Troy

I'm looking forward to November :-) The website redesign is progressing, I'm also securing more content, but the larger question remains will it make a difference? Actually that should have been the question I should have asked back in February.

The thing about this stuff is, that if you are so inclined to believe it, there are plenty of examples in Harlem to justify the reasoning.

Guest, I was just thinking about the Johnson house. It caught my eye driving down Germantown avenue (because my name is Johnson). I noticed from reading the placard out front that is was a stop on the underground railroad. Yesterday, I discovered a bookstore just a block or two away, The Color Book Gallery

I stumbled across this conversation looking for Adam Mansbach content on AALBC.com. Getting side tracked O found a cool video of Stacey Ann Chin and Adman reading different the english and the jamaican version of he popular book: http://aalbc.it/goderass Adam seems to be irreverent and funny enough to be the old ABM. Over the years I've come to appreciate Akashic as they have kept a lot of talented writers in print.

Akashic Books Just Us Books These images are taken from screenshot of what I'm calling "book cover mosaics" from the new version of AALBC.com. I hope to have the new site done in time for the 18th anniversary of thew websites launch in March of 2016. Both Just Us Books and Akashic are and supporters of AALBC.com. Of course their are several others who I will highlight in the coming months. Do you all prefer the circle or the square image?

Hi Guest (Gisele), The service Chris pointed is completely different than using Amazon to publish a book. Essentially Amazon is trolling the pool of unpublished manuscripts and deciding which ones to publish--presumably based upon their deep knowledge of the marketplace and the likelihood of profitability. If your book is selected Amazon will pay you a $1,500 advance and give you a 50% royalty and exclusive worldwide all format right to your work for 5 years. Is this a good deal? From the perspective of most writers it probably appears to be, and in today's environment, it probably is when the alternative is to self-publish or not publish at all. In this program the authors has to have the book edited which could easily cost more than $1,500. A 50% royalty sounds goo until you learn how Amazon calculate that royalty and what the purchase price of the book will be. On the upside, you have to believe if Amazon decides to publish your book, they will position these books more prominently than other titles that did not come through the program. ------------ Gisele (all authors reading this) please read this article, "5 Things Writers Must Do To Survive Online." Read point #3 – NEVER Link to Amazon Without Using an Affiliate Code. Failure to heed this point is leaving money on the table. Here is an better link for you to use when sending people to Amazon: http://aalbc.it/wolfgirlbook the (the article will describe why).

New Guild Survey Reveals Majority of Authors Earn Below Poverty Line"So what does that Federal Poverty Level statistic mean? Given that a single person earning less than $11,670 annually sits below the poverty line, 56% of respondents would qualify, if they relied solely on income from their writing. The survey also indicated that not only are many authors earning little, they are, since 2009, also earning less. Overall, the median writing-related income among respondents dropped from $10,500 in 2009 to $8,000 2014 in 2014, a decline of 24%. The decline came for both full-time and part-time authors with full-time authors reporting a 30% drop in income to $17,500 and part-time authors seeing a 38% decrease, to $4,500." Read the full article. ------------ I suspect, in the Black community, the numbers are more dire. I'm doubt being an authors has ever been a vocation in which the majority could earn a living wage, but it seems it is now more difficult than ever. Increased competition, little marketing, fewer platforms to sell product and a waning readership are all likely contributors for Black authors.

If Blake would have put up a fight he he might have been shot. I was surprised how easily he was taken down. I would have been kicking, screaming and fighting if someone bum rushed me like that out of nowhere. If Obama was elected don;t be surprised if Trump is elected. People are moved by emotions and only vote for people they have heard of and since the media will only cover Trump, he has a serious advantage. These are the two things hurting Bernie, a lack of celebrity, and what little coverage he gets is usually biased against him. Unless you listen to Democracy Now, or some other far let programming. Now this is deep. Was not familiar with Pastor James Davis Manning, I am actually familiar with the church--it is around the corner from where I live. The first time I saw the sign I did a double take--thinking did I read what I just read. But this is NYC and nothing really surprises me. His extremist rhetoric is getting attention. If Pastor Manning were famous and rich, he could run for President.

