Benefits Of Reading To Children

How Can Blind People Read Books? (hint: Audio Books)
Why a blind child ought to miss the Harry Potter books? Why can't he enjoy like millions of children all over the world the Harry Potter magic? Well, he can enjoy it. Indeed, he can not read the books or watch the movies but he can listen to the audio books, which is also a great experience.

Audio books may be useful for many populations — Elder people could go on "reading" audio books when they are not capable of reading books any more, busy career people can listen to business journals and magazines via audio books, children can listen to audio books of a higher level than they are able to read etc.

However, it seems that one of the populations that may gain the most out of audio books is not using them yet.

There are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States alone. Audio books can enhance their life personally and professionally.

First, audio books can help blind people enjoy the experience of reading books. Years ago, people predicted that the end of the paper books is near due to new technologies. However, the popularity of books keeps increasing. They provide a special experience no other gadget can compete with. Audio books can supply a similar experience for the blind population.

Secondly, audio books can take blind people's education one step forward. Learning foreign languages, poetry, literature, English grammar etc. could be optimized using audio books. Did you know that there are approximately 93,600 visually impaired or blind students in the United States?

Thirdly, blind people can develop habits and hobbies using audio books. One could find audio books about every subject from fishing to knitting guides.

And finally, unfortunately blind people are often treated as outsiders and develop inferiority emotions. There are a lot of self creation, self confidence and awareness audio book guides which can help them.

Whether you belong to the blind and visually impaired people or not, we strongly advise you to join the audio book experience now. Have fun.

Paton Jackson is the head of 911 corp. We have made a comprehensive research about audio books. Let us share with you our finding – the best audio books sources, titles and much more audio book information only on <a href="http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm" target="_blank">http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm</a>

Publicity From Thirty Thousand Feet
We all know that marketing a book is a process. But sometimes the process takes longer than we'd anticipated. That's why it's nice every now and again to hop aboard the publicity jet and get a look-see at what you've been doing from the thirty-thousand foot level. Why? Well, first off this birds-eye view will reveal to you areas you might be overlooking or other options for marketing you hadn't considered.

To accomplish this bird-eye view you'll want to get yourself a big white board, or something else big enough to chart your flight plan on. Then, once you've gotten that start charting the course you've taken so far. Don't leave a single thing out; it doesn't matter what it is. What you want to end up with is a serious list of everything you've done from the time you held your first proof book in your hands.

One of the things this type of a project will do is give you a new perspective on what you're doing. It will show you areas that you've possibly been spending too much time on or potential holes in your campaign. Sketching out your marketing campaign will also give you a chance to see what's been leveraging you results and what hasn't. Keep in mind that some things like bulk sales and national media might take longer than other items so you'll want to keep putting forth effort toward those long-term goals. But let's say you've been spending tons of time doing radio but nothing really seems to be happening in that area. You then look over to your speaking engagement section and realize you haven't done a lot with that recently. Perhaps it's time to pull back on radio and start pushing speaking events.

Once you've spent a good long time in this birds-eye view mode, start developing a to-do list of items or add to an existing list to help reinvigorate your campaign. One of the many things you'll learn from doing this thirty-thousand foot perspective is that we often become myopic in our campaigns, focusing too hard in one area and not hard enough in another. Stepping back from your work will allow you the breathing room you need to regroup and reset your goals. Then you can focus in on particular areas or tasks that might need a boost.

It's been said that a plane flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles is always off by three percent. If left to fly without any adjustments to the course, however slight, the plane would land up in Seattle instead (a difference of almost 1,200 miles!). But through corrections and readjustments the pilot eventually reaches his destination. As you pilot your own campaign, remember: don't leave your marketing on autopilot. Realign, readjust, and refocus and eventually you too will reach your destination, wherever that might be.

Happy flying!

