Hey stuff is happening here!
Literary Events
Barnes and Noble Events, 1565 Briargate Blvd., 266-9960, eckankar.org. Author Debbie Johnson will give a 45-minute workshop and sign her book Soul Travel to Find God's Love. Fri., Aug. 31, 7:30 p.m.
Borders Events, Southgate Store, 2120 Southgate Road, 632-6611, bordersstores.com. Featuring Beth Andrews reading and signing I Miss You! A Military Kid's Book about Deployment plus kids' crafts party at Southgate Store. Sat., Sept. 1, 1 p.m.
Great Books Discussions, Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave., 531-6333, greatbooks.org. Discussing "Planning and Democracy" (from The Road to Serfdom) by Freidrich Hayek and Distributive Justice (from Collected Papers) by John Rawls. Thurs., Sept. 13, 6:45-9 p.m.
http://www.csindy.com/csindy/current/getinvolved.html
There is also a Pikes Peak Writters Conference in October. See web site for details.
http://www.ppwc.net/ppwc07.html
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
What is the best Bookstore Company to work for?
Does anyone work for a major (or minor) chain bookstore?
I work for one. I won't say which one, but while the people are OK, the store clean, etc. The company is one of the cheapest...no, it is the cheapest company I ever worked for!
I have been there almost a year. I make $7.57/hr and have zero benefits. There have me one the border line, hour wise (30) to keep me from getting them. Even If I manage to gain 4 hours per week, then I have to wait another 90 days! I started at $6.25/hr a whole dollar less than my offer from the competitor, but then got a 50 cent raise after two weeks. I had a review in March and got a whole 7 cents an hour merit raise.
Is this crap normal? How can anyone survive on this pittance? Is there any wonder why the turnover is so high?
The even bigger joke is, that the company only made a 35% profit last year! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I passed on applying for a “supervisor position..required opening at 6:00 AM and working until 10:30 PM several days per week for a measly $9 hr.
Retail really sucks!
I work for one. I won't say which one, but while the people are OK, the store clean, etc. The company is one of the cheapest...no, it is the cheapest company I ever worked for!
I have been there almost a year. I make $7.57/hr and have zero benefits. There have me one the border line, hour wise (30) to keep me from getting them. Even If I manage to gain 4 hours per week, then I have to wait another 90 days! I started at $6.25/hr a whole dollar less than my offer from the competitor, but then got a 50 cent raise after two weeks. I had a review in March and got a whole 7 cents an hour merit raise.
Is this crap normal? How can anyone survive on this pittance? Is there any wonder why the turnover is so high?
The even bigger joke is, that the company only made a 35% profit last year! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I passed on applying for a “supervisor position..required opening at 6:00 AM and working until 10:30 PM several days per week for a measly $9 hr.
Retail really sucks!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Ebook Marketing: How to Drive Traffic to Your Site With Ebooks
If you're looking for a great way to drive traffic to your web site, creating and distributing free ebooks may be your answer.
Although there are several different types of ebooks, this article will focus on HTML compiled ebooks.
Ebooks or electronic books are compressed files of HTML that are distributed and presented within one downloadable file. This file does not require any installation and will open on your readers desktop simply by clicking on it.
Ebooks are completely interactive with the Internet and can contain just about everything a standard web page contains, such s live links, graphics, forms, JavaScript, and video. They can also be protected with a username and password and can be prevented from being passed around by only displaying on one computer.
What's more, you can even create a shareware version of your ebook that will either expire at a specified time, or only allow your potential customers to view certain pages and prompt them to purchase the full version.
Another great feature ebooks provide is the ability to create special fields within your ebook that can be changed by your readers if you so choose. This provides a great way to create promotional ebooks for your affiliates and allow them to include their own affiliate ID.
The possibilities are endless!
Please note: If you would like to create an ebook with any of the above features, not all ebook software programs offer these features. Please ensure you select an ebook software that will meet your needs.
Creating an Ebook to Use as a Viral Marketing Tool
Although ebooks make great products that you can sell online, they also make great marketing tools.
