The Alternative Broadcasting Online News Station

Almost everyone has been fired from a job, and just about everyone has a story to go along with it. Annabelle Gurwitch, the actor and screen writer, decided to capitalize on this fact by compiling and editing a collection of humorous “down-sizing” stories in her book Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized & Dismissed. After being fired by the media icon (and consequently her idol) Woody Allen, Annabelle decided to take her story to the publishers- along with several other tales from well known actors and media personal, including Bill Maher, Tim Allen, Tate Donovan (actor and director in The O.C.), Harry Shearer (actor in This is Spinal Tap), Dana Gould (writer for The Simpsons), Bob Saget and more.

The book is divided into five chapters: The Job So Terrible You Can Only Hope to Be Fired, The Firing You Didn’t See Coming, The Time You Deserved to be Fired, The Time Getting Fired Leads You to Something Better, and The Time You Had to Fire Yourself. Each chapter is as witty as the last, and will keep you reading and laughing through till the next. And with over a dozen “tales of the canned” in each chapter, you will have plenty of laughing to enjoy.

Many of the true stories found in this book are so funny, they will have you laughing out loud. The story of Paul Feig (director of Arrested Development and The Office) losing his Ronald McDonald gig because of a magical comparison between a rubber chicken and Chicken McNuggets he made to a group of school kids while wearing the clown suit will probably remain with me for the rest of my life. In another favorite story, Jeff Garlin (actor in Curb Your Enthusiasm) explains how he was fired for throwing a bowl of Fruity-Pebbles at a hotel wall… and all just because they stuck. Larry Charles (writer for Senifeld) reminds us that Taxi companies should never offer employment to a teen-age kid who has just acquired his license that very day; wrecking his cab before he even got it out of the parking lot. Stories like these are worth the price of this book alone.

To round each story off, the book also includes “Fired Facts”: brief and amusing factoids about being fired, and the workplace in general. For example: “Increased risk of heart attack faced by employer firing an employee in the week after wielding the ax: 100%”. What a great way to end your career - with your former boss in the hospital!

While Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized & Dismissed is entertaining (being fired with the line “Take that hanger off your head, you idiot!” may be the best thing that has ever happened to me), it completely fails to connect with the reader. Each story falls into one of two major camps: meaningless high school jobs that no one regrets losing, and glamorous Hollywood jobs that, while interesting, are entirely foreign to the average reader.

In the introduction to this book, Annabelle Gurwitch concludes “So you were fired. Welcome to the club. We’ve been waiting for you.” However, this book fails to present any “club” you or I are ever likely to be a member of. While almost anyone can related with being fired from a job, the stories in this book are quite different from any workplace axing I have experienced. And unless you have felt the horror of losing a job because your character was shot in the last episode, you will probably be unable to relate as well.

If you are looking for a light, entertaining read to get you through the work week, I would recommend Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized & Dismissed. Though the book will probably not help you reminisce about jobs long past, that may be for the best. What better way to forget about your own “down-sizing” experiences that to hear the stories of a celebrity with their head on the chopping block.

Jeff Beck is an entrepreneur and founder of several notable companies, including the Book Price Comparison website CompareBook.com. As a student of the world around him, Jeff seeks understanding through history and reasoning.

Visit CompareBook.com to read reviews, find similar titles, and search for the lowest possible price for Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed and other great books.

Have you always thought you needed to spend weeks or even months to create your own product?

Well, the good news is you can create a product much more quickly and easily. Maybe not as fast as reading this article, but you can sure do it in less than a week… or even a couple of days!

So you’ll have more time to promote and market your product which means more sales. After all, that’s where the money is.

Just imagine how many profitable products you can create and how much additional profits you can make when you know how to create your own products so fast!

So here are 3 techniques to create your own hot-selling products FAST…

1. Hire a Ghostwriter

Ghostwriters write all kinds of books, reports, and even articles for you for a very affordable price and give you all the writing and publishing credits.