Penny C. Sansevieri: The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed the ranks at Amazon.com to the #1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at http://www.amarketingexpert.com

About Writing
About Writing Copyright 2005, Michael LaRocca Here's everything I know about improving your writing, publishing it electronically and in print, and promoting it after the sale. Two questions you should ask: (1) What will it cost me? (2) What does this Michael LaRocca guy know about it? Answer #1 -- It won't cost you a thing. The single most important bit of advice I can give you, and I say it often, is don't pay for publication. My successes have come from investing time. Some of it was well spent, but most of it was wasted. It costs me nothing to share what I've learned. It costs you nothing to read it except some of your time. Answer #2 -- "Michael LaRocca has been researching the publishing field for over ten years." This quote, from an ezine (electronic newsletter) called Authors Wordsmith, was a kind way of saying I've received a lot of rejections. Also, my "research" required 20 years. But in my "breakout" year (2000), I finished writing four books and scheduled them all for publication in 2001. I also began editing for one of my publishers, a job I've been enjoying ever since. After my first book was published, both my publishers closed. Two weeks and three publishers later, I was back on track. All four books were published, and a fifth was released in 2004. Written in 2003, no rejections. Another scheduled for 2005 publication, no rejections. See how much faster it was the second time around? That's because I learned a lot. Also, I found more editing jobs. That's what I do when I'm not writing, doing legal transcription, or teaching English in China (my new home). But the thing is, if I'd become an editor before learning how to write, I'd have stunk. 2005 EPPIE Award finalist. 2004 EPPIE Award finalist. 2002 EPPIE Award finalist. Listed by Writers Digest as one of The Best 101 Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. Sime-Gen Readers Choice Awards for Favorite Author (Nonfiction & Writing) and Favorite Book (Nonfiction & Writing). 1982 Who's Who In American Writing. Excuse me for bragging, but it beats having you think I'm unqualified. I'll tell you what's missing from this course. What to write about, where I get my ideas from, stuff like that. Maybe I don't answer this question because I think you should do it your way, not mine. Or maybe because I don't know how I do it. Or maybe both. Once you've done your writing, this course will help you with the other stuff involved in being a writer. Writing involves wearing at least four different hats. Writer, editor, publication seeker, post-sale self-promoter. Here's what I can tell you about my writing. Sometimes an idea just comes to me out of nowhere and refuses to leave me alone until I write about it. So, I do. And, whenever I read a book that really fires me up, I think, "I wish I could write like that." So, I just keep trying. I'll never write THE best, but I'll always write MY best. And get better every time. That's the "secret" of the writing "business," same as any other business. Always deliver the goods. I read voraciously, a habit I recommend to any author who doesn't already have it. You'll subconsciously pick up on what does and doesn't work. Characterization, dialogue, pacing, plot, story, setting, description, etc. But more importantly, someone who doesn't enjoy reading will never write something that someone else will enjoy reading. I don't write "for the market." I know I can't, so I just write for me and then try to find readers who like what I like. I'm not trying to whip up the next bestseller and get rich. Not that I'd complain. But I have to write what's in my heart, then find a market later. It makes marketing a challenge at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way. When you write, be a dreamer. Go nuts. Know that you're writing pure gold. That fire is why we write. An author I admire, Kurt Vonnegut, sweats out each individual sentence. He writes it, rewrites it, and doesn't leave it alone until it's perfect. Then when he's done, he's done. I doubt most of write like that. I don't. I let it fly as fast as my fingers can move across the paper or keyboard, rushing to capture my ideas before they get away. Later, I change and shuffle and slice. James Michener writes the last sentence first, then has his goal before him as he writes his way to it. Then there's me. No outline whatsoever. I create characters and conflict, spending days and weeks on that task, until the first chapter leaves me wondering "How will this end?" Then my characters take over, and I'm as surprised as the reader when I finish my story. Some authors set aside a certain number of hours every day for writing, or a certain number of words. In short, a writing schedule. Then there's me. No writing for three or six months, then a flurry of activity where I forget to eat, sleep, bathe, change the cat's litter... I'm a walking stereotype. To assuage the guilt, I tell myself that my unconscious is hard at work. As Hemingway would say, long periods of thinking and short periods of writing. I've shown you the extremes in writing styles. I think most authors fall in the middle somewhere. But my point is, find out what works for you. You can read about how other writers do it, and if that works for you, great. But in the end, find your own way. That's what writers do. Just don't do it halfway. If you're doing what I do, writing a story that entertains and moves you, you'll find readers who share your tastes. For some of us that means a niche market and for others it means regular appearances on the bestseller