About New Afrika Empires

• What New Afrika Empires Is
• The Books I am Writing, AND Why You Should Care
• An Invitation to Exchange Links
• This Week's Advice to Struggling Poets and More.
• have a Question or an Answer? Here is Your Chance!

  What is your name? Question or BRIEF ANSWER? E-mail address?

Questions and Answers

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE IN THE NEW AFRIKA EMPIRES ENDEAVORS?

The importance of contributions that any Citizen of the Empire can offer can not be stressed enough. We are trying to build a support and networking system for people of African Ancestry, an interaction point between poets of color, and a reference point for literary artists of every background. In order for any domain, even a virtual one, to thrive, is for its Citizens to participate and interact with each other. New Afrika Empires should become a great place to network, meet people socially, relax in the midst of peers, contribute ideas, and mingle. So, remember in your travels here, today and as this site becomes a mega-site and moves to its own domain in September, that we are a society. Be respectful of others and keep in touch!

There are several benefits you can enjoy from becoming one of the many New Afrikans who enjoy New Afrika Empires on a regular basis. To enjoy them, follow this simple process...

First, become a citizen of the Empire by signing the Guestbook, and joining the mailing list/newsletter. As a monthly whose first issue debuts in September, it promises to be relatively brief and informative. It will tell you where you can submit poems, etc.

Second, realize that as a citizen of the Empire, it is your responsibility to participate, in order to get the most from your experience, to provide feedback to other members about their poetry, comments in message boards, conversations in chat rooms, etc. Other citizens of the Empire are depending on you to interact with them on a regular basis and make the New Afrika experience more fulfilling. If you like someone's contribution, or have constructive feedback.

Third, know that the Empress is always here for you, to provide support, to give advice and to assist you with any problems you may have accessing features. While this is becoming a commercial site where books by the Empress and others can be purchased, it is also provides many free services to its citizens.

The last and most important thing you can do is to come back often.

WHERE'D YA GET THAT NAME --"NEW AFRIKA EMPIRES"

Common question - where did you get that name? Well, if you have been paying attention in recent weeks, you already know it is a concept. The concept's central idea is that Black People, whether descended from slaves, or immigrated here by choice, are a different cultural set. And no matter what you may try to claim, at least some of ALL our roots are in Afrika. But we cannot go home. We can go to the Motherland as visitors, but we are not home there. The connection, however, is still undeniable.
So, if we are not wholly accepted as Americans, yet this is our new geographical home, and we are welcome in Afrika , then who are we?

I don't know about anyone else, but I consider myself Black, African American, and most accurately, New Afrikan. I consider myself to be from a place that exists in the universe, but not tangibly. New Afrika Empires is the embryonic stage of making that world exist, if not in the material world, then on the World Wide Web. For more recent advice, see above topic:-How you can help.

WHAT IS NEW AFRIKA EMPIRES?

New Afrika Empires is a concept. It is My concept- that makes me the Empress.(Ya like that doncha? There is no need to kneel.) It is a place, but it only exists in your mind... so far. Picture a universe where you are who you want to be, with no apologies.

New Afrika Empires is where you can express your ideas freely -maybe with argument, but not judgement. Learn how to become a published poet--in the web world and in the real world. Come here to get tips on promoting your art form. Join a mailing list what is happening in black cultural areas of the Washington D.C. area. Find constantly updated links to places where you can submit your poetry and prose online, or to find places of African American Interest. Come simply because you are always welcome. Just come.
Above:- An explanation of the name New Afrika Empires.

WHAT BOOKS AM I WRITING--AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Good question. (I made it up myself, and I must say; I am pretty impressed.)I am writing books of poetry and prose, two novels, and two non-fiction works. The first one, entitled "meaning", will be available through this site, by the end of July. Samples of my poems are already linked to the Hello page.
If you are a poet, you should care because people who order this book will get a copy of my book illustrating how I made $$big dollars$$ doing the work I love for half-off, in coming months. The novels are called "Abiku Blues" and "Innocent Beguiles". I'm leaving you hanging this time. There will be a sample on this site soon....

