Troy

Here is a summary of my relative book versus eBook sales from Amazon's affiliate program for 2009 through 2013. The graph does not reveal revenue generated or units sold, but it does show the mix of book, ebooks and other everything else sold, via the Amazon affiliate program, over the last 5 years. Interpret the graph this way, if I sold 100 products in 2009, 81 of them would have been books, one would have been an eBook and 18 would have been anything from a curling iron to a flash drive. You can see that eBooks, as a percentage of everything else sold, has not changed from 2012 to 2013. The explosive growth of ebooks relative to physical books, on AALBC.com, over the previous theee years has slowed dramatically. The literature I've read indicates that the same trend is true industry wide. Over all, the number of items sold was down 19% compared with 2012. Unfortunately revenues decreased more sharply as commissions on ebooks (often selling for 0.99 cents), dwarf commissions generated by physical books.

More from Facebook. It is so pathetic that I have to copy conversation from Facebook here so that I can maintain an archive of the conversation. Oh well... Guichard Cadet Publishing acquired too many middlemen (stakeholders) as we gained technological advances. Troy Johnson Guichard how so? Traditionally, in addition to the writer, you had the agent, publisher (marketing/promotions/advertising, editorial, design, accounting), printer, delivery, distributor, bookseller. In today's world, due to technological advances, the author can do everything, which is not working out in our favor. Guichard Cadet Let's use Amazon as the example since they're the ones that really shook up the industry. My first encounter with Amazon was around 1998...but it might have been as early as 1996. I used to operate La Caille Nous at the time. So, I was both a publisher of other writers and of my own writings. As the web became populated with websites, a lot online stores and publications sprung up, as well as marketers (reviewers, bookselling events, book clubs, etc...). Each of these individuals were working from a fee or percentage basis, none of them had done as the publisher or a brick & mortar store; in that, none had made a financial investment to receive profits from the book. A publisher was still grossing no more than 45% to 50% from each book sold to a distributor, large retailer or Amazon. Yet, each new stakeholder introduced a new cost into the selling (marketing) process of a book. The first to fall was the independent bookstore, the print reviewers, Borders, etc...These new stakeholders segmented the marketplace with most of their sales being channeled (un/knowingly) to sellers like Amazon, Wal-mart, etc... Troy Johnson I'm still really not clear on what you mean. But I will agree that Amazon shook up the industry it is one of the reasons I stopped selling books direct -- people just wanted the lowest price and really did not care about anything else. We are rapidly approaching a point where books will only be available online, from Amazon. Given our behavior it appears this is what most of us want--that is until Amazon starts to increase prices due to the lack of competition. Initially technology was an enabler, today technology is used a a means of controlling the vast majority of us. We used to have a choice. I'm on Facebook contributing content here for free not because I want to be here, but because this is where everyone is now. We enrich Facebook and Amazon at our own expense. Guichard Cadet As you know, Amazon and Facebook operate differently. FB is killing print advertising or independent online advertising. Amazon had a long-term plan though it was not obvious in the beginning, or they came up on it by accident. In the beginning, there was "Amazon Advantage" for small publishers. The cost was $45 per year and they handled everything except shipping. From there they created, this new costlier model for which and many other small publishers bailed. When they saw our initial response, Amazon turned to the Affiliate Model where anyone could sell a publisher's book...that was the beginning of the end. I still have that account but have never bothered to set it up though I have links to them on blogs, etc...It was at this time that many of the new stakeholders had a choice/chance to take a stand. Why affiliate with Amazon, when you already had a database of contacts with nearly all of the new independent Black presses and writers? For example, I still have my catalog of books. I still could use a tech-savvy person to restart, as can many of the former presses and writers who are still trying to make it happen. Imagine your company being the the exclusive online channel for dozens of independent presses...and Amazon having to contact your company to get our books. Troy Johnson Guichard, we both go way back. I still have your old page online: http://aalbc.com/writers/lacaille.htm (though I need to update it). Your idea is an excellent one and seemingly a no-brainer. Basically we have exclusive products that Amazon can not under cut because they don't have them. Here is the problem. Please will not buy from us. They will simply buy a different product from Amazon. I've been down this road before. Indeed I trying to execute on this strategy now with embarrassingly dismal results. We have a site called the Power List we research on African American reading habits and publish a bestsellers list each quarter, which is taking more time than I hoped to gain traction, but that is another story. At any rate after the second list we went with a Black book seller to fulfill online book sales. Guess how many people transacted after sending over 1,500 potential customers--zero. When I was using Amazon, B&N and Indiebound. 8% of the visitors converted (purchased books). All of the sales from Amazon-- from B&N or Indiebound. I could go on. But the issues are profound -- even this conversation would have taken place on my site today I serve at the largess of facebook, without compensation..