list. Writing is a calling, but publishing is a business. Remember that AFTER you've written your manuscript. Not during. I've told you how I write. For me. ** EDITING ** The next step is self-editing. Fixing the mistakes I made in my rush to write it before my Muse took a holiday. Several rewrites. Running through it repeatedly with a fine-toothed comb and eliminating cliches like "fine-toothed comb." Then what? There are stories that get rejected because the potential publisher hates them, but more are shot down for other reasons. Stilted dialogue. Boring descriptions. Weak characters. Underdeveloped story. Unbelievable or inconsistent plot. Sloppy writing. That's what you have to fix. I started by using Free Online Creative Writing Workshops. What I needed most was input from strangers. After all, once you're published, your readers will be strangers. Every publisher you submit to will be a stranger. What will they think? I always get too close to my writing to answer that. Whenever I got some advice, I considered it. Some I just threw out as wrong, or because I couldn't make the changes without abandoning part of what made the story special to me. Some I embraced. But the point is, I decided. It's my writing. After a time, I didn't feel the need for the workshops anymore. I'm fortunate enough to have a wife whose advice I will always treasure, and after a while that was all I needed. But early on, it would've been unfair to ask her to read my drivel. (Not that I didn't anyway, but she married me in spite of it.) Your goal when you self-edit is to get your book as close to "ready to read" as you possibly can. Do not be lazy and do not rush. You want your editor to find what you overlooked, not what you didn't know about, and you want it to be easy for him/her. Your story is your story. You write it from your heart, and when it looks like something you'd enjoy reading, you set out to find a publisher who shares your tastes. What you don't want is for that first reader to lose sight of what makes your story special because you've bogged it down with silly mistakes. Authors don't pay to be published. They are paid for publication. Always. It's just that simple. Later, I'll tell you where to get some free editing. But there's a limit to how much editing you can get without paying for it. Do you need more than that? I don't know because I've never read your writing. But if you evaluate it honestly, I think you'll know the answer. As an editor, I've worked with some authors who simply couldn't self-edit. Non-native English speakers, guys who slept through English class, whatever. To them, paying for editing was an option. This isn't paying for publication. This is paying for a service, training. Just like paying to take a Creative Writing class at the local community college. By the way, I don't believe creativity can be taught. Writing, certainly. I took a Creative Writing class in high school, free, and treasure the experience. But I already had the creativity, or else it would've been a waste of the teacher's time and mine. If you hire an editor worthy of the name, you should learn from that editor how to self-edit in the future. In my case it took two tries, because my first "editor" was a rip-off artist charging over ten times market value for incomplete advice. That editor, incidentally, is named Edit Ink, and they're listed on many "scam warning" sites. They take kickbacks from every fake agent who sends them a client. (I'll talk about fake agents later.) If you choose to hire an editor, check price and reputation. (For a ballpark figure, I charge $3 per 1000 words for a proofread, twice that for an in-depth edit.) Consider that you might never make enough selling your books to get back what you pay that editor. Do you care? That's your decision. Your first, most important step on the road to publication is to make your writing the best it can be. ** PUBLICATION ** My goal is to be published in both mediums, ebook and print. There are some readers who prefer ebooks, and some who prefer print books. The latter group is larger, but those publishers are harder to sell your writing to. I want to be published in both mediums, because I want all the readers I can get. Thus, I advocate something of a stepping-stone approach. Publish electronically with a quality place, and enjoy the benefits of free editing. Later, if you think you can sell your book to a traditional print publisher, you have a professionally edited manuscript to submit. Free editing. Before you epublish, check the contract to be sure you can publish the edited work in print later. If you know your book just plain won't ever make it into traditional print, print-on-demand (POD) is an option. Some of my books fall into this category. The best epublishers will simultaneously publish your work electronically and in POD format, at no cost to you. A lot of authors swear by self-publication, but the prospect just plain scares me. All that promo, all that self-editing, maybe driving around the countryside with a back seat full of books. I'm a writer, not a salesman. Maybe you're different. I self-published once, in the pre-POD days. Mom handled the sales. I had fun and broke even. With POD, at least it's easier (and probably cheaper) to self-publish than it was in 1989, because you'll never get stuck with a large unsold inventory. POD setup fees can range anywhere from US$100 to over $1000. Don't pay the higher price! Price shop. Also, remember that POD places publish any author who pays, giving them a real credibility problem with some reviewers and readers, and that they do no marketing. ** PROMOTING YOUR PUBLISHED WRITING ** It doesn't matter how you publish your book. Self-published, epublished, POD, or traditional print publishing