Move Over Chicken Soup…There’s a New Book in Town
Posted on July 25, 2007
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Ladies, it’s time you told your story. We all have one…I know you want to tell it. I’m giving you that chance.
I’ve created a hot new book called “Flowers in a Urinal; real stories about real women™” and its purpose is to give women a place to share their story. My goal is to help women overcome obstacles in their lives by letting them know they are not alone.
We need to be empowered, stand together and overcome this chauvinistic world we pretend we don’t live in.
I come from abusive relationships, broken marriages, being a single mom on welfare, having a serious addiction to food and no self esteem. I have stories. I’ve overcome most of these obstacles and I’m strongly working on the others.
Imagine being alone, being afraid, being in a spot in your life where you have no one to turn to. Now imagine picking up this book and reading a story about you. It’s YOU! Only it’s been written by someone else. Wow…you aren’t alone. You don’t need to be afraid. You can overcome whatever it is that’s bringing you down.
Imagine being the author of that story knowing that you were able to make a difference in someone else’s life by sharing your story. What a rewarding feeling.
Ladies, take a stand. Tell me your story! Tell others your story. Let them know they aren’t alone. Help me get the word out to others so they can tell their story. Pass this on to everyone you know and ask them to keep passing it on. It’s time we united as women and let our voices be heard!
Send your story to story@flowersinaurinal.com
Visit the website http://www.flowersinaurinal.com (I’m constantly updating and making changes so check back often. Suggestions are welcome)
We all have a story…what’s yours?
About The Author
Tracey Tarrant is the Chief Gardener for Flowers in a Urinal. She is a devoted mother to four girls, full time business student and Vice President of Aberdeen Funding. She also is on the Executive Committee at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Founding President of the Chamber’s new Toastmasters group and Foundation Coordinator for eWomenNetwork Atlanta Chapter.
Can a Cheap e-Book Save a Marriage?
Posted on July 24, 2007
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All around the world there are couples who are in a failing marriage due to one reason or another. Some of them struggle on against the odds without any outside professional help until the inevitable happens. The marriage is over.
Why do some people avoid marriage counseling?
A partner in a troubled marriage may be nervous about seeking professional help possibly because they find it embarrassing to talk about their personal problems to a stranger, no matter how experienced and sympathetic that stranger might be. It is not easy for some people to discuss their innermost fears and failings even to a professional marriage counselor.Also, one partner may feel that their marriage is in trouble but their spouse does not seem to notice the danger signs and acts as if everything is fine. This can make it very difficult to bring up the subject without causing more conflict between the couple.
Is there an alternative to marriage counseling?
Because of this fear, thousands of people with marriage problems have turned to self-help marriage guidance book or courses, many of which have been written by experienced marriage counselors and relationship experts. Their years of experience with counseling couples with marriage problems have been distilled into books packed with expert advice and techniques.You can find lots of these marriage-saving guides on the Internet as a low-cost downloadable e-book, on audio tape or even as a multimedia product on DVD. Some even offer extra free bonus books and further support if requested. The techniques outlined in these books can be used by one willing partner on his/her own to change and improve their marriage.
Do self-help marriage guidance books really work?
The answer is very often YES; if you are willing to follow the techniques outlined in them and are determined to save your marriage. Many testimonials have been given by satisfied customers about the effectiveness of some of these marriage-saving guides and how their marriage has been saved by following the advice given in them. A word of caution though: If you think just by reading one of these books that your marriage will be miraculously saved without any effort on your part then the answer must be a resounding NO.
These books are, after all, marriage guidance books which show you how to fix a broken marriage; much like a DIY book shows you how to fix a broken fence. They will give you step-by-step guidance but you must do the actual repairs yourself. Along with the information in the book, the only tools you will need to mend a broken marriage is your own heart and willingness which you should possess already. If you don’t have these essential tools then no book on earth can save your marriage.
Conclusion:
These marriage guidance books may not be the answer for everyone with marriage problems but they are generally inexpensive and most come with a no-quibble money-back guarantee if they don’t work for you. They have helped thousands of people to save their marriages and if you are having marriage problems they may be just what you are looking for.