You can save yourself a lot of time by getting them to write your ebook for you, because you can spend your time on marketing your products and growing your business… and that’s where the money is!

So you just need to find a killer product idea and then hire a professional ghostwriter to write an ebook about it for you.

In the meantime, you’ll spend your time marketing your previous products and finding more killer ideas for your next products!

Here are 3 great resources to find and hire professional ghostwriters…

* http://www.Elance.com
* http://www.RentaCoder.com
* http://www.Guru.com

2. Interview an Expert

You sure know or easily can find some experts in your field that your target market knows and respects. They are usually people who have written books or articles about your topic.

These people know the answers to many questions your prospects have in mind and can show them how to solve their problems.

That’s why interviewing an expert is a powerful technique to create products which are both highly profitable and easy to create.

You can interview the experts by email or using phone, turn it into an ebook easily and then sell it for big profits.

If you interview them using via phone, you can also record your phone conversation and turn it into an audio course. Since audio products offer a higher perceived value, you can sell it at a higher price. Just make sure you ask for their permission to record your conversation.

You can also get someone to write the transcription so you can sell it as an ebook separately, or just as a bonus with your audio course.

A good example of someone who has used this technique successfully is Neil Shearing. As you may know, he’s a well-known Internet marketing expert.

He has created an ebook called “Internet Success Diamonds” which is consisted of interviews with top, well-known Internet marketing gurus where they reveal their secrets to success. I happened to buy his book and found it really helpful.

3. Compile Templates and Samples

Who says you have to write all your ebooks word by word yourself?

After all, people buy an ebook because it shows them how to solve their problem and get what they want. So as long as your ebook is helpful to your target market, all the rest doesn’t matters.

By compiling templates, samples, articles, and other helpful information into an ebook, not only you’ll provide your target market with valuable information they want but you’ll also create your product much more easily and quickly.

Final Thoughts

There are more powerful technique that helps you create high quality, hot-selling products in less a couple of weeks. They’re the secrets many top Internet marketing experts use but have never admitted them to you. They’re like their private secrets to making a fortune on the Internet.

You can learn more about these powerful product creation secret plus more tips and tricks in the “Best-Selling Ideas” FREE Master’s Course.

Wishing you much success,

Ladan Lashkari

About The Author: Ladan Lashkari is a respected Internet marketing expert and the author of “How to Find Best-Selling Product Ideas” and also many Internet marketing articles that show you killer tips and tricks to create your own profit pulling products and newsletters.

To grab a FREE copy of “Best-Selling Ideas” Master’s Course, simply visit: http://www.FindProductIdeas.com

You know how the style of illustration used back in the 1950’s and early 1960’s - when all the men had broad chests and lean, chiseled features - and all sort of looked like FBI agents? They wore suits and hats and had squinted a lot? When the women were perfectly proportioned and stylishly dressed, even if they were washing the dishes or making a drink for their husbands? Well, that’s the kind of drawing you will learn from Drawing the Head and Figure, from Jack Hamm. First published in 1963, and still popular today, this book teaches a style of figure drawing that is sleek, elegant and totally retro.

Hamm provides many excellent tutorials on the proportions of the head and figure, which makes this book particularly good for beginners. He provides simple guidelines on getting the proportions of the figure correct, how to draw a face, how to depict various poses. And the guy gets really detailed - he has three pages just devoted to drawing noses. Believe me, if you really study his lessons, the drawing a nose will never be a problem again. There is not a lot of fluff here - just straightforward instruction on drawing people. And the best part about it is, the people look like Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. For a book that costs less than $10, that is hard to beat.

I love this book. Other books show you how to draw people. This one shows you how to draw glamour.

Chris York is a noted artist and proprietor of Art Instruction Books.com, a resource for sales and reviews of art instruction books.

Authoring a book, specifically an eBook (electronic book), is easy, affordable and profitable. Share your expertise and experience with an international on-line community of learners.