from a small press or an absolute powerhouse. Marketing falls largely on you, and the same things always work. Book signings, book reviews and interviews in the local newspapers and on radio. (Or Oprah, but what are our chances?) Start with http://www.kidon.com/media-link/index.shtml. It will allow you to look up all the local media outlets in your area that have websites. If you write to them all, you're a spammer. Plus, it'll take ages. Look for the ones with a legitimate interest and fire away. If you find a stale URL, and I think you will, look for the name of that media outlet at some place like Google. Spend some time looking for the right press contacts, spend some time writing your press release, and do what you can. Most of these sites list email, snail mail, and phone numbers. Since I live in China, I've only used email. Book reviews, author interviews, book listing sites, and book contests are something we can all do, regardless of where we live. HOW TO GET PUBLISHED (my free ebook) contains my list of resources. http://www.chinarice.org/howtogetpublished.html Some of the sites I mention review ebooks, and some do not. The POD option can help e-authors here, but balance cost vs. likelihood of gaining enough readers to offset that cost. Some are ezines and some are websites. Some are printed newsletters, some are printed magazines, and some are newspapers. This is just a starting point. If you visit them all, and you have time for more promotion, you can find many more. Aside from two radio interviews and a seminar in Hong Kong, and some emailed press releases to the LOCAL media back in the US which may or may not have succeeded in anything, my marketing has come from the Internet. I have a website. I have a newsletter. I write free articles such as this one. I give away a free ebook, the essence of which you're reading now. You found me somehow, right? Here's the type of message I receive often in email. To be more precise, in spam. "If a million people see your ad, and you get 1% of them, that's 10,000 readers and therefore $15,000 profit and you only paid $1000 for those million addresses." NO!! It doesn't work that way. Need I use the words dot-com bust? My website is free. My newsletter is free. I don't buy mailing lists, I don't harvest email addresses, and I don't spam. I want interested traffic, not just sheer numbers. Do you think the Phoenicians tried to sell sails to people a thousand miles from water? Internet marketing isn't a replacement for the methods mentioned above, but a complement to them. And by using it, I got you here. Your goal in marketing is this. There are people in the world who like what you like. And since you like your book, they probably will too. You have to find those readers and make them interested, without spamming them and without "playing the numbers game." If you're an e-author, let me state the obvious. Nobody buys ebooks who doesn't have Internet access. Do they? So you definitely need a website. Traditional print authors need websites too. Even blockbuster authors like J.R. Rowling and Stephen King, who I doubt could garner any more name recognition, have websites. So does every long-established inescapable monstro-business like McDonalds and Coke. Okay, those folks pay web designers. I'm not doing that. I can't generate sales like that. And yes, I've been employed as an HTML programmer. But you can write your own website without learning HTML if you want. It's no harder than writing a manuscript with a word processor. It won't be super-flashy like the big boys, but it'll communicate the information. Remember, you can communicate. You're an author! That's what keeps people coming back to a website after the thrill of the flash wears off. Information. Content. Your specialty. I consider my website and my newsletter to be successful, and I've analyzed how they got that way, in the free ebook I mentioned above. There are legitimate ways to bring traffic to your website and your newsletter. Not massive numbers overnight, but slow steady growth over the long term. http://www.chinarice.org/howtogetpublished.html ** CLOSING THOUGHTS ** Here's something you've heard before. When your manuscript is rejected -- and it will be -- remember that you aren't being rejected. Your manuscript is. One reader took me to task for that statement, claiming he'd never been rejected. I'm very happy for him. But why, if I may be so bold as to ask, would he need advice on "How To Get Published?" I'd rather he write some advice so I can hang up my "helper guy" hat and learn from a master. But I digress. You aren't being rejected. Your manuscript is. Did you ever hang up the phone on a telemarketer, delete spam, or close the door in the face of a salesman? Of course, and yet that salesman just moves on to the next potential customer. He knows you're rejecting his product, not him. Okay, in my case I'm rejecting both, but I'd never do that to an author. Neither will a publisher or an agent. All authors tell other authors not to take rejection personally, and yet we all do. Consider it a target to shoot for, then. Just keep submitting, and just keep writing. The best way to cope with waiting times is to "submit and forget," writing or editing other stuff while the time passes. And finally, feel free to send an e-mail to me anytime. michaellarocca@chinarice.org or michaellarocca@yawweb.org. I'll gladly share what I know with you, and it won't cost you a cent. I would wish you luck in your publishing endeavors, but I know there's no luck involved. It's all skill and diligence. Congratulations on completing the course! No ceremonies, no degrees, and no diplomas. But on the bright side, no student loan to repay. Best regards, Michael LaRocca http://www.chinarice.org

