Reflections and Advice on EBook Publishing

Since my first article on publishing an e-book to Amazon's Kindle (Converting for Kindle), some things have changed with the Amazon DTP (Digital Text Platform). Instead of uploading a zip file with an HTML document and other digital files to be included, there is now the option to upload a Word document. This was good news to me because I had already been working with Word documents and uploading them to Smashwords.com.

This process was actually quite easy. My boss, the irrefutable Zen Comma master of the universe, David Bowman, asked a couple of years back, "Hey, have you heard of Smashwords? Let's publish our e-books through them, also." Oh boy, I thought, here we go.

Smashwords's Founder Mark Coker published an e-book of his own, "Smashwords Style Guide, how to format your e-book." It is about 88 pages of Microsoft Word formatting horror. After having gone through all of Smashwords's dos and don'ts, I was able to apply the formatting requirements to Word documents I wanted to upload to Amazon-Kindle.

I can sum Smashwords's style guide up like this.

    * MAKE A BACK UP! When you open up your original document, do a "file, save as," or copy and paste your original into a new blank document and save it. Do not reformat your original. If you get so lost in the formatting process, or do something crazy that you can't undo (not unheard of) and have to start over, you won't be able to if you don't keep your original intact.

    * Make sure Word's show/hide function is on.

    * Clear all the formatting in your document. (You can cry later; there won't be time for tears now, honey.)

    * Don't use font sizes over 14 points.

    * If you're going to use a navigable table of contents, you have to hyperlink them using bookmarks within your document.

    * Remove all text boxes from your document.

    * E-book readers don't require page numbers, so there's one step you can scratch.

    * You can use.jpg or.png images, but they must be embedded by using "insert, picture, from file."

Now, this is a really brief summation. I skipped over a lot of in-betweens. This is not meant to replace Smashwords's style guide. I still recommend anyone wishing to publish a Word version of an e-book to review this dreaded style guide because it covers almost every possible format issue a manuscript may have. Any little formatting that you missed will prevent your document from being uploaded (to Smashwords, anyway).

I did come across this nifty blog post by Catherine Ryan Howard, "How To Format Your E-Book (the Non Migraine-Inducing Way)," which explains the process she used in more detail than my article, and with less fury than the dreaded Smashwords style guide.

Amazon Kindle DTP is much easier for uploading than Smashwords because it has the simple PREVIEW button that allows you to see what your e-book will look like before you complete the upload process, something I wish Smashwords had. Look at the preview carefully. If you have funky formatting the DTP will still publish your book and make it available as is.

I think that it is still much easier to go back to your DTP platform and upload an updated version that reflects what your e-book should look like than to go back to your Smashwords dashboard and start over. (Smashwords is too finicky for my taste.)

You then have to consider all the different e-book formats. "My book looks fine in e-pub, but the formatting is all messed up in Sony Reader, and what the heck is plain text for again?"

I am by far not an expert or the "go to" person when it comes to e-book formatting. There are so many details I haven't had to explore. The best tip I can give you is to keep your document simple. I know this advice is redundant, but keep in mind your readers when formatting your manuscript. They are, after all, the main motivation for e-book conversions.

I'm amazed that there is a niche market for authors who need help getting their manuscripts online and available as e-books. It seems like a process that should be, by now, much more straightforward and user friendly than it is. It shouldn't be such a daunting task. Now, some Internet companies provide e-book services, and people are writing books, blogs, and articles on e-book formatting (ahem, me).

What's next? Maybe it has to get complicated before all the kinks smooth over. But I'm convinced now more than ever, that time is worth more than money to most people. They just can't afford to waste either one. I can't say I blame them.

The initial step towards evolution from books on paper to digital devices is a noble one, but it's still so much easier for me to just grab a book and go. I'll wait and see-unless I write a book that I want to publish as an e-book!

Article by Alina Padilla
Marketing and e-book specialist for Precise Edit
APadilla@PreciseEdit.com

By David Bowman

Accidental Marketing and the Indie Author

One of the definitions for an accident is something that happens by chance, without an apparent cause. Accidental is an adjective for something occurring by chance. A Frenchman named Chamfort, who should have known better, once said that chance was a nickname for providence.

Are you prepared to rely on providence to market your book? Are you waiting for a lucky break? Do you wonder why someone else seems to get all the luck?

I find it hard to believe, or trust, in luck. If luck is a place it's located at the intersection of hard work and perseverance. It's sweaty work getting to that intersection. For many, if not most, we won't find the directions to that corner stored in our GPS.

But, in case there is such a thing as luck or chance, we need to be ready for it when the opportunity arises.

You biz cards - case # 1
If you are a new, or even experienced, indie author, do you have your business card within reach? Here's your first test. As you are reading this right now, do you have a business card within reach? Unless you are undressed and ready for bed, you may not have an excuse.

Most supermarkets have bulletin boards. We pass by them without realizing their marketing potential. If you have your biz cards with you all you have to do is stop and post your card. You might even carry a small box of thumb tacks, just in case.

Once, on a trip from Ontario to Florida, I was standing in line at a gas bar and noticed a bulletin board on the hallway leading back to the washroom facilities. Hmmm, I wondered. This is a busy gas bar, located on an interstate highway. How many people wait in line to use the facilities every day? Up went a biz card

Look for the same opportunity often at restaurants and other unique places.

Does posting you biz card like that result in a sale? One thing is certain - not posting your card is guaranteed to not produce a sale.

Handing our card to someone is an obvious thing to do. Think beyond the obvious. Hey, leave them on a subway or bus seat. Biz cards don't sell books while they're sleeping in your swanky card hold.

Do you know where your books are? - case #2
Do you have your books within reach? Even at home I always have copies of my three novels on hand. You never know when someone will say, "I see you're an author. May I see one of your books?"

How about the trunk of your car? If you aren't carrying an inventory of your novels in the car, I ask you why not?

I was in an adjoining town for dinner with friends. There was a charming bookstore, mostly used books, but some new. My biz card was good way to open the conversation. "Oh, by the way," I said. "I happen to have some copies with me, would you be interested in taking some on consignment?"

That wasn't chance, it was an opportunity I could have missed. I not only had a good meal with friends, more of my novels were on display.

I always carry my novels in my computer case. I was sitting with another author one day when someone came up to ask us about our books. The potential reader thought they sounded interesting and was ready to buy. My author friend was chagrined when I was able to reach down and pull a book out my computer case and make a sale.

"I don't have one with me," he said, with a wistful sigh.

I know he won't make miss that opportunity again.

Do I always have my business cards with me? No, but I can say that I do most of the time.

Do I always have a book at the ready? No, but they're never far away, unless I'm on a ride at an amusement park, or quelling revolutions in some distant land, but that's another story.

What's your pitch? - Case # 3
Many of us who have paid the sweaty dues in writing a novel find it hard to condense it in a few words. I don't know why I tend to stammer or struggle when someone asks me what one of my books is about. I have heard this from other writers as well.

The backwards way
The secret is starting small. It's always easier to fluff up than it is to pare down. I heard about something called an elevator pitch. Hmm, I wondered, how would I talk about one of my books in the time it takes an elevator to get from the 10th floor to the lobby?

With that challenge I started working on my first 'elevator pitch.'

Once I had that under my belt it was easy to add a couple of sentences to describe my novels in a handout.

I increased the pitch to create talking points, great for media handouts.

Most of us know the essence of our story, but don't want to admit it can be described in under a minute. After all, why did we use so many words to write it?

As corny as it sounds, don't pass the intersection of hard work and perseverance, only to follow chance down the dead-in alley of chance.

As an independent author and publisher, I have learned some valuable lessons through trial and error. If you are considering self-publishing I hope you find the encouragement you need to take control of your publishing destiny. Welcome to the Indie Book Rebellion.

In addition to my own writing I am proud to be a partner at a new service for independent authors, a place where you can expect editorial, cover design, and support in developing your marketing strategy. Visit http://www.canamauthorservices.com

You are invited to visit my website at http://www.writebyme.ca or send an email to chuck@writebyme.ca

By Chuck Waldron

Marketing Your Book and the Fear of Public Speaking

How to market your book if you suffer from Glossophobia?

