Troy

Chris, I set up an advertising program several years ago. It was rife with problems. The biggest challange, in the Black book world, is finding sites with the right technology and sufficent traffic to make the ad network viable. I even looked beyond the book world. The largest Black sites are not Black owned and the remaining top Black sites, are not ameniable to this form of collaboration. The idea is just wrought with challenges.

Chris you simply get it--and it is refreshing. Sometimes I feel like I'm beating by head up against the wall trying to explain to others things you seem to inherently get. You put the Powerlist Logo on your site as a result you are; linking to MahoganyBooks and supporting a Black bookseller, one that is working to open a bookstore earning commissions on any book sales generated promoting the Power List the only national bestsellers llst focused on books by and about Black people directly supporting the authors of these books sharing a resource to readers looking for these books directly supporting the ever so fragile Black book ecosystem You see Chris, you did this without being asked. This may sound trivial to you, but it is a pround action, for I STRUGGLE to get authors to do this--even those authors who are on the list simply don;t get it! I know, it sounds counterintuitive; why does an author not support a platform that directly supports them and may even generate some income? I know part of it is technical, many auithors don't know how to do it. But I suspect that is a small factor in explaining the situation. Then again I ask, why does an author invest so much time and energy in a

alidawriter, Thanks for sharing your story. This is criminal and something needs to be done. The state of pathetic state of public education for many of our Black boys is of course directly related.

New York used to have much more programs like this on TV and the radio. Today this segment (the 2nd hour) has been relagated to the web. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, but virtually nothing is being done to promote the fact that this show is on the web?! Sure they have social media presence, but we all know how good that serves us. I also "get" the no one is gonna spend a dime to advertise the show. But at some point, folks have to use what little they have to promote what is important. Otherwise all the Black community is going to get on the radio is, top 20 R&B and a comediian with a laughing sidekick, Chris, the articles by the high students are very intersting. Are you still in the classroom? Also, I want to promote the book on the site--what happened to Lulu's affiliate program? I can't find it on CJ.

I have not decided what I'm going to do, specifically, myself. Right now I'm leaning toward leaving my fanpage up, with the picture like the one above, as a permanent protest on Facebook. I think there has to be a call to action explaining to other businesses (independent Black-owned ones, in particular) why the action is necessary and perhaps join the effort. As you mentioned it is important to raise awaremeness--that is why I don't no want to just leave. I would also like to help people understand how, through colloboration we can provide a better service to each other and enrich our businesses rather than Facebook. As the rersult of our conversation I felt it was important to distiquish the protest to that of one of our business owners (including self-published authors) and those of just people "socializing" with friends. Again if people what to socialize on Facebook that is fine with me. I just think we can, have to really, to give Black owned independent business owners a better option than Facebook. Simply put, Facebook is NOT OUR platform. They have no interest in serving us and they don't. Facebook is doing what they need to do, we need to do thay same.

I have nothing to add Chris. "Oh, on Facebook all of our posts would be too long and people would stop reading." That pretty much sums up what I dislike about communicating on Facebook, from a personal perspective. You already know how I feel about it from a business side. Speaking about long articles, the Amazon article in The New Yorker was excellent, but I doubt many of us will read it. I actually subscribe to the magazine and the most striking thing is the length of their articles. They take the time to delve deeply into a story which is more revealing and informative. Clearly there is an audience for long form content--online and off. But Black folks are being trained to consume small "Digital Chunks" of information... News is expected to be delivered in less than 140 characters. Black folks "look for handouts", white people are "seek funding." The resulting difference in perceptions permeates the entire culture, from crowd sourcing to investing in businesses. What was the name of the store? I want to make sure it is in my database: http://huria.org/bookstores/

"Most of us spend our lives looking for approval from white people, and white institutions and white corporations."

