Encouragement To Read For Children

In Search of Real Gardens: A Novelist’s Onsite Research
“A fairytale is an imaginary garden with real toads in it.�

I don’t know the source of this quotation, but I take it as my starting point for this account, because the opposite definition applies to my novels about the Celtic Mary Magdalen. Maeve is an imaginary character, with no claim to historicity, but she lives in this world, and I want my depiction of it to be as vivid and accurate as possible -- a real garden, or brothel, temple, sacred grove, city. For each of the three novels, I have done onsite research, as well as extensive reading, and in every case my encounter with the land itself has helped to inform the story.

For The Passion of Mary Magdalen, I made trips to Italy and to Israel. In Rome I wandered around the Forum, finding the places I had read about, the site of the College of Vestal Virgins, the corner where Maeve might have been sold as a slave, Sacra Via where devotees to various gods or civic causes made ritual processions. One guidebook, (later stolen so I can’t cite it), even told me how to find a shrine to Cloacina, the goddess of the sewer -- a particularly Roman deity, given their genius for plumbing. I climbed Palatine hill and walked down to Circus Maximus, site of all chariot races and gladiatorial games, for in Maeve’s time the Coliseum had yet to be built. And I walked along the Tiber absorbing the sight and sound of the river, visiting the place where Maeve’s stolen boat would be overturned.

Rome is a modern city, and The Forum is a ruin. It was exploring Pompeii that gave me the strongest sense of what it might have felt like to Maeve to live in Rome. The free British Celts lived in small clusters of round wattle and daub huts. They had a very sophisticated oral tradition and system of law -- preserved and taught by druids whose classrooms were sacred groves. If you look at Celtic art, you will see no straight lines, only circles, spirals, complex knot work. Even their crops were planted in curving rows. They lived very much outdoors, herding (and raiding) cattle, roving in warrior bands, traveling in tribal groups to different festival gatherings.

Pompeii, by contrast, is enclosed. Oddly enough, it made me think of a shopping mall. Inside it you could be completely oblivious of the world outside -- in Pompeii’s case the sea and a huge, smoking volcano that would bury the town in 79AD. I sensed that the Romans wanted it that way. Everything scaled down to human size, including nature, depicted in pastoral frescos in the houses of the wealthy. These people liked framing things, containing things. To someone from a land without cities, where everything is round, first century Roman life would have felt claustrophobic and suffocating.

Of course I visited Pompeii’s brothel, which was so small it was hard to imagine it even while I was right there -- a narrow room with stone beds built into the wall. There was some graffiti about a whore named Succula, source for the name of one Maeve’s sister-whores. The Vine and the Fig Tree is not as cramped, because Domitia Tertia comes from the aristocracy. But even the wealthy inhabited smaller spaces than we might imagine, and frescoes were used, I believe, to make the rooms seem larger, the way we might use mirrors.

Many Romans of the senatorial class did have country estates, worked by slave labor, where they retreated now and then. Paulina’s estate overlooks Nemi -- a crater lake set in the side of a mountain. I chose the site because of the still extant remains of a temple to Diana, and because the sacred grove at Nemi is the setting for the legend of the Golden Bough as recounted by James Fraser. I became fascinated by the story of the escaped slave who rules as King of the Grove -- as long as he can defeat any challengers. When I visited Nemi the steep forbidding mountain and the dark lake took hold of my imagination.

I arrived in Jerusalem during Ramadan. Muslim pilgrims from all over poured into the city to visit the Dome of the Rock, one of the most holy places in Islam, second only to the Kaaba stone in Mecca. While the festival crowds, mostly in traditional Arab dress, thronged the Temple Mount, armed Israeli soldiers stood guard along the walls, ready to react swiftly at the slightest hint of a disturbance -- just as Roman soldiers must have stood two thousand years ago scanning crowds of Jewish pilgrims during Passover. In that tense atmosphere, almost no imagination was required to time travel. The crossroads between east and west, Israel has always been the home of diverse peoples who sometimes clash violently. The modern Jews who have returned to Israel are largely European in background, while the Palestinians, by custom and way of life, are probably more similar to the ancient Jews than their modern counterparts. A tragic irony.