Comments from Facebook: Chris Burns It is a hard task both writing and reading. The author is correct, but the primary problem IS the large publishing house. They created a hierarchy in the publishing world. The process of publishing through traditional methods with a book that isn't Fifty Shades of provocative, or self help is becoming harder and if you literally don't know someone, even good work goes in the slush pile. It's very hard to build a career. Even if your writing shows growth and direction, without gaining access to publishing you are left trying to figure the world out. Self publishing is not a help when so many books are available and the person with the most time becomes the most successful. I keep telling myself to get dedicated to the business, but when there are only losses and no monetary benefits, it's hard to remain interested in the literary world. Claxton Graham Great points, Chris Burns. There are very few, if any, major houses today that even accept submissions unless they come through an agent. And although the proliferation of e-readers has made it much easier for writers to get their work published, it has also subjected readers to work that shouldn't have been published in the first place. Much as I'd love to pursue publishing a novel, you're right that it's darn near impossible to do so unless you know people int he business. It's disheartening. Melody Guy There are fewer places to sell books as well. No Borders, fewer indies, B&N closing locations. And that in turn affects what gets published. But I think there is a lot of opportunity in terms of writers being able to connect directly to the reader. But that is an investment of time and resources. Chris Burns Melody there in lies the problem, time and resources. If you have any sort of responsibilities it becomes very difficult to spend the time "networking" to get people to take a chance on your book. To advertise and then send copies to bookclubs or to publishers for getting published traditionally, it's expensive on both fronts. Like Claxton said, it's disheartening. I can't speak for others but in regard to my "writing career" I've been at it since 95. I even did what is consider correct: BA in English, MFA in Creative Writing, practiced my craft and studied... and ready voraciously. I even had an agent, but I have never really made a dent in this industry. Eventually I became a professor and then I stopped teaching and left the arts completely other than running the blog on a very part time basis. I know for a fact that my writing is good, but I could never catch a break and life got in the way. If you are self publishing it takes money, if you are submitting to publishers and agents, it takes money. I guess I'd like to end this on a positive note; some people are making a living and my inability to do so does not diminish the fact that some people are doing well.

This article is so on point. Needless to say, everything this writer points out as a problem is hyper-exaggerated in the Black community. I see a few indications that things may be turning around; (1) eBooks sales appears to be slowing down. for example, eBooks sales as a percentage of total books sales, on AALBC.com, for 2013 looks like it will be lower than 2012. I'm still compiling my information, but I've already read other articles suggesting that eBooks sales have flattened out; (2) readers may be suffering from social media fatigue, which will pick up as social media platforms ramp up on advertising, and readers realize that the “mirroring” of existing tastes hamper the discovery anything new (which the author writes about); (3) more complaining by people about the adverse impact of the domination of the book industry by a handful of corporations is raising awareness among readers which may prompt more action. But this is very little. In my opinion, the short term prospects, especially in the Black community, are grim. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I suspect things will get worse before the get better.

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Reader The convergence of several trends leaves the book-buying public out in the cold. by Colin Robinson, co-publisher of OR Books. “TO read a novel is a difficult and complex art,” Virginia Woolf wrote in a 1925 essay, “How to Read a Book.” Today, with our powers of concentration atrophied by the staccato communication of the Internet and attention easily diverted to addictive entertainment on our phones and tablets, book-length reading is harder still. It’s not just more difficult to find the time and focus that a book demands. Longstanding allies of the reader, professionals who have traditionally provided guidance for those picking up a book, are disappearing fast. The broad, inclusive conversation around interesting titles that such experts helped facilitate is likewise dissipating. Reading, always a solitary affair, is increasingly a lonely one. A range of related factors have brought this to a head. Start with the publishing companies: Overall book sales have been anemic in recent years, declining 6 percent in the first half of 2013 alone. But the profits of publishers have remained largely intact; in the same period only one of what were then still the “big six” trade houses reported a decline on its bottom line. This is partly because of the higher margins on e-books. But it has also been achieved by publishers cutting costs, especially for mid-list titles. Read the rest of this article at the NY Times.