About The Author
Anthony Bradley is a writer for http://www.saveyourmarriage.co.uk/ which has many more articles on how to save a marriage. You can also read reviews of marriage guides here.
The History Of Audio Books
Posted on July 23, 2007
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It’s really amazing that you can get the exact value listening to an audio book while doing your normal chores as you would reading it.
Certain experts even say information sinks in more when we are not paying direct attention to them.
But when did this audio book phenomenon really start? In other words, what’s the history of audio books?
From all indications, audio books look like a very recent invention, right?
WRONG!
It is very easy to make the assumption that audio books are a recent invention because of the mention of CDs, downloadable digital formats, MP3s, PDAs and other technological jargons each time audio books are discussed. But audio books started a long time ago.
To know how long audio books have been, it is pertinent to understand exactly what audio books are.
Forget about any other jargon you have heard, audio books are simply books that are recorded to be heard, instead of read.
That being the case, such recordings of books in audio formats have been around for a very long time. If you want to be specific, it is safe to say they were first introduced over half a century ago.
It could even be longer, if you include the Library of Congress recordings made especially for the American Foundation for the Blind and distributed free throughout the U.S.
However, according to Robin Whitten, the editor and founder of the only magazine which is dedicated solely to the audio book industry:
Audiofile–http://www.AudioFileMagazine.com, Caedmon (now a subsidiary of Harper Collins Publishers) can be credited to have started the recordings of literature as far back as 50 years ago.
Going further, he said Caedmon was just a small company way back then in New York, which started recording the audio of great authors and poets of the 1950s. Specifically, he said one of the earliest recordings were by greats such as Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Fitzgerald and Robert Frost.
What happened then was that they were simply recorded while doing their own works and made as vinyl records.
But these early recordings can arguably pass off for the first collection of audio books ever.
However, the transition of these book recordings into audiocassette tapes didn’t happen until the late 1970s up to the 1980s. From thence, it blossomed until audio books in audiocassette tapes came to be accepted by all and sundry.
For whatever reason however, the audio book phenomenon didn’t really kick off until the 1990s.
And with the transition from audiocassette technology into CDs, more people have become interested in audio books.
With the advent of the Internet and its paraphernalia, audio books have now transited from vinyl records, audiocassette taps and CDs into downloadable digital formats that can be listened to with a desktop computer, laptop computer, PDAs, etc.
If you are still interested in “going back in time” you can get the original book recordings that started this audio book industry.
Impossible?
Not really.
Some of those early 1950s analog recordings by Caedmon which were performed by the greats of those days can be purchased today on the Internet.
For example, recently I was able to browse the Internet thoroughly and found the original recording of “The Lord of the Rings” as read by J.R.R. Tolken.
You can find that classic you have always dreamt of in audio book format if you search hard enough on the Internet.
About The Author
Janet Rusky is an upcoming author who runs one of the best audio book stores on the internet where 7000 titles divided in hundreds of categories are available for immediate download.
http://www.best-audiobook-store.com
Write Your Own E-Book - The Easy Way
Posted on July 22, 2007
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Ever wanted to write your own e-book but don’t know where to start; don’t know how to write a book; hated English when you were at school? Read on and I will show you how to create your own e- book and have your name as author and only have to write 4 or 5 paragraphs yourself, something anybody can do
Still with me, right lets get started.
What we are going to do is, using other peoples hard work, create an e-book that will sell like hot cakes. This sounds too good to be true, I know but stay with me. This method is one used by some of the top selling publishers on the internet, to create products time after time.
In another article, ‘Researching Your Niche - How Hard Can It Be?’, I showed you how to find niche e-book ideas in article directories. Today we’re going to use the content in them to create e- books.
Web site owners use Article Directories to submit their articles they have written so they get free publicity for their web sites. At the end of each article is a link back to their web site with a bit of information about their site. These site owners want people to take that article and market it to others so they get visitors to their site with out spending any money on marketing themselves. This is perfect for savvy entrepreneurs who are willing to spend a few hours of their time in order to profit for many years.
