Troy

She/He will have to post a few times for us to peg her/his identity. Even beyond the her voice, Kola was easy to spot because her posts never took up the full width of the screen. (I'm not sure if that will happen too) But if allforyou is a frequent poster and still true to her voice from the old board it should not be too hard. allforyou give me a head start and answer thiese 5 questions: Were you, initially a Barack Obama supporter?Where your were featured in a Carey Sunday roundup story?Do mostly agree or disagree with ABM opinions Men's feeling on fidelity?Have we ever met in the real world?Are in the the top half of the bottom half of the top 50?

Hold up y'all! Why the heck can't someone make up a name -- for their own damn child? ALL names were made up at some point. Why can't Black women introduce new ones without being the source of ridicule? I understand that you may not like the name; but come on, just because someone does not choose a name that mimics their slave master or that meets your approval, do they really deserve all this greif? From other Black people no less... Personally, I have MUCH more of a problem with the names of people from other countries like Poland, India, or even Nigeria. Some of the names are unpronouceable a native English speaker -- forget about knowing what the name "means". There was some cat, from India, in the corporate database from my last job with 26 characters in just ONE of his names. The feeaking database I was working with could not handle the name! Do you realize we are probably more likely to encounter a name like Balasubramaniam in a US corporate environment than we would encounter as Shaniqua -- That is actually THE problem. Besides I can definitely pronouce Shaniqua with more ease.

Carey I did not read you Blog post yet. But what you are asking for Barack to project a 'tude that, I doubt very much, is in him. Brother don't anywhere near as far as he has behaving the way you describe. If he changed his style they'd have his arse out of DC faster than Bill Clinton would solicit an under age intern.

Thnaks all4you I'm glad you like the new environment. Give us a clue are you one of the top 50 posters from the old board hre is a link to that list: http://aalbc.com/top_posters_from_tc_pre_2010.html

AALBC.com will be releasing an application for the iPhone which provides book reviews from AALBC.com, the NY Time and a few other sources. Visit here http://bit.ly/7kbJ5n for a preview.

The Top 10 Things You Need to Know about On-line Advertising by Troy Johnson Advertise on sites that target your audience. Advertise on sites that have high traffic. Advertise on sites that can provide details on your advertising campaign (how many times was the ad viewed and clicked). This will enable you to compare how well your advertisement is performing relative to other sites or forms of advertising. More is always better: The more targeted people who see your advertisement, the more people who will have an opportunity to take action (fill out a form, visit a website, view a video, or buy a book). Your creative (book cover, ad banner, or video) must be visually appealing (text legible, no fuzzy images) Your landing page (where you send visitors who click you ad) should be; visually appealing, free of errors, directly related to and provide more information on the advertised product. On-line advertising (advertising in general) is not a 1 week proposition. It takes time to build a brand; and continuous advertising is required to maintain it: Coke, Apple, and IBM still buy advertising. Budget accordingly. While the ultimate goal of your advertising campaign may be to sell a book; that is not the only reason you advertise (see #7). On-line advertising does not replace promotion. Continue to promote your brand both on-line and off-line. Ultimately, your business success is a function of your ability to maximize customers AWARENESS of your product that actually satisfies that customer’s NEED. To learn more about advertising and self-pulishing in general check out Aspicomm Media's Self-Publishing Symposium 2010 Check out a short Video from the Self-Publishing Symposium 2008

This is always a popular question. Sometimes the books which I list "that I'm reading" I actually never complete. I plan to start Dolen Perkin-Valdez's Wench I'm looking forward to this one given the positive reviews. I'm currently reading, on my Kindle, Malcom Gladwell's What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures this collection of articles is not very interesting, or at least not as interesting as his books. I'll probably read a few more then bail if nothing else strikes my fancy. My Mom has read the last 4 of Vanessa Davis Griggs novels -- she loves them. She could not find the Griggs' first 3 novels in books stores (no PC at home, to purchase via AALBC.com). I had Grigg's first novel The Rose of Jericho in my library. I gave it to her. I think she read it in 5 minutes. I asked for it back she told me, "No!" -- Ma just took my book. The other two I found on Amazon through a third party.

Congrats on your book Shay!

Hey Guest, you should also post your events on our calendar http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/calendar/

Thanks for the kind words all. When I get a chance I'll will try to figure out a way to bump people up to the level they were at on the old board. There is still a lot more I have to learn about administering this new board myself. Yeah, Xeon, the old board was really showing it age. We actually went 8 YEARS without a significant upgrade -- that is a really long time. Think about the last time you used a piece of technology for 8 years...

CriticalThinker, the meaning of the name is whatever one associates to it. Actually I would preffer to name my daughter Shaniqua or Tawanda; over soemthing like like Elizabeth, Mary or Madison.

Yes Congrats FerociousKitty! I know how hard it is to get good representation. Here is to a speedy sale!

I attended a book launch party last night for Wench it was packed. The acclaim for the novel is universal. I'm gonna move it to the top of my list of books to read. The next one will be in Seattle on Jan 25th.

Ruth McBride Jordan, who was the subject of James McBrides’s, New York Times Best Selling Book, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, passed last week at the age of 88. As reported in this article by the New York Times.