Michael LaRocca's website at http://www.chinarice.org was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. His response was to throw it out and start over again because he's insane. He teaches English at a university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter WHO MOVED MY RICE?

Write a Winner Book Fast - 8 Ways, p1
Have you given up on getting your book out of your heart into the hands of your readers? Don't give up. There's an easy way to do anything and a more difficult way. The easy way usually includes getting helpful advice from someone that's been there and done that. The author has written five of those ten books that were stuck in her heart a few years ago. Here's eight steps that will speed you on your way to getting your book out now: 1. Setup a regular writing schedule. Think about your priorities right now. Can you fit 7-10 hours a week in? If you have to let something go that is not high on your priority list, do it. Now is your time. Later is not better. Set yourself up for a successfully written book this year by committing to a regular schedule. After it's done, remember to reward yourself. 2. Plan a short book first. Many aspiring writers overwhelm themselves with goals of a 365 page book first. Shorten your book to 25-90 pages the first time or divide your large book into a smaller book one and two. Though you shorten it, still fill it with useful information by using the question and answer format for each chapter. Using the same format and length for each chapter and answering all your readers' questions will not only speed your writing process but it will result in a successful book. 3. Let your passion lead you to a topic. Passion will not only stir your readers when your book is done but it will keep you motivated to do the work involved. Yes, I did say work. Passion will make your work easy. Passion will lead you to develop all the profit centers (seminars, articles, or consulting services) your message deserves. 4. Choose what's interesting to you. If you are interested in what you are writing about you will happily write all you know and research to know more about your subject. You will easily spice your writing with interesting tid-bits that will delight your readers and keep them reading until the end of your book. Get your book out of your heart to paper fast. If you wait you could be this time next year with the same desire to get your book out. Use the eight easy steps of committing to a regular writing schedule, planning a short book first, choosing a passion-led topic, picking an interesting to-you subject, getting to know your reader first, developing a plan for each chapter, designing your book's top market spots, and choosing your non-fiction topic first to become a successful author sooner. The world is waiting for your important message to answer their questions and help them become successful. ======================================

© Earma Brown, 11 year author, business owner, web developer helps service business owners, professionals and writers who want to write their best book now! Earma mentors other writers and business professionals through her bi-monthly ezine "iScribe" Send any email to iscribe@writetowin.org for free 7 lesson mini-course "Jumpstart Writing Your Best Book Now! or visit her at http://www.writetowin.org for more book writing tips.