Wanda Coleman (Nov. 13, 1946 – Nov. 22, 2013) Often things get past me. I just learned today that Wanda Coleman passed. I share the news hear because she is definitely "An Author You Should Know" I'm sorry I never got the opportunity to meet Wanda in person. Just check out her work. As you can see she was only 67, which seems to so young...

Richard, while fiscal management is always important, every bookstore's situation is different. From my observations poor fiscal management does not explain the entire story when looking at the relative success of a bookstores in general and the demise of Black owned indie stores in particular. For example McNally Jackson was started by Sarah McNally who parents ran the largest book store chain in Canada, McNally Robinson (a photo of the inside of the one of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan stored is pictured below). As a result, New York City's McNally Jackson started with experience, resources, connections and expertise few other bookstores start with. As a result, the have room to experiment and take chances that others stores can not afford. The can also withstand deeper shocks the the economy that most other bookstores can't matter how well they are run. Rizzoli Bookstore is housed in an expensive piece of real estate, in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country. It is beyond me how a bookstore can cover the overhead of even the physical plant. I see from their website they also run a publishing company so that may explain it but clearly. But clearly something else is going on to keep that bookstore running.

Someone shared their favorite bookstore with me on Google+ Unfortunately this family owned store, Russo's Book in Bakersfield, CA will be closing at the end of this month.

All of these stores are located in New York City. Rizzoli Bookstore: “The Most Beautiful Bookstore in New York” this is their tag line, but you know what—I agree. The store is spectacular. It is located at 31 West 57th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, in New York City. After looking at the books in this store you truly understand why physical books can never go away. One of the joys of being in NYC is that I can walk there in under an hour, walking virtually the entire way through central park. The video, by the way, does not do the store justice. Strand Book Store, New York City's legendary home of 18 Miles of new, used and rare books. Since 1927. I'm often in this store—usually selling books nowadays but I often went to this store as a kid as there used book prices books I would not normally by accessible. This is one of those humongous bookstore that you can wander around it for hours. There was an article in the in my local paper which said this store made more money on December 23rd that any other day in it's 80 year history! They did not say how much. But trust me, I'm sure the figure was more than many other independent bookstores make in an entire year. McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince Street, New York City. McNally Jackson is the newest of the three stores mentioned and is less than 10 years old. Being relatively new it does not have the character of the first two stores I mentioned, but it is a solid bookstore with all the trappings of a modern store, a cafe, Wifi, etc. “Jackson,” is a Brother, who used to live across the street from me. It does no appear he is still associated with the store I could not find an official promotional video for McNally Jackson, like the other stores, so instead of using using someone else's video, I used one I shot during a reading Victor LaValle gave from his novel Big Machine back in 2009 I'm sure someone is wondering why I'm “Big Upping” these stores since they are not Black owned. Well I need a respite from griping about all the Black owned independent closing and struggling. Plus I feel like I'm the only one complaining and I need to talk about some positive things—it is good for the soul. This site is about books and each of these stores are all terrific in their own, unique ways. Besides as majority owned stores prosper I have to believe that bodes well for a well run Black owned store in the near future...right? I could have very easily did this for Washington D.C., one of my other favorite book cities in the country. What is your favorite bookstore? If it is Black owned please check to see if it is in my database -- if not I will add it.

I actually use Cash4books from time to time. There is even a cool app that allows you to scan the bar code of a book, with your cell phone, and see how much you will get for it as you compile the list of books you are sending in. They even pay for shipping the books. Of course the free shipping is built into the price they give you for the books. And I imagine the "extra"10% may be built into what they give you for the book as well, but I recommend the service if you can use a few extra bucks the service is certainly worth checking it out.

Really nice to read the perspective of someone who was here back then Xeon. I HAD to change the software I was using for the boards. It was so much work to keep the spammers away. Then the server would get full and crash the boards. These boards get spammed every day too but I can ban the poster and remove all the posts with a click of a mouse. Speaking of YouTube, I get some crazy, racist posts on my YouTube videos but I never complain about them and I very rarely delete any. It is really too bad Youtube tried to ban you. The whole process is completely arbitrary and needless to say skewed against free expression. Thanks for popping by.