Ask yourself if you notice the following symptoms when you are asked to speak in public:
    * Sweaty palms
    * Heart thumping
    * Dry mouth
    * Anxiety
    * Even panic

For some of us, it started in school, when we hid behind a book, hoping the teacher would not call on us. Maybe that's a clue to why some of have a fear of public speaking, Glossophobia. Are we afraid that what we don't know will suddenly be exposed to the world? Regardless the origin, an overwhelming percentage of us dread the thought of speaking in public.

Many find it hard to speak up in a team meeting in the workplace, even knowing everyone around the table, let alone standing up in front of hundreds. Some actors talk about having to face down the related demon - stage fright - the fear of being in front of an audience. Singers have voiced (pun intended) their fear of forgetting the words, a vision of the audience laughing at their discomfort. The fear of public speaking even includes having to make a speech at a wedding, or deliver a eulogy at a funeral.

If you are anything like me, you know the fear that well crafted and rehearsed words will fail us and prove elusive as we look out at the sight of upturned faces, waiting in expectation. We are feeling the fear that they are waiting for us to fall on our face, that we will make like a fool?

I rehearsed a wedding toast until I had it perfected for my audience of one, in the mirror. Then came the time to raise a glass to the bride and make the toast. For the briefest of moments my mind went blank, fearful that...

The toast worked and was a success, but many reading this will recognize and understand the terror of such a moment.

Those of us who are practitioners of the writing craft know how hard it is to search for the right words for our story. Writing is sweaty work, but we have the luxury of thinking about what we want to say in the privacy of our own thoughts, with only the screen of our computer for an audience.

When we are in a group we sometimes freeze at the thought that someone will ask a question? What if we get the answer wrong?

I watched a group of interns making rounds with their teacher. He snapped out questions about a patient's symptoms and they were expected to give the exact, correct answer if asked. As soon as one young doctor-to-be stammered the rest snickered at his discomfort.

Those are examples of just some of the times we face the dread, but there are many reasons for our fear of public speaking, glossophobia. If the story ended there, as nothing more than an outline of the sum of our fears, it would not have a happy ending. There are ways, however, to face the fear and overcome it. It may not be possible to banish the fear altogether, rather to recognize it, channel it, and use it.

Isn't there a cure?

Imagine the financial reward for the scientist who discovered the cure for glossophobia and developed a capsule we could take, a capsule overturning our fear of public speaking, and giving us the facility for talking in front of others.

Until that scientific discovery comes along, we have to rely on other ways to overcome glossophobia. Fortunately, there are things we can do.

When I was hired for a new job once, it was good news and bad news. The good news was that I was hired, and the salary was good too. The bad news...I was expected to do a lot of public speaking. I had sweaty palms just thinking about it. I let my finger do the walking and looked up a public speaking coach. The cost was worth it. I trained in front of a camera and was able to evaluate my look, voice and gestures. The best of all, I realized I didn't look too bad doing it.

My coach also gave me two good tips on scripting. "Type large, and use the top half of the page," he said. "Read it aloud, and highlight where you need to take a breath." Reading a speech out loud, several times, allowed me to spot awkward phrasing and other potential problems.

It sounded so simple. Then he added two important tips.

Tip number one, never be under prepared. Start planning well in advance. Have three or four talking points and stick to them.

Tip number two, never be over prepared. Yes, it is possible to over think and give a presentation sounding like a robot.

He told me that scripting and preparation will not chase the nerves away. The coach said that if I wasn't feeling pre-speech butterflies to be concerned. He said I needed that inner energy, it was necessary to channel it for a great speech.

What about you and the media?

Wow, glossomediaphobia.

While you're being interviewed on a live television show is not the time for your first lesson in dealing with the media.

Let me set the scene. Unless you are a media veteran, imagine being greeted as you walk into the station, are directed to the studio, asked to sign over all rights allowing them to put you on the air, rushed to the green room, and finally walking, or are pushed, out to the set, your time to be on camera. Before your interview begins, a stranger will walk up to you and fix a microphone to you. Cameras will point at you from many angles, there is a neon feel about the lighting, lights blinking, electrical cords will be draped all around, and someone will be looking at a clip board and pointing at you. The host will say something like, "Relax, there's nothing to worry about."

But, if you are like me, you are anything but relaxed. You're worried that you will be asked a question you can't answer, apprehensive that you will stammer and say something dumb, or worse.

There is a way to channel your nervous energy and be prepared for that day.

First, I always make sure the person interviewing me has background information about me and the novel I want to talk about. If the interviewer picks questions from that information, I'm on safe ground. After all, it's about me, someone I have to know quite well over the years.

Next, I know what I want to say. I always have three talking points I want to cover. I know it's hard to put into practice, but remember a reporter or interviewer may control the questions they ask us, but you and I control the answer.

Here's a real life example. As a part of an educational campaign about Clinical Depression, I was being interviewed by a radio host about coping with depression over the year-end holiday season. Part way through the interview came a zinger.

"What's your view on electro-shock therapy?" his question was a surprise.

I admit to a mini brain freeze and said, "While that may be a topic to explore later..."

"... Why don't we talk about the holiday season, and why some people feel depressed, while it is a happy time for many?" I took charge and the interview was back on the talking point I wanted to make.

Finally, give yourself permission

Give yourself permission to pause, to make a mistake, to stumble for a word, and to be nervous. Those are traits that make us sound human and real.

You also need to give yourself permission to have fun. It's a great feeling to walking away from a podium, or walk off a television set, to take off the headphones after a radio interview, knowing you did your best.

If you can face your public speaking demons in front of an audience it will be something you can easily use when you walk through the door of a bookstore, ready to talk to the owner about carrying your novel.

We change behavior after we first become aware of the need to change. Then we can start to find new ways and try them out. That is something you can do about your fear of public speaking.

With due apology, we can borrow a line from AA. "Hello, my name is Chuck, and I am a glossophobic.

Finally, take a deep breath and visit www.toastmasters.org and find a safe place to learn the joy of public speaking.

Write well my friend, and enjoy the talking about it.

As an independent author and publisher, I have learned some valuable lessons through trial and error. If you are considering self-publishing I hope you find the encouragement you need to take control of your publishing destiny. Welcome to the Indie Book Rebellion.

In addition to my own writing I am proud to be a partner at a new service for independent authors, a place where you can expect editorial, cover design, and support in developing your marketing strategy. Visit http://www.canamauthorservices.com

You are invited to visit my website at http://www.writebyme.ca or send an email to chuck@writebyme.ca

By Chuck Waldron

How To Make Money Writing and Selling E-Books on the Internet - 5 Powerful Tips

I recently read stats that thirteen million e-book readers where purchased in 2010, up 325% from 2009. That number is expected to grow exponentially by 4th quarter 2011. E-book sales increased 400% and were just slightly under one billion dollars in sales last year. All of that powerful sales activity is only going to multiply. Are you going to be one of the people to supply e-books to over thirteen million e-book readers? There is certainly enough room for your book to be part of the revolution. Tapping into the market can be as easy as applying these 5 powerful tips on the best ways to make money writing and selling e-books on the Internet.

Tip One

Find out what people want to know and give that information to them. You can create an entire dynasty of books if you write for the purpose of providing information. The Internet is the quickest way to find out what people want to know. For example you can go to any question and answer site on the web and find out what people want to know. The title of this article is related to one of those questions. In my research 88,400 people want to know this information.

On my podcast I had the opportunity to interview John Kremer who is a popular information writer and provider. I asked him why he decided to write his best-selling book 1001 Ways to Market Your Book and to create bookmarket.com, it was because he found there was an audience interested in information about writing and marketing books. He wrote one book, addressed the need for marketing information and has made a career out of it.

