Troy

I had less than zero interest in both the conventions. So I have not idea what Michelle wore nor do I care. The idea of listening to all these folks telling lies for hours is completely unappealing. But I listen to the radio so I could not avoid hearing about the event. Listening to the talking heads talk about what a great job Bill did for Obama struck me as odd since my biggest recollection of Bill presidency was how he managed to ejaculate all over Lewinski's clothing, then there was Travelgate, impeachment, saxophone playing and being the 1st Black president. Can you image what they would do to Obama if he came in some intern's mouth in the oval office. Well the Michelle Obama photo is certainly political. As far as art, I feel it qualifies as art. Whether the art is "good" is another question. If it was painted rather than photoshopped ( and I'm assuming it was photoshopped), would it meet your definition of art?

Nah'Sun, all sure respect to The Coldest Winter Ever nothing you've described is particularly unique, or revolutionary. Indeed "multi-layered is a characteristic one would expect from any half way decent book. Check out a one conversation we had about the The Coldest Winter Ever back in 2004. Bestselling author Zane, who started that conversation would seem to agree with you Nah'Sun.

From Magazine Fuera de Serie The relevant quote from the article show below; translates as follows (using Google translate). "Never said it ensures that well-known that behind every great man there is a great woman was so successful in describing the Obama marriage. In the shadow of the U.S. President is a person whose popularity ratings exceed those of Barack own. This person is none other than his wife Michelle, who stars in the cover of the magazine this week. Political communication experts are no strangers to the overwhelming charm of the first lady and, knowing this, she even point will be key to the reelection of Democrat in the next presidential election to be held in November. To find out how Michelle has managed to seduce the American people, the journalist Paul Scarpellini detail the secrets of women who not only won the hearts of Barack Obama." I could not find a link to the magazine article itself Most people i shared this magazine cover with thought it was offensive -- no ifs ands or butts. Is this artist expression for a culture with different mores about nudity or is this straight up racist simple and plain. Incredibly many people found it insulting that I would even post the photo. I can probably never overestimate the Obama worship that exists in our community -- and I mean worship of biblical proportions.

Looking forward to seeing the list Milton. I have not watched video yet, but it is queued up on my Apple TV to watch on a regular TV screen one evening after work. Peace, Troy

Thanks Peyton for taking the time for sharing this information and sharing how AALBC.com assisted in effort. Peace, Troy

This is true. You also have to consider the commercial environment. We had authors like E. Lynn Harris, who was a true hustler, but also had first mover advantage. E. was a hustler with little competition. The same was true for Omar Tyree. I used to to call Omar the "hardest working man in publishing". He had boundless energy with an ego to go with it. Again with relatively little competition Omar did very well for himself. Over a decade later I can name a dozen authors who make Omar look like he was sleep walking in the 1990's. Authors like Relentless Aaron (14 book deal from St Martin;s Press) and Wahida Clark (NY Times Bestselling Authors) are a couple of examples. Today, hustling authors, are a dime a dozen -- the self publishing phenomenon has increased the pool of of these types of authors exponentially and the books to go with them -- competition in urban space is very fierce today. Anything above a marginal level of success will require a great deal more effort than E. Lynn or Omar needed to expend. Writing a really good book might help, but even that is not enough... (click images at the end of this post for more information on my thinking). Of course the same is true for sci-fi authors. The problem sci-fi authors have is that they have a smaller audience than Urban authors have, but one advantage is that there, at least in the Black space, is not a lot of competition. (Milton are you familiar with Kiini Ibura Salaam maybe I'll focus on Sci-fi Authors You Should Know after I'm done talking about married authors - can you email me your bio for an author's profile page). I assume Milton knows the demographics well enough to know if a reasonable living can be obtained by a writer in this space... Writegirl, I read The Coldest Winter Ever and do not really understand the love affair with this particular novel other than it's iconic nature. It is generally held up as one of the best written of the Urban fair, but Treasure Blue writes arguably better, as does many others in this space. It is far easier to Publish a book today, but more difficult, on average, to make any money with it.

Writegirl870. Thanks for the kind words. I really wish I had the time to delve deep into the phenomenon that is Facebook. From it's obviously (at least to me) over-hyped stock price, to the social implications for children in schools, to the control and ownership of our personal data -- Facebook is a monster out of control 2nd only to Google. There is some, albeit a very small percentage, of good stuff happening on Facebook, But like the rest of the internet the good stuff is crowded out by the garbage. There is not such thing as balance. I still log into Facebook a few time a day to share content posted on AALBC.com. But for the most part I don't use it very much for personal reasons beyond the posting of a few photos. While I have 5,300 friends most of my actual friends don;t use Facebook.