Fulfill that dream of yours to write a book and become a published author. Take that workshop you’ve written and presented; take that unit of study you’ve produced; take that wish that there had been a book about something when you needed it most and convert that need into an eBook for others to use and enjoy; take that interest or hobby and convert your personal experience and professional expertise into an instructional eBook; share your love of a topic with others to encourage them to share your joy or support them in their quest for further skill development; use your experiences to get someone else ‘turned on’ to what you have been enjoying for years; provide the attitudes, skills, and knowledge for others that will help them do a better job… Yes, you can accomplish all of this and so much more with eBooks.

The technology of eBook production has become so remarkably easy, affordable and yes, even profitable that you do not need to be a computer expert to become an accomplished and published author.

Whatever your status: student or teacher; worker or administrator; amateur or professional; experienced or inexperienced; veteran or newcomer; rising star or established guru; famous or infamous… you have something to offer to others who have not had the same experiences or accomplished the things you have done.

We at Awaken The Author Within and eBook Authoring Services have broken the eBook authoring process into 10 steps. A brief outline of those steps is the focus of this article. The article is designed to inform you of the steps, assure you that anyone may accomplish the task, provide you with an outline of the process and point you in the direction of further information to make the process both an exhilarating personal adventure and a professional development activity of the highest order.

WRITING is a POWERFUL TOOL. It is the DOING part of THINKING.

The first step in the process is to have an IDEA for a book. There are few of us who haven’t said to ourselves at one time or another, “Some day I’d like to write a book about …” or “I wish someone would have provided me with information about ____ when I was first starting out.” or “Now that I’ve reached this point in my career (hobby, role, interest,…) I’d like to share my experiences with others.” Whatever you choose as a topic for your first eBook in particular, choose something about which you already are a self-proclaimed ‘expert’! And something about which you are passionate.

The second step in the process is to spend some time in REFLECTION. This is a step that goes hand in hand with the first step. You’ve already thought about such things as why you would want to write an eBook; what benefits writing an eBook would give to you, the author, and your readers; who would benefit most from the sharing of your experience and expertise; when would be a good time to begin the process; where you might find an audience for your eBook; how you would get your eBook to those people who would most benefit from it. At this step, share your idea of authoring an eBook and the chosen topic with as many people as possible to get their feedback. Be a risk-taker! In essence, at this stage you are working towards the third step.

The COMMITMENT step is the first really important one, the step that separates the dreamers from the doers; the step that embraces change for personal and professional gain; the step that says you are willing to acquire the attitudes; skills, and knowledge to become not only a published author but a successful one as well; the step that moves you into an adventure that will assure you that you will never be the same person again. This is the most exciting step along the way!

The fourth step is called the BIG PICTURE step since it is here that you call upon both your realistic and your fanciful self to envision the final product. Imagine your eBook cover published on a web site, your eBook being read by others, your professional and personal pride in your accomplishment, your exhilaration at earning money as an author (if you choose to sell your eBook), your “dream come true”! At this step you must also make decisions involving such big picture ideas as: the scope of your eBook, the number of eBooks in the series if more than one eBook is required, the topic or topics to be covered, the background information you already possess or need to acquire, the people who can act as mentors…

After the big picture ideas have been dealt with, the fifth step is the choice of how the eBook information is to be CHUNKED. By chunking we mean breaking the general topic into manageable and palatable parts for the learner who acquires your eBook. This depends entirely upon the content of your eBook and the method(s) you see as best to present the material based on your knowledge of the topic. This can range from the simplest format of chapters to question and answer format to case studies to worksheets to theory and practice applications to problems and solutions to how to books to journals of discovery to…

Step six is the step we all associate with authoring an eBook – the WRITING! In reality, this step is merely one of the 10! It is often the most enjoyable because you are writing about a topic about which you have a passion as well as skills, attitudes, and knowledge you wish to share with others. Your personal and professional experiences will make this step a most enjoyable one. Write in an informal manner with impassioned emotion. Write like you mean it! This type of writing is as far from a thesis as you can get – a beauty of eBooks! Use a friendly letter style and talk to your reader much like you would do in a conversation. Although this step may be the most enjoyable, it does require a myriad of decisions by you, the author. You must consider such things as font size and style, spacing on the pages, header and footer considerations, word processing software to use, the length of the eBook, research that needs to be done, links to the web you are going to use, material you must gather together, compiling method for publishing,… plus many others. This is a lengthy list, but manageablewhen you are prepared for it.