Chris to be clear I just make the contribution to African Voices, they live up to their commitments and even immediately acknowledged my contribution on social media. It was only after visiting Indiegogo to make that contribution, that I decided to look at past campaigns only to discover the none of the filmmakers provided the perks promised. Indeed none of the campaigns reached their funding goals, but they got all the money pledged (as you mentioned). I never thought about it 'cause who has time to check on these things... I too have sold ads as a direct consequence of using Facebook too. But Facebook has NOT allowed me to sell more than I was able to sell before Facebook was started. Facebook was not something I needed to help AALBC.com. Using Facebook today has just increased my overhead, and I don't think it is worth the effort Sure the world has changed and a lot of people are on Facebook. The mantra is that you have to be where the people are. I used to believe if myself. I don't buy it anymore. I'm trying to demonstrate that if we work work smart (or even better together) we don't need Facebook--any more than we need Myspace or Twitter. We have the tools today. For example, I have been about to grow my eNewsletter substantially using http://www.manycontacts.com/ 1% of my subscribers pay to receive it, plus I have one sponsor in each issue. My eNewsletter does not rely on Facebook (or even search) at all. I have no problem if others want to share a link to it via Facebook, I encourage it. But they will never read it on Facebook-- indeed it is not possible to even post this type of content my eNewsletter contains on Facebook.

Man I hear you but Amazon's business model is as brilliant that a crack dealer's; they are both gansta. Amazon unbeknownst to me is actually strong arming publishers--bit-h slappin' them in submission. For a stark contrast you should watch 60 Minutes coverage of Amazon then you will appreciate how the mass helps Amazon. 60 minutes by contrast was "Di*k Ridding" Bezos. It was hard to believe this was the same 60 Minutes that used to bum rush people exposing folks... For my newest website we are using MahoganyBooks as our bookseller. I'm glad to do this because I recognize the problem Amazon poses. I also understand I'm losing sales as a result, because we (Black folks) will overwhelmingly buy from Amazon before buying from a MaghoganyBooks. I pray this will not always the case and I'm fighting to ensure that it is not. See the "value" Amazon provides is an illusion, much like the value of aforementioned drug dealer, cigarette manufacturer or Ponsi-scheme operator. What little short-term value anyone obtains comes at the high cost paid by someone else--often the person themselves. We are too blinded by our own perceived gain to see the collective loss. The argument that authors can now get their books published, when they could not do so when major housed dominated, falls flat. You see most self-published books don't make any money. However, Amazon makes money on EVERY self-published book --whether is sells or not. Indeed Amazon doesn't even care if the books sells--they generate revenue from the book's production costs, paid by the author. If the book does sell a few copies they get a piece of whatever you make. Today a self-published author really can't do anything with their book without Amazon's hand is in their pockets. At least traditional publishers used to assumed the financial risk of publishing a book.

I hear you Chris. Funding the smaller kickstarter projects is the move. Giving someone who has the resources to pay a couple thousands dollar a ticket to watch the NY Knicks, courtside, each game, seems to defy the spirit and purpose of Kickstarter. Also, after running AALBC.com for so long I also noticed that it is the people with the least resources that provide the most support. The wealthy rarely do. I can give you countless sickening examples. As a result, I only support people in my position or with less. I also noticed, just today, after contributing $5 to a local magazine, African Voices on Indiegogo, that I have failed to receive most of the Perks I was promised for much larger contributions... If one of the Spike Lee's of the world decides to return my support and support AALBC.com then I'll consider changing my position of giving money to the wealthy. See the subject really is not off topic; this is exactly why I can't continue to enrich Facebook by posting content and engaging others on their platform without getting anything in return. It makes so little sense to continue to enrich Facebook at our collective expense. I'm looking forward to reading your article.

In 1995, in Chicago, Bezos manned an Amazon booth at the annual conclave of the publishing industry, which is now called BookExpo America. Roger Doeren, from a Kansas City store called Rainy Day Books, was stopped short by Amazon’s sign: “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.” Approaching Bezos, he asked, “Where is Earth’s biggest bookstore?” “Cyberspace,” Bezos replied. “We started a Web site last year. Who are your suppliers?” “Ingram, and Baker & Taylor.” “Ours, too. What’s your database?” “ ‘Books in Print.’ ” “Ours, too. So what makes you Earth’s biggest?” “We have the most affiliate links”—a form of online advertising. Doeren considered this, then asked, “What’s your business model?” Bezos said that Amazon intended to sell books as a way of gathering data on affluent, educated shoppers. The books would be priced close to cost, in order to increase sales volume. After collecting data on millions of customers, Amazon could figure out how to sell everything else dirt cheap on the Internet. (Amazon says that its original business plan “contemplated only books.”) Afterward, Doeren told his partner at Rainy Day Books, Vivien Jennings, “I just met the world’s biggest snake-oil salesman. It’s going to be really bad for books.” Read the entire 12,000 word article in The New Yorker