Whatever the media tells us to care about is what we focus on. We are easily manipulated lemmings.

Well Nah'Sun the oft quoted cliche; "We live in a white man's world" applies. If a Black person reads a James Patterson novel that is really not an example of "crossing over", no more than a Black person reading a Dan Brown novel. Black folks are just reading a novel written by and for the dominant culture which we are firmly entrenched. In much the same way a Black person is taught western white culture, religion, history, literature, music, heroes in order to graduate from school -- this is not crossing over this is just being "American". However Black people who want to learn anything meaningful about Africa, will need to do that on their own -- white folks don't need to know anything about Africa -- other than that is were their slaves came from. White folks don't have to cross over. The only time they do is when money can be made. But then we call that co-opting. It is really difficult for a Black author to write a book with Black characters and garner a large non-white readership. Foreign born Black writers seem to have better luck nowadays. The days of "cross over successes" like Morrison, Terry McMillan, Walter Mosley are waning. It would be nice to access to actual data...

Yeah I know K'wan is an example of "street lt" author who writes Sci-fi. I guess the problem, in 2012, is that the primary focus is to generate money and that leads to a lack of diversity in what is published. There are many reasons for this, but at the end of the day readers have a lot less to get excited about. And what they do get excited about is quite mediocre (50 Shades of Grey, etc).

Nah'Sun, here is my personal Harlem Book Fair anecdote: In the late 90's people would come by my table and see titles from John A. Williams get excited and buy a book. The last year I exhibited people would come by see titles from John A. Williams and not recognize the name at all, nor care to check him out after I explained who he was. I doubt you could give away a John A. Williams book today... The demographics of the attendees has changed over the years. I believe this is cultural, the popularity of Urban Lit is a reflection of this not the cause. Milton, you are obviously mission driven. You do not write books solely for fame and large amounts of money. You of course recognize that you are the exception not the rule. While I believe in my people too, I'm clearly more pessimistic than you are But it is not in my nature to give up so I keep going. Tina is extraordinary too. We need more people like you, Tina, Nah'Sun, etc....

I don't know Nah'Sun, folks never seem to get tired of the redundant beats, and the rehashed gangsta lyrics we now call hip hop. While we may tire of this stuff there is always a new crop of youngsters ready to consumer the music. It seems more and more folks never grow out of the music, made of children: sorta like grownups gettin' down to the theme from Barney and Friends. The same goes for books. The urban/street, erotica, celebrity stuff will dominate and the rest will struggle -- but again that is better than nothing (I think). And yeah, you are right it is choosing between the lessor of two evils. But that is the real world. You have to make a choices between the lessor of two evils because those are usually the only choices available. You compromise, and make concessions through all the time. I wish all my choices were just between good and bad things -- life would be of so simple. I think our biggest problem is our inability to distinguish between good and bad options; hence the f'ed up choices we make and our current situation...

http://aalbc.it/cherylwade Continuing my focus on highlighting the literary output of married couples today's couple for my "Authors Your Should Know" spotlight are Wade and Cheryl Hudson, founder of Just Us Books. If this type of material is of interest or important to you please consider sharing with friends and associates. From my perspective successes like these deserve more attention. Of course few platforms expend the resources to share stories about married couples because it generates very little interest -- unless the marriage has gone horribly wrong. The trend is getting worse -- lets try to reverse it.

Cynique, I completely feel you! All in, it will take about 1/2 a million dollars to provide a college education for my kids, that was in line with the education that I obtained 30 years ago. That does not include paying for private school since they were in nursery school. This to me is crazy!!? By the way, did I say that I don't have $0.5 million? Sure I could opt out of sending them to college, send attend a local community college, or make them play but lets be serious. For a country like the US a university education should be an entitlement along with health care. Today a world class education is ONLY for the rich. If you don't have some serious paper -- you better be a genius to get in and graduate from a decent 4 year school. Of course opportunities for a decent education vary from state to state - but the point is valid in general If we spent a few dollars making American smarter that would actually help the space program... I think one of the disadvantages of getting older is that you can see more easily how things will play out -- because you have the benefit of experience -- which only comes with age. Unfortunately it appears youth is what is valued rather than experience. Everything on network TV and increasing the Internet seem to reflect this preoccupation with catering to 12 years olds or people with 12 year old mentalities. I stopped engaging people on Facebook, they way I might here, folks. People really don't listen there and egos are SO much more fragile on Facebook. Facebook really is the poster child for the dumbing down of our culture. On a sadder note: Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, died today at 82. RIP