Tip Two

It becomes much easier to learn how to make money writing and selling e-books on the Internet when you begin to apply key word strategies. Key words help you to determine what people are looking for and are used to help people find you. Content ideas for your e-books can be populated very easily that way. The best way to use key words is to avoid using highly competitive key words. I would recommend obtaining a copy of the book The SEO Bible to learn more about key word strategies.

Tip Three

Marketing your e-book is all about getting the most exposure for it that you can get. Many people think it is hard to learn Internet marketing skills but it really is not if you begin to build knowledge daily. Set a side a few minutes every day, learn a marketing concept and then apply it. I am going to help you start by suggesting 5 things to learn and apply within five days. This probably will take less than 15 minutes a day to do but it can increase your ability to sell books tremendously. One - find out what is affiliate marketing and sign up for an account. One of the biggest sources is Click Bank. Two - visit Google.com and pick out at least three Google tools you can use to market your book. Three - find a book on Amazon that is extremely popular, read that book and then leave a review that contains information about your e-book. Four - sign up for at least 2 article directories and see how people are using the information and then begin to do the same. You can post information about your book in the bottom tag line of the article. People use articles because they are highly distributed which means more people get to know about you and your e-book. Five- read articles on paid per click and see if it would be an effective way to market your book.

Tip Four

Consider unusual places to sell your book. The following places are not the first to come to mind but people are actively using them to sell e-books:

eBay.com Craigslist.com Sales Spider.com Community Classified.org US Free Ads.com

Tip Five

The final way to learn how to make money writing and selling e-books on the Internet is to get involved in forums. One of the most useful forums to get involved in is Kindle Forums. I interviewed Vicki Lieski an independent author on my podcast, she stated that one of the main influences for her being able to sell over 113,000 e-books was getting involved with the Kindle community, getting to know the people in the forum and then using any opportunities they presented. The main opportunity was getting involved with interview requests. There are forums and social networking communities throughout the web, get involved.

Promoting a book has never been easier with all of the wonderful tools available today. The Internet has made it possible to literally become an expert book marketer. The playing field between traditional publishers and self -publishers has been lowered because of the World Wide Web. Smart self-publishers are rising to the occasion and learning to promote books in highly effective ways. If you have enjoyed this article please share it, tweet it, like it or post in your communities. Helping authors has been a joy for me. Follow me on Twitter. Feel free to join my new You Tube channel Book Marketing Pros. Or just stop by my website at book marketing professionals and listen to my podcasts which are filled with useful marketing information from the best sources in the industry. Have a question about book marketing? Just ask. Happy book promoting!!!

Linda Leon is a book marketing professional with over 20 years experience in the field. Feel free to contact her website at http://www.bookmarketingprofessionals.com or her blog at http://lindaleonpresents.wordpress.com

By Linda Leon

9 Tips to Help You Get Your Ebook Onto Kindle

Amazon Kindle is an amazing tool, you don't need a physical Kindle to read Kindle books you can read them with a PC or Mac App. This means that publishing your existing ebooks in Kindle format extends your ebook's reach! With the might of the Amazon publishing market behind you, you can position your self as a market leader in your industry through your written word.

Here are 9 tips that will make the publishing experience easier to manage

1. Write the Ebook - Don't fail at the first hurdle, look at your existing content and see what you can create a great ebook with. It's easier than you think. Many people are put off writing an ebook, take advantage of that and write your own.

2. Choose your topic carefully - write about something you know and love - when your passion shows in your writing your audience can feel it, can read it and they will respond to it. Look at the content you have pulled together and inject your passion into it.

3. If you have carried out great webinars / teleseminars / training videos then look at having them transcribed to help you get the great content you already have into words.

4. Consider hiring someone to write the ebook for you. A freelance writer / ghost writer can take a weight off of your mind if you are not that confident in your material. What would work better is you writing and injecting passion into your ebook and then hiring a copy editor to tidy it up for you.

5. Writing helps position your business, once you have an ebook written you need to convert it into Kindle ready format ready to upload. You will need to do a little keyword research before you start the uploading process so you have an idea of the size of your potential market.

6. If your writing is stronger than your technical capabilities hire a virtual assistant to upload your ebook to Kindle and format it if you can't do it yourself. Don't be afraid to hire in help. It needn't break the bank if you are a solo entrepreneur.

7. Get a nicely designed ecover to upload to Kindle. Amazon accept jpeg and png images. Yes, we are not meant to judge a book by it's cover but a nicely crafted cover can make a big difference to your sales - it's worth making the effort.

8. Don't expect to get rich from your Kindle books if you are not prepared to market them! Once your Kindle book has been approved you have to get out there and promote it!

9. Your Kindle books can be promoted in multiple ways via your blog, via your podcast, using social media tools and of course emailing your existing customers base and asking for their help.

By Sarah Arrow

Kindle for Beginners

The Kindle format is often the stumbling block between publishing your ebook on Kindle and taking advantage of the marketing machine that is Amazon or your ebook remaining just an ebook in PDF form.

Ok, let's get this out in the open, it takes more than just uploading your PDF to get your ebook onto Kindle.

The Kindle reader itself uses a stripped down, naked version of HTML for its formatting. Similar to a web page, they support CSS files, headers, paragraphs, and other tags. But not all HTML is supported. This means tables, margins and images are hard to manage. You need to keep that in mind when you lay out your ebook. If you do, your formatting will be much easier to deal with. In an ideal world you would write your ebook with Kindle in mind and not include the tables and keep the images to a minimum.

Images come through as black and white, remember that when you add the images to your ebook,

Tools to format your ebook for Kindle

Amazon has a variety of tools available for download to help you get the format for your ebook to Kindle transition done correctly. The MobiPocket Creator, for example, will turn your HTML, Word and most PDF documents into a properly formatted 'script for Kindle. For Mac or Linux users, KindleGen is a command line tool that allows you to turn your HTML document into a Kindle ebook. If you are not very good at this aspect then hire in a virtual assistant to complete the technical aspect for you.

Remember the cover

We all know you shouldn't judge the book by the cover but the truth is we still do it. A great cover can boost your Kindle sales and the good news is, Kindle supports .jpeg .tiff and png. file formats, so you can get a cover created and uploaded easily. Remember to test - finds out what kinds of cover work best for you and use Photoshop or other editing software to create different covers.

Confused by it all?

Amazon have a powerful support forum for you to go in and ask questions and peruse some of the solutions to similar issues that you are having. Don't feel nervous about asking for advice, the community are helpful.

Amazon do a terrific marketing job on all their books but you need to help them when it comes to promoting your newly published Kindle book. ]

    * Link to the book,
    * Complete you author page
    * Invite people to post reviews
    * Share the reviews on Twitter and Facebook

Good luck and enjoy publishing your ebook on Kindle.

By Sarah Arrow

How to Create Digital Publicity - A Guide for New Authors

In the good old days, everyone knew how to carry out publicity. A few months before publication, you met with your publicist. You discussed various possible publicity angles (about the book, about your own story, and so on). Your publicist tried to arrange a serialisation deal (where newspapers print extracts before publication). You whacked out review copies to all the major newspapers. Perhaps you hassled around to get a little PR on local or national radio. Maybe even TV.

And that was that. Job done. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but you'd done what you could.

These days, it's more complex. Newspapers have far less space given over to books and many more readers don't consume traditional media anyway. Naturally, those all-important eyeballs have migrated to the internet and any genuinely competent PR campaign today has got to find ways to reach surfers.

Self-published authors are well aware of these facts and have long been reasonably deft about attending to their digital platform. Writers aiming at traditional commercial publication, however, have tended to think that all they need to do is address their writing. Publishers will do the rest.

That attitude is profoundly wrong. I know of only one publisher in the UK that makes a realistic attempt to help their lower budget authors with digital publicity. The others think they help but really don't. So, almost certainly, even with a literary agent and a publisher on your side, you're on your own.

Clearly digital publicity is potentially an endless brief. You'll need a website, yes. A blog, for sure. A presence on Facebook, ideally. A twitter feed - you know you ought to. And what about forums? And Goodreads? And Lovereading? Potentially the journey is infinite.