You continue to work it man. The notice here has 10 times the views as a similar posts made the same day. The 7pm start time is not convenient for me but I'll try to pop in despite my aversion to FB :-)

Chris Twitter started trading publicly last year. Also I trust you are not taking the lack of support, from your inner circle, on Kickstarter personally. The folks most likely to generate successful campaigns are those who need it the least (think Spike Lee). These are also the same people who benefit the most from social media. Did you see that article I wrote about Twitter? Cynique, in reality, my target audience are not people with the "humdrum lives" you describe. Facebook can keep those folks; they are not well read, don't have substantive opinions, and are not very interesting to me. I'm most interested in people like the ones participating in this conversation; smart, with the ability to articulate a well formed opinion. I like people who willing to learn, people interested in perspectives other an their own and are not insulted when people disagree with them. What drew me to this site (speaking as a visitor now), was the wealth of books, ideas and personalities--they are fascinating to me. Cynique I would never have had an opportunity to encounter someone like you were it not for this website, and we certainly would have never crossed paths on Facebook. You can't have a conversation like this one on Facebook. Where people can post photos, videos and 500 word responses. But more important to me is that I'll be able to find this conversation in a week, a year and even a decade from now. Does anyone have any confidence that anything they post on Facebook to day will easily retrievable in a few months, let alone a few years... People exclaim Facebook is easier to use, but from an end user perspective the functionality is VERY limited, so it should be easier to use. Indeed it is designed for the masses so it HAS to be easy. The appeal to Facebook, like reality TV, or even porn is that it is shallow, appeals to baser emotions and is easy to consume. So of course it will appeal to many people and the marketers interested in selling to them. I know my target audience is small, but it is certainly large enough to support another ten AALBC.com's., but today we barely have one. Sure smart people go to Facebook for the occasional diversion, but increasingly they go there because they don't feel they have any options. My goal is to help content providers (including writers) understand why investing so much time on Facebook is not in their self interest--if they hope for their websites to survive. I also want to work with them to raise awareness of our respective properties. I've been maintaining AALBC.com for almost 17 years, and I have been building websites for almost 20 years. I've also observed the internet, as it relates to content for Black people, since the world wide web was born, so I have confidence in my opinion. I do not think any other website interested in my type of audience can survive on their own over the longer term. If we fail we will continue to see a dramatic reduction in the number of sites providing meaningful content. In fact we won't need Google anymore because everything will be on Facebook, Amazon and Wikipeda.

I agree Richard, but Google's influence is strong. If Google keeps sending people to Wikipedia, people are not likely to change. Raising awareness is extremely difficult, as there are few platform that are willing to invest time and resources. You find more platforms interested in spreading word about Zane's tax issues, it is simply more lucrative.

I actually watched the film, but the point was lost on me. Satire generally offers social commentary usually in a humorous manner. This film did not accomplish the task. Steven Barnes wrote a book, Lions's Blood, in which the South was colonized by black Africans, and the North by Vikings, who sell abducted Celts and Franks to the Southerners. Thumper reviewed the book

Someone I know suggested that they should make a satirical documentary in which the native American slaughtered every European who set foot on these shores then show it in a predominately Black High school.

Post a link to your kickstarter here in a new post. You might also want to check out http://www.blackbloggersconnect.com basically it is a network of bloggers. I'm going to start using it more. Chris, in a few years all of this will be moot as Facebook will likely go the way of every other platform before it. People are already talking about Twitter is on a decline now...