Praise de lawd! Katura, you are a glimmer of hope :-) I know you love books because you have purchased copies to replace worn ones! That is saying something. I've done that once, buying a very nice edition of The Alchemist. I liked the book so much I just wanted to have a better looking copy (I never admitted that before). I will probably go back and finish The Warmth of Other Suns (Cynique, I you forgot to mention you read that one that one, In fact I started it because of you). I'm taking a few days off next week, so I'll have the luxury of being able to read a book or two. As we speak, I'm working on AALBC.com bestsellers List for July and August. I'm still experimenting with new designs for the presentation, and on the backend (database and scripts). When it is all done I can go back to publishing a list monthly. I stopped doing it because it was too labor intensive. Now that I think about it what do you all think about a bestsellers list that is say 100 books deep that represents the bestselling books on this website, keeping a running total (sort of the way Amazon does).

Reading for pleasure is a luxury that increasingly fewer of us can afford. As folks lives improve, they read more. Cynique you make me think of the Sam Cooke song, It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die 'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky But I think the real problem is that we are constantly presented with all the crap in the world. I mean did any of us really need to know about that woman in Kentucky. There is plenty of good happening in the world, but that rarely gets shared. The general consensus is that this is what people actually want, "if it bleeds it leads." As a result we tend to believe there is more crap in the world than there really is... in fact the opposite is true. The crap is front and center because it is profitable, not because it is what people want. They prey on our weaknesses, whether it is sugar, porn, cigarettes or just parading dysfunctional people in front of us, we repeatedly engage not because we want to, but because we are simply human. Crackheads don't want to be crackheads, but as long as there is someone greedy and vile enough to sell the product, there will always be crackheads. I know I'm rowing upstream with a leaky boat trying to sell good books and that I can make more money selling fried Twinkies. But Sam continues; It's been a long, a long time coming but I know a change gon' come Oh Yes it will!

Somewhat surprisingly this is the least read post I'm ever made. There was a time a post like this would have generated some interesting discussion. Here is the entire list maybe that will prompt some discussion. Has anyone read, or plan to read, any of these books? I only read a few of these myself. I've been working side gigs and spending a lot on more on web development, so I have not been doing a lot of reading. Most of what I have read is not on this list. I haven't read Morrison's latest. It seems as if there was little exciting with this last novel. In fact, Morrison got more media attention, saying TaNehisi was the next Jimmy Baldwin... Summer 2015 - Paperback - Fiction #1 - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie#2 - The Cartel 5: La Bella Mafia by Ashley and JaQuavis#3 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond#4 - A Deeper Love Inside by Sister Souljah#5 - The Cartel 4 by Ashley and JaQuavis#6 - The Cartel 3 by Ashley and JaQuavis#7 - Secrets of a Side Bitch by Jessica N. Watkins#8 - Stand Your Ground: A Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray#9 - Mama’s Boy by ReShonda Tate Billingsley#10 - Jezebel’s Daughter by Jacquelin Thomas Summer 2015 - Paperback - Non-Fiction #1 - 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse by JJ Smith#2 - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander#3 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot#4 - The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore#5 - Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay#6 - The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson#7 - Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Expanded Edition: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey & Denene Millner#8 - Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland#9 - America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great by Ben Carson#10 - Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive by T. D. Jakes Summer 2015 - Hardcover - Fiction #1 - God Help the Child: A Novel by Toni Morrison#2 - The Sellout by Paul Beatty#3 - The Ultimate Betrayal (A Reverend Curtis Black Novel) by Kimberla Lawson Roby#4 - And Sometimes I Wonder About You: A Leonid McGill Mystery (Leonid McGill Mysteries) by Walter Mosley#5 - The Family Business 3 by Carl Weber & Treasure Hernandez#6 - Zane’s The Other Side of the Pillow: A Novel by Zane#7 - One Night by Eric Jerome Dickey#8 - The Turner House by Angela Flournoy#9 - Rose Gold by Walter Mosley#10 - A Wanted Woman by Eric Jerome Dickey Summer 2015 - Hardcover - Non-Fiction #1 - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates#2 - Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson#3 - The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs#4 - The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist#5 - What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey#6 - Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success: Discovering Your Gift and the Way to Life’s Riches by Steve Harvey#7 - One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future by Ben Carson#8 - Forgiveness: 21 Days to Forgive Everyone for Everything by Iyanla Vanzant#9 - Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple by Russell Simmons#10 - Fire Shut Up In My Bones by Charles M. Blow

I just collected some more detailed data on my social media activity, drilling down into that <2% of my overall traffic source. I will write it up tomorrow, but I have compelling evidence that with a bit more cooperation and an understanding of the tools we use, the can demonstrably increase out over all traffic--and use social media to help do it. Hi Shannon, thanks for stepping out of the shadows. Sharing your experience is important for others to read. Of course it resonates. I've been a observer and active website builder for 20 years, so I know what we have lost, perhaps more than most. I know how AALBC.com efforts and effectiveness has been constrained as well. Again, I believe we can do something about it, but each of us working in isolation reinventing the same wheel and competing against each other will not do the trick.

