Troy

This is picking up on a Farrakhan will speak before the Detroit City Council, to members of the clergy and to residents of the city. Acknowledging the Detroit's rich legacy, Minister Farrakahn opined about the city's present condition, saying "Detroit is where the Nation of Islam started. Detroit is almost considered now, a dead city. So we'll come back to Detroit where we began and loook at the condition of Detroit, pool our resources and try to buy properties in Detroit and start rebuilding one of the greatest cities in America where we're concerned." From the Michigan Chronicle. Are the Nation of Islam's goals consistent with yours? What do you think a city run by NOI would look like?

It is no secret the Bible belt, which runs through the state of Texas, has a higher intolerance of homosexuality than places like New York City. I think much of the resistance is due to being Christian, which is not a function of race.

I attended a service at TD Jakes Church in Dallas a few years ago. I've been to a variety of churches in my life and I have never witnessed anything like this in my life. The production quality (video, audio, lighting, pacing) was world class. The service contained a full blow gospel concert. TD Jakes gave the "sermon" which was preceded by a commercial of a TV program that he was doing with Oprah (I believe). I'm not sure if the program ever broadcast. By the end of the service the people next to me were in literally in tears. I sat in the guest section which were actually the best seats in the house. While I was not moved in the least I could very easily see why so many others were. So, if an charismatic leader of a mega church, like TD Jakes, can give people who are hurting some hope and a reason to keep fighting; through song, a motivational speech and a few references to the Bible -- then good for him. He deserves every penny he gets.

Pioneer something tells me this new reality TV program is not, using your words, a positive, celebration of normal or healthy expression of Black sexuality. I don't think the producers (Black or white) are disrespecting or exploiting these women. I'm sure the women are doing it VERY willingly, are being paid to do it and are even enjoying the experience and fame (notoriety). NYC Public Schools ban Youtube. I originally thought it was a dumb practice. But now I understand... I dislike so called "reality TV", so I have a strong bias against this show from jump street. The nature of the subject does not help. I also don't think everything needs to be in TV...

Pioneer your points all ASSUME that there is indeed a spiritual world. One could easily argue the opposite using your very same reasoning. Del, a horse has a tail but that does not make it a mouse because a mouse has a tail. That aside what is logical about Astrology? On my 3rd point, if you flipped a coin 100 times and got heads 75 times it would be false for you to say there is a 75% chance of getting heads on a coin toss -- even if you flipped the coin under some tarot or astrologically defined conditions. The reason is the likelihood of me flipping a coin 100 times and getting the same result, without consulting tarot card or astrological charts is very possible. Sure you can flip the coin 1,000 time and get marginally better results but it would still not be enough data. It would be better If you got 10,000 people to flip the coin 1,000 times under the tarot conditions and different set of 10,000 people to flip a coin under random conditions. If you compared the results between the two sets of people under those conditions and found a significant variance you might have something. Especially if someone else was able to reproduce your experiment and get the same results. You can't do this by yourself.

Here is a music video featuring one of the dancers from the TV above.

Does this type of programming matter to you? Do you have any opinions on how if reflects on our culture in general and Black women in particular?

When I play poker with my buddies I rarely if ever lose. When I play in the casino I usually loose, but am getting better. I believe success at gambling (poker playing) is a function of how good you are. Casino games like slot machine are pure luck. I image Del, that you believe Astrology effects or determines both one's luck and skill. "Science" and "philosophy" are mutually exclusive so I can't see how Astrology can be both. I think philosophy is a better choice. I would be careful using your personal experience to draw general conclusions about...well, anything. We all do it, but we simply can't collect enough data from our own experiences to draw meaningful conclusions about a larger population.

Thanks for sharing information about this book Chantal!

Despite my earlier comment, I have no problem calling Astrology a pseudo science. BTW none of my numbers came up in the Power Ball. I guess, astrologically, it was not a good time to play :-(

Del there is nothing wrong with symbols. Symbols are a great tool. But symbols and rules alone are not enough to qualify as science. I may actually buy a power ball ticket any help would be appreciated and I'll even share the proceeds off the top of my head: 34 - 27 - 59 - 17 - 6 powerball 2

Del The film you are talking about is probably Zeitgeist. I'm familiar with the quote you referenced, paraphrasing If it makes sense to you, then you didn't understand it. Sure that was just a coy way of describing how bizarre and differently the world behaves on a quantum level. It was, as I'm sure you appreciate, not meant to be taken so literally. The mega ball jackpot around here is approaching 1/2 a billion dollars -- tell you astrologer friend to hook a Brother up! I define science as a field of study that applies the scientific method (depicted in the image below).