"With a career in the performing arts that has spanned a lifetime the acclaimed singer, actress, poet, activist, television producer and author, Camille Yarbrough is an influential figure still producing. Not long ago, Yarbrough had a re-release of her album The Iron Pot Cooker, made into CD, for a new generation of fans anxious to get some of Yarbrough's music and wisdom in their souls. Along with release of her new CD came the title from Spin Magazine that Camille Yarbrough is "the foremother of hip hop" and rightfully so, for she's inspired a generation of poets and musicians through her lyrics and passion as a dramatic and poetic performer." --DuEwa M. Frazier Read more about NANA CAMILLE YARBROUGH

I'm also looking for the articles where this author is held responsible to shaming her entire race. 100K downloads!? DT Pollard I see an opportunity, man ;-)

Yes it is Monster Porn (no I'm not making this up). Cum For Bigfoot It began in December of 2011. A stay-at-home mother from Parker, Colo., Wade had no ambition to be a published author and no real writing experience other than a few attempts at historical romance in the mid-90s. But then, she says, "I got this crazy idea for a story." So she sat down and wrote the entire book — more of a novella, at just 12,000 words — in a matter of weeks. She never even considered trying to sell it to a mainstream publisher. Instead, she went directly to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, an online platform for self-publishing with a 70% royalty rate for authors. (The average royalty percentage for authors with mainstream publishers is between 8 and 15%.) "Cum For Bigfoot" wasn't an overnight best-seller. "The first month, I think I made $5," Wade admits. But over the course of 2012, the book was downloaded well over 100,000 times. "And that was just Amazon," she says. "That's not counting iTunes or Barnes & Noble or any of the other places that sell self-published books." With no marketing muscle, no bookstore tours or print reviews or any of the publicity that most top authors use to sell books, she started bringing in staggering profits. During her best months, she says, she netted $30,000 or more. At worst, she'd bank around six grand — "nothing to complain about," she says. Read the entire article Read the full article: http://www.businessinsider.com/monster-porn-amazon-crackdown-sex-fantasy-bigfoot-2013-12#ixzz2ojgb5oJi

Cynique you are thinking of Lola Ogunnaike. She emailed me, way back when, and said she was being impersonated on the boards. No doubt Kola Boof was all over that conversation. But I can't prove anything. Oh and speaking about the "lascivious" photos posted by Kola -- Google dropped me from serving ads for a couple of weeks for the obscene photos she posted. I had to remove two or three before they let me serve ads again. But yeah those were the good old days :-) mosaicbooks, aw man the discussion forums are the exact opposite of editorial content (). If they reflected my views they would not be nearly as interesting. Besides the idea that you know what a PAWG is tells me something about your sensibilities. .

Technology and Falling Literacy Rates Are Writing an End to Black-Owned Bookstores by Frederick H. Lowe The number of African-American-owned bookstores has dropped significantly since the late 1970s and 1980s due to a variety of factors, including corporate control of the Internet, waning literacy and fiscal mismanagement. In the 1970s and 1980s, more than 1,000 black-owned bookstores were in business in the United States. Now only slightly more than 100, possibly 116 to 117, if that many, remain open, according to Troy Johnson, founder of the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC.com), which is based in New York. Read the whole article I'm glad when anyone brings this issue to the forefront.

From time to time I review the queries that drive traffic to the website. Once such query is for the term "PAWG." I was unfamiliar with the term and searched for it until I found my my site (an earlier version of Thumper's Corner) where I found this conversation: Black men do you ignore PAWGS? Cynique, I'd actually forgotten how wild y'all used to get I miss those days...before the corporate take over of the net. Can you image a conversation like that on, say, Facebook today? Assuming you got past the sensors and the prudes, it is still technically impossible because of the restrictions on what people are permitted to do social media. There is so much less freedom on social media today than there is on the broader internet. Somehow we are placated with only the "thumbs up" -- when so many of us really want to use a thumbs down, but we can't. Where else can you have a conversation in which a photo of a PAWG and Kathleen Cleaver are used?

Visit: http://www.putonblast.com, click the “Sign Up Now” button and select “POB! Main List (Arts & Activism)” box at the bottom of the form and be sure to put Troy Johnson or AALBC.com in the section that asks “How did you learn about us?” In return, AALBC.com will be shouted out to the POB (Put on Blast) Arts & Activism audience.