Offering a quality free ebook on your web site is a great way to get your visitors to come back to your web site and obtain repeat traffic.
This can be accomplished by including links to further information on your web site within your ebook and providing your readers with special offers.
Writing Your Ebook
The key to writing an effective free ebook is to select a subject that will be of interest to your target market. If your web site focuses on web site traffic, you may want to write an ebook on generating traffic.
For example, you could write an ebook, such as, "A Complete 'How To' Guide to Generating Massive Traffic to Your Site." Include several references to your site throughout your ebook, such as 'For even more great traffic generating tips, visit 'Traffic Tips' - Your complete source for generating massive traffic to your web site.
Increasing the Distribution of Your Ebook
Although giving your ebook to your visitors and obtaining repeat traffic is a good marketing strategy, allowing your visitors to distribute your ebook is a great strategy.
If your ebook is good, here is an example of how powerful your ebook can be:
10 of your visitors download your ebook.
Your 10 visitors each give away 10 ebooks - 100
Those 100 each give away 10 ebooks - 1000
Those 1000 each give away 10 ebooks - 10,000
Those 10,000 each give away 10 ebooks - 100,000
Those 100,000 each give away 10 ebooks - 1,000,000
For massive distribution, make sure you include a short paragraph on your main page in regard to your copyrights and distribution. For example, if you're allowing your ebook to be freely distributed, let your readers know by giving them permission. Your text might look something like this:
This ebook may be freely distributed, used as a free bonus with any products you may be selling, included within membership sites and packages, and used as an incentive to gain new subscribers to your publication.
The key to using this technique effectively is to create a quality ebook that contains powerful information that will be of interest to your target market - not just any information, but information that your target market will be absolutely passionate about. Information that they would pay for and are just dying to get their hands on!
Please keep in mind, you can't write a cheap little ebook of little or no value, filled with ads, and expect it to be successful. Your ebook must be good enough to actually sell to be good enough to use as a viral marketing tool.
Ebooks can provide Internet marketers with one of the best viral marketing tools online. By creating a small, quality ebook that contains in-demand information, you can produce an on going promotional tool that will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for years to come. Your ebook will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users simply by giving it away.
If you would like to see an example of a powerful free ebook, visit http://ebookstarter.com/download/es_ebook.zip to download eBooks: A Complete Guide to Publishing. Note: You must have the ability to view windows files.
Copyright © 2007 Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the creator of eBook Starter - Give your ebooks the look and feel of a real book, notebook, manual or report with the first ebook software that includes an editor and built in templates. Simply select your template, type or paste in your text & compile. http://www.eBookStarter.com
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Audio Books - from LP to MP3
The technical development of the recording media for audio books has speeded up tremendously. Whereas initially audio books were pressed on LP's, today they are simple digital files that can be downloaded from the internet. Here's the detailed story:
Audio books are a great way to use 'empty' time. Load an audio book into your MP3 player or iPod - you can find audio books for just about any interest, from novels to business books and audio books about self-improvement to even the bible or the coran. You can find them 24 hours a day, just by clicking a few buttons on your computer and an internet shop delivers the contents for your iPod or MP3 player conveniently to you.
Even if they have only become very popular again recently, the concept of audio books goes back about eighty years! Initially books on tape or on LP's were produced for the blind. Here's a short look back in history:
Already in the 1920's, the Royal National Institute for the Blind in England (RNIB) initiate research to find the best way to produce audio books for blind soldiers that were the result of the World War I battles. They finally decide to produce audio books on LP's and the first ones were made in 1926. To play them they were put on the old fashioned LP players that had to be cranked by hand and delivered the sound through the big horn. This was a great development for the blind, but was hardly used by normal consumers. So these audio books from RNIB remained a niche product and never reached the masses.
The concept was successful and in 1936 the Royal National Institute for the Blind launched the 'Talking Book Service'. The first two books they produced were:'The murder of Roger Ackroyd' (Agatha Christie) and 'Thyphoon' (Joseph Conrad). Because the records could only hold 25 minutes of spoken text, an average audio book had to be recorded on an average of ten records.
