Troy

If you are in the Tampa Fl area we have begun plans to host a book event with Eric the 2nd week of January details to be provided as plan are developed.

REAL STORY OF NIGERIA by Jide Olanrewaju "History of our motherland...birthed in greed and riddled with corruption. The summary of it all in one documentary. A must watch for every true Nigerian and Africans as a whole. You'd be surprised at what you'll find out. Truly, the beautiful ones are not yet born." http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3aFc4VrV-94

Hey man here are some short links you can use: Tantrum-Charles-D-Ellison http://bit.ly/Tantrum-Ellison Sonz-Of-Darkness-Dru-Noble http://bit.ly/Sonz-Of-Darkness London-Reign-A-C-Britt http://bit.ly/London-Reign And-God-Created-Woman-Mika-Miller http://bit.ly/And-God-Created-Woman Harder-Sha http://bit.ly/Harder-Sha Convicts-Candy-Damon-Meadows http://bit.ly/Convicts-Candy Ghettoheat-Hickson http://bit.ly/Ghettoheat Love-Dont-Nobody-Stubbs http://bit.ly/Love-Dont-Love-Nobody

Amazon's Top 100 Free eBooks K. Honey Thompson's novel "Forbidden Hearts & Revenge" is #31!

You can sell you unwanted book using Cash 4 Books: Use bonus code "BLOGGER3", Sell a minimum of 3 books and get an extra $5 bucks on your order good of all of 2012. There is also a free iPhone/Android application to scan bar codes. You are given a free pre-paid mailing label (you do not pay to ship books). If you sell $35 or more in books, you may use FedEx (which gets you paid faster). You are paid via PayPal or check.

Impressive List Hickson -- what is you most popular/best title, one you think will be liked by the most people and I'll spread the word about it. Or give me a few and I'll pick one. Thanks

Sorry I mean the Teri Woods interview you turned me on to.

Yep Nah'Sun I did say we needed a way to publicly vet people so that others don't get burned and I still feel that way. But we can't have people just putting folks on blast all willy nilly -- especially in the day of social media. r

Side A: LOL! Side B: Yeah I did not know about Shannon and triple crown until the Wahida interview -- deep. Side C: Agreed! Successfully breaking in a new author is the value publishers are supposed to bring. All the big houses have done over the last few years is give deals to authors who have demonstrated an ability to move their own product. Have the big houses ever introduced (discovered on their own, developed, marketed/promoted) a new urban/street author that generated big sales -- I can't think of one? Man, I forgot all about G-Unit - Do they have any big books (books that have sold well or are popular)? Nikki, Relentless, K. Elliott...

Oh I misunderstood. That explains why I never heard of her book reviews :-) Take it from me, you'd spend more time putting people on blast than writing and selling books. Besides it will not get you anywhere. Have you even been interviewed by the sister that interviewed Wahida -- it seems like she would do a decent job. Are you up on 3 Chicks on Lit?

Someone told me about this today. I was told it was actually pretty good and that it went on for a few hours. Is this it?

Nah'Sun, I'm more than willing to agree that Teri influenced "self-pubbing on the "Black hand side" on a large scale" with the caveat: in the urban/street fiction genre. The reason I say this is that in the 90's Teri Woods was not relevant in the larger book world. She, shall we say, was an "underground sensation" (like a Loaded Lux perhaps). There were too many other authors self-publishing who were more popular, Jessica was just one. Now Teri ultimately Terry surpassed everyone in terms of popularity and most likely revenue as well. Before we started this conversation I would have said Vickie Stringer was probably more influential that anyone else. -- everybody knew Triple Crown -- even before they knew the authors! The branding was strong, because of Stringer. Today it seems like all the top urban authors are writing for Cash Money Content, Wahida, Nikki, K'wan, Treasure, et al. What do you think about CMC, will they resuscitate a waning genre in a struggling industry?

