusation of sexism and racism, because by that extension, you are also saying that the 153 women who liked this status and the over two dozen who shared it, also share sexist and racists views. Either that or we all have a warped delusion of the world of letters. You're going to have to tell all 251 of us in total (including quite a few white women) how is it that we are so offensively wrong, but you're right. I also question your use of the royal "all" in your reference to women, which seems like a generalization that other women have not allowed you to make. Like · 14 · November 25, 2015 at 5:27pm · Edited Marlon James Also just in case we have also missed this, white women have also had to pander to a narrow definition of the white female experience, and the expectation of the white female writer (experiential!!) and they are sick of this shit too. Like · 42 · November 25, 2015 at 4:56pm Marie Mockett replied · 11 Replies Christine Amor Like many (most?) stereotypes, this one comes to us from the world of marketing. squint emoticon Like · November 25, 2015 at 5:14pm Marlon James I can also guarantee you, Robb that none of the women I know in this thread are the "sycophants," you've called them on yours. Time to re-evaluate sexist. Like · 2 · November 25, 2015 at 5:56pm Morowa Yejide Stating the obvious... but thanks..... Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 6:26pm Morowa Yejide replied · 4 Replies Robb Forman Dew Who are the women writers you are talking about, Marlon? Like · 2 · November 25, 2015 at 7:07pm Jeneille Lewis I would never read those kind of stories...and I'm so thankful that you're not writing them. To this day Marlon...you're the only writer whose books I (1) Pre-order (2) Get in Multiple copies (because friends give friends books) and (3) purchase in hardcover, paperback AND e-book. Like · 1 · November 25, 2015 at 7:10pm Marlon James Robb, I honestly don't think you're getting the point, despite me and Anisse explaining it over and over. I'm not attacking any white woman, and certainly not older for that matter since Nadine Gordimer's writing for example, would never have fit that ...See More Like · 17 · November 26, 2015 at 2:54am · Edited Anisse Gross Is there an open bar on this thread anywhere? I need a drink. Like · 19 · November 25, 2015 at 10:05pm Robb Forman Dew replied · 1 Reply Robb Forman Dew Marlon, I do see that you've always been a champion of women writers, that's why I was so hurt to find myself apparently being attacked because I'm white and elderly. I have had to fight those battles since I was eighteen, simply to be heard at all, an...See More Like · 7 · November 26, 2015 at 8:37am Robb Forman Dew replied · 2 Replies Christine Amor Does anybody else realise that if vacuous drivel was all that got published, we wouldn't be having this conversation? If all publishers, at all times, stuck to the formula, who would have published Marlon's work? Like · 2 · November 26, 2015 at 9:40am Joseph Pravda epiphany101: great writing is unteachable, editors be damned Like · 3 · November 26, 2015 at 12:22pm ------------ The idea Marlon's remarks comes as a revelation to anyone, other than perhaps white women is astonishing.

Hi Shirley your ad has been setup. It will run until midnight, February 26th. The winter (save the week between Xmas and Jan 1st), and the spring are the busiest time of the year for the website. I'm glad to read some of the exchange regarding the publishing process. It is so easy to be taken. I see people promise writers the world in various aspects of the business, because it is what they want to hear. For example, if I told people that they will sell a bazillion copies of their books with an advertisement on this website and I can get their money. I don't have to worry about them again because there will always be another mark and folks don't effectively share information. The reality is, that if authors/publishers don't advertise and promote their books they definitely won't sell very many books. Even with advertising the likelihood of making a lot of money is slim. So from the seller's perspective, it makes business sense to sell hope rather than reality. The reality is selling books is hard. I'm going to be hosting a publishing seminar during the National Black Writers Conference this spring and plan to get into this stuff from a practical perspective. I plan to video tape the seminar. Chris, that was one of the videos I want to use Youtube to charge folks to view, but at the rate I'm going I won't have the subscribers (still need 231 subscribers). of course their are other ways to do this without YouTube and i will take advantage of one of those.