I did all the things a tourist is supposed to do in Jerusalem. I viewed from above a section of two thousand year-old-pavement. I walked the Via Dolorosa, a tradition that dates only to the time of the Crusaders, and according to some Biblical scholars is not the route Jesus would have taken to the cross. I went inside the cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulcher, presided over by five (I believe) different denominations. I stood in line and touched the place where Jesus was supposed to have been crucified, and walked through his alleged tomb, or one of them anyway. The Anglicans have a rival theory about the site of the crucifixion and locate it outside the medieval walls of the old city. They have a rival tomb also, a real one that dates to the 1st century and is big enough to have housed a small family. Outside it is a real garden where one can imagine Jesus pruning the trees on Resurrection morning, waiting for Mary Magdalen to recognize him. Because it was outdoors and less crowded -- or maybe because of all my Anglican ancestors -- this site held more appeal than the traditional one. On the Mount of Olives I felt closest to the story. I sat among the lap-like roots of a huge olive tree so old it might have been young when Jesus -- and Maeve -- walked back and forth between Jerusalem and Bethany.

On the way to Nazareth we stopped at the Roman town of Caesarea where some plumbing genius (in the novel Paulina’s second husband) came up with the idea of cleaning the sewers with the tides. The stop in Nazareth was brief, so I did not get a chance to walk to the cliff over which the irate villagers tried to throw Jesus, but it was clear that such precipitous drops abound and also clear why stoning would have been a popular form of execution. Though Galilee is much more lush and agricultural than the south, stones are never out of reach.

We arrived at the Sea of Galilee at night and stayed in a kibbutz -- which I discovered the next day was only a short walk from the site of the 1st century town of Magdala. I wish I could have stayed for days by this inland sea, watching the changing light and weather, witnessing one of the storms that can spring up out of nowhere. I have had to imagine the lake’s different aspects, as we had only one gray day allotted to us. But I still remember the thrill of the boat ride we took to Capernaum and the realization of how lake travel made all the towns so close to each other. Peter’s hometown Capernaum and Magdala are only about twenty minutes apart by water. I have always thought of Mary of Bethany and Mary of Magdala as two distinct people, unlike many who insist on merging their identities. Out on the lake, gazing back at the shore of Magdala with the cliffs of Mount Arbel towering above over it, I felt vindicated by the geography.

Places can call up emotions that are more than our own. In Jerusalem I remember wandering away from the rest of the tour and sitting down on the ground. As I looked out over the Kedron Valley, I picked up a handful of dirt and felt overwhelmed by the grief this city has known. Galilee seemed an easier place -- more water, more vegetation, the wideness of water and sky. After reading and re-reading the Gospels, it has often struck me how drastically Jesus’ mood changes in the course of the brief narratives. Galilee, where he often preached from a boat, is the setting for the Sermon on the Mount, his poetic evocations of The Kingdom of Heaven, his miraculous feasts. Later in Jerusalem, his own holy, pilgrimage city, Jesus is plagued by a sense of doom -- foreseeing not only his own death but the disasters to come, the sorrows that continue to this day.

We returned to Jerusalem by way of the Jordan River Valley and the Dead Sea. What I remember most of this wild terrain, where John the Baptist preached and plunged his followers into the muddy water, are the stark hills, pock-marked with caves, the kind of caves that hid and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls for millennia. Driving up from the Dead Sea (where I swam on New Year’s Day, 1999) on the Jerusalem-Jericho road, we passed families of Bedouins herding sheep that grazed on the few tufts of anything living. It was easy to imagine Jesus wandering the wilderness in an altered state, taking shelter in one of those caves. Easy to imagine how bandits could hide behind rock outcroppings and prey on travelers like the one the Good Samaritan rescued. A desert wilderness doesn’t change much. The starkness of the land, the sharpness of shadows, the depth of the sky, linger in my imagination and become part of its landscape.

Deserts are as real as gardens. When I returned home from these pilgrimages and continued to write, my vision was enlivened by the deserts, pavements, gardens, and lakes, mountains, and brothels my Magdalen might have seen with her own eyes.

Copyright © 2006 Elizabeth Cunningham

Descended from nine generations of Episcopal priests, Elizabeth Cunningham lives in the Hudson Valley. She is the author of The Passion of Mary Magdalen (April 2006; $29.95US; 0-9766843-0-6) as well as four previous novels and a volume of poetry. Maeve has now taken over her life; she doesn't really mind. For more, visit the author's website: www.passionofmarymagdalen.com.