Go to www.goarticles.com or any other article directory, and type in the topic of the niche you want to write about in the search bar at the top right (make sure it’s on “article content” rather than search by author). So for example type in ” gardening”. You’ll get thousands of result related to what you have searched for. Now what I want you to do is simply go through the results finding at least one hundred quality articles related to the topic of gardening and copy and paste them into Word or some kind of word processing application.
As I’ve said make sure they are quality articles. If you create an e-book using rubbish you’ll just get a sky high refund rate and it will all be a pointless exercise. Do it right from the off and you’ll set yourself up for success.
Try and tie all the articles together into one sub niche. For example a sub niche of gardening might be composting. So you could find articles on composting left over food, what plants not to compost that kind of thing. Use a bit of imagination when using this method.
Email Article Authors
You don’t want to use any articles without the author’s permission. Remember the majority of articles will have been submitted so the author can get visitors to their site without spending a dime. However you never want to breach any copyright laws. To avoid this email the authors of each article. Explain to them that you are creating an e-book aimed at their niche market. You’d love to include their article in your book and you’ll include a link back to their site and information about them. Also ask them if they have any other articles you could include.
You can expect around seventy percent of authors you contact to be delighted you’re going to include their article in your book. Then all you need to do is discard the articles from authors who you haven’t heard from or who won’t let you use their article.
Put the articles in an order that makes sense and create a contents page. Use the titles of the articles as contents topics. You could even create chapters aimed at solving certain problems people in your niche have. So for example if you were creating an e-book on golf you could create a section on improving your golf swing, a section on the mind game of golf and so on. All articles would make up separate chapters.
Finally write a short introduction and conclusion. These only need to be a few paragraphs each. Tell people what they can expect to learn and make sure you sign off using your name. Instantly you will establish yourself as an expert. You can also link to your back end products at the end of the book to increase your sales.
Finally you need to turn it into an e-book to sell. Go to www.primopdf.com and download the software. Don’t worry it’s free. Once downloaded all you need to do is in your word software hit ” file”and then “print” and then select “primo PDF” as your printer. Voila. You’ve just created an e- book using other people’s hard work. This whole process can be done in just a few hours. Obviously you may need to wait a day or two for the article authors to get back to you but apart from that you’re all set! Anyone can use this method to create more e-books than you’d ever be able to sell.
That’s a great method right? I mean it won’t cost you anything to create a product yet you could sell hundreds if not thousands of copies and keep all the profits using other people’s hard work!
About The Author
Tony Evans a publisher specializing in helping people start their own home based business. Now you know how to create a product in one day learn how to market it by getting a free 2 hour video on niche e-books at http://www.lighteninghomeincome.com
How To Promote Your Business by Publishing a Book!
Posted on July 21, 2007
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There isn’t a more effective way for you to promote your business than to write a book! Writing a book not only allows you to provide information but it allows you to establish your company’s credibility, position yourself as an expert in your field, leave a lasting impression on clients you meet directly as well as to those they pass your book onto, as well as create a profit while you sleep!!
So how do you do this? Well, it is easier than what you may think. Here are seven easy steps:
1.Write the book! Create an outline of the information you want to provide in your book and write it! A full-length paperback book should be at least 50 pages.
2. Publish the book. The great thing about book publishing today is that you don’t have to mortgage your home to be a published author nor do you have to experience a slew of rejection letters from traditional publisher. You can self-publish your book and keep 100% of the products.
3. Promote the book! Once the book is finished send out a press release to your local and regional newspapers about its release. Also don’t neglect online newswires to announce your book to the world.
4. Give the book away for free to clients or potential clients. As a special “thank you” for your clients using your business offer your book! Not only will this help you retain the clients that you have, but they will share your book with the people that they know. Talk about inexpensive marketing!
