Troy

Cynique is that 3 out of 4 or 5 stars? Everyone I know who has read this book raved about it. Kam reviewed it favorably: http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/immortal_life_of_henrietta_lacks.html I have this book on my reading list, but I just can;t seem to bring myself to read it. Where it not for the rave reviews I probably would not consider picking it up at all. I just can;t image how this story can be as compeling as everyone says it is. I'mm get around to it eventually...

I just finished The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter. NPR listed it as one of the top 10 books (something like that) for 2009. I'd image most middle aged guys will be able to relate to this sometimes outrageous tale. A very humorous take on career, money, marriage, children, the financial meltdown. I highly recommend it.

CaramelGirl I like your avatar! I gotta get one of those -- cool!

During an interview with Wanda Sykes, Erykah said she does not make money through the sales of her CD. She also said budgets are smaller as well. I have to assume this is part of the reason to create such a video. On basis of grabbing attention I doubt she could have done anything which would have been more successful. The "bootyfull" Badu certainly got my attention. The controversy surrounding this video is furthure evidence that there is no such thing as "bad" publicity. Erykah Badu - Window Seat Video Wanda Sykes "Window Seat" Parody However, I purchased the first New Amerykah CD, from a wall Wal-Mart in Western Mass, when it first came out. I figured I could enjoy it on my drive back to NYC. I love funk, the cover was reminiscent of Parliament/Funkadelic, and the earlier efforts I’ve heard from Eryah were not bad, so I brought the CD on that basis alone. I listened to the CD all the way through and I did not hear a single cut that I liked very much. I won’t take that chance again. Given today’s access to information and opinion there is no reason to take that chance again with any other artist. So while the video alerted me to Erykah’s latest release is there anyone out there who can let me know if New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh is any good?

That's deep. The comments and the accompanying article "where is the support were very telling"

...from your mouth to God's ears.

Guest_Samantha_*, I have modified the board to prevent "quest" posting. Actually this is something I intended to do from jump, but never got around to doing it. I've never prevented anyone from posting, nor do I “grant permission”. Anyone may post here, or not; it is up to them. The only requirement (as of today) is that people must register before posting. If you have a Facebook account it is simple. If you want to maintain your anonymity (or you don’t have a Facebook account), you may still register here directly.

Y'all know I try to maintain a hands off approach -- even when folks try to drag me into the middle of stuff. I don't have the time or inclination to mediate disputes. I defintely don't have the time or desire to prove someone else's identity -- don't even to ask I'm not going to do it.

VIDEO: Sho Baraka's "We Can Be More" (Official) Video .mov http://post.ly/VGyQ 8:53 PM Mar 24th via Posterous VIDEO: from Shadow And Act » Watch “White Teeth,” Based On The Novel By Zadie Smith http://post.ly/VGtf 8:45 PM Mar 24th via Posterous PUB: New Millennium Writings Awards Competition http://post.ly/VGpK 8:37 PM Mar 24th via Posterous PUB: Noble Row Short Fiction Award 2010 http://post.ly/VGkT 8:30 PM Mar 24th via Posterous PUB: BOMB Magazine 2010 Poetry Contest http://post.ly/VGfs 8:22 PM Mar 24th via Posterous INDIA: Walking With The Comrades : from Information Clearing House http://post.ly/VGcg 8:17 PM Mar 24th via Posterous INTERVIEW: Arundhati Roy—Why Democracy Is “The Biggest Scam in the World” : from Information Clearing House http://post.ly/VGaD 8:14 PM Mar 24th via Posterous VIDEO: "FLOW" - For The Love Of Water 1/8 http://post.ly/VGYL 8:10 PM Mar 24th via Posterous EVENT: Atlanta—"CARRY ME HOME" - Heading to Atlanta (Women of Color Arts & Film Festival) http://post.ly/VGUb 8:02 PM Mar 24th via Posterous EVENT: Washington, DC—Join Sisterspace and Books for its First Great-Grand Poetry Slam! http://post.ly/VGRL 7:58 PM Mar 24th via Posterous ===================== To get up dates as they are posted, follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/) >@neogriot or "friend" me on Facebook >http://www.facebook.com/kalamu.salaam You can also subscribe directly to the neo•griot blog through email or with an rss feed >http://kalamu.posterous.com/ ------------------------------------ Visit our music website: "Breath of Life - a conversation about black music" www.kalamu.com/bolYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kalamu/ <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo....oup/kalamu/join (Yahoo! ID required)

#1 - You can customize the landing page of your Facebook Fan Page Check out the AALBC.com Fan Page Click here for instructions #2 - You can completely embed you Youtube Channel in your facebook Fan page. Check out mine

"Your writers are invited to submit their poetry, fiction, or essays for our June 2010, issue. For details visit: http://www.thewritersliterarymuse.com" Michael D. Brown Editor

Check out the NY Times article about the National Black Writers' Conference which begin this Thursday in Brooklyn NYC. If you attend the VIP reception you can score this high quality AALBC.com bag:

Interesting... http://afieldnegro.com/photos.html

Deep. Chris I agree. Cynique I'm afraid we have always been a "populace of predators" we have just become more sophistcated and sneaky about it. Asar, the same thing can be extended to education, health care, the ability to create wealth, etc. The American system, despite it's abundant resources favors the wealthy minority -- and they don't really care about anyone else. However change is possible. In fact, it is inevitable. But real "change" will never some from someone like an Obama he has too much too loose if the current system were to change dramatically. It seems real change comes from the actions of young people. However any youthful threat is quickly snuffed out. Sure we'll name streets after the martyred, but the young revolutionaries are, nonetheless, quickly terminated. This is why Obama does not have to worry about being assassinated. It is more likely change may be forced upon us by another country, who smells blood here and senses a weakness. But that kind of change will not benefit anyone reading this... I wish I could live another 100 years and see where this "thing of ours" ends up.

Ok I'm jealous. But FK can you say that you've met Thumper, Yukio, or ABM even, dare I say... Kola Boof! OK i was joking aboiut ABM I've never met him.

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I liked it most because it showed what people can do if they put their heads together...

We had skilled publishing professionals among us, so we never considered using a vanity press. Instead, each of the twelve of us tossed in $500 and formed a small business. One of us went to San Francisco City Hall to process our business name, Wild Writing Women Press. Another bought the ISBN and bar code; others hired a book designer, edited, proofread, created a website, and chose a printer. Promotion was easy because we had 12 professional adventure travel writers talking up the book in the course of marketing our other books and projects. Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel was an instant hit. We sold all 1,000 copies in the first week of publication and made back more than double our investment. Eighteen traditional publishers were suddenly interested in purchasing the book. The group decided -- by a skinny 7 to 5 vote -- to sell it to Globe-Pequot. Self-publishing success? Well, it's 2010 and we've yet to see any royalties. Read the rest of the Article

Bowker's New Book Title Statistics There is a projected 3% drop in the number of titles published in 2008 compared to 2007. However education titles are up 33% and "OnDemand, Short Run and Other Unclassified" is up 133% for the same period.

I just updated Wideman's AALBC.com page to include links to his new book. A free preview is available there also (it looks really good) and links to a few of his older works, (from the 60's and 70's) republished by Lulu. There is also a reading in the city (New York) this weekend at the Soho House from Wideman's latest. As an aside, I don't really understand the game plan (from a business perspective) on how these books are being sold. While Wideman is a great writer, he is a relatively obscure. It looks like his latest book will only be available via Lulu. Even setting up the links (so that I can earn revenue as a result of my online sales) was a relative chore. I can't even find an ISBN for the book. His other books ship in 10 to 15 business days. In today's world that is outrageous. While I appreciate that one can keep all of the profits if they self publish (I'm all for that), that does not mean however that you don't promote and make the book widely available and easily accessible as you can. Keeping the book exclusive to Lulu will constrain sales. I'm not convinced the better margins will compensate for the reduction in sales. Maybe sales are not important. Maybe I don't have enough information to understand what is going on... Right now there is some buzz amongst industry folks; mainly because a important writer is releasing a book in this fashion. Tina how did you learn about the book? Was it from reading Kalamu's blog? Thanks for sharing.

LIl Ze, Hollyweird is fake and phony -- what else is new? Thumper, why you get so easily tuned up over these type of comments?

I noticed this book cover on the "Buy The Cover" blog. It is a blog that rates bookcovers, not books, by title and cover design it is run by Lowell Thompson Actually poses a good question. I know we don't care enough, about each other, to govern ourselves...

Sheesh! Just when you thought things were running soomthly. Now I have to go into the syetem ban the liono spammer and delete these posts. Ohhhh I hate spammers!

Cynique of course it is self-hate. And in reality it is not a Black issue it is a human one; though I may have cast it as such in my last example. More broadly, consider the extreme case of someone who murders someone else. Some of us might say, "Wow they must have really hated that person to murder them". Murdering someone else is just an extreme manifestation of self hatred, turned outward. Usually the manifestations are not as extreme. Sometimes we show it by being unnecessarily critical of others -- mean really. Like you, I find the unorthodox names amusing. Again, while I would not choose such a name, I have absolutely no problem if someone else does so (I just hope those folks understand if I can’t pronounce or spell such names ). Much of the anger, and evil we see in the world is simply hatred of self. If you love yourself it is impossible to do evil to others. When I look into the mirror I see all of us (white folks too) not just myself. Erzulie Danto, you probably should have transfered schools. If you plan to enter a fortune 500 environment, you better get used to it -- only gets worse. That said, surely you can find one or two friends in any environment to make life bearable. If you can't, either it is a unusually evil place, you have serious social skill issues or both. The former you can fix by changing environemnts the later will take a lot more effort to correct....

Author Faith Murphy started a Blog on the subject of self-publishing looks like it will be another good resource for someone just starting out.