I'll outline a more detailed set of guidelines in a future post, but for now, the things you need to know are:

One, you and you alone are responsible for building a digital footprint. You may get help from elsewhere, but don't count on it.

Second, you need to start very early indeed. Digital publicity can be powerful but it takes time to build. A year is a short lead time, so if possible get started now.

Third, you need to understand your own brand. That's harder than it sounds. If you write non-fiction books about management skills, then clearly that's your brand, it's what you're going to major on in your online work. On the other hand, if you write contemporary fiction, it's much harder to identify and reach the audience that matters most to you. Nevertheless, you have to try.

Fourth, you need to think from the outset about search engines and how to use them. If you write books about the history of the Papacy, then clearly "Papacy" is going to be a key search term for you. But there are 3,000,000 pages on Amazon that reference the term and the top entries on Google are dominated by big outfits like Wikipedia. Can you realistically compete with those guys? Maybe, maybe not. But it's a process that requires careful aforethought because the very design of your website and blog will be affected by these decisions.

And fifth, you need to figure out who you are. If you find you naturally love Twitter, then pursue a Twitter-led strategy. If, like me, you really don't like Twitter but are comfortable blogging, then pursue that. But either way, you do need to persist. Occasional bouts of intensive activity are pretty much useless. This is a stone you have to keep rolling.

It's sad that authors have to think about these things. It's more work than in the past, and you get less money not more. But I don't make the rules - and if you want to succeed as an author, then digital publicity is a fabulous route to success. Some self-pub authors have sold a million books through online means. That's the kind of track record that would have your literary agent speechless with admiration. So it can be done. You need to do it. Go for it - and good luck.

By Harry Bingham

Everybody Loves Me

Recently on my Twitter and Facebook pages, I asked authors if they could only use one of the following, which one would they use: Facebook, Myspace, Opt-in Mailing list or Twitter? Only one person dared to answer. Hmmm, I wonder why. This should be an easy one to answer. Maybe the problem was I placed Facebook and Twitter in the options and they couldn't choose between them. Maybe they thought this was a trick question. Nah, I wasn't trying to trick anyone. I honestly wanted to know your opinion.

Thankfully, we don't have to choose one, but if we did, I'd have to go with my opt-in mailing list. Why, why, why? Everyone knows social media such as Facebook and Twitter are the in thing. What kind of nut would choose an opt-in mailing list over social media? Okay, so I'm a nut. If I had to choose the type, I'd say walnut. They are good in cookies, brownies, in ice cream, for cooking...

Like many authors, I'm an observer of human behavior. I love to discover what makes people tick and the hows and whys behind their actions. I went to several of my Facebook friends who aren't authors and have 150 friends or less and asked them how they use Facebook and Twitter. I have over 1000 friends on Facebook and thought authors such as myself don't use social media the same way. I was slightly surprised by my finding. My non-author friends test group who were not marketing products (such as books), use social media the same way I do.

They pop on a few times a day to see what's going on, post a status and/or comment. Here comes the important part. Most did not or rarely looked at older post. Go to your Facebook account and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. There is a link that will show you older post. So unless your marketing/promotions post is on the user's front newsfeed page when they happen upon it, the chances are, it won't be seen. Same goes for Twitter or any other social media. With 150 friends, that front page of the newsfeed can fill quickly. And many don't realize there is a way to sort by most recent. YIKES.

I experiment all the time, using myself as the lab rat-ewww, I don't like that term. Anywhooo, I've always known how important opt-in email subscriptions are but wanted to find some hard evidence that my theory was correct. I released a romance and sent an announcement to one of my mailing list of 100 people and received 14 sales by the next day. I then waited a few days for sells to stop and began promoting this same book on Facebook and Twitter (1000+ people) for three days straight. I received two hits to my website (I pay close attention to referrals on my stats) from Facebook and clicks on the buy link. When I went to the sells report, I saw that two did purchase the book. I'm making the assumption these were a direct result of the Facebook and Twitter campaign.

The next romance book, I flipped the process around. I did the campaign on Facebook and Twitter first for one day (1000+ people). I received four hits to my website from them and three buys. I then waited two days (received no additional hits or sells) before I sent out the announcement to 100 people on my mailing list and guess what? Twenty-three purchases over the next day.

See where I'm headed? Social media is extremely important, and I'm truly glad to have 1000+ friends. "Everybody loves me!" But don't forget your opt-in mailing list.

Let's talk about opt-in mailing list for a second, or two, or three. Back in the day, authors were encouraged to harvest every email that they received from people and add them to their mailing list. Please stop doing this. Times have changed. Everything is going online and people receive entirely too many emails they don't want.

You do not want to be considered part of the electronic age's noise also known as spam. I've taken my theory to the streets and asked numerous readers how they feel about being added to mailing list and groups without their permission and over 90% loathe this practice, and they usually ignore the author. I know some of you may be thinking, but I'm reaching nearly 10%. Yes, this is true, but that doesn't mean they are purchasing your book or you are winning them over or that they open your emails every time or that you aren't pushing them to think of your emails as spam. You are also creating a sour taste in the mouth of over 90% of the others and word of mouth has a big influence on what books readers purchase. Do you really want to turn them off?

My various opt-in mailing lists have an extremely high open rate. It's actually three times higher than the industry average. Why? Well, my lists may not be as large as others' lists, but the people on my various lists want to be on it and look forward to my emails. Okay, maybe that's a bit much. I hope they look forward to them. Instead of automatically adding people to your mailing list, send an invitation for them to subscribe. It's going to take longer to build your list this way, but your list will be of higher quality.

Social media is extremely important. It is a part of your web presence, but don't forget about your mailing lists.

With the advances in technology, anyone can be a published author, but not all authors are successful. Keep your focus: Increase quality, credibility and visibility of your brand.

Visit http://www.BecomeASuccessfulAuthor.com for the tools and knowledge to help you Become A Successful Author.

By Deatri King-Bey

Q and A With Bestselling Novelist Barry Eisler: Why He Turned Down $500,000 to Self-Publish

If you haven't heard of bestselling thriller novelist, Barry Eisler, it's time you have. Former CIA operative and technology lawyer, Barry is now the bestselling author of the insanely popular John Rain series of thriller novels.

In this Q&A, Barry discusses his latest title, "The Detachment," the writing life & the three reasons he turned down a $500,000 advance from a mainstream publisher, to self-publish.

SO MANY OF US HAVE BEEN EAGER FOR THE RELEASE OF "THE DETACHMENT." CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT IT?

"The Detachment" marks the return of my half-Japanese, half-American assassin John Rain, who took a little time off to try to get his life together after the sixth book in the Rain series, "Requiem For An Assassin."

His on-again, off-again romance with Mossad agent Delilah didn't end happily (find out more in my short story, "Paris Is A Bitch"), and in The Detachment, he finds himself on the wrong side of an attempted American coup, up against rolling terror attacks, presidential hit teams, and a national security state as obsessed with guarding its own secrets as it is with invading the privacy of the populace.

WHAT ASPECTS OF "THE DETACHMENT" ARE YOU PROUDEST OF?

Well, it was a blast bringing together the two series universes I've created - that of the Rain books, and that of black ops soldier Ben Treven, who readers met in "Fault Line" and "Inside Out." Putting together Rain, Dox, Treven and Larison, and forcing them to manage their alpha-male, lone-wolf instincts to survive the forces arrayed against them, was great.

But proudest? Probably the realism and timeliness of the backstory and the plot.

Since the end of the Cold War, there's been much whether the thriller, at least the contemporary version, is still a viable form. Despite then Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey's admonition that "We have slain a mighty dragon, but now find ourselves in a jungle filled with snakes," villains seemed scarce during the "peace dividend" years of the Clinton administration. Nine-eleven and the explosion of al Qaeda in the popular consciousness, of course, changed all that, and Islamic fundamentalism provided a new treasure trove of contemporary villains and plot lines.