The 40 Most Popular Books Read by African Americans this Summer (How many have you read?)

I went to segregated schools in the deep north; virtually all of my classmates where poor or working class Black and Puerto Ricans. I did not attend class with a white student until high school, but that was a specialized high school which required an admission test. My zoned high school (the default neighborhood school) would have been more same. In all my years of schooling (including 8 years of college, I've had three Black teachers. The first a 7th grade homeroom teacher the others were two undergraduate professors (both African American studies teachers). Did this effect me? Of course it did. I think the most damaging was the class segregation, not having a clue of the possible professions, or knowing anyone in the professions that I was aware of (Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, etc). Reading helps me understand why we are in the situation were are in. Who else will tell these stories? This is perhaps why I work so hard to share these stories.

Hi Shawneda, thanks for spawning the separate conversation for this subject. I agree with Chris in that is seems like a good idea, I just have never been involved in an effort like this that was successful. Attempts I have initiated have been largely unsuccessful, but I continue to try, I always have. Recently I emailed over 100 Bloggers just looking for ways in which we could collaborate. Keep in mind these are Blogger every one of whom I'm promoted independently. I know I've sent traffic their way as I've tracked the click throughs. But despite that only a handful of people replied and besides Chris you are really the only one whose has replied, I have a few questions; (1) How did you discover this message and what was it that promoted you to reply and offer suggestions. (2) How do we actually execute your suggestion? What specifically must be done. Are you willing to lead the effort, I'm willing to help.

Cynique, are saying you used to see Fred Hampton around the neighborhood? Sure we tend to romanticize the Panthers, Malcolm, and Martin. One day I'm sure Black people will wax poetically about the Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, this is natural. Still, Hampton was only 21 when the government murdered him--younger than my youngest child. One can't help but be impressed and admire the impact he had on his people in his short life. Imagine if he'd lived as long as MLK, Who know what the Panthers could have accomplished? Throwing over the government, no I'd agree this would not be realistic, or even desirable if you ask me. But given time the Fred and the BPP could have achieved some of the goals on their 10 Point Program, which would have benefited us all. Frederick Douglass wrote; “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” The Panthers, helped change what we would take. They were brave enough to stand up to opposition. Perhaps if they understood how brutal the government reaction would be they would have adopted different tactics. The BPP is worth remember the stood up a tried to did something to improve things Today we bend over and apply the vaseline ourselves.

Hi Shawneda, these sound like really good ideas. Do you have ideas on how to execute this? Please start a new conversation, specific to this topic, in this forum, so that we can focus more on this idea. Thanks for taking the time to share this idea.

Oh yeah, I just looked at the stats for my CoPromoted Beverly Johnson Tweet for her new book. CoPromote got 6 Retweet. I'd only gotta 2 on my own. So while the numbers are small that is still a 400% increase. I looked at all of the accounts that retweeted my post. None of them have as many followers as I have. I feel like I'm helping them more than they are helping me. Also, more importantly, I looked at the number of clicks to my site from Twitter. There were just two and they were both on August 27, the day I originally sent the tweet. The Copromoted retweets resulted in no click throughs to my website. Now that I was able to isolate the impact of Copromote, from my effort, I have a better picture of CoPromote's impact. Click throughs, my goal, may not be generated as a result of using coPromote. I'll experiment a bit more, but the lack of clicks is probably a function of the Retweeters not be closely allied/aligned with my brand--they are just retweeting to get credits, so folks will retweet them..

DC is day trip distance for me. Did you get to do U Street, or just the museums and monuments? They have some great bookstores I'd be willing to bet money Politics and Prose had an authors event worth going to when you were there. How did you and your family enjoy the city? Oh I did not know that about Twitter. I bet they implemented that rule to prevent people from growing their followers artificially. People use to run programs to follow a bunch of people (you could definite criteria), in an automatic fashion. The assumption was that a percentage of people would follow you back. Then the app would circle back and unfollow those that did not follow you back. If you ever see someone with SAY, 20K followers and they are also following 20K people this usually is an indicator that they've used that tactic. NEVER buy followers they are all bugs accounts and of no value. Some, especially in publishing, are dumb enough to believe that if you have a bunch of followers in Twitter that must mean you also have a platform. People are easily fooled by this, so I understand while people buy followers. I follow less than 200 people, which is why I always miss the "Black Twitter" action, always learning about it in the mainstream media.