Makeda, a novel by Randall Robinson is available, Buy it TODAY for $1.99 (offer is goo today only, May 16th 2013) e-book http://bit.ly/buymakeda Makeda was published by Open Lens an imprint of Akashic books. The imprint is run by three brilliants ladies Marva Allen, Regina Brooks and Marie D. Brown. The imprint debuted with l debuted with Makeda, by Randall Robinson who, as you probably know is the founder of the human rights organization TransAfrica. Open Lens goal is to provide quality Black literature. I'm sure you'll enjoy the book!

Del there are rules but the application, divination, interpretation or even understanding of those rules differ from practitioner to practitioner. Besides rules don't make something a science. Whether it makes "sense" far too subjective. There are many ways man has attempted to understand his world. Some tools and techniques are better than others. Some Christians feel Astrologers are practicing witchcraft and are certainly damned, others see Astrology as a way of understanding the universe that predates all modern religions... At the end of the day, the BEST way to demonstrate that Astrology makes sense it to prove what it is capable of doing in a way the is reproducible. Anyone who questions whether Astrology makes sense after that point is simply a fool or ignorant.

After discovering this video but after doing a little more research on the Life Changing Books to share in the next eNewsletter I discovered LCB has a NY Times Best-selling (E-Book, Nonfiction) author on their rooster Winter Ramos the author of Game Over. As far as I can tell it spend two weeks on the list. In Game Over: My Love for Hip Hop, "...Winter delivers a tell-all book on her famous ex-lovers and experiences in the music industry."

8,400 copies DT, that is excellent. That is 8,400 people that know you as an author, most of whom are probably new to your work. Now if you used an affiliate code that would have also been 8,400 people whose Amazon purchases you could have earned a commission on -- but I know you get it and I don't want to beat a dead horse... Please continue to let us know how the free ebook strategy works for you. Was there an uptick in sales of your other titles? Is Ratchet Woman now realizing more sales compared to other books you launched without the free promotion? Of course, I'll understand if you don't want to reveal all of your tactics.

Del I'm not sure you can apply the term science (soft, hard or pseudo) to Astrology any more than you can apply "science" to Christianity. Christianity is based on faith and Astrology is too subjective for either to be called a science. Can you clarify what you mean by "limited by its practitioners"? I would image everything is limited by its practitioners.

I never forget :-) But it is astonishing how many authors forget or simply do not know. Here is a link you can use going forward: www.amazon.com/dp/B00COSW6JY/tag=dtpollard-20 where B00COSW6JY is the Amazon product code or ISBN-10 These sales will also count toward AALBC.com's bestsellers list if you use links of this form which will obviously result in a lot of free promotion.

successful Indy Book Publisher

Pioneer that is deep, I guess that can happen because the design of the eNewseltter, website and discussion board are different.

Yeah my wife and I was rolling at the last part In reaction to the last part Bill Maher said apparently Ramsey must not watch keeping up with the Kardasians. I don't watch it either but I understand Kim is now in a relationship with Kayne West (how I know about Kim and Kanye speaks to the power of social media -- inundated with crap I don't care about)

Pioneer don't get me wrong I'm not absolving women of their roles in laying down with of Desmond Hatchett, then having a baby by him, but we were talking about manhood. There, in the 21st century there is also a difference between sexual intercourse and creating a baby. There are so many ways to prevent an unwanted pregnancy that it is ridiculous. I know life is complicated, things can get heated and a whole chain of bad decisions are made that lead to a woman giving birth to a baby who she then has to fight for some support from the biological father -- I get that, but 30 (24) times? At some point I think we can conclude that at least one individual involved needs to be stopped. I can't speak to all the other women involved. Desmond may have lied to and manipulated all of them -- don't know. ((Troy motions to one of Pioneer's scantily clad female servants to refill his drink. She smiles at Troy, almost imperceptibly, as she takes his glass, pleased to serve a real man. Troy nods just as subtly, acknowledging his impact on her. She moistens, quickly turning toward the bar hoping Pioneer does not become suspicious...))

