Past TRR IssueIn the previous issue of The Romer Review we discussed online book clubs and their impact on African-American literature. We will take it just a little further and give insight to viable author web sites and a few of the luminaries that have made them popular. Moreover, there will be a few sites that we feel are MUST see entities, author’s comments on why they feel a need to have them, and an in-depth interview with one of the preeminent web designers in cyberspace. I speak non other then Tyora Moody of Tywebbin Creations , which is currently undergoing redesign as you read this. Contributing writer, Patt Mahailoff gives her insight on website visibility that gives credence to the very need to be inclusive. Questions will always abound whether websites are effective. Of course, we have questions of our own -- most notably, are web sites that are being used by both emerging and established authors to market their product and to give higher visibility to their respective personalities really are viable in tying into what is being sold? In order for us to be taken seriously in the literary world and to define what niche we are to carve, it’s becoming more and more apropos that visibility be uppermost in the minds of those that want to have marketing as their choice for moving product. Of course there are other motives to want to have a website and people are using them in all forms. To wit, we especially want to give kudos to Book-Remarks.com run efficiently by Cydney Rax, which has been in operation since March of 2000. They have consistently given timely information and have done a yeoman’s job in adhering to their mission statement. Their goal has always been to offer exciting, timely, positive, and useful information to the AA reading public. As such, they have been consistent in promoting the literary works which are conducive in being reflective of what should be read, including posting information regarding new releases by mainstream as well as self-published authors. There are author interviews, book previews, literary events, book signings, and press releases. As a matter of fact, all of the web sites that are featured this month have similar content but is presented in their own flavorable dictates. Be ever mindful of some bastions of literary lore that we all glean information from…the likes of Publisher’s Lunch, Publishers Weekly , and Black Expressions Book Club – all with websites that fit into the report we give you now. The major publishing houses all have their various imprints reminding us that the Black presence is strong and should have their own wherewithal to generate money individually. I speak of the imprints, i.e., Harlem Moon, Amistad Press, Random House’s Strivers Row, and Kensington’s Dafina to name a few. Of course we can’t mention them all, and we’re mindful of missing a few other lofty sites worthy of our attention, but know that they in time will be discovered by you as you continue to turn pages. Enjoy the websites, and never forget that they are very important cogs in the wheels that turn this industry in the write direction!
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