You already know one of my non-fiction works, mentioned before, untitled as of yet. The second one is called "Latent Discrimination". I coined that phrase and it is copyrighted.
If you use it without crediting me, I will hunt you down and sue you.
Latent Discrimiation is a research project about Discrimination in America. I am currently looking for more people, of all backgrounds, to interview for the book, so if you are interested in being immortalized, email me. My books are cheap, informative, thought provoking and pretty darn good. And I'm not saying that because I wrote them.

Advice From the Empress

CURRENT ADVICE - Getting Published

This is going to be a short intro here, then click the link to go to the advice. It appears on another page, because it is no small task to discuss this topic. A more in-depth multi-page version, complete with a reference and resource guide will appear in the premier issue of Poet Tips, so be sure to sign up for your own copy on the mailing list. Poet Tips: News From the Empire will be a monthly magazine filled with poems from readers, news about what is going on in the African American cultural entertainment community, advice for poets, and locations for submitting poems, and feedback about the previous months poetry and short prose. It will also serve as a valuable resource to network with other African Americans, and other Citizens of the Empire to promote your current projects and announce your event. On to the advice... Getting Published.

The Empress tells you inexpensive and crucial ways to protect your work

SO, you want to know how you can protect your work inexpensively. There are several ways, one more effective than the next.

The first way is the poor way. Declare your work to be your own. Very simple. That is to say, as soon as you write something, perform it for someone. The more people and the more trusted, the better. This protection does not hold up in a court of law, but in the eyes of honor, someone in your locale would have to be pretty stupid to repeat your words and call them their own. I don't particularly like or recommend this way, because it is only enforceable by the beat down, and even then in small circles only! Which brings us to protection level number two.

Don't quote me on this, but you can also put the copyright symbol after your work when publishing it, even if your work has not been officially copyrighted. This deters a lot of people, and is free. BUT, in a court of law, it is worth exactly SQUAT! Enter protection level three.

In addition to using the copyright symbol, when you have gathered about twenty legible pages of poems, buy two stamps and two envelopes. Put the poems in the envelope and mail one copy to yourself. DO NOT OPEN IT OUTSIDE THE PRESENCE OF A JUDGE. EVER. Send another copy to someone you would trust with your life, and also instruct him or her not to open it. As long as the envelope is never opened, (and keep it in mint condition, a plastic bag is good enough, such that it does not look tampered with,) that postmark is extremely valuable, and will hold up in a court of law. However, it does not stand up against the highest level of protection.....

HAVE YOUR POEMS PROTECTED BY THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE! Your work is protected from the moment it is fixed and in a tangible form. That is what they say, but how can that be enforced, what if someone in Chicago sees my work on the web, and I am in Baltimore, MD? Well, for enforcement purposes, and an ounce of prevention, mail your work to the Copyright Office with a registration form and the $20 fee they require. You can get all the forms from their website, and also have all your questions answered. My recommendation --keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, only a student of the law, and any advice of mine you follow is at your own risk-- is to do all of the above to protect your work, and leave enforcement to a court of law. This will also help you organize your work and start getting ready for publication. ALL of my work is protected in all of these forms. If someone finds my workbook, I will be a little frightened, because those are unfinished works. But everything else I have done is copyrighted. And since the protection is retroactive, I rest easy even if I just sent it in yesterday. For more info, go to http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright. Their mailing address is Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20559-6000.

Get busy protecting your work, and next time, we will begin talking about how to get started becoming a webpublished and print published poet.

PAST ADVICE

Someone asked me, "How do I know if I'm a poet?"

Well, the first indication is that you care enough to ask. Now, technically, you are a poet if you write poems. In my opinion, it goes further than that. If you are certifiably insane unless you write, you are a poet. If you can overcome your fear enough to make up an alias and read a poem in front of people, or to otherwise share your work, you are a poet. If someone whose opinion you respect says "damn, you're good" about something you wrote that you personally think is crap, you are a poet. If at the same time, you could care less what other people think, and you write because you love it, and not purely for the approval of others, you are not just a poet, you are an artist.