For thriller writers interested in realism, though, the familiar "Islamic Terrorist Villain" plotline has a serious shortcoming: terrorism, of whatever stripe, poses far less danger to America than does America's own overreaction to the fear of terrorism. To put it another way, America has a significantly greater capacity for national suicide than any non-state actor has for national murder. If thrillers are built on large-scale danger, therefore, and if a thriller novelist wants to convincingly portray the largest dangers possible, the novelist has to grapple not so much with the possibility of a terror attack, as with the reality of the massive, unaccountable national security state that has metastasized in response to that possibility.

This is of course a challenge, because unaccountable bureaucracies-what Hannah Arendt called "Rule by Nobody"-make for less obvious villains than do lone, bearded zealots seeking to destroy the Great Satan, etc., etc. The trick, I think, is to create an antagonist who is part of the ruling power structure but who also maintains an outsider's perspective-who personifies and animates an entity that, destructive and oppressive though it is, is itself is too large and cumbersome to ever really be sentient. This is Colonel Horton, probably the most ambiguous villain I've ever created (and therefore probably the most compelling).

And thus, The Detachment: a small team of lone wolf, deniable irregulars, each with ambiguous motives and conflicting loyalties, pitted against the relentless, pervasive, grinding force of an American national security state gone mad. It's real, it's timely, and it's built on an unnervingly possible premise, and I'm exceptionally proud of that.

WHEN WE SPOKE LAST, YOU SAID THAT IT TOOK YOU 4-5 MONTHS TO COMPLETE THE FIRST DRAFT OF A NOVEL. OVER THE YEARS, HAS YOUR DRAFTING PROCESSED CHANGED?

Not that much. Still about a month or two of thinking things through followed by about four months of feverish writing. All, alas, with lots of interruptions, but somehow it all gets done.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FORGO THE $500,000 ADVANCE YOU WERE OFFERED TO INSTEAD STRIKE OUT ON YOUR OWN AND SELF-PUBLISH?

The first reason is the digital split. A legacy publisher offers authors 17.5% of the retail price of a digital title; a self-published author keeps 70%. That's a lot of volume the legacy publisher has to move to make up for the deficit, and I decided that, over time, I could move enough on my own to come out ahead.

The second reason, though I supposed it's really so separate from the first, is control over pricing and timing. The current business imperative of legacy publishing is to preserve the position of paper and retard the growth of digital.

Legacy publishers try to accomplish this objective by charging too much for paper books and by slaving the digital release to the paper. I believe my sweet spot per-unit price (the per-unit price that, multiplied by volume, results in maximum revenues) is around five dollars, and legacy publishers won't price new digital titles that low (in fact, they went to war with Amazon over Amazon's $9.99 price point, which they judged too low).

I also want to release the digital version as soon as it's ready and the paper version afterward because a paper book takes longer to get to market (you have to glue it, ship it, etc), and legacy publishers insist on holding back the digital version until the paper version is ready. That costs me money, because until my books are available for sale, they don't earn anything.

Anyway, in short, my second reason was that my philosophy on price and timing is antithetical to the price and timing philosophy of legacy publishers, and theirs to mine.

A third reason, by the way, was control over packaging decisions. I've lost too many sales to lazy, ill-conceived covers, and prefer to be in charge of such matters.

IN REGARDS TO SELF-PUBLISHING, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL SEPARATE THE TRULY TALENTED AUTHORS WITH NOVELS THAT HAVE LEGITIMATE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FROM THE REST OF THE PACK?

Hard work and luck - same as always.

WHEN I SPOKE WITH YOU LAST, YOU DIDN'T ADHERE TO A WRITING SCHEDULE. STILL NO WRITING SCHEDULE?

Still trying to find one! So many interruptions. But I think digital will be good to me. I've written two short stories ("The Lost Coast" and "Paris Is A Bitch") and they're selling well, and the immediate gratification I get from writing a short story and making it available the very day it's done is a huge incentive to avoid distractions.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT RESEARCHING, WRITING OR PROMOTING?

I write about politics and language at my syndicated blog, Heart of the Matter, and work out, and, when I'm very lucky, get to take a quiet walk at night.

And there's nothing like a good book and a fine single-malt Scotch.

DESCRIBE YOUR WRITING ENVIRONMENT.

A quiet office, good light, Mac 24-inch monitor, and appallingly comfortable sweatpants and a tee-shirt. Ordinarily with green tea; as the deadline approaches, with a pot of coffee.

DESCRIBE A TYPICAL EVENING IN THE LIFE OF BARRY EISLER.

Hah. You're looking at one right now.

A TYPICAL WEEKEND?

Not so different, alas. I work too much.

I JUST FINISHED JOHN LOCKE'S "HOW I SOLD A MILLION EBOOKS IN 5 MONTHS." IT SEEMS AS THOUGH HE SPENDS A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA. ESPECIALLY ON TWITTER. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW IMPORTANT IS THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SELLING BOOKS & HOW DO YOU STOP YOURSELF FROM GOING OVERBOARD TIME-WISE? OR, DO YOU?

I'm not sure I do stop myself. Everyone has to answer this one for herself because the answer will depend on how much you like or dislike social media and what you're trying to get out of it.

For commercial purposes, I think a strong online presence is important. I can see that just from how high my short story sales pop when I announce them on Facebook, Twitter, and my blog.

ANY OTHER WORDS OF ADVICE CONCERNING SOCIAL MEDIA?

The main thing is to use social media to build relationships, not to sell books. If you offer people value - entertainment, information - you'll build relationships, and the sales will follow naturally. If you just try to sell, people will flee screaming in horror.

But I think digital self-publishing has shifted the value of an author's time back to writing. I think the best marketing use of an author's time lies in writing more stories. Not that social media and advertising aren't useful; they certainly are. But nothing is as effective in selling a book as writing and publishing a new one.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?

Finding a way to get people to pay you to do what you would pay to do.

IS IT TOO EARLY FOR ME TO ASK WHAT FANS CAN EXPECT NEXT?

Next up is a Dox short story, a Delilah short story, and probably a Rain prequel novel. A lot to look forward to.

Jennifer Minar-Jaynes is the editor-in-chief of http://www.WritersBreak.com. She also blogs about parenting twins, whole foods nutrition & other health/nutrition-related topics at http://www.ProjectJennifer.com.

By Jennifer Minar-Jaynes

Publishing Your Ebook On Kindle, and Reading It On iPad

The key to saving yourself a whole lot of time is to learn a bit about formatting for Kindle before you start to write. Sure, you can go back and change the formatting but it can take hours, and you want to concentrate on writing the novel or short story, and not on reformatting. These tips apply if you have Word (and perhaps others like Open Office but I don't know that for sure) and you can save the first of your two versions in doc or docx. More about that other version later.

Epublishing came to be extremely popular in the last few years. It's quite a bit different to print publishing, as most of us know. With Kindle's direct to the Kindle/Amazon site, anyone can publish their own books in almost an instant. What a way to read aspiring new authors as well as seasoned vets! Printed books are always popular, and now anyone can add the electronic versions as well. This will increase sales, and give encouragement to your writing efforts. Pick a genre for your novel, such as a thriller or romance, and setting -- Ancient Egypt, for instance.

Formats for Epublishing depend a lot on which platform you are publishing on, so I can tell you a little about Kindle only, at the moment. When you publish on Kindle you can also tell customers on your website how to download an app for their iPad. This enables the stunning graphics which iPad possesses, to really highlight your Kindle-published book. This iPad Kindle app is free from the app store.

The nitty-gritty:

• Using Word, and saving in doc or docx, set your margins to a half inch and page size to 5" by 7". This will give you the approximate visual look of an ebook.
• Do not put any kind of header or footer or page numbers in there. These are useless for ebooks as the customer can resize the page as they wish.
• You can put a table of contents in the front, but do not use Word's auto function as this won't work. Just type in your table of contents manually at the front of your book.
• You can use embedded-in-Word jpegs, more on that later. How to incorporate charts and bullet points is a more complex issue, so explore that as a separate and additional body of knowledge.
• Use single spacing and Times New Roman 12 point font, and insert a page break at the end of each chapter so your text does not run on.
• Lastly, and this is the most important -- do not use tabs for your paragraph indents. If you know how to use Word's style function then work on a template for an ebook. If you don't know how to do this and don't want to spend hours learning how, then manually pop in 5-7 spaces as your indent.