Once a month I publish an eNewsletter which is emailed to about 16,000 subscribers. At one point, the number of subscribers was over 17,000 but over the last year or so I have lost more subscribers than I have gained. The biggest cause of the decrease is simply email addresses that have become invalid. The system that I use Madmimi will delete any email addresses where there was a "hard bounce". This is actually a good feature, as it help keep costs by purging bad email addresses. Madmimi charges you based upon the number of email addresses in your mailing list. In every newsletter I solicit and receive feedback. There are some issues which are raised often enough that I thought it might be interested to share them with you. I will also provide a link in my next eNewsletter to this post so that my subscribers can read my reactions too. Perhaps it will encourage more feedback. The reactions are always overwhelmingly positive, that is encouraging. My goal is to provide useful and interesting information. I realize I can’t make everyone 100% happy, but I do want to include at least a few things anyone can appreciate – yes something for everyone :-) Usually the positive messages are pretty direct like, “Thank you. Much appreciated” or “great newsletter” Sometimes the messages are a little more thoughtful; “It's my pleasure to subscribe to AALBC. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your eNewsletter. As a writer and an avid reader, it keeps me informed with what's going on with African American books and films, and other literary and film events. I recently re-released my debut novel, -------------------- , so I look forward to advertising with AALBC in the near future, as well. So, thank you!” or “My family had an unfortunate lost at this time, but hopefully I can send the 1%, . before end of May. I truly enjoy your newsletters, so informational, even when I can not afford a book I have the latest info at my finger tips... so for keeping me updated here in the Midwest were things are a little slower than your area.” or "I'd rather give you $10.00 instead of $7.99. I rather mail you a moneyorder. Just send me mailing info to send it too. Happy to support" In an attempt to help bring in revenue to directly support the eNewsletter I started asking people to purchase their subscription. The campaign plays on the concept of "The 1%". Where if 1% of the subscribers paid $7.99 for their subscription the eNewsletter would be much better.. The actual reach of the eNewsletter is 1,600 to 3,200 (reach meaning actual readers; people who open the eNewsletter email, in HTML format, and click a link). I would actually like to get 10% of the actually eNewslettter readers to subscribe which would yield almost $16,000 (an average of 2,000 readers * $7.99). Which would easily cover the eNewsletter expenses including paying for an editor and the writing of more pre-publication fiction book reviews – something I really would love to be able to do. I also learned many people who would otherwise pay for their subscription don't do so because they don't want to use PayPal. PayPal is much easier for me and makes renewing subscriptions much easier. While complaints come in less frequently than complements, complaints do come in – and I welcome them. Consider the following; “Why haven't you let us know about the new Maya Angelou book---Mom&Me&Mom--I just happened to find out from the Barnes and Noble website.” Here is part of my reply: I really meant to mention Maya latest in my eNewsletter, but I simply forgot. I have already mentioned it in so many places. I’m sorry you missed these. Most of this was done 5 to 6 weeks ago; Twitter: https://twitter.com/aalbc/statuses/313711762883112960 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aalbcfanpage (scroll down to March 18th) Discussion Board: And on Maya’s page on the website: http://aalbc.com/authors/maya.htm In general, the eNewsletter is just a sampling of what happens on AALBC.com or what I know about. I simply can’t cover everything. I know the eNewsletter is the most effective of all of my platforms as it is sent directly to the reader. It is not dependent upon search result or how social media decides how to position your information for others to see it. The really bad thing is that I discovered Maya’s new book the way any typical reader might. I did not get a pre-publication galley not even an email from the publisher. I might have even commissioned a book review if I had. From a business perspective I can only afford to do so much to promote a book for which I get no support from the publisher or author. An advertisement buy would be idea. But something would be helpful. As much as people complain about urban authors or self published authors in general -- they in many ways are keep many booksellers, like AALBC.com, alive and subsidize the promotion of authors like Maya Angelou. I actively look for new books from popular authors – discovering them is not always easy. I can only image how difficult it must be for the average reader to discover a new book, or how a new author reaches an audience (well, that is where AALBC.com comes in ) “troy you know i love you but you MUST have your newsletter *professionally* edited... “ What can I say, I agree. But the issue is one of allocation of resources. I write and edit the eNewsletter myself. While some writers are better than others at editing their own work, none are as good as the fresh eyes of a professional editor – I get that. If I got my paid subscriber base up I can certainly have one of my Edit1st.com editors handle the task. Then again with better editing I might have more paid subscribers Is the editing really that bad? STOP SENDING EMAILS TO MY INBOX! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO CLICK ON 'UNSUBSCRIBE'??? THIS IS NOW HARASSMENT!!!! The AALBC.com eNewsletter is double opt-in. You have to subscribe, then confirm you've subscribed via email. Also each email include a link to unsubscribe. In the past I have added people, who have attended an AALBC.com event, to the eNewsletter assuming I was doing them a favor. But I got complaints and discontinued the practice. So I had no idea why this person would be yelling at me (ALL CAPS WITH MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!). After a little research I determined that this person subscribed on their own, but apparently could not figure out how to unsubscribe. I deleted them and checked with Madmimi support to see if there were any problems with unsubscribing – none were found. It takes about 8 hours to write an eNewsletter and a few hours read and reply to the feedback. Of course the underlying content in the eNewsletter takes days to compile and post. After 15 years of spreading the word about books, writers and now filmmakers. I know it is even more important than ever. There are simply less places for our stories to be told. There are fewer book stores, and websites talking about Black books, than when I started. Coverage of Black books in Magazines, Newspapers and on TV is far less. Social media, despite the hype, has not picked up the slack (). Again I appreciate all the critiques the positive and the negative -- even if it is just to say you misspelled a word it is all good. Thanks! Click to Subscribe