PERSONALIZED NOTE CARDS 1
Personalized Note Cards as the name suggests, are customized Note Cards. One can get the option of making Personalized Note Cards in almost any kind of card making store. For making Personalized Note Cards the stores use logos and names. One can use Personalized Note Cards for not only business purpose but also for personal use. People write letters on Personalized Note Cards, pen down important notes etc. We commonly see doctors using Personalized Note Cards for writing prescriptions. As one has to create Personalized Note Cards on special orders, so using Personalized Note Cards can be expensive. One can choose from photos, paintings, art works and various designs templates that are usually offered by the stores making Personalized Note Cards. One can also use his own photos and designs to create the Personalized Note Cards. Personalized Note Cards can be used for various occasions like birthday greetings, holiday greetings etc. Today one can even create his own Personalized Note Cards simply sitting on his computer. This is possible with Personalized Note Cards Software. By using Personalized Note Cards Software one can make his own Personalized Note Cards that too without spending much time and money. All though there are many stores which design Personalized Note Cards, but one should browse around and try to find the best place which offers good quality of Personalized Note Cards that too at right prices. Matched sets of Personalized Note Cards are quite popular and the Personalized Note Cards can be made using so many styles and colors that one can find something that fits his demand. One can make Personalized Note Cards using any type of Paper material. To find more information on Personalized Note Cards one can always visit various online sites giving details about Personalized Note Cards. Normal Note Cards can be boring, so by using Personalized Note Cards one can turn the notes into something special and very personal.

Deepak Bansal is an internet marketing consultant having experience of 4.5 years in search engine optimization industry. We are specialist in search engine optimization, link building, internet marketing, copyrighting and content development. This article is written by content writing team of http://www.deepakbansal.com - <a href="http://www.deepakbansal.com">Internet Marketing</a>

5 Reasons For Parents To Love Audio Books
Quick pop quiz! How can you accomplish the following things with the push of a button:

Help your kids improve their reading skills?
Grow their vocabulary?
Help them sit quietly (willingly!)? and
Entertain them too?

Easy- Play audiobooks!

That's right Mom and Dad, listening to books on tape provide all these benefits and more.

Did you know that for a significant part of their childhood, your kids' intelluctual capacity will be greater than their reading ability? That means that they can understand material when it is read aloud to them that they would not be able to read. Interesting isn't it?

My kids love audiobooks and I love that they love them. As a homeschooling Mom of 4 kids, I do a lot of reading aloud. Audiobooks give my voice a little break.

You can play books on tape when you're in the car running errands. Naptime and bedtime are also favorite times to listen to a story. (And if your kids are like mine, you wear out long before they do so books on tape are a lifesaver for helping them nod off after you've done the bedtime story!)

Listening to audio books strengthens your child's ability to listen, a skill very crucial for their academic achievement.

Audio books also let your child hear fluent reading with a bit of flair... a lot of them are read by the author or professional actors.

If your child is struggling with reading, audio books associate reading with pleasure...so important if your child is to develop a lifelong love of reading!

Audio books help your child learn to visualize a story by using their imagination instead of the pictures (in contrast, watching television trains the brain to be lazy and rely on
images).

Why not get your child on the fast track to reading success with the push of the play button too? To get you started, here are some of my kids' favorite titles:

Charlotte's Web (read by the Author, E.B. White)

The Jamie Lee Curtis collection (And I dare you to get through "Tell me about the night I was born" without crying!)

A New Coat for Anna
The Maurice Sendak collection
The B.F.G. by Roald Dahl

Have fun listening together!

<a href="http://www.InsteadofTV.com" title="http://www.InsteadofTV.com" target="_blank">http://www.InsteadofTV.com</a> helps you think of fun things to do as a family that don't involve zoning out in front of the tube. Sign up for your free "101 Things To Do Instead of TV" today.

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.

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Audio Books ? 10 Frequently Asked Questions ? Part 1
My friends and colleagues consider me as the audio books expert. They tell their friends that they know an audio books expert and the outcome is that I keep getting dozens of audio books questions and inquiries each day. I have decided to gather the most frequently asked questions for everyone?s benefit.

Here are the top five frequently asked questions about audio books (and the answers of course):

1. Are there free audio books? How do I get them?
In one word: NO. In two words: Not exactly. Depends of the type of audio book you are looking for (downloadable audio book are cheaper than the other types), and the audio book title (new audio books cost more), you could find low cost audio books.

I believe that one should pay for each product or service he gets. Yet, you could find free audio books mostly by signing up for the free trials most of the online audio book services give you.

2. What is better ? Audio books rental or audio books buying?
I personally prefer audio books rental. Mostly because of the price ? I read a lot of audio books and it will simply cost too much to buy them all. However, audio books that I really like, Ones that I want to listen to time after time, I buy and keep them on my audio books library.