Download a free reader called Mobipocket Reader and check how your book will look, before you hop on to the Kindle self-publishing site. There are ways to link your chapters (listed in the table of contents) to your chapter headings, but that can get a bit complicated so for now, this is the basic stuff. When you are happy with your finished Word doc or docx, then save it and then save again in the Word menu as "Web Page, Filtered". Ignore the Word box about "this will remove formatting etc.) as this is what you need to do. You will have two versions, now -- a regular Word file and an HTML one.

When you upload you'll be using the HTML file. If you have embedded photos in the Word doc then look for a separate folder that's been saved automatically with your photos in it. Try and file it next to your HTML doc, so you can upload together when you're at the Kindle self-publishing site. These photos will then, hopefully, plop themselves right back into your document/novel/short story/best seller, in exactly the right place. They will automatically appear in the reader you use to check before publishing. As you write, by the way, make your characters' names appropriate to your novel's setting. I used Meryneith, Kemsa, Quasshie, Thoth, Aapep, and Asim to make my book about Ancient Egypt come alive.

By Jens E Huebner

Keep Your Speech Interesting By Being Present Yourself

What happens when you keep your speech more interesting? Your audience will listen attentively to your words. People will think about your message. Your listeners are more likely to act on your call to action.

When those three things happen you know you delivered a successful presentation. So how can you keep your speech more interesting?

First you must realize that making your speech interesting is not something you do one time. You must keep injecting interesting moments throughout your presentation - much like adding spice to your cooking. If you want to make your meal more interesting you will include a variety of flavors and textures that stimulate the palate of your guests.

Delivering an effective speech is similar. You want to stimulate the minds of your listeners. So, what can you do to make your speech more interesting?

You can deliver more interesting and effective presentations by being present when you speak. What does that mean? Your audience must feel that you are there in the room with them - body, mind and soul. They must feel that you want to be there, that you are listening as well as talking and that you truly care about their best interests.

How can you demonstrate that?

Transform your speech into a conversation instead of a lecture. Think of how you might feel when the speaker is lecturing at you. That might feel rather cold. Lectures are often delivered by parents to children. Neither party enjoys them. They tend to be a one way communication. The listeners are usually made to feel small.

Use these techniques to be present when you present.

Ask questions of your audience and listen to their answers. Acknowledge and respect their opinions and perspectives especially when they differ from yours.

Encourage questions from your audience. Listen carefully to their queries and answer as best as you can. Look at the person asking the question and allow others to offer their comments.

Make eye contact with your audience while you are speaking. Don't speak to a spot on the back wall, your slides or the floor. Look at your listeners and talk to them. Connect with people for a few seconds and then move your eyes to another person. Talk to every person in your audience one person at a time.

Be human. Admit a personal flaw, mistake or failing. Nothing says "I'm real" like sharing an embarrassing moment. Pretending to be perfect will offend your audience. Just don't admit to all your flaws in one speech.

Laugh. Ha! Inject some humor into your presentation. Laugh when you make a mistake and laugh when something funny happens in the room. When you make a mistake be willing to allow people to laugh at you.

Be aware of what is happening in the room. When someone sneezes, say "Bless you." When a cell phone rings, make a comment. If there is noise from outside, acknowledge that. If the mood seems to be dragging, either take a break or finish early.

Tell stories. Most people would prefer to listen to stories over lectures. Just ask your children. Include stories in your presentation that connect with your audience and illustrate your message.

You can keep your speech more interesting by demonstrating to your audience that you are fully present in the room.

© George Torok helps business presenters deliver million dollar presentations. Get your free Power Presentation Tips at http://www.SpeechCoachforExecutives.com Arrange for presentation skills training or coaching at http://www.Torok.com For media interviews call 905-335-1997

By George Torok

The Writing Process: How to Get Started

The "Get into it" approach to writing

First of all, it is necessary to emphasize that there is no "method" or "technique" of writing that magically cures or eliminates the need for
    * a clear understanding of the grammar of "English,
    * a sufficient grasp of English idioms and vocabulary.
    * a command of the correct spelling

The purpose of this section is to make it easier for you to get down to writing when you have to.

There will be times that you will have to write something. Maybe when you apply for a job you will be asked to write a little about yourself. You also have to write when you have a job. Many managers ask for the applicant for a promotion to write about what they would do to improve the department where they will work. In all of these situations, the difficult thing is to organize your thoughts. Don't worry about the grammar and the English. You can polish that after you get your thoughts together.

Do you have this problem when you sit down to write...?

Your mind feels empty and you have nothing to say?

Many writers, even native speakers of English, experience this some time. You need a plan or a strategy to get started. Your problem is probably a little bigger because you probably are afraid of your English.

The following is the traditional way to start writing.
    * Put down a main idea.
    * Write an outline.
    * Write a rough draft.
    * Edit and improve the draft.

but what if you are still stuck!

There is another way that is less formal...

The "Jump into It!" System

1. Get the ideas moving.

Brainstorm (like a storm of ideas swirling around in your mind, like the leaves blowing in the wind of a storm. You have to grab them as they fly by and write them down.)

Remember do not have any notes or written ideas about the different aspects of your topic with you when you do the brainstorming.

A quick note before you begin brainstorming. Ask yourself questions about your topic. Most responses follow one of three models:
    * More than one reason
    * Before and after
    * counter-argument

The many reasons model offers a number of reasons (sometimes known as "arguments") why the proposal that you have chosen is better than the other. For example, you might think of giving two reasons why giving financial help directly to low-income families for child care is a good. way to reduce poverty.

1st The parents care more likely to work full time, and

2nd Parents are more likely to go back to school and be able to get better jobs.

In your essay, each of these two reasons could have its own paragraph, and each paragraph, supporting information, as examples, short stories (real or imagined), the facts and personal observations, for this support.

In the before and after the model, we first describe the problems that exist today, and then give several reasons for the proposal that you have chosen and reason through the supporting information.

In the debate model, give an argument and reasons why the proposal that you have chosen is the best option, including background information and give reasons why the other proposal is not a good option.

Think that you are speaking with your audience, as if you are being interviewed by someone - or several people. Tackle the subject from different angles. Which questions lead to another question?

You may or may not have chosen one of these models early on in the brainstorming step. This is OK. You do not want to harden into something that you will fall in love with. This should be very fluid at this stage.

See if you can find a new analogy to open up a new set of ideas. Create your analogy with the word "like". For example, if you write about political corruption, think that corruption in politics is like pigs fighting for garbage in the yard.

I like to tell my students that you this step should be written on the back of a dirty crumpled envelope. Why? Must you use a dirty y crumpled envelope? Not really. I want to stress that this is a first step. It will change as you go. You do not have to be clean and tidy too early as this may stop the ideas from flowing.

Collect as many good ideas and bad ideas, examples, sentences, false starts, etc. Write down everything in mind, including material that you are sure you will throw out.

Gather as many good and bad ideas, suggestions, examples, sentences, false starts, etc. as you can. Jot down everything that comes to mind, including material you are sure you will throw out.

This step is just to get ideas. You will be surprised to find out how many ideas you have on the subject.
    * Put down anything without judging whether it is a good idea or a bad idea.
    * Put down the things that you are sure of and put down the things that you just have a vague idea of.
    * Write them all over the piece of paper. Do NOT try to make an outline at this step. Do not try to write complete thoughts. Just slap down the ideas anywhere on the paper as soon as they come to your mind.
    * Write very short ideas. Do not write long sentences.
    * When the ideas stop coming, take a rest.