http://www.domainsforauthors.com/ This is a service that I have been offering for years, but have not done very much to promote it. Domains for Authors is actually part of a much larger well known company which I can not mention because of contractual reasons. At any rate, I resell Domain Name Registration, and Web Hosting (including very easy WordPress setup). The support is the same level of support you'd expect from any large company -- live 24x7 Telephone Support (a BIG benefit) all at very competitive pricing! In fact, I'm my favorite customer, utilizing this service most recently for my Edit 1st Manuscript Editing Service company's website: http://edit1st.com The easy domain name setup using Domains for Authors.com and the one click WordPress configuration allowed me to rapidly deploy a website and immediately begin generating revenue. And if you ever get stuck just call the support number and someone (in the US) will stay on the phone as long as it takes to set everything up. Peace, Troy

I love the idea of space exploration and would like to go into outer-space myself. When the US landed a SUV sized vehicle on Mars I could not help but be impressed by the ingenuity, creativity, concerted effort, time and money that went into the project. Like landing on he moon it was yet more evidence that given the resources and the commitment there is very little man can accomplish. So then, why are some many problems, which are much easier to solve, than placing a mobile laboratory on the Red Planet allowed to fester while people die, stuffer and loose their minds as a result? Of course given on the crop down here on planet Earth I could not help but be reminded of Gill Scott Heron's Poem. Whitey on the Moon A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon) Her face and arms began to swell. (and Whitey's on the moon) I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon) ...

I can't knock the Brothers and Sisters coming out of jail and making in big in publishing -- there are so few opportunities I'm glad to see a few take advantage of this one. I bet the recidivism rate for formerly incarcerated authors who have published books is miniscule. Na'Shun, I'm on Facebook because I have to be (for now). Sure I get business through Facebook, but I was getting business before Facebook came along. It is a big waste of time and contributing the rapid decline of our culture (reminds me, I did not do my daily "Author You Should Know" post, Maybe I'll do Steven Barnes). Milton, I'm on the same page with you about keeping control. It is a daily battle I wage. Some days, shoot many days, I feel like I'm losing but I can't give up.

Nah'Sun the parallels with Rap, unfortunately, seem quite valid. Oh, yeah I owe you a "Why Facebook an't sh-t rant". I'll probably blog about it when I find 5 free minutes.

The distinction between authors published by major publishers and who are self published have blurred. Some self-published authors are indistinguishable from authors published by a large publisher. I can name a dozen authors published traditional who work as hard as anyone in the game. In reality, an increasing number of Black authors obtain book deals after demonstrating commercial success on their own -- so much so, if seems as though self publishing success is a requirement to get a deal. If is true all authors need to work together, but this is rare beyond very small groups, or cliques. Part of the ABLE mission is to facilitate this collaboration, but building these alliances requires a lot of work... Steven Barnes and his wife author Tananarive Due are a fascinating couple.

It really is discouraging Cynique and it will only get worse.

I'm not making anymore contributions. The $3 amount make me think of the panhandler you asks you for a penny saying, "anything will help". It is amazing what political campaigns, in this country, have become -- contests to see who can raise the most money and is best spearing at the opponent. $750MM to become Mayor of NY, $1B+ to become president. I seem to remember the Democrats, and Obama, campaigning on campaign finance reform. Both parties are up for sale.. For anyone so inclined... Troy -- We've run a lot of contests on this campaign, but you should pay special attention to this one. Here are three reasons why: The winner gets to go to the Democratic National Convention, meet the President, AND spend time with the First Lady. Chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered for a chance to meet her -- and her husband -- in Charlotte. In addition to sitting up front with the First Lady as President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for president, the lucky winner and a guest will get airfare, a hotel room, and VIP tickets to all three days of the convention. You should give it a shot -- chip in $3 or whatever you can to be automatically entered: https://my.democrats.org/Join-Us-in-Charlotte Good luck! Joe P.S. -- Every time you donate in the next 78 days, you are getting us that much closer to a win on Election Day. It's closer than you think. Chip in today.

There will be no assassination. I can say that with absolute certitude. Obama as a martyr would actually be more effective, sort of like the no good dad worth more dead, for the insurance money than alive. Besides it is not like Obama is exactly jamming things up for the rich...

Let Us Create Your Book Trailer Let AALBC.com create a book trailer to help you promote your book. Prices start as low as $149. If you already have a book trailer and would like it to be seen by more people. We can also have your book trailer displayed on a growing list of websites frequented by avid readers. Visit http://aalbc.it/book-trailer for more information.

And China has more than a billion more people than the US

Congrats Sister as you embark upon you 8th decade of life! Love Troy