Enjoy Driving With Audio Books
Did you know that A trucker working to the legal limit in the U.S. can rack up to 3,432 driving hours a year—nearly 10 times that of the average New York commuter or enough to listen to the unabridged audio book version of Bill Clinton's My Life 77 times? (Publishing Trends, Market Partners International, September 2005).

Think of the way audio books could optimize your time management. Audio books can turn the day to a 26 hours day. Yes, audio books can add extra two hours each day. Still not convinced?

Did you know that The average rush hour driver will spend an additional 62 hours stuck in traffic—at standstill—each year and that More than 97 million workers drive alone to work each day.

Well, enough with that pile of useless data, Think about yourself — what have you been doing while driving - Listening to the radio? Making unnecessary calls with your mobile phone? Wasting valuable time?

Now close your eyes and imagine you could read the last edition of the New York Times, Read the last Harry Potter book or learn Chinese — all simultaneously while driving your car. Now open your eyes and stop dreaming, you can do it all now. The only difference is that you are going to use a new method of reading — listening to audio books.

And it is so easy: You may get audio books in different formats from books on tapes and audio books on CD to downloadable audio books. You can get it from different sources — libraries, book and music stores and online audio book sources. You could buy audio books, rent audio books and even get free audio books.

According to eBrain Market Research survey, 71% of the audio book listeners listen to them on long car trips.

Believe me; I couldn't wait getting into the heavy morning traffic listening to the audio book "IT" by Stephen king. In fact, I couldn't resist listening to it at home after work. I love audio books.

Paton Jackson is the head of 911 corp. We have made a comprehensive research about audio books. Let us share with you our findings – the best audio books sources, titles and much more audio book information only on <a href="http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm" target="_blank">http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm</a> - Online audio book rental services and more - The audio book bible.

ReadingSpeed.Net
Readingspeed.net provides lessons and tools to help improve reading speed. The lessons help students understand how to improve reading speed, while the tools make it easy to ...

Career Moves: Take Charge of Your Life
Every day millions of people let their inner fears stop them from creating the life of their dreams. No one will deny that it is scary to step out of your comfort zone, but once you challenge your fear and take action, you can attain great things. 1. Dream Great Dreams Imagine you could be, do, and have anything you want. How is what you want for your future different from your life today? Once you've identified your dream, you can take the steps to make it come true. 2. Make A Decision In every decision we make, we exert a power to shape and control our own life. Unfortunately, instead of pursuing our own empowerment, we sometimes blame our choices on things that have nothing to do with us. Understand you have power over your personal choices. Notice how your life changes with every decision you make, no matter how small. Take responsibility for your decisions so you can shape your ultimate path. 3. Exercise Your Power To Choose Simply dreaming great dreams will not change your life; rather, it is what you do with these dreams that is important. Sift your dreams, created in your right brain, through the logical sieve of your mind-your left brain. In order to achieve the dream, the left hemisphere has to believe that the dream is within the realm of possibility. Only then can the subconscious mind help us make the dream happen. 4. Form A Support Team Enroll people in your dream who can help you attain it. Many people find it difficult the accept help. They think they should be able to do everything themselves or that they will feel obligated to someone for their assistance. Remember, no person is an island. No one has all the answers and there are many unique ways to pay someone back. Find support early in the process and your journey will be much more fun and rewarding! 5. Keep Score Keep track of your progress and decide if where you are now is where you projected you would be. Learn from your successes and failures and determine what you need to work on to achieve your goals. 6. Establish A Baseline The baseline is where you are now; it is your line of scrimmage. With all you have built, now it is time to move forward. If something interrupts your progress, you will need to evaluate what went wrong, make some adjustments, and start moving again. 7. Know Where The Goal Line Is The goal line is your desired outcome. As you focus on the long-term goal, don't forget the short-term goals. Setting and attaining small goals helps give your self-confidence a boost and keeps you motivated to continue plugging toward your long-term goals. 8. Reward Yourself Kudos from others are great, but it is also important to reward yourself. Commit to paper how you will reward yourself when you reach a certain goal and follow through. Take that exotic vacation you have dreamed about or buy something special to remind you of your success. The thrill of the game of life is charting a course, facing challenges head on, and holding someone else's hand along the way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Either way, when you focus on the big picture and refuse to let past mistakes keep you down, you create a future that is filled with possibility. So live to the fullest in the present moment and make the most of it to achieve your vision.