Here are links to the Thumper's Corner Discussion Forums (thumperscorner.com), from 2002 until January 2010. In January of 2010 the forums were upgraded and moved to where the reside now, AALBC.com/tc. Forum conversations prior to 2002 were lost. Thumper’s Corner (Renamed “Black Literature”) Thumper's Corner - Archive 2003 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2004 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2005 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2006 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2007 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2008 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2009 Thumper's Corner - Archive 2010 (Final) Culture, Race, and Economy Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2003 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2004 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2005 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2006 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2007 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2008 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2009 Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2010 (Final) The Poetree The Poetree - 2002 to 2005 Archive The Kool Room (discontinued in 2006) The Kool Room - Archive to July 2005 The Kool Room - Archive July 2005 to April 2006 Events (Events now maintained here: https://aalbc.com/events/) EVENTS - Archive 2005 to 2007 EVENTS - Archive 2007 to 2010 (Final)

@aalbcIn case you did not check out this book when it first came out. Sleep Don't Come Easy Click to order via Amazonby Victor McGlothin & J.D. Mason Read an AALBC.com Book Review I came across Sleep Don’t Come Easy by J.D. Mason and Victor McGlothin some time ago. I threw it in my “to read” pile when I spotted J.D. Mason’s name on the front cover. I have been a huge fan of Mason since I read one of her early novels, And on the Eighth Day She Rested. I have been hooked on Mason from that day on. Now that I am back into the swing of reading and reviewing, I reached into my mountainous “to read” stack and pulled out the short story anthology Sleep Don’t Come Easy. Although I have been in love with Mason for years, I had not read any of Victor McGlothin works. None of his novel summaries captured my attention enough for me to want to read any of his books. I was willing to give McGlothin a shot, and he did not disappoint. Both authors delivered fantastic detective/mystery stories. I dived into the book with a thirst that I knew was about to be quenched, if not by McGlothin then definitely by Mason, because Mason can do no wrong when it comes to a story. From the first page to the last, Sleep Don’t Come Easy was a gooey, sticky-sweet, delicious treat. I LOVED IT! Read the rest of the review Please just click through any error messages the review page might generate. I hope to have those bug corrected by tomorrow

Hey rainytoo. You can setup a permanent link to your Blog talk show in the Blog section. You can also add the information to the show in the events calendar. Thanks for sharing!

Well I decided to disable the old discussion board Sunday evening, January 17th, 2010. I worked out of the functionality bugs here that I identified. I sent everyone who had an active account an email describing the upgrade and relocation. I also send a notice to all of the members of the AALBC.com facebook group. That is about 1,300 people. I'll also mention it in the next newsletter, which will be mailed by the end of the month; and go to over 17,000 subscribers. I know some people are in all three of those group so please forgive the bombardment You know, after 8 years on the old discusison board I never did figure out how to put a smiley face icon in one of my posts

Kanye compares himself to poet, Maya Angelou. Kanye West is stepping back into the limelight — and bringing his ego, too. The "Heartless" rapper took to his blog Monday and announced his return to the studio, reports People.com. West, who has laid low since hijacking Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Music Video Awards in September, promised to "bring you the best I have to offer with the same dedication that Kobe [bryant] has on the court." The star continues, "It's funny how so many rappers get worse as their careers stretch out, but true poets get better." West writes that he wants to follow in the footsteps of giants like Maya Angelou, Nina Simone and Gill Scott-Heron (whose name West misspells "Herron"). In his usual style of all capital letters, West also wrote, "Their work improved with time. They documented what was happening in culture." The rapper, who is nominated for six Grammy Awards, adds that "modern day poets and artists" have a responsibility to represent what's happening, so that "when the powers that be try to rewrite history you can always look at our works and find truth." At the end of the post, West also took aim at the media, encouraging fans to "soak in positive forces and look down upon those who masquerade as truth tellers… Look past the headlines and deal with just a bit of reality." The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards air live on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. on CBS. Related Topics Read more

Yeah the learning curve on the admin side for the new board is pretty steep too. Fortunately the support supplied by the vendor is pretty fast; which was a primary factor in choosing this vendor. Click here to learn more about Dolen.

I'm glad you found registering to be easy. Looking forward to some interesting conversations!

Though I have not formerly annouced it yet (still working through some issues); this, the new Thumper's Corner discussion board is ready for use now! I hope that; The people who regularly posted on the old board continue to post on the new board Some new blood will be injected in the conversation People will take advantage of the new features benefical; including the Social Network capability, Events Calendar, Blogs, Facebook Connect, Gallery, etc. People can now sign into Thumper's Corner using their Facebook accounts. However you can still create your own login if you want to posts under alter ego. Before the end of the month (perhaps with in the next week) I will lock the old discussion Thumper's Corner Discusision Baord down. The old posts will remain, but new Thumpers corner conversation will have to be made here, on the new Thumper's Corner. In a day or two, I will email everyone (about 650 people) who has an active account on the old Thumper's Corner and invite them to join us here.

ABC News "investigates" why Black Women can't find a Black Man to Marry This was the most popular conversation from the Legacy (old) discussion boards last week. (read the conversation)

Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez I had a feeling that even though we are educated enough in the institution of slavery, there are still aspects that take me by surprise. Dolen Perkins-Valdez debut novel, Wench, is about one of those little surprises. The story takes place in an 1853 Ohio vacation resort which serves as an intersection of time and place for a group of the slave/mistress and their masters. The novel delves into the relationships between the women and their masters, and each other. Wench is a graceful, unassumingly powerful novel that was infectious. I loved it, a highly impressive debut novel. Read the reast of Thumper's review