Damn, Nah'Sun you came at home girl hard. How did you discover her as a reviewer? Where does she publish book reviews? This is a perfect example of the state of the industry. In fact, it was never easy to get a book review written AND published where someone will see it. Today it is almost impossible. On AALBC.com, if you want a guaranteed book review written, in 6 weeks or less, by someone with experience, and published where it will be seen by others; I offer a fee based service: http://aalbc.com/reviews/reviewer_guidlines.htm I also offer a manuscript review: http://edit1st.com/get-started/manuscript-review/ Book reviews are not "free". In the early days, when my Goldman gig subsidized this website. I would pay reviewers to review books author sent in. Ad sales NEVER subsidized book reviews. Many of those books, reviewed at not cost to the author, were ripped to shreds -- In fact, Thumper (who this discussion board is named), built a following and reputation for brutally honest book reviews. Despite that he was also are most requested reviewer. Today I can not afford to pay a reviewer to review a badly written book. There is no upside: the reviewer does not want to read badly written books, the reader does not care about some poorly written book by an obscure author, the author will not be happy the finished review -- and I'm out of real cash! Charging authors for reviews had one BIG unanticipated bonus: the quality of the books received increased dramatically. See when an author sends in a book for review -- all they are risking is the wholesale cost of the book and postage, just a few bucks. Now that the financial burden is shifted from me to the author, I get far fewer books and those that arrive are simply better written. I still publish reviews in which the author did not pay for the review. These are usually books the reviewer wanted to read and review. Sometimes I'll barter with a reviewer for a book I really want reviewed, if I can't pay cash. To avoid the problem you ran into with the review Nah'Sun, I ask that authors simply email me a description of their book -- not the book. At the end of the day the reader is really left up to word of mouth to learn about good books.

ALL-WEEKEND PROMO! "Like and Follow" AKILA WORKSONGS (this weekend) on Facebook and/or Twitter for a chance to win FREE TICKETS to "ELEVATING" (our Off-Broadway Showcase at BPAC; details below) or to the Funk Fest at NJPAC (with George Clinton and Morris Day and The Time; details Monday). PSST! Like and/or Follow, and Comment and you could *really* win those comps! We're watching... FEEL FREE to FORWARD BARUCH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (BPAC) CELEBRATES THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF AKILA WORKSONGS WITH AN AFTERNOON OF SPOKEN WORD, LIVE MUSIC, DRAMA, & DANCE (scroll down for all details) Experience Why We're Still Here After Two Decades of Passionate Service Join Us For Our First Off-Broadway Showcase! Baruch Performing Arts Center presents "Elevating: 20 Years of Arts and Activism, Live!" December 16, 2012, 2:30 pm Baruch Performing Arts Center 55 Lexington Ave., NYC 10010 (Enter on E. 25th, bet. Lexington & 3rd Aves.) CONFIRMED PERFORMERS Camille A. Brown Award-winning choreographer for Broadway revival of a Streetcar Named Desire; Artistic Dir., Camille A. Brown and Dancers ( @camilleAbrown) Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai Poet, author, 3x feature on HBO Presents Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam ( @yellowgurlpoet) Masauko Chipembere of Blk Sonshine Internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter ( @blksonshine) Mo Beasley Award-winning poet, playwright, actor (@mobeasleyspeaks) Pyeng Threadgill Award-winning jazz vocalist, composer (@pyengthreadgill) Ras Baraka Poet, educator, and author Principal, Central High School in Newark, NJ (@rasbaraka) Safiya Washington Poet, Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement alumni 2011 National Brave New Voices Gland Slam Poetry Champion (@honestly_safi) Toni Blackman Internationally acclaimed performance artist; the first Hip Hop Cultural Envoy/Musical Ambassador of the US State Department ( @toniblackman) MK Lewis ( @mklewis610) HOST Lumumba Bandele DJ/MUSICAL DIRECTOR Get Your Show Tickets Online! $25, $20, $10 (General, Access AKILA members, College Students) Buy ONLINE and at the BPAC BOX OFFICE http://bit.ly/elevatingtickets or 55 Lexington Ave., NYC 10010 CONTACT US General Ticket Info: 646.312.5073 General Program Info: 718.756.8501 or pr@akilaworksongs.com Media Inquiries Are Directed To: Lea Byrd at lea@akilaworksongs.com Web (Pass It On): www.AKILAWORKSONGS.com/elevatingakila FB Event: www.facebook.com/events/446262102074963/ Twitter: @baruchPAC @akilaworksongs @aprilRsilver Twitter Hashtags: #elevatingakila #artsandactivism #akilaat20 Put On BLAST! c/o AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. | PO Box 250553 | Brooklyn, NY 11225 | United States

I'll add to next eNewsletter To download click the magazine cover above. You will be sent to a page (that looks like the image below) once there, click the download link indicated by the arrows.