Jo Condrill's career took her from a part-time job in Texas to a supervisory position in the Pentagon in less than ten years, and she never wore a uniform. Sign up for her monthly newsletter at no charge: http://www.goalminds.com Go here for her stories and guidance Take Charge of Your Life Sign Http://www.goalminds.com/primer.html

The Latest Developments In The Audio Book World
In the recorded history of humanity, probably no invention has had a greater influence than the introduction of printing in the fifteenth century by Johannes Gutenberg. Nowadays, with the latest development in audio books, some believe that the printing era is coming to its' end.

If you are an audio book publisher, an audio book fan or just wondering whether you should try one of theses audio books everybody is talking about, you are in the right place. Find out the latest developments in this overwhelming market:

1. A higher percentage of books are being published as audio books — All the bestsellers, all the important magazines and journals and a high percentage of the new books are published also as audio books. More than that, thousands of classic books are published as audio books each year.
Audio books could be found in more and more shops — from book shops and music shops to many online sources like online audio book rental services.

2. Massive increases of potential customers — Audio books answer a certain need — the need to maximize time and productivity. Audio books are considered as excellent method to improve time management. In the competitive world we are living today time is money. Therefore, more and more people understand that to make the most of their time they should start using audio books.

3. Audio books are free — The mass production and the development of new technologies reduced the costs of audio books. One can get free downloadable audio books, low cost audio book rentals or pay a couple of bucks for a brand new audio book on cd or a book on tape.

4. A disposal audio book — downloadable audio books are the most popular audio book' method today — they are cheap and require only a MP3 player or other media player to play them. However, in the past year disposal audio books are published — there is no need for an external device, just the audio book a couple of AAA batteries.

Audio books will surprise publishers, book sellers and libraries that are not joining the celebration. I don't know what about you — but I don't have any more a book shelf in my house.

Paton Jackson is the head of 911 corp. We have made a comprehensive research about audio books. Let us share with you our finding – the best audio books sources, titles and much more audio book information only on <a href="http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm" target="_blank">http://www.911makemoretime.com/audio%20books%20bible.htm</a>

New Year's Resolutions for Writers
On-demand publishing helps legions of writers accomplish the second most common New Year's Resolution: publishing a book! It is important to remember that "Getting Published" the right way depends upon more than just finishing your manuscript and sending it off to a publishing company.

There are a number of important factors to consider.

Publication Timeframe

Between traditional publishers and digital book mills, the timeframe for your book's publication may range between 24 months and 24 hours. Both extremes should be avoided. Traditional publishing houses often take up to 24 months to reject a book. Author stories are common about publishers who initially accepted their book for mainstream publication, only to reject it 18-24 months later because the "Marketing Department" didn't consider it feasible. If you have experienced a similar situation, you are a good candidate for on-demand publishing.

On the other hand, digital dot-com book mills on the Internet claim to publish books instantly. One even features a graphic of a "machine" publishing your book for you. How comforting! Machines can do anything in 24 hours, except love something. After the time you invested in your book, you should seek a publishing process that is a bit more... human.