The EDITING step, the seventh, is by far the most time consuming as any of you who have written before will attest. When your work is to be published you want it to be as perfect as possible in so many ways not just spelling and grammar. Such things as visual appeal and use of white space on the page, style of titles, table of contents, use of black line masters, resources and sources of information, ease of use… are also considerations. Make sure you have plenty of friends to help you with this step, likely the most time consuming step in the entire process.

PUBLISHING or COMPILING your eBook is step eight which is the step required to turn your book into an eBook! The quality of your eBook when it is presented to your audience in its final form depends on the quality of your editing in step seven. You may choose to have your eBook compiled in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - .exe) or PDF (Portable Document Format - .pdf) or any of the other ways you can have it done to accommodate different reading devices. Your eBook must be made ready to be downloaded from the Internet on to a computer. You will have the choice of doing a little, none or as much work as you wish at this stage. Your decision will depend on the amount of personal time you wish to invest and the amount of money you wish to pay for the services needed. This cost is minimal regardless of the choice you make. Cost is not a deterrent to getting your eBook compiled.

Like in the previous step, MARKETING your eBook can be done with as much personal effort as you wish. It is important in step nine that you get your eBook to market! You can become your own marketer by creating a web site. Other web sites and professional agents or marketers are also available to do this job. The costs vary depending on the choice you make and there are many choices available to you. Again, cost is not a deterring factor here. For your own sake and the sake of your eBook, you should get involved in the marketing of your eBook as much as possible. After all, you have the most important investment of all in your eBook – your emotional involvement and you know the ‘niche’ market best for whom you wrote the eBook in the first place. In addition, you stand to gain personally and financially by increasing exposure of the eBook.

The absolute best step in the process which coincidentally is the “10” step, is CELEBRATING! You deserve a celebration for the final step in this literary and eCommerce adventure. You need to thank those dozens of others who contributed in ways big and small to your success. You should rejoice in the euphoria of accomplishing a dream! You should celebrate the fact that many people go through their entire lives without ever accomplishing what you had dreamed of accomplishing – becoming a published author!

Share your success with others and encourage them to do the same thing. Become a mentor to your friends and acquaintances. Share the joy. Leave your mark!

Dare it be mentioned – there just may be one more eBook in you! Let the adventure begin ANEW!

© 2005 Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson is a published eBook author who has worked with hundreds of eBook authors helping them reach their dream of writing a book. His experiences with writing eBooks, conducting Book Camps, hosting teleseminars, doing workshops and coaching wannabe and published authors means eBook Authoring Services at http://www.ebookwritingandpublishing.com
is a good source of information for all eBook authors.

This land is my memories. For two thousand years this valley has been mine alone.

I know every rock, every stream and every tree. I know the forces that shape this land and the people who inhabit it.

A billion years ago this land was a migratory trail for the animals of Western Europe. They roamed freely across the huge land of one continent. Millennia passed as the rivers washed silt to the ocean and the sun raised rain to the sky. At that time the mass of Eurasia was joined. The tectonic plates shifted and islands formed, raising proud, green peninsulas on green water, thrust out to the ocean. Long before my time the forces of nature battled along the coasts of Western Europe. From the Southwest, the Gulf Stream warmed and opened the land with summer heat. From the north, ice raged and cracked the rock of what would become the British Isles.

The land tells me it was an epic struggle. The generous heat of earth, venting her spleen, the wash of the water, cooling and circulating air. Rain succoured the land and ran back to the sea, endless cycles, repeating endlessly. The earth shifted, chasms opened and the sea swept in, submerging areas and separating the islands of Britain and Ireland from the mainland.