David Hilliard the executive director of The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, founding member of the BPP, chief of staff and leader of the Party during the time Huey and Bobby Seale were incarcerated says, "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is not the story of the BPP, like many other academic and mainstream media interpretations of the Black Panther Party it is an inaccurate, external description of the BPP and it’s legacy." http://aalbc.it/bppreaction

Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation 1015 Amador Street, P.O. Box 4423 Vallejo, CA 94590 September 4, 2015 I am David Hilliard the executive director of The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. I’m compelled to inform the public of the Foundation’s perspective on the PBS documentary film, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. The filmmaker, Stanley Nelson identifies the film as the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Huey P. Newton was the leader and standard-bearer of the BPP. The film was made without input or consultations with The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. I was a founding member of the BPP, chief of staff and leader of the Party during the time Huey and Bobby Seale were incarcerated. Huey's brother, Melvin Newton and my brother, Roosevelt Junebug Hilliard were also founding members. None of us are in the film. Bobby Seale is not in the film. The filmmakers did approach the Foundation about the project. I requested a copy of the treatment and was informed that they did not have one. Films do not get funded without a treatment. The film besmirches the memory and legacy of Huey P. Newton and inaccurately casts Kathleen Cleaver, the wife of Eldridge Cleaver as a principal storyteller and an essential member of the BPP. The historical record will reveal that Kathleen and her late husband were associated with the BPP for approximately one year and did as much or more to destroy the BPP than the COINTELPRO operations. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation does not support this film. Elaine Brown, a former leader of the Black Panther Party has also expressed her displeasure with it. I agree with and support her analysis. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is not the story of the BPP, like many other academic and mainstream media interpretations of the Black Panther Party it is an inaccurate, external description of the BPP and it’s legacy. ### It is also worth reading this interview with Dante James, who worked with David Hilliard on a film project for Huey Newton: http://aalbc.com/reviews/dante-james.html

You know I find myself reading articles (online) from the Guardian than perhaps any other publication. They write from a less parochial perspective. I left this comment on the website: The subject reminds me of a poem Ben Okri wrote, "10 ½ Intonations" in it he explains the we must read outside our race, our culture and our class. Sure a good writer can, indeed must write in the same way.

'Black characters are still revolutionary’: writers talk about the complexity of race The Guardian: Friday 4 September 2015 08.00 EDT Tracey M Lewis-Giggetts interviews; Tananarive Due, Bernice McFadden, and Jeffrey Renard Allen who answer the question: are non-white authors bound to the race narrative? I grew up with African American literature. My parents hustled and jived to the poetry of Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni, and my grandparents were captivated by the astuteness of James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. I absorbed all of it. These black literary giants drove the social commentary of their day, using their creative works as the vehicle. It’s not by accident that their writing is considered to be major work of American literature: their characters are trapped by the racist atmosphere in which they live, a context specific to the US. Yet despite feeling empowered by these books, I often wonder if literature written by black authors, in order to be considered successful or even “good”, must address the social ills of the day. As black writers, are we bound to the race narrative? Many prominent thinkers in black literary criticism think so. (Read the full article)

Hey Chris I'm not sure what you mean by being prevented from following people. Unless something changed you can follow anyone you want, unless that person prevents you from doing so, and that is (or at least was) not based on the number of people you follow. I don't really get Twitter either. I mean I understand intellectually, it simply does not appeal to me. If Twitter disappeared tomorrow I would not miss it at all. Back in January 2014 I wrote an article "Author's Don't Need Twitter," which I'm considering revisiting in the near future. Again I use it simply use it to attract a few visitors each day and to increase brand awareness. Since I don't engage directly very much, and most of my tweets, are automated it is tiny investment of time. Using CoPromote might increase the effectiveness of my Twitter investment--we'll see.

The Kickstarter Campaign for Dante's film was unsuccessful, raising less that 10% of the $40,000 goal. It does not appear that the film was ever made. I found the following video on Dante's Page There is a new documentary film about the Black Panthers, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.