2. Diagram your major points somehow.

When you think you have most of your ideas down, although in rough form, go one step further. Try to think of the relation among the ideas. Does one cause another? Are your points in order of importance or time? Does more than one idea make up a class or group?

Show these relations by drawing rough circles or "bubbles", around one or another idea and show their relations by arrows connecting the individual ideas or groups of ideas...

Do it over again. This should be quick and easy because you are not writing a lot about each idea. You are just putting down a few words to identify the idea. If you put too much detail into your notes at this time, you will lose the freedom of finding and putting down your ideas. The danger is that of forcing yourself down one or another path too easily. Stay loose! Do not paralyze your thought process.

Little by little, you can firm up your ideas. You can't stay loose forever; at some point, you have to finish the organizing of your ideas and start writing!

Next step is to write a preliminary draft. This is NOT your first draft (see below). For the preliminary draft you will now change your final bubble chart to a written draft. You don't need to have everything ready at this point but you have to begin to put the ideas into more complete thoughts than just the content of the bubbles. You still should be brief.

However, your work is starting to look like a written report. At this point, you still can save time and work by putting in instructions to yourself such as, "Here put in the list of family relations", or "at end of this section, get actual percentages of ice cream sold by month".

Now you can see what material you really have. When you were at the bubble stage you were only indicating a rough idea of your content. Now you will see what further information you need to complete the presentation of your ideas.

3. Write a first draft.

Once you have all the information you need, write your report. Use complete sentences and write as clearly as you can. Use the proper connecting phrases to show the relations that you showed with bubbles. Then, if possible, put it away for a while. Later, read it aloud or to yourself as if you were someone else. Watch especially for the need to clarify or add more information.

You may find yourself jumping back and forth among these various strategies. This method, the "Jump into It" system is the best way to overcome writer's block and to start getting your ideas on paper. It allows you to become more confident and enthused with you project as you progressively see that you have something to say, that you know about the issues you want to write about, and that you are started and into the job.

The following information may help you clarify your thoughts at in the second or third bubble stages or in the preliminary draft stage. These are not "steps" or necessary parts of the writing process. They are some additional things that some people have found useful. You can pick and choose whatever you think will be useful for you.

Other valuable information

Prewriting

You probably know a lot about your subject but you have it mixed together in your mind. You can get your thoughts in order before you write. There are many sides to an issue. This will also be true for the subject you will be writing on.

It is like the old story of the blind men who are led to an elephant and told to describe it.

The blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a tree; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like fire hose; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.

The morale of this story which comes down to us from Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sufi traditions is that there are different aspects of the truth.

Some of the following questions might help you focus on the different facets of your issue. You can write brief notes on each thought you have. But it is important to do this step at least one day before continuing with the other steps. You do not want to have these preliminary ideas have too much influence in the content of your writing. Do not look at these notes when you start the next steps in this process. Their only purpose is to have you prepare your own thoughts for the later steps.

The main tasks you have to fulfill to cover all aspects of an issue (like the tail, trunk, ears, leg, tusk etc. of the elephant) are the following:
    * Define
    * Describe
    * Lay bare the Process
    * Present the Function
    * Tell the History
    * Show the Cause and Effect
    * Examine the Consequences
    * Classify the relevant data
    * Compare different aspects
    * Interpret the data
    * Give your Opinion
    * Recount relevant Memories
    * Judge and evaluate
    * Persuade the reader follow your views

Here are some examples of these aspects of the subject Food Stamps. If you are writing about Food Stamps you would have to know:

• What does the term "Food Stamps" mean? (Definition)
• What are the various features of Food Stamps? (Description)
• How does a person get Food Stamps? (Process)
• What is the essential function of Food Stamps? (Function)
• How did Food Stamps come to be used? (History)
• What are the consequences of using Food Stamps? (Cause and Effect)
• What are the types of Food Stamps? (Classification)
• How are Food Stamps like or unlike other programs? (Comparison)
• Why do people use Food Stamps? (Interpretation)
• What is my personal opinion about Food Stamps (Opinion)
• What is my memory of when I received Food Stamps? (Memory)
• What is the value of the Food Stamps program? (Judgment)
• What are the essential major points or features of Food Stamps? (Summary)
• What case can be made for or against Food Stamps? (Persuasion)

Summary

You may find that you have more success getting started on writing in one way. If it works for you stick with it, but always be ready to develop it even more. If you still have trouble writing try a different strategy. Do anything that keeps you from staring at a bland piece of paper or a blank computer screen. You may find yourself trying several strategies at once. If so, then you are probably doing something right. That's OK.

For more help with your writing English look at: http://www.BooksLibros.com/writing_2.htm

Writing is one part of a command of English. Another important part is speaking with a proper North American accent. For help with your accent go to the page recommended in the author's biography below.

Frank Gerace Ph.D has served in Latin America in United Nations and national Educational and Communication Projects, and has taught in Bolivian and Peruvian Universities. He currently teaches English in New York City at a CUNY college as well as maintaining a strong bilingual presence on the web.

He provides guidance on accent reduction and the proper American English accent at http://www.GoodAccent.com.

By Frank Gerace

Why Most of Us Are Not Effective Writers

Writing effectively is essential for communication in the business, online and personal realms, but few can truly do it well. Sure, everyone thinks that writing is easy because they can put pen to paper and make words out of pen strokes. But when it comes to effectively communicating what one is feeling or what must be done to accomplish a task, it is another story entirely. There is a vast difference between being able to write and being able to write effectively. If you want to know where it goes wrong for most people, here are the most common missteps that prevent effective written communications:

Not Considering the Audience

Some people hear the word "audience", and they confine it to books or movies, but every form of writing has an audience, and it is the first and most important thing that the writer must understand as he prepares to communicate. Take, as an example, an instruction manual for how to hook up a DVD player. One with a vast knowledge of the inner and outer workings of the DVD player must realize that the entire world is a target audience. And that world is filled with people that have either an advanced or an incredibly limited understanding. In order to communicate effectively with the target audience, a manual writer must make things very clear and succinct, careful not to leave out any steps or assume that one segment of the audience will have the knowledge that another segment does. Yet lots of very smart people are not effective writers because they overlook this all important component.

Not Proofreading What They Have Written

Behind not considering your audience, this is probably the second biggest obstacle to effective writing. Many times, the writer assumes that he got everything right because he knew what he was going to say in his head, and he failed to realize that there was a disconnect somewhere between what he thought and what was written. Proofreading is essential to effective writing, even for the best writers out there, because it forces the writer to slow down and reconsider whether or not he is presenting his information in the best manner possible.

If you want to learn how to write effectively, you need to realize that it is about more than knowing how to write or having the intelligence. It is about holding your audience and your words up to closer scrutiny and making them connect with one another.

By Darren W Chow

The Chained Library in Wimbourne Minster

The Chained Library above Wimbourne Minster in Dorset was built over 600 years ago. Although small, this collection of chained artifacts dates back 300 years, contains some unique historical documents and is in itself of historical significance. The rare items comprise the second largest Chained Library in the UK and also represents one of the first Public Libraries in the UK.

Left-handed people are always slightly bemused by the use of the word sinister. The word sinister also occurs in certain artefacts in the Wimbourne Chained Library including the fact that the staircase spiral was reversed in the ecclesiastical manner to deter swordsmen ascending to what was the old Treasury sadly ransacked by Henry VIII.

The shelves of the library are weighed down by over 350 volumes many of which are leather-clad. An interesting aspect of the shelves is the fact that the chained items are reversed with their spines facing inwards. Unlike other such libraries there are no shelves on which visitors can rest the books as the library was originally created for the Revd Stone to relocate his collection. He moved the collection down from Oxford after the restitution of the monarchy partly because he suspected that the collection of "Fathers and Commentators" that is relating to the early Christian Church, would have been considered the possessions of a papist and burnt by the public hangman at a place of execution despite Stone's status as Protestant scholar. The remainder of Stone's library was sold and the funds used, amongst other things, to pay for a Hospital for the poor and sick, now known as Stone's Court in St. Clements, Oxford.