@Shirley Gale I'm pretty sure the problem with part three is the Em Dash "—" you are pasting in the title. If you type the title by hand (or remove the em dash before pasting) you'll be fine. You can paste the text into the body of your post. Yeah Chris I don't even bother with Google you really need some serious paper IMHO to make an impact. I've stopped advertising on Facebook for the reasons we discussed. I find with some cooperation from others on Facebook you don't need to advertise. The sharing by others is much more effective. The advantage of AALBC.com is that it is a book site, people who come here are already looking for books, so the ads are not really ads, they are content. Which is why the click through rates are orders of magnitude higher that what you will get via social media.

I just upgraded the development site to include all of these award winning books, author bios, book description videos and more: http://aalbc.org/books/gaines-award-winning-books.php

Just updated the new site to include these awards: http://aalbc.org/books/gaines-award-winning-books.php

@Shirley Gale, Google can be a good way to advertise, but like everything else Google, it is not simple. You'd be best served getting to know they Keyword Tool. For example, there are no searches on "Children's Books on Mermaids" on Google, but "books about mermaids" get about 320 searches a month. and cost $0.41 per click, but are the people who click you ad looking for children's books--with Black characters? It is an art and science using Google. Try Post number 3 again, I can move it but it be better if it was posted under your name. If you have a problem let try to describe exactly what is happening. I was not familiar with Archway, but when I saw the S&S connection I did not exactly get a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Only 2 of the 6 positions are still available. Orders have come in from; Monroeville, PA; Danbury, CT; Southfield, MI; and Franklin, TN. Hi @Shirley Gale as assumed nothing will be shipped.

Jan. 5, 2016 Contact: Lois Smyth, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, lsmyth@braf.org, (225) 387-6126 Susan Polowczuk, Zehnder Communications, susanp@z-comm.com, (225) 448-0760 Gaines Award Ceremony Set for Jan. 21 at Manship Theatre Acclaimed Author T. Geronimo Johnson Named ’15 Winner BATON ROUGE, La. – Ceremonies for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s ninth annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21 at the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts. Doors open at 6 p.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public, although reservations are requested at rsvp@braf.org. T. Geronimo Johnson will read from his winning selection, “Welcome to Braggsville.” The novel is a socially provocative and dark comedy about four University of California, Berkeley students who stage a protest during a Civil War reenactment in rural Georgia. A New Orleans native, Johnson lives in Berkeley, California, and serves as visiting professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he earned a master’s degree in fine arts. His first novel, “Hold it ’til it Hurts,” was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. The Gaines Award is a nationally acclaimed $10,000 annual prize created by Baton Rouge Area Foundation donors to recognize outstanding work from rising African-American fiction writers while honoring Ernest Gaines’ extraordinary contribution to the literary world. A native of Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish, Gaines’ critically acclaimed novel “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” was adapted into a made-for-TV movie that won nine Emmy awards. His novel “A Lesson Before Dying” published in 1993, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Gaines is a 2013 recipient of the National Medal of Arts, a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s Genius Grant, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and a member of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. About the Baton Rouge Area Foundation The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is among more than 700 community foundations in the country. The Foundation works in two ways to improve the quality of life in Baton Rouge and across south Louisiana. The Foundation and its fund donors grant about $30 million each year to nonprofits. As well, the Foundation takes on projects to improve the capacity of nonprofits, solve fundamental problems and build gathering places for all people. Our current projects include improving autism services in the Baton Rouge metropolitan region and master planning for the Baton Rouge lakes. With Commercial Properties Realty Trust, the Foundation is building the Water Campus. Rising on 35 acres outside downtown Baton Rouge, the campus will provide labs and space for scientists and engineers working on the double peril of coastal erosion and rising seas across the Gulf Coast and the world. For more information, please visit BRAF.org. ### T. Geronimo Johnson’s latest novel, “Welcome to Braggsville,” is the 2015 winner of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. A native of New Orleans, Johnson lives in Berkley, California, and serves as a writing professor. Now in its ninth year, the Gaines Award honors rising African-American authors while paying tribute to Gaines, a literary legend who grew up in Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish. The award ceremony takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21 at the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge. Photo credit for T. Geronimo Johnson.jpg: Elizabeth R. Cowan

@Cynique, do you see the option to add images now? Hey @Delano I found an interest website that programmatically does numbers and does a reading for you. I generates a video using your name and everything. I'll start another conversation about it when I get a chance. I actually discovered it as a Google ad on my website. I guess I being discussion numerology too much :-)

Sheila is there a website for the event?