OK now I get it after reading DT blog post apparently much of the hype has to do with the Brother who found these girls. The media is playing up the ghetto nature of the hero, because the public loves this stuff and as a result it is very lucrative. There are already a ton of remixes o Youtube, these people will profit as well. We live in a perverted society :-) Wait for the last part of the interview Ramsey come up with a funny line.

All of the data shared below was derived from the, 2012 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review, which is prepared by Bowker Market Research and Publishers Weekly and published 10th August 2012. I attended a presentation, given by PW and Bowker earlier this week where copies of the report were made available. The list price is $999, so I was happy to score a copy. The presenters Jim Milliot Co-editorial Director, Publishers Weekly and Carl Kulo U.S. Director, Bowker "The Annual Review explores demographic changes in the context of overall market trends culled from the Bowker Market Research consumer panel of almost 70,000 Americans who bought books of any format and from any source in 2011." Again, the information in the 2012 book reflects purchaseS made in 2011 (the 2013 edition will be out soon), so that data presented immediately below is somewhat stale, but still interesting and valuable if you are involved in the book business. Some highlights from the 2012 book include; Amazon is the country's largest bookseller; not matter how you measure it sales (26%), units or book buyers Online retailers accounted for 39% of consumer book spending Independent Bookstores' share of the book market rose 1% Bookclubs shared dropped to 2% from 13% in 2009 (ex. Black Expressions, Book-of-the-Month Club) B&N was the 2nd largest bookseller with a 16% share During the presentation the 2012 data (from the forthcoming 2013 edition) was presented and discussed. Online sale represent 43% of book purchases. Amazon continues to lead the way -- no one else comes close. Walmart and Costco appear to be scaling back on book sales. It looks like B&N will close stores going forward. Also we see that; eBook sales have slowed and the decline in the sales of physical books is slowing and appears to be stabilizing. women represent 60% of book buyers, 65% of units and 58% of dollars spent While discussing how people learn about books, social media was not listed as a significant factor. While many in the audience reacted in surprise. I was not surprised in the least. The most common way people learn about a books are; Like this author (23%) Other at 22% (includes, Radio, TV, bestsellers lists, reviews and advertising), In-store display 19% Of course this is just a microscopic sample of the information provided and discussed. The presenters Jim Milliot and Carl Kulo U.S. Director, Bowker Market Research will also be presenting at Book Expo America in a few weeks.