The languages contained within the collection include Greek, Latin and Hebrew - sometimes all at once, such as in the Polyglot Bible in which the pages are divided up into regions for the different languages (try suggesting that to a publisher today). This was at a time when few amongst the local population would have even been able to read English.

It is hard for us in an age of instant printing presses and digital reproduction and file sharing to fully appreciate the uniqueness of the items contained here. The early printing presses were nothing short of revolutionary in the way that they changed the persistence and portability of knowledge. The books present here were printed on these very printing presses that were emerging in the 16th and 17th centuries and are also first editions in many cases. Thus, the four great Western or Latin Fathers are present: Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory. Also present, three of the four great Eastern or African Fathers: Basil, Gregory of Nazianus and Chrysostom. With a strong possibility of the fourth, in the form of Theophylact's commentaries which he may have considered, as Erasmus did, to be the writings of Athanasius.

At a later date others such as Roger Gillingham added to the library through their bequests. Gillingham's bequest was referred to as being typical of a gentleman's library of the Restoration period with books on politics, gardening, geography, husbandry, etiquette and winemaking. These further additions were also chained in many cases, in order to protect them from the gentry and others who felt able to help themselves from such libraries. The 1708 Act of Parliament protected Parish Libraries though chaining but the Wimbourne Library falls outside such protection.

The chaining of books has going on for many centuries for a number of reasons ranging from simple theft to protection due to their scarcity or their controversial themes. Reference libraries would have been needed by those attending Universities in the 16th and 17th centuries. Books would be consulted by standing or using benches adjacent to the book shelves. Readers were restricted to an hour of access if another person was waiting. This was just as well as the oldest book in the library dates from 1343, the Regimen Animarum which means the Guiding of the Souls and advices on how we can avoid the Spiritual Dangers. The words are written on vellum in inks produced from oak apples and iron sulphate as well as red lead or mercuric sulphide.

As printing took off during the latter part of the 18th century the need for chained libraries diminished. By the 19th century most chains had been removed from books in libraries. However, what fascinates me about this insight in to the collecting of books is the strength of purpose and courage that went into the process. Even leaving aside the efforts of the printers, illustrators, copyists as well as the children who may have worn out their eyes and fingers making the chains, we should remember and thank the collectors.

With respect to libraries today, some comfort can be drawn from the fact that issues surrounding security, reproducibility and even borrowing and sharing are not new. We now face fewer conflicts over intolerance, bigotry and misunderstanding. However, such issues are still present and we do well to remember that as we seek to understand the world around us preserve such complexity for future generations to disentangle.

Stephen blogs regularly about writing-related matters in this fast moving digital landscape on the key issues that matter to writers and and those interested in writing. Screen writing is a particular focus with regular tips and advice on story, character and plot matters. e-books and e-book readers are changing the way we consume and collect books and there is much to say about how this is changing our world. Thoughtful, comprehensive and always provocative and stimulating.

By Stephen Marwell

Find New Clients Even If You Are Timid When You Work As a Freelance Writer

It's a stereotype that sometimes comes with at least some truth attached: that writers are not the most extrovert people around. If you are working as a freelance writer then it is possible that the writing is what you like doing, rather than the marketing for new clients.

There is all manner of advice for people wanting to find new clients, but the fact of the matter remains that a lot of us just are not fans of calling up complete strangers and trying to sell our services.

Personally, it's never been something that I've been particularly keen on. However, that doesn't mean that I have found it hard to find clients. In fact, quite the opposite.

There is No Necessity to Cold Call for New Clients

Some people are put off freelance writing because of the fear that they will have to cold call in order to find clients. I'm not going to knock cold calling because it is a proven way to find work, and if you're brave enough to do it yourself then go for it.

What I'm saying is you don't HAVE to cold call. There are other ways.

Like emails. The vast majority of all my marketing over the last few years has involved sending emails to potential clients. Simple as that.

I do have a phone number (a Skype number) with a voicemail, but I generally only use this for clients who I am already working with who prefer to work by phone than email. But the truth is I sometimes go for months without using it.

How You Can Find New Clients without Calling

I would recommend having a phone number, but you don't have to use it much. Sometimes things really are better over the phone, and it can be nice to talk to your clients personally from time to time.

However, you do not need to rely on this for finding new clients. Once I realised this I took my number down from my website and only gave it to clients if they asked to speak on the phone.

Instead, simply send off emails to the company in the same way as you would call them. Add some information about yourself, your experience and how you can help them, and then send it off.

Emails are easier to ignore and you will probably have to send out more emails to get a response, but with such a demand for web content these days you are never going to find that the work dries up.

And you can send off 20 or 30 in an hour quite easily, more than you could probably call.

Choose the Way that Suits You

Freelance writing is all about choice. Don't want to call up new clients to find work? Then you don't have to! Do it your way, and remember that it is perfectly possible to find work by sending out cold emails instead of calling.

Want to work as a freelance writer? Then what's stopping you? Find out exactly how you can start up a career as a writer and start to earn $150-$250 a day within a few months at ProWebWriting.com.

By Greg C Walker

HVAC Manual D Duct Design - Redesigning Old HVAC Systems

When it comes time to design a HVAC duct system for your clients, you will want to be on top of the match-up and ahead of the game. In today's construction market, doing it the same old way won't cut it any longer. Homeowners not only want the newest techniques from their HVAC contractors, they also want the most affordable and most efficient methods that will save them the most time and money. A Manual D duct design is probably your best bet in this department. Learning how to perform a Manual D duct design will set you apart from your competitors and set you apart in your field.

If you obtain a Manual D, you will have all the information you need on how to build a duct system that uses all kinds of materials and is useful in many different kinds of zoning codes. The Manual D duct design covers all kinds of topics, including the different types of residential duct systems, and how to select the appropriate type and apply it to your needs. You will also be able to learn about residential air-side HVAC equipment and other information about equipment such as the simple tenets of the different kinds of variable or constant speedblowers. Other important things you can learn about are the sizing calculations for ducts.

A Manual D duct design gets very intricate with its sizing calculations. There are many different sizes and different kinds of ducts. Some of them are VAV systems, both the multiple zone and the two-story ones. There is also a system that has VAV dampers. Some systems are set up to handle constant volume and others need more flexible ducts. Manual D duct design techniques also teaches you about the potential problems and things that can go wrong with ducts. Sometimes duct leakage can lead to loss and that can adversely affect the indoor air quality in the building. Likewise, you will learn in Manual D procedure about the enveloping equipment system and how to synch its performance with the overall duct system

The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) is the largest organization of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors in the United States. Because of its exclusive access to experienced contractors and leaders in HVAC technology, it has been able to develop a manual for the most effective D duct design. Manual D duct design provides all of the current procedures and methods to design an efficient D duct system that won't waste any energy or resources and will accurately get heated or cooled air to the parts of a home where they're most important.

Noise concerns is another major concern that the Manual D duct system addresses. You want to be sure you don't have unwanted noise in your home or office building that will interfere with the quality of life you have there. Noisy duct systems make everyone feel on edge or nervous. So finding the right materials and building the system in the right way is important to a successful project.

Don't make light of this crutial HVAC design step or your clients may have noisy, ineffective comfort systems resulting in a GoldiLocks house, where the master suite is too cold in the winter and the Great Room is too hot in the summer. Or the upper level is too hot and the lower level is too cold. This can be easily avoided with a Manual D duct design at the beginning of the HVAC replacement process. It is far more responsible to provide a duct design at the beginning than to come and resolve noise issues later on and is far better for your reputation.

Savoy Engineering Group offers ACCA Certified Manual J8 Load Calculations, Manual S HVAC equipment selection & Manual D Duct Design services performed by Masters level engineer using ACCA Certified WrightSoft Universal software based on Manual J8. Savoy Engineering Group has been providing Manual J, S & D service for 6 yrs & has completed 3,500+ projects. We are Fast, Accurate& Affordable!

By Eugene Wilson Pallisco