First, thanks for responding here rather on Facebook Chris. Smart. I always post a summary of an article from AALBC.com on Facebook, but folks just reply on Facebook. The really frustrating thing is that comments reflect the fact that readers have not clicked through to read the full article and some of these folks are people who fused to post here regularly. I understand that an significant portion of activity, on Facebook, comes from a mobile device so leaving the FB mobile ap to go to the browser to read an web based article is not something a lot of folks do. When you sell through your own site you make more money. Of course. The problem is most customers only by from Amazon. Consider this, the other day I was looking for a replacement water filter for my coffee machine. I have been so conditioned to believe that Amazon has the best prices I look there first. The lowest price I saw on Amazon was $56 bucks. Times are hard so, I balked at a price which seemly to exceeded the cost of the coffee machine itself. So I looked around on other sites (imagine that!). Digging deep (going 3, 4 pages into search results) I found a company who sold the EXACT SAME water filter for $12.99! I thought something was wrong so I continued looking and found a couple of other companies with similar prices, so I ordered from one of them. The product arrive three days later ,tracked the entire way. If the Amazon price was say, $20 bucks, I would not have bothered to search further--and never discovered the $12.99 price. Today I would not buy ANYTHING online by only checking Amazon. In my world of books, specifically the Black book world, virtually everyone buys from Amazon--even when presented with superior alternatives. I'm collective data on this behavior now -- it is mind blowing! I related that story because I understand how people use the web. Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia and Amazon dominate because that is where Google sends folks. Something like 86% (I may not remember the exact stat. but it is a larger percentage) of people running a search do not go beyond the 1st page 94% do not go beyond the 2nd page. Smaller sites are only discovered in 2014 by the most most motivated. I know about some of these sites because I dig deep for book sites. But for book sites you have to go 20, 30 pages deep and even I don't have time for that. If you are a well known author, people can find you because people simply search on that authors name. If you are an unknown author--forget about it being discovered! This is why we need sites like mine and others--but we are losing visitors everyday. Social media can not pick up this slack. Raising awareness will be challenging. But I don't think we have much of a choice if we want to see the WWW become completely dominated by Social media, Amazon and Google. If you decide not to post the banner let me know what you dislike about the idea. Maybe I can adjust it. I need other to join. In much the same way people put hoodies on to support Trayvon. I'd like to see something similar-- but permanent. I know one aversion for some will be potential punishment by Facebook. But if you are not using FB;s platform, you have nothing to lose. But I'm not completely confident Facebook's influence is restricted to just their platform...

OK I found the group and signed up for membership. I will explore using buddypress on Huria Search. Also please use the code found on this page: http://huria.org/able/booklook-240.txt to update the Book Look Video on your website It will display a video thst is 240 pixels wide and will fit better on your website's template.

Hey Chris hold up on deleting your account I have another idea:

This idea is in reaction to CDBurns stating that he would be deleting his Facebook (FB) profile. His motivation was motivated by the fact that is was not working well for him. I’d actually planned to stop using FB myself, save for remote or automated updates, but then I started thinking why even bother with those updates, I should just cut the cord completely too. My motivation for cutting the "FB Cord" however is perhaps little different that CDBurn. I can get FB to drive traffic to my site. However over time I find myself dedicating more time on FB, joining groups, engaging with others, liking stuff, promoting posts and so forth, at the expense on AALBC.com. I'm enriching FB at AALBC.com's expense. Then I thought it would be a more profound statement to black out my Facebook Fanpage wall (using an image like the one below) I could then leave a link to a message on Huria Search (an independent, advertisement and social media free site, designed to promote other independent Black owned content providers), with a concise message explaining my reason for leaving Facebook and ask others join me. Ultimately, the goal will be to develop ways that we could use our own website to share and promote content in our own virtual social network, where each site keeps their individuality and profits from their content. I’m not even considering asking for the masses to give up Facebook (it will be hard enough getting content providers to do it). My focus is getting writers to stop posting content, opinions, ideas, stories, hosting groups or fanpages on Facebook. Instead use their own websites as their main platform and eliminate dependence on Facebook. I knew we were in trouble collectively when authors started saying "Follow Me on FaceBook and Like Me on Twitter" before mentioning their own websites, and they stopped mentioning other websites altogether. I’m fairly certain I’m going to proceed. What do you all think?