During WWII, the studio used by the RNIB was bombed, and one month later a replacement studio was bombed as well, destroying much needed equipment to continue the production. The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), who had started to produce audio books in the USA sent replacement parts and equipment to London so that the production could be taken up again.
The old fashioned LP's were replaced by modern LP's and finally cassettes, making listening to audio books more convenient. Sony's Walkman made it possible to take your audio book with you and listen on the go. This is when audio books started to be bought by the general consumers. The next step was to produce these listening books on CD, making them even more convenient.
Over the last few years the audio book technology has made a quantum leap: Digital MP3 files can be packed onto a player that weighs only a few grams and runs on a set of batteries for many hours. The most popular player is without doubt the Apple iPod, but there are many other MP3 players on the market that have helped to make listening to content on the go very popular.
Finding an audio book is as easy as typing an address into your internet browser, consulting the catalog of the audio book shop and then downloading your audio book within minutes. No more need to visit your local library or book shop. If you want to shop at 3 am - no problem, the shop is open 24 hours!
One shop that offers a wide variety of audio books is the AudioBooksCorner Store. High quality audio books from publishers like BBC, Hachette and many others cover a wide variety of topics. Best selling authors offer their books as audio books and the well known foreign language courses by Pimsleur are available for download too.
Article Source: http://www.ArticlesAlley.com/
Audio books are a great way to use 'empty' time. Load an audio book into your MP3 player or iPod - you can find audio books for just about any interest, from novels to business books and audio books about self-improvement to even the bible or the coran. You can find them 24 hours a day, just by clicking a few buttons on your computer and an internet shop delivers the contents for your iPod or MP3 player conveniently to you.
Even if they have only become very popular again recently, the concept of audio books goes back about eighty years! Initially books on tape or on LP's were produced for the blind. Here's a short look back in history:
Already in the 1920's, the Royal National Institute for the Blind in England (RNIB) initiate research to find the best way to produce audio books for blind soldiers that were the result of the World War I battles. They finally decide to produce audio books on LP's and the first ones were made in 1926. To play them they were put on the old fashioned LP players that had to be cranked by hand and delivered the sound through the big horn. This was a great development for the blind, but was hardly used by normal consumers. So these audio books from RNIB remained a niche product and never reached the masses.
The concept was successful and in 1936 the Royal National Institute for the Blind launched the 'Talking Book Service'. The first two books they produced were:'The murder of Roger Ackroyd' (Agatha Christie) and 'Thyphoon' (Joseph Conrad). Because the records could only hold 25 minutes of spoken text, an average audio book had to be recorded on an average of ten records.
During WWII, the studio used by the RNIB was bombed, and one month later a replacement studio was bombed as well, destroying much needed equipment to continue the production. The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), who had started to produce audio books in the USA sent replacement parts and equipment to London so that the production could be taken up again.
The old fashioned LP's were replaced by modern LP's and finally cassettes, making listening to audio books more convenient. Sony's Walkman made it possible to take your audio book with you and listen on the go. This is when audio books started to be bought by the general consumers. The next step was to produce these listening books on CD, making them even more convenient.
Over the last few years the audio book technology has made a quantum leap: Digital MP3 files can be packed onto a player that weighs only a few grams and runs on a set of batteries for many hours. The most popular player is without doubt the Apple iPod, but there are many other MP3 players on the market that have helped to make listening to content on the go very popular.
Finding an audio book is as easy as typing an address into your internet browser, consulting the catalog of the audio book shop and then downloading your audio book within minutes. No more need to visit your local library or book shop. If you want to shop at 3 am - no problem, the shop is open 24 hours!
One shop that offers a wide variety of audio books is the AudioBooksCorner Store. High quality audio books from publishers like BBC, Hachette and many others cover a wide variety of topics. Best selling authors offer their books as audio books and the well known foreign language courses by Pimsleur are available for download too.
Article Source: http://www.ArticlesAlley.com/
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