Yet, I have friends who are more possessive ? they are not willing to rent audio books and they must hold a remarkable huge audio book library.

3. What do you suggest ? downloadable audio books, audio books on CD or books on tape?
Well, that?s a tough question. Basically, I believe that the most worthy audio books format nowadays is downloadable audio books. You must own a media player (e.g. Ipod) to listen to it. Yet, it costs less than the others and has a better quality.

However, the widest collection of audio books could be found on the audio books on CD format. If you want to listen to old books you will find them only on CDs.

I do not recommend getting books on tape (also known as audio books on cassettes). They are expensive, low quality and not user friendly.

4. When can I read audio books?
The answer is - Anytime and anywhere. Here are a few examples: While cooking, cleaning the house, exercising, running, walking, driving, flying, before going to sleep, commuting, working etc.

5. Are audio books expensive?
Audio books are not expensive at all. In fact, Downloadable audio books are very cheap ? they cost much less than real books and renting them is the most worthy deal. Audio books on CD cost about the same as real books and books on tape are the most expensive ones.

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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 ...

The One-Plot Wonder
Back in the mid to late 1980s I was a security guard. The pay was lousy, but it gave me many hours in seclusion to write short stories and novels. However, I usually worked over 80 hours a week. No one can write that much. Well, at least not me. Thus I discovered the joys of my local libraries. Recently, I decided to look up an author who gave me great pleasure in those days. Most of his books are now out of print, I've learned, even the one that became a movie. I found that two of his books were available, so I ordered them. One I'd enjoyed before. The other was a straight thriller from the days before he created the "Appleton Porter" spy spoofs, re-released in 2001 in POD. I didn't know this before it arrived at my home in China. Since I'm giving away THE plot spoiler, I won't identify the author or title. A man who deeply loves his wife buys her a hotel outside London. She is very happy there, at first. This is a fine suspenseful read as she notes oddities and eventually appears to be losing her mind and such. Suicides, an eventual murder. Finally, her husband pays a doctor to kill her. Her husband arranged all this, we learn at the end, because she was dying of a horrible and incurable illness. Rather than let her suffer the indignity, he tries to give her some final days filled with wonderful memories. He never realizes that he ended her days with a living hell. The writing was fine, aside from some stupid typos of the sort common in unedited POD titles. He's obviously a sincere, hard-working, talented author. The plot was wholly consistent and everything "worked." So why is it a weak book? Because the plot I described is all there is. It's a one-plot wonder. As an author, if you find yourself floundering, if you find your work-in-progress failing to make progress, ask yourself. Is it a one-plot wonder? Here are some best sellers I've read over the past thirty years. During the Cold War, a Soviet commander steals a top-secret submarine and tries to defect to the US with it. A good and idealistic young law graduate accepts a job too good to be true, only to eventually learn he's working for the Mafia. An alcoholic author and his family become caretakers at an old Maine hotel, alone during the winter, and he eventually goes nuts. A US President declares war on drug dealers, a "clear and present danger" to national security. A crippled author is kidnapped by the ultimate fan. I've chosen these titles because I've read the books and seen the movies. None of my plot summaries are wrong. But with some of those novels, there are many more plots and subplots at work. These are the novels that didn't always translate well to the big screen due to time constraints and/or loss of non-objective voice. I love a well-conceived "what if" scenario, and none of these books lack that. But more importantly, I love a novel that's rich with the fabric of life. That's where multiple plots come into play. Very rarely will a movie capture this as well as a novel can. A one-plot wonder is a boring read. It's a boring write. It's not realistic. And, it's a hard sell. All your eggs are in one basket. If the editor isn't enthralled with that sole plot, you aren't published. If the reviewer isn't enthralled with that sole plot, he pans you. If the potential reader isn't enthralled with that sole plot, he doesn't buy your book. Or if he does, maybe you don't get any repeat business from him. You don't get mine. Plus, we should be setting the bar a bit higher for ourselves anyway. We entertain, but we also enlighten and educate. Or at the very least, provide needed escape. But it's hard to escape to a one-plot wonder. I keep taking coffee breaks between chapters. I single out no writing medium with this. All are guilty. Come on, TERMINATOR 2 has more subplots than many successful books these days. And it's not just "these days," incidentally. The title I reviewed early in this article is from 1979. Published, successful, well-written, flat. Craftsmanship is fine. Craftsmanship is wonderful to behold. Craftsmanship is a necessity. But it's not enough. Do you want to build a horse barn that never leaks or do you want to build a two-story A-frame home that survives five hurricanes undamaged? My carpenter did the latter and I can't do the former. But if I had the ability to build a leak-proof barn, I certainly wouldn't limit myself to barns. I'd try to build houses. I'm not talking about weighty tomes. Times change, readers change, and most people don't read them any more. What was once considered gripping is now considered boring. But one-plot wonders also bore readers. They read it, enjoy it moderately, then go look for something else to do. There's little satisfaction at the end. Rarely the big "wow" that probably made you start writing in the first place. I'm talking about shooting for five stars instead of two or three. I'm talking about richness of story, raising the standard, writing your absolute best instead of settling for adequate. I risk oversimplification here, but I'm seeing far too many one-plot wonders. People are buying them, too. But it's time for us, the authors, to quit writing them.