Spouts of boiling lava spewed from the molten centre of earth to create granite formations, a source of wonder till the end of time. A great rift opened up what is now the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea, separating the land into distinct areas. Many characteristics still connect Brittany, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall. Their joining can still be seen in place and people. But veins of power run through the sea, a matrix of energy criss-crosses the land and reaches out around our planet.

The Phoenicians, Egyptians and Greeks journeyed to these coasts even before the Iron Age, in search of Keltic wisdom, since long before the time of my youth. They followed the trail of gold and wisdom across the sea to Cornwall and then to Wales and Ireland. Later, tin trade followed these routes across Brittany and the journeys of wise men and saints to the west of land, the land of setting sun, of Gods and the quest for immortality that haunts us all. Ships and boats from the French and Spanish coasts often sailed to rivers on the south coast of Cornwall in search of trade and journey with the friendly and civilised Keltii, hopefully avoiding the pirates that have ravaged these coasts for millennia.

2000 years ago I was killed trying to save my mother from Portuguese raiders on the river, who stole the gold that came from Ireland. My story is located in the valley of one of these rivers, now called ‘River Fowey’. It is a story that I have not been able to tell until now. My own story starts with the visit of Jesus of Nazareth to the river Fowey in 30 AD (according to the Julian Calendar and allowing for a seven year miscalculation). He was twenty three years old. He journeyed on a vision quest to the west-of-land, in search of the wisdom of the Keltii and union with his father spirit. I have spent much time thinking about this moment and my brief encounter with a man who claimed to be Son of God. For hundreds of years I puzzled at his smile, the light in his gaze. He had a quality of being rare in the extreme, an utter and unconditional compassion for all life.

Who am I? A ghost; Fintan, born 2000 years ago and caught in the matrix of nature unable to tell my story until now. I am here, waiting for you.

A Cornish ghost story, ‘The Lily’ available only at http://www.simonthescribe.co.uk/Lily.html

For anyone who has any interest in energy, its cost, future and the political debate over this precious resource- The Bottomless Well is a must read. This book is an intriguing insight to the other side of what most of us have been led to believe on the environmentalist monopoly of the subject. The Bottomless Well makes the case that most of the things we think we know are mostly myths- because we really don’t understand what the essence of energy is in the first place. The book demonstrates how a better understanding of energy will radically change our views and policies on a number of very controversial issues. The Bottomless Well also explains why demand for energy will only continue to increase, why most of what we believe is “energy waste” actually proves out to be a benefit for all; why more efficient vehicles, engines, and light bulbs will never lower demand, and why the earth’s energy supply is actually infinite.

The Bottomless Well goes on to point out that that the cost of energy has increasingly less and less to do with the actual cost of fuel. With roughly five percent of the world’s population, America consumes over 25 percent of the world’s natural gas, 43 percent of its motor gasoline, 25 percent of its crude petroleum, 23 percent of its coal, and 26 percent of its total electricity production. But the book points out that most our energy consumption isn’t for locomotion, lighting, or cooling. What we use energy for, mainly, is to extract, refine, process, and purify energy into ever higher states of efficiency. The more efficient our technology, the more energy we actually consume; not save, because the cost to reward ratio is so positive for the consumers of this highly refined energy. The book also point out that the competitive advantage in manufacturing will soon be shifting decisively back toward the U.S.: the human demand for energy will only continue to grow and is indeed insatiable; raw fuels sources are not running out; and America’s relentless pursuit of high-grade energy does not add chaos to the global environment but rather restores it to order. Indeed, expanding energy supplies mean higher productivity, more jobs, and a growing GDP. Across the board- energy isn’t the problem, energy is the solution.