AALBC.com in partnership with MahoganyBooks regularly offers excellent books at prices lower than Amazon's! The price below is good until Sunday Feb 16th. Searching for Zion by Emily Raboteau OUR PRICE ONLY: $11.90 (List Price: $17.00, B&N & Amazon: $13.32) "A brilliant illustration of the ways in which race is an artificial construct that, like beauty, is often a matter of perspective."--"The Wall Street Journal" "Frank and expansive . . . Each impressionistic, deeply personal vignette is a building block, detailing [Raboteau's] far-flung search for 'home'--a 'promised land' that's as brick-and-mortar tangible as it is spiritually confirming."--"Chicago Tribune " A decade in the making, Emily Raboteau's" Searching for Zion" takes readers around the world on an unexpected adventure of faith. Both one woman's quest for a place to call "home" and an investigation into a people's search for the Promised Land, this landmark work of creative nonfiction is a trenchant inquiry into contemporary and historical ethnic displacement. At twenty-three, Raboteau traveled to Israel to visit her childhood best friend. While her friend appeared to have found a place to belong, Raboteau couldn't relate. As a biracial woman from a country still divided along racial lines, she'd never felt at home in America, unable to find her "Zion," which she defined as a metaphor for freedom. But in Israel, the Jewish Zion, Raboteau was surprised to discover black Jews. Inspired by their exodus, Raboteau sought out other black communities that had left home in search of a Promised Land. Her question for them is the same she asks herself: have you found the home you're looking for? On this ten-year journey back in time and across the globe, Raboteau visits Jamaica, Ethiopia, Ghana, and the American South to explore the complex and contradictory perspectives of Black Zionists. She talks to Rastafarians, African Hebrew Israelites, Evangelicals and Ethiopian Jews, and Katrina transplants from her own family, overturning our ideas of place and patriotism, and displacement and dispossession, in a disarmingly honest and refreshingly brave take on the pull of the story of Exodus.

The school is also the subject of a documentary film that follows two Black boys from kindergarten through 12th grade at the school. The entire film can be watched via Apple TV (the PBS station) or on line here. I found this film a bit long and a little frustrating to watch, simply because I'm just tired of hearing about these issue in 2014 when the problem is so damn obvious. One young man was not allowed to continue. Both were diagnosed with "learning disabilities." Maybe I'm a prude, but there was a scene in this film where two couples, all teenage students, were in bed with each other, apparently clothed, but under the covers. I found that scene troubling.

Dalton School Apologizes for Screening Slavery Satire By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZJAN. 30, 2014 The Dalton School, one of New York City’s most prestigious private schools, has apologized after screening a satirical movie about a world in which the South won the Civil War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQNOAGlnG9g The film above was screened at a mostly white, most wealthy school in NY City's tony upper east side. Apparently the film was screened as a educational tool. I'm sure some white guy, completely obvious and insensitive to how the film would might be perceived, thought the film was funny and decided to share it with his peeps (students).

Chris can you provide the link to the "social network/buddy press" area on your site or explain how it works. Also why don't you hyperlink your signature here so that people can easily check out your website. AALBC.com has a domain authority in the 60's and Alexa rank in the low 100's and I don't do the "no follow" crap Google wants you to do, so AALBC.com is a still a good site to have a link from. I also noticed that the content served on your site, from AALBC.com does not fit the position. I can either resize it or give you new code to use. Let me know which you prefer. The Book Look video program, normally in that position, is scheduled to relaunch in March. Facebook Protest I've already committed to not using Facebook in 2014 but I had not considered removing my profile. Now that you mention it Chris, that is really what I need to do too. I'm thinking it would be even more effective to make a statement, a form of protest, by doing something like making our Facebook walls completely Black. Maybe include a single line of text explaining why maybe just the word "Freedom" or "visit my website" That might be a little corny, but I think a form of protest would be more effective than just quietly going away--especially if we can get enough people to do it. You know the same way many people used the "hoodie" to show support for Trayvon. This would be a protracted long term effort to show support for indie independent content producers. We could even all update our profiles will periodic updates, explaining what we are doing to help facilitate our collective independence. I know it will be hard to tear people away from Facebook, but if we can identify the people who recognize Facebook for what it is and show they how we can help them get readers, then maybe it can work. I don't care if I'm the only one doing it. This is what I'm going to do. Again if people want to use social to play games and talk to friends, that is cool, but we should not we as writers and content producers should not publishing any form of content on Facebook or engaging with each other or readers on Facebook without any form of compensation, control or ownership.