Nah'Sun I listened to the more than two hours of the interview (while driving and working out today). I was actually going to mention Teri's controversy with Kwame and Caleb, here but decided against it. I've seen Teri enough times to know she is "eccentric". Nothing she said surprised me, but it was still an interesting interview. It is interesting that Teri recognizes that publishing has changed but fails to recognize that it is those changes that makes it almost impossible for someone to replicate her success. That is not to say other writers can not be successful. However if Teri Woods came out in 2012 I seriously doubt her success would have followed the same trajectory. Listening to her it seems the bootlegging of books has gotten worse. If she thinks the ebook world is any better she'll be in for a rude awakening. Treasure Blue, the first caller, is my man. A good writer, humble and appreciative of any support he gets. He told me the story about Shannon Holmes years ago. I'm glad people like Mack Mama are doing programs like this. I even added her show to Teri Woods Page. I wish there were journalists covering the industry a lot of the nonsense could be eliminated by simply finding out what is actually happening. I can also see, after listening to the interview why you feel Teri had so much influence on the self publishing. I would concede that she may have help influenced urban/street lit authors, but there were just too many other self published authors that came before her. Plus the fact that technology improvements which coincided with Teri rise probably had a bigger impact on the self-publishing revolution Nah'Sun check out my bestsellers list from 1998 several of the books were self-published -- most notably Jesscia care Moore self published not only her work but that of Saul Williams as well. Some of these book were self-published in 1997, well before Teri "hand made" books. The revolution was sparked before Teri came along. By the time urban fiction became wildly popular the self-publishing revolution was sparked and in the history books. I witnessed this too.

Nah'Sun I honest believe that you and Hickson have a good strategy by making you content available exclusively on your websites. You are slightly ahead of the curve as it will take time for consumers to feel completely comfortable purchasing from a non-brand name site. I was selling books online long before people (especially Black folks) felt comfortable transacting online -- or even had computers connected to the internet. But I've also watched sales grow as our community because more connected and more comfortable buying on-line What I suggest you Brothers do, to increase your reach, is to setup affiliate programs so that others (including the likes of AALBC.com), can sell your products in exchange for a commission. I've been working to strategies to make this happen with others with varying degrees of success. Once I get my thoughts together I'll begin to outline them with specifics actions. I believe cooperative strategies is only way we will be able to keep the Amazon's out of our pockets and survive over the long haul Nah'Sun (all authors here) take a page out of Hickson's play book an use the signature capability to insure a link to your website is included with each of your posts here.

Hey man I checkout the mag -- thanks for the plug. Would you mind if I posted a image of the cover here?

Hickson Amazon is a beast and will be difficult to contend with. I'm both and affiliate and a competitor. I view Google and social media the same way. The reason I have this schizophrenic relationship with all of these entities is that they produce value and useful services but at the same time are monopolistic and greedy and because of their greed they are also a negative force in the marketplace. As you know Amazon is now publishing big name authors. The idea of preventing them from acquiring content will become increasing difficult over time. In fact Amazon is in a better position to control access to content over the long haul. Even authors you and I know are now saying please "check me out on AMAZON" and providing a link -- skipping there own websites the website of their publisher, and of course AALBC.com (AALBC.com still has more content on many authors than anyone else). Until the day comes that someone competes with Amazon on price, Amazon will remain dominant. The first thing I learned when I went into business for myself over 20 years ago is that people want the cheapest one. People are not, for example, going to buy book from AALBC.com because we are Black owned and support Black writers. Now I can sell a product that Amazon does not have and if it is sufficiently desirable people will buy it -- so Hickson on I'm not disputing your strategy. I'm just saying it is very difficult -- especially for new entrants who don't have a following or serious paper to create one. I used to sell Dr. John Henrik Clarke's "A Great and Mighty Walk," (an excellent historical film narrated by actor Wesley Snipes) on AALBC.com for about $45 -- for a DVD! At the time no one could find it. My wholesale cost was something like $32 -- I could not buy enough to fulfill demand. Today, just a few years later, the entire film is on YouTube, for free,..."FREE ENTERPRISE". Hickson "FREE ENTERPRISE" is not free. But that is a topic of another conversation...

Nah'Sun, you are right about what I said about Omar. In Omar's day he was what I considered the hardest working man in publishing - a relative machine. But by today's standards he would be par for the course, based upon standards set by many of today's urban authors. While I would agree that an independent making millions on their own has no incentive to sign a deal with a publishing company, all of the authors we are talking about have signed deals -- including Teri. While you may be right about the relative popularity of McMillan versus Morrison we really don't know -- that is what makes the point moot. Which is why I suggested the survey. Cynique, you are motivated by the desire to write -- and yes technology made it possible. Technology absolutely launched the self-publishing revolution you took part in. Many writers are motivated by solely by money and fame. Often writers motivated by money will sell better than writers motivated by writing. They simply work harder and are more aggressive at self-promotion -- technology helped in this regard too. Many writers especially the literary types brittle at the idea is aggressive self-promotion. They need a publicist to do the work for them. The problem is we have reached a point where writing solely to make money is crowding out writers motivated by the art. This is not just self-published author trying to get rich. Big publishing houses are asking writers to add more sex or make the novel "grittier" is not unusual. My guess is that Black writers are asked to do this most often. Authors interested in money comply and write for the market, those who don't, don't get deals or are forced to go to a small independent press, or self-publish. By mainly they just op-out of publishing altogether. I don't think anyone believes, for a second, that the best writers are the ones being published, and selling the most books today. This system is simply not setup for that. It is setup to make money. ...and the downward spiral continues.