While the conventional wisdom holds that energy consumption is the problem and certainly some would disagree from an environmental impact concerning (at lest fossil fuel) energy consumption, The Bottomless Well argues that from an environmental perspective it also makes sense to use energy in an ever more efficient state. For example America, unlike most of the poor developing countries, is a net carbon sink. That is, despite all the pollution produced in America, there is more CO2 PPM upwind of America on the Pacific side then there is downstream of it over the Atlantic. This fact is undisputed, but although the book does offer some anecdotal reasons why this might be the case there is no definitive evidence to explain this unexpected phenomenon.

I would strongly recommend The Bottomless Well to anyone, no matter where they might stand on the issues of energy, the environment or politics. The book breaks the mold on many of our conventional views of energy, how we use it and why. At very least The Bottomless Well opens the door to another school of thought, not to mention a healthy debate about energy policy and our future.

John is the founder of several successful Internet technology companies including the Book Price Comparison website CompareBook.com. As a pragmatist of the world around him, he is both a critic and crusader on international politics and energy policy as it relates to our security and our impact on the global environment.

Visit CompareBook.com to read reviews, find similar titles, and search for the lowest possible price for The Bottomless Well and other great books.

The Rich Jerk

Become a millionaire just by clicking here! Do nothing but watch
the profits roll in! Okay, okay, we’ve all seen these before. I
can’t think of a better job than to monitor my bank accounts
always rising balance, but let’s get realistic here. Any time
someone gets caught up in an internet get-rich scheme, who do
you think is the one that actually gets rich?

I hate schemes. I’ve been the victim of at least 2, one that
took me for a substantial amount of money ($1000+) before I
finally decided to figure this stuff out for myself. Resolved to
find the truth behind it all, I’ve been determined to educate
myself. That meant starting some long hours of research and a
steep learning curve. Sometime after completing that quest, I
heard about “The Rich Jerk” book. I was eager to review this
book to expose all the schemes and save my readers from falling
into another pit. So I finally get the book, and after reading
just the table of contents, my jaw dropped. He had beaten me at
my own game and summed up all my long hours of research and put
it in a well-written book that goes right to the point.

Wish I had seen this a while ago.

Most of us realize it’s time to forget the pipe dream and start
learning how to do it for ourselves, too. But where to start?
What’s real? What’s not? Is it even possible for someone like me
to make some money on the net?

Yes! People making money on the internet since the internet has
been around. A LOT of money. Okay, good point. But how?

Here it comes; in the day and age of internet fraud and get rich
schemes, a voice of true internet knowledge finally rises to
advise strategies that could actually make you and me some
money. Here’s the problem. The guy is a jerk. I want to kick him
right in the junk, if he has any. But whether or not he has any
junk, he does have brains and has put together a wicked good
guide that will educate you on the most successful strategies to
actually seeing profit using the internet as a tool.

His guide to making money on the internet cut down my learning
time to hours instead of days and provided strategies that I
would never to have thought of myself. And he also provided
enough strategies that we may never get to them all.

As for a closer look at the book, here are only a smattering of
topics that he covers: creating affiliate websites that sell
like there is no tomorrow, using PPC search engines in way that
will massacre competitors, using search engines optimally,
selling your own digital product, selling (selling: a short way
to write “make enough money to retire with”) on auction sites,
as well as other ventures. And for all the readers that will
write and ask “what is an affiliate?” or “PPC?”, he has included
a new chapter devoted to bringing beginners up to speed.

So during the process of reading and reviewing his book, I’ve
also been checking his website, and remember my “kick him in the
junk” comment above? Yeah, now I want to do it twice. But he has
done something a little unusual, and all of you thinking of
grabbing his book should jump on. In the last 2 days, he has put
his book on sale for ½ off. Substantial savings, people! There
is no way this price is going to stick around, and for all of
you who have ever been taken by a scheme, this is time for
redemption. Learn what’s real and what’s not, or suffer the
consequences again next time you get caught in a scheme that
only drains your hard-earned money.