5. Create a Website: If you don’t already have a website for your company, this is the time to have one designed even if it is just a contact page. The fact is that more and more people have access to the internet and they are always searching for information. No matter what your budget may be, you can have a website. Look into companies like www.freewebs.com or www.bravenet.com both are excellent for the novice and professional web designer.
6. Promote with E-Books! Turn your book into an e-book and offer it for free or for nominal cost on your website. If you choose to offer it for free this is a great way to build your email list. In exchange for visitors receiving your free information ask they to provide their name and email address. This will give you the opportunity to send them information about your products and services.
7. Write articles based on the content in your book. Take an extra step in establishing yourself as an expert by writing articles. Articles don’t have to be long they just have to be informative. Make sure to include short byline so that readers can find you and your company.
Writing a book can an inexpensive and practical way to promote your business. Self-publishing just may be the avenue you want to take when having your book published.
About The Author
Tamika Johnson-Hall is the CEO of Anointed Word Media Group, an award winning Christian book publishing company. The author of four books she is committed to helping people put their voice into print. For more information please visit: http://www.publishyourchristianbook.com or call 1-800-597-9428.
10 Tips for Marketing Your Book Online
Posted on July 20, 2007
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1) ALWAYS have a link to where your book can be purchased in your signature line. Never send an email without it. You can link to a website, your blog, newsletter, etc. as well. Keep the number of lines between two and four–it’s considered good ‘netiquette’ especially when posting to regulated groups or forums.
2) Request to do a chat in every available online spot you can. Offer to send a freebie as a ‘door prize’ but DON’T offer your current release. This could slow sales as prospective chatters might wait to find out if they win one for free. Book thongs, markers (very cheap to mail,) older releases, and other related promotional items work well . You can also offer a critique if the chat is writer-related. Get creative.
3) Target websites and blogs that are in the genre you write and offer to do a Q&A or an interview on the site or blog. (See above for possible prizes you might offer.)
4) Get your own website. This is important because no matter how much advertising or promotion you do, it’ll be hard to generate internet interest without a web presence. Even if it’s a smaller, free site, it’s better than not having one at all. Check into some of the more prominent websites that cater to authors and look into their specially discounted hosting/design packages.
5) Create a newsletter. Try to make it fun and interactive for both writers and readers. In my newsletter I include chocolate recipes and a family-friendly joke section. Depending on the genre you write in, you can even gear it toward your target audience. If you write YA, you can make it more teen-friendly.
6) Start blogging. Write as often as you can on your blog, even if it’s just a few paragraphs every other day or so. When you blog, try to include links to other places (even if it’s just to your own website) so that you’ll generate more ‘hits’ from searches to your blog, and hence to your title(s). Don’t forget that you can comment on other people’s blogs as well, leaving again, a link back to you.
7) Join groups and use them wisely. If you’re on MySpace, send bulletins out when you blog (which can be cross-posted between your MySpace blog and your personal blog.) Visit your ‘friends’–try to aim for at least five a week, for just a moment, to drop them a note. Keep it casual and friendly. Join other groups on the net that are for readers (like book club groups) and post occasionally–where your signature line will be seen by everyone. Aim for groups with large memberships.
Once you have your website, do “link” or “banner” exchanges with friendly authors or others that you know. Cross-promotion is fabulous for getting your links in front of new internet users.
9) Enter your title into internet contests, usually for free, but you may consider a nominal fee. Whether it’s a cover-art contest, or just a contest decided by voters and even if you don’t win, your title will be listed on the internet in yet another place.
10) Write press releases, articles, and reviews and post them in the appropriate places. If you set up a “virtual tour”, if you have a new release, if you win a contest, you can write a press release. Write articles and submit them to free-to-use article places where content seekers can grab your article (with the source box including your links) and use it on their site or in their newsletter. Every time you finish reading a book, write a review for it and submit it everywhere you can–like online booksellers such as Amazon.com. (If you alter it a bit, you can even send it out as an article.) Of course, with a link back to you.