The proper timeframe for book publication is somewhere in between those two extremes. Six weeks is not unreasonable. Nor is 6 months.

Up-Front Costs

Between traditional publishers and off-set vanity presses, the up-front costs for book publication range between $0 and tens-of-thousands of dollars. Just like the timeframe range, both extremes should be avoided. Publishing in the tens-of-thousands range is primarily paying for an off-set print run for books that will then need to be stored (incurring another fee for inventory management).

On the other hand, free publishing requires something even more valuable than a one-time finite fee, like your publishing rights (or something even worse). One dot-com book mill's CEO describes his company's business model in the following trite terms: "One man's trash is another man's treasure." The "trash" he refers to are the books they publish. Not surprisingly, this is the same company that has a "machine" publishing books for them. Yes, machines often generate trash. Proceed with caution.

The proper cost is somewhere in between.

Recurring Back-End Costs

Most authors are unaware of back-end costs at all (and publishers take advantage of that). Be different. Inform yourself by reading and understanding this next section.

Back-end costs include your author's copy price, your retail price/profit margin differential, and your royalties. Most authors focus solely on the one-time-only front-end cost, even though the back-end costs are recurring month after month for the life of the book.

To see a side-by-side comparison of 4 leading on-demand publisher's back-end costs for a 5.5" x 8.5" hardback book (224 pages) with a dust jacket visit http://outskirtspress.com/marketing/case-pb.gif. This is based upon an actual book published by an on-demand publisher, titled (Pretty Blue, for which the author selected the trim size, the hardback edition upgrade, and set the retail price ($24.95), the distributor discount (20%), and the royalty (29%).

If you have already published your book with an on-demand publisher, closely examine what your back-end costs are costing you, and make the appropriate changes. Sometimes, changing publishers is more profitable in the long-run, even if it means absorbing another up-front publishing fee. Of course, only you can make that decision, but by knowing the differences between finite up-front costs, and on-going back-end costs, you are better equipped to make those decisions profitably. Don't just accomplish that New Year's Resolution in 2007. Accomplish it well!

About the Author:

Learn more about on-demand publishing with a free e-book! Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press at http://outskirtspress.com and the award-winning author of "Self-Publishing Simplified" with a free ebook edition available at http://outskirtspress.com/publishing

Learn more about on-demand publishing with a free e-book! Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press at http://outskirtspress.com and the award-winning author of "Self-Publishing Simplified" with a free ebook edition available at http://outskirtspress.com/publishing

Creative Fiction Writing - Plotting and Genre
Article 1 - Plotting and Genre
Plotting
Plotting and characterization carry the other elements of the book. The plotting must be believable, plausible, and interesting. It is a sequence of events connected in a cause-and-effect manner. Generally the plot consists of a series of increasingly more intense conflicts, a climax (the most intense part of the book), and a final resolution. The plot must advance as the book unfolds. Usually the closer to the end of the book the climax is placed the better.
Long works like novels can have many subplots and secondary climaxes and resolutions. Avoid using subplots in order to have cliché characters. Avoid too many coincidences.
Flashbacks have been overused. A book is stronger when it runs chronologically.

Genre
Genre is the main category into which a book fits. Most stories meet the criteria for multiple genres, but you should have some focus, identifying a market before you begin writing fiction.
Beginning authors often miss one critical fact about writing fiction. It is up to the author to please the reader, not the other way around.
Patrick Dent, author of the new covert ops thriller, Execution of Justice, at
Action Adventure Book

The online resource to help new authors refine their writing skills.
Creative Fiction Writing

Patrick Dent, author of the new covert ops thriller, Execution of Justice, at<br> <a href="http://www.lulu.com/EOJ">Action Adventure Book</a><br> <br> The online resource to help new authors refine their writing skills.<br> <a href="http://www.creativewritingfiction.com">Creative Fiction Writing</a>