As a final note, as a reviewer, I’ve seen a lot of crap come
across my desk. I wish this book had shown up a lot sooner; I
wouldn’t have to work this job anymore. Take advantage and order
it now, because I know he won’t keep it at this price longer
than he thinks it’s to his advantage.

Thanks for reading, Travis Daniels

You can find the site here: The Rich
Jerk

It’s Springtime in my Backyard (age 4-8)

By Kathy Mazur
Spring Ducks Books (2005)
Reviewed by Jennifer Imparato for Reader Views (1/06)

This book is an amazing ‘learn to read book’. It is the story of a child and her interaction with two ducks at the beginning of spring. The story is written in short sentences that children can understand which are accompanied by real photographs and drawings that illustrate what the words are explaining.

At the end of the story, there is information about male and female mallards, as well as pictures of other animals and plants that signal the beginning of spring. This book also includes a CD, on which the child the book is written about (Lauren Mazur, age 7) reads the book.

I would recommend this book to any parent with a young child. It’s not only a fun story for beginning readers, but it’s also a lesson about mallards as well. That’s like two lessons in one story.

Kathy Mazur, President of Spring Ducks Books, LLC, has a BA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and has a background in residential real estate. She is a full-time mother to a 9 year old daughter and resides in Madison, Wisconsin. Lauren, Mazur’s daughter, began speech therapy when she was four years old. As part of strengthening her communication skills, Mazur was always thinking of new ideas to foster her daughter’s love of reading and writing.

Jennifer Imparato is a reviewer for Reader Views
http://www.readerviews.com

Free Information Products inundate the web these days. eBook performance denotes miraculous sales and marketing procedures abound. Procedural documentation of a marketing article can be referred back to an eBook sold on your website. While most entrepreneurs may be seeking positions working at jobs online, others are actually seeking independent careers they can start working from home. An eBook representing a new method of business development, touting an ingenious financially beneficial business one can start on a shoestring, and proclaiming vast amounts of dollar success will sell well on any site, promotes well as a marketing article, and reprints well on other people’s websites as a loss leader to bring traffic back to your site with a reference and signature ad.

What does it cost to bring traffic to your website? Can you make a dedicated profit by giving away an eBook that cost you only the time to create it?

Some interesting suggestions for marketing your eBook include:

1. Promote portions of your eBook as marketing articles with your signature and a reference back to your whole eBook. (Remember not to give away the secret of your book in the articles.)

2. Encourage publication of portions and excerpts from your eBook along with your special signature referring buyers back to your eBook and website.

3. Make extra profit selling updated versions of your eBook after you publish the FREE eBook online for readers to read. Be sure to include examples of excerpts from the updated version to encourage them to purchase your book.

4. Promote your eBook as a buy in for other web developers to promote their websites. Encourage them to give it away, as you give it away. Encourage readers to also purchase the updated version of your eBook.

5. Locate other people’s eBooks and promote them on your website. Buy rights to eBooks for sale on your website. Create packets using a collection of similar titles to sell eBooks on your website as part of your content and product.

6. Create saleable reports from the data used to create eBook. Sell reports through advertising spots on your website promoting FREE reports. Use portions of your eBook to promote your monthly newsletter. Use portions of your eBook IN the monthly newsletter.

7. Show prospective clients sample pages of your eBook. Sample pages create interest, offer basic information about what is found in the eBook, and promote sale of reports.

8. Develop a “come back theory” to encourage return traffic to your site. Build a market people will come back to purchase or review later.

9. Make your eBook available off line.

Use your eBook to create multiple high earning income streams, promote your website, develop your clientele, and balance your on line business. By writing several eBooks serving your topic, and introducing your clients to your way of doing business, promoting your values and work style, you increase your own popularity and visibility online. This process defines your brand and brings you back to the homes of your clients. Once they begin to recognize and understand your business brand, you become more visible and highly competitive with any other source they have for any given product.