Make friends everywhere you go. Be helpful to others. Volunteer your time. Offer congrats and commiserations when someone else needs a friend. Most of all, be sincere. This is more valuable than any of the above because it not only makes your internet existence bearable, but you’ll get help, inspire others to promote you, and have a host of opportunities already in place when your next release comes out.
About The Author
J.R. Turner is the author of the award-winning novel, “My Biker Bodyguard” and the Knight Inc. action adventure series. Visit http://www.jennifer-turner.com for more details.
Audio Book and the Future of Libraries
Posted on July 19, 2007
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Imagine a time when you could get any audio book you want to read from the library without having to physically visit the library to lend the audio books.
Well, imagine no more because it is now possible.
Public libraries from New York City to Alameda, California are now leading the packs of libraries that have begun allowing members to download audio books which they can listen to on their Personal Computers or portal audio book players such as PDAs — all from the comfort of their homes or offices.
>From Tom Clancy’s techno-thrillers, Arabic, Spanish, French tutorials to as many titles as possible, librarians can now enjoy the best of audio books without having to leave their homes or offices.
What better way for libraries to stay needed and relevant in the new digital age than this?
With the Internet, many people are beginning to lose interest in the libraries, but this move will help the libraries to retain their memberships.
When asked what prompted this development, Barbara Nichols Randal, the director of the Guilderland Public Library in suburban Albany, explained that they took the needs of their younger readers and other people that were too busy to visit the library into consideration before coming up with this move.
Specifically, she said, “This is a way for us to have library access 24/7″.
For example, the Madison Public Library has access to a subscription database of audio book content. It provides this service for people who want to access this information from the comfort of their homes or offices, without having to physically visit the library.
The name of this subscription database of audio book content is OverDrive.
Anyone that has a LINK library card and access to the Internet can benefit from using OverDrive.
Note that while some of the libraries allow you to download and even copy their audio books into your PC and/or other portable CD or MP3 players, others don’t.
With those that do not allow downloading or burning of their audio books, you will only be able to read them on your computer… while being connected to the Internet.
Whichever service or library you prefer, the point is that you can benefit from the audio book without leaving the comfort of your home or office.
Take the time to search for the particular library that you prefer and register with them. Some of them offer free registration for particular periods of time, while others charge a token fee to access their database of audio books.
About The Author
Peter B Butler is the Ceo of the Audio It Now Network at http://www.audioitnow.com.
Rare Books At Auction
Posted on July 18, 2007
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Rare and antique book collecting is a hobby that any person can easily learn, it is fascinating and can turn your hard earned pounds or dollars into hundreds (sometimes thousands) literally overnight. The skeptics out there will be thinking surely this is not the case. In a Pygmalion fashion let me tell you a true story:
I was with a work colleague who started talking about hobbies, he informed me of his passion for rare and antique books. During the discussion he told me how easy it was to spot first editions and that if you were fairly savvy you could actually make decent money from buying old books at charity shops, car boot sales, garage sales and jumble sales. Admittedly being an avid reader and wishing to earn extra money, putting the two together seemed like an ideal pastime. I was fascinated and wanted to know more, he took me to a local second hand bookstore, then on a web tour of the major book sites just to show the money being asked for some of the rarer first editions. I was taken aback by the difference in price from the second hand bookstores to the cheapest available on the web; I realized (as all collectors know) that a profit can be made relatively easily and quickly, given the right selling medium. So it would seem a protégé was in the making. Over the next few weeks I spent my time scouring the web and visiting charity shops in the local area. To my surprise and his, one of the first finds was a true first edition first impression by Mario Puzo for which I paid the princely sum of one pound (Yes £1.00) for. I listed the book on a niche auction site for rare and antique books and ten days later the book sold making a whopping seven hundred and fifty three pounds (Yes £753.00) profit. Needless to say I am now a convert to being a rare book auctioneer in my spare time.
Try it yourself, read the various articles out there on how to identify first edition books, go to your local charity shops and car boot sales and see what you can find. You never know what you will come across, or, how much you could sell it for.