True Cynique, but I can even get that far. Having difficulty believing it all. The first story I heard made it seem like the kids were prepubescent. But they may have been of legal age or presented themselves as such. If that is the case it may just be a case of a gay dude caught out there banging the wrong cats. Again, in my mind, this is gossip, not newsworthy, and certainly does not warrant a man losing his livelihood. I know I'm biased now because I saw the film and have some insight into Kevin's journey. I hope he did not take advantage of underage kids...

Last night I stumbled across a movie called Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey on Netflix last night. Elmo was more my kids generation than mine. Even they were more into the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers than Sesame Street. Anywhoo... I decided to watch the movie 'cause Elmo's puppeteer is a Brother. So I watched the movie it was fine; your basic Brother from humble beginnings makes good -- really good in Kevin's case. Low and behold I learned later in the news that homeboy actually quit his job yesterday in light of allegations of having homosexual sex with a minor. The first cat took the allegation back and a second dude has now made another accusation. What a shame. If the accusations are false, look how much damage has been caused. I'm not even sure if the media should report allegations. Shoot maybe I'm just contributing to the mess -- but I cat is out the bag and I want to make the point that the media should not be able to destroy lives so easily. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

Shawneda, there is some information about Teri Woods and other Black authors on this site Nah'Sun I can't speak to how much money E. Lynn, Terry, Omar or Woods generated as self-published authors as I don't have that information, I suspect you don't have their financials either. I was not aware that Harris and Tyree wrote chick lit or sista-girl books. Besides I'm talking about an industry not any one genre. Again we will continue to disagree on who had a greater influence on other authors in terms of self-publishing. I'd be willing to bet that Author Shawneda is not alone, and that more self-published authors, and authors in general, are more familiar with Omar Tyree than Teri Woods. One can not be influenced by an author they are not familiar with. A Sidebar: Nah'Sun (anyone) do you think popularity of Urban/Street is waning? I see that Teri Woods had a new book come our last week. I did not heard a peep about it anywhere on-line, but it could be a function of what is happening with Black books on-line rather than the waning popularity of the street fiction. I'll see if I see the book on 125th street later... Hickson will be happy to know the eBook is price at $9.99 -- Hachette Book Group USA, takin' no shorts!

Na'Shun Admin=Troy I happened to be deleting spam account and forgot to switch back to my regular user accounts. I think I read your post and understood what you wrote -- I just disagree. To say the E. Lynn and Terry were not know for their guerrilla markets belies a lack of knowledge of these authors. But lets forget them for a second. Have you ever heard of Omar Tyree? He was out there grinding, slinging self published works before anyone ever heard of Teri Woods. There is nothing that Teri has done that Omar did not due first. Teri did not start anything, she successfully rode the wave, initiated by others. You are right, this really shouldn't be a debate...

I just read the article it was interesting but largely misses the point of what is actually harming publishing. Actually some of the comments to the article were more enlightening. Take point #1 for example: 1. Publish for readers, not authors. The 21st-century publishing environment has tipped the balance still further towards the importance of the reader. The garrote that Amazon has applied, using its market share to obtain ever higher discounts from publishers that, in turn, allow price cuts that secure still more customers, is possible because of the behemoth's direct relationship to readers. To break this stranglehold, publishers must start selling direct. The longer-term advantages of using their own customer databases to sell at full price, rerouting the additional revenue into marketing, will outweigh any initial discomfort about eschewing the services of the world's largest booksellers. This assumes that all publishers will work in concert with each other when selling directly to the consumer to keep prices at an artificially high level. They will not happens because they are in competition with each other -- besides that is called collusion and there are laws against this. Besides publishers already sell directly, but customers prefer to purchase from Amazon because of the lower prices. Consumers, if given a choice will usually opt the lowest price for a given product. Sounds obvious but this is apparently reasoning lost on the big publishers. This also ignores the role of the bookseller. Booksellers know their audience and can steer their customers to or away from book in a way that an obviously biased publisher will not.