Jan Verhoeff combines 27 years of service in the Free Enterprise domain and a lifetime of education in business development to bring expertise and understanding of basic business principles to new business owners. An expert in the field of business development, Jan presents conceptual information through publications, live presentations, and Power Launch, a weekly live conference chat for business developers. For more information see her site at: http://makemoneyhere.blogspot.com

Geeks & Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders by Warren G. Bennis & Robert J. Thomas

Most every organization today employs members of the younger generation just out of college and, in some cases, even high school. In fact, I recently read of a west coast firm that hired several middle school students to do part-time programming after school and on weekends. Those same companies employ their share of A.A.R.P. members nearing retirement. Both age groups, as well as those in between, bring tremendous value to the table in terms of education, experience, creativity, talent, etc. However, consider the cultural, environmental, motivational and personal goal differences of these two diverse employee groups. Then consider the fact that they are being thrown into the same chaotic, rapidly changing business environment and instructed to achieve ever-increasing levels of productivity and profitability! To expect such lofty expectations to be met would, of course, require, at the very least, a basic orientation to members of each group of the vast differences existing in each of the areas mentioned earlier. In fact, education and discussion of these differences and their possible consequences should be on-going. Now think about your own organization. Is this orientation currently being offered? Has it ever been offered? Should it be?

If any organization were to recognize the importance of this education and decide to provide it for their employees, the benefits would be phenomenal! The ideal textbook for such a program would have to be Geeks & Geezers by Bennis & Thomas. In this groundbreaking study, the authors compare and contrast these two disparate groups-affectionately labeled “geeks” (aged 21-34) and “geezers” (aged 70-82). They asked successful geeks to share the secrets of their youthful triumphs and distinguished geezers to tell them how they continue to stay active and engaged despite the changes wrought by age. Today’s young leaders grew up in the glow of television and computers; the leaders of their grandparents’ generation in the shadow of the Depression and World War II.

The authors, who bring considerable experience to the table (Bennis has written over 30 books on leadership and Thomas is a senior fellow with Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change), interviewed more than 40 leaders who they deem either “geeks” or “geezers” to evaluate the effect of era on values and success. The two groups vary in terms of their ambitions, heroes and family lives, but members of both sets share one common experience: all have “undergone at least one intense, transformational experience,” which the authors call a “crucible.” In some cases the crucible was an actual hardship, e.g., geezer Sidney Rittenberg spent 16 years in prison in China for speaking out against the government. For others, it was a dramatic experience, such as NYSE pioneer Muriel Siebert’s entry into male-dominated Wall Street in 1967 or geek Liz Altman’s stint working at a Japanese Sony factory before becoming a Motorola VP.

Among the findings of their research, Bennis and Thomas learned that Geezers and Geeks had quite different concerns when in the age range of 25-30. The Geezers’ concerns were making a living, earning a good salary, starting and supporting a family, stability and security, working hard and getting rewarded by the system, listening to their elders, paying “dues” to various organizations, and using retirement to enjoy life. It also reveals the critical traits they share, including adaptability, vision, integrity, unquenchable optimism, and “neoteny”—a youthful curiosity and zest for knowledge.

In contrast, Geeks’ concerns (during the same age range) were making history, achieving personal wealth, launching a career, change and impermanence, working hard so they can write their own rules, wondering if their elders “got it wrong,” deciding where loyalty should lie, and achieving a balance between work and life. These are significant differences which Bennis and Thomas explain in terms of the different eras in which Geeks lived (at ages 25-30), the societal values of their respective generations, and various “defining moments” such as those associated with the Great Depression, World War II as well as Vietnam and the emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web.

Geeks and Geezers is a book that will forever change how we view not just leadership but the very way we learn and ultimately live our lives. Highlighting the forces that enable any of us to learn and lead not for a time, but for a lifetime, this book is essential reading for geeks, geezers, and everyone in between.

More than 100 business book reviews written by Harry K. Jones are available at http://www.AchieveMax.com/books/.

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Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax^®, Inc., a firm specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has made presentations ranging from leadership to employee retention and time management to stress management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting http://www.AchieveMax.com.