About The Author
John Harvey has been an avid collector of rare and antique books for several years. In 2005 he started up his own antique and rare book auction site http://www.bid4abook.co.uk. The site is free for buyers and sellers of books.
Why Anyone Can Write A Book
Posted on July 17, 2007
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Ask anyone that you meet if they’ve ever had an idea to write a book and I bet that 99% of the time their eyes light up and they say ‘Yes.’
Everyone has numerous wonderful book ideas. My experience and conversations with thousands of people tell me that this is true. The difference between those that actually write a book and those that don’t is simple. Those that don’t write a book don’t believe that they can.
That’s simply not true. Anyone can write a book.
If you can talk, you can write.
Take a look at 5 of your favorite books, fiction or Non-fiction it doesn’t matter. In fact, grab a few of each. Now, open each book and read a few paragraphs. What do you see? What you’ll likely notice is that there is a common theme running in all of them.
They’re written conversationally. They’re written like you talk. Conversational style is the best style because it is easy to read, easy to understand and easy to write.
Take a look at some of the most prolific authors, both fiction and Non-fiction. Stephen King comes to mind as a very prolific fiction writer. Non-fiction writers might include the Chicken Soup series and co writers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. All of those books are written conversationally. They’re accessible to readers of all ages, income levels, and IQ’s.
Conversational style eliminates jargon. It eliminates large words that people have to rely on a dictionary to understand. Conversational style also uses the word ‘you’ often. It’s written as if you were writing a letter or telling a story to a friend.
Basically, if you can write a letter to a friend, then you can write a book—I promise. Of course you need to be able to plan a book too but all that requires is a plan or an outline. Once your outline is established, writing the book can take as little as a month to complete.
About The Author
Bob Burnham
Entrepreneur, Consultant and Author of ‘101 Reasons Why You Must Write A Book’
For Your FREE MP3 (Value $97.00)
‘How To Make A 6 Figure Income Writing & Publishing Your Own Book’ Go To: http://www.expertauthorpublishing.com/eap/
Book Review: Dance Of The Heart
Posted on July 16, 2007
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“Dance of the Heart” is a quick-read novel of only 118 pages, however, there is so much more to this story than one would expect. First of all, Therrian does a fantastic job of setting up the scenes, the characters, and the beginning. It was very clear to me who the characters were and what role they played.
Michael Baldwin is successful and flourishing. He is well-balanced in his career as a successful professional dancer and home life with a longtime partner, David. And, they just built a beautiful home on Lake Michigan. All goes well until his lead partner, who is morbidly disliked, accidentally dies.
Michael has mixed emotions over her death but even more so, mixed emotions when a new dance partner, Elizabeth, replaces Margo, the dead lead. Michael, acknowledging being gay from as long as he can remember, is extremely attracted to Elizabeth. The drama continues as Michael struggles with his emotions and ultimately discloses his feelings to his partner David.
Of course, David, as any partner would be, is crushed and reacts accordingly. In the meantime, Elizabeth, being only a temporary replacement for Margo, returns to her home. Michael, with all intentions in place, was going to tell Elizabeth how he felt, however, she left before he was able to do so. This results in more mixed emotions for Michael.
“Dance of the Heart” is appropriately named, because there certainly is a lot of heart dancing in the book. Does Michael ever tell Elizabeth how he feels? Can a gay man actually fall in love with a woman? Was Michael’s infatuation with Elizabeth real or a fantasy? Does David move on to other lovers?
What a wonderful story! “Dance of the Heart” is an account that proves how complicated love can be. Therrian’s story shows how we, as human beings, can spin ourselves into a hole of confusion when we don’t follow our true feelings. Michael’s mother, Sally, summed it up best by saying “You can’t choose who you fall in love with, but you can choose what you do with it. In the end, it’s all up to you.”
ISBN 9780615135007
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (5/07)
About The Author
James Therrian was born in Michigan and spent most of his early years in the rainy Northwest before following the sun to Maui, Santa Fe, New Mexico & California. James is an avid writer. You can find out more about Jim and his books at http://www.danceoftheheart.net/