Who Moved My Rice? http://www.chinarice.org You can't eat grits with chopsticks

NOTE CARDS 5
Note Cards are used to record only one fact or idea from one source of any kind of topic. There are many shops, which sell Note Cards. One should always organize the Note Cards in a proper sequence. While using Note Cards one should put the number of the source on the Note Cards. While reading from the Note Cards one should think of topics, which can be categorized and then put into the Note Cards. After sorting them by topics one should pen down the topic in the Note Cards. One can record different types of notes and sort them creating topics as well as sub topics on the Note Cards. Note Cards are basically used for writing down important facts and notes. Note Cards are used a lot by students and writers, as they are very handy. Note Cards are better than copies and are really amazing not keeping tools. The Note Cards can be customized and one can create templates with different styles. One can design personal Note Cards from the stores with various pictures, photos and art works. The stores keep design templates, thus one can easily choose the type of design he wants to use on his Note Cards. One can use logos or names to make Personalized Note Cards. While using Note Cards one can also easily customize the character templates. Note Cards can be used as per the type of work we have to do and there many different styles of Note Cards. Note Cards are used for several purposes depending on the person’s need. One can use Note Cards for personal and official use. Note Cards are easy to use and they are the best way to maintain important information. Note Cards can be used for writing paragraphs summary about a particular topic. One can also use Online Note Cards. The Online Note Cards are basically available on the Internet and one can take out print outs of the Note Cards and thereafter use it.

Deepak Bansal is an internet marketing consultant having experience of 4.5 years in search engine optimization industry. We are specialist in search engine optimization, link building, internet marketing, copyrighting and content development. This article is written by content writing team of http://www.deepakbansal.com - <a href="http://www.deepakbansal.com/search-engine-optimization.htm">Search Engine Optimization</a>

Speed Read Faster Than Ever - 4 Brilliant Tips
Many people, particularly students, would love to be able to absorb information faster. But before retaining information, they have to go through the first stage of learning, which is reading.

For many individuals who are pressed for time, speed reading has become a necessity. However, it's not just the reading part that is important. Equally essential is for the reader to fully understand the words coming out from the book or paper.

Here are some great tips to read and comprehend faster.

1) Relax.

If you're in the stressed mode, it would be much more difficult to concentrate; hence, it would just be a lot harder for the information to sink in.

2) Know what you want.

Focus on the areas that you really need to learn. Some people read all parts of a book, when all they need to know is a specific chapter.

Know your priority. If you need to find out about a certain subject, go to the Table of Contents and search for the heading that best suits your need. If you need to learn more, then adjust accordingly. The important thing is to weed out the stuffs that you don't currently need.

3) Get rid of the structure words.

Did you know that around 60% of the words we read are structure words? Examples are the words "the, or, and." They are essential in the structure of the sentences; but when you ignore them, they basically mean the same thing. They only serve to beautify, yet you can understand what you are reading even without them. Try not to focus too much attention on structure words.

4) Practice, practice, practice.

When I started exercising with weights, I can only lift the lighter ones. As the time goes by, I slowly add more and more weights as my body tends to adjust and become more comfortable carrying heavier ones.

The same concept goes for speed reading. Set a goal. Figure out how fast you can read, then create a plan to increase your ability.

If you can read 200 words per minute, set a goal to read 250 words a minute. After accomplishing this feat, set a goal to read 300 words per minute.

This takes time and practice, but the effort is all worth it. If this is your first time to set such a goal, read first those materials you are familiar with.

Carry on with more difficult ones as you progress. This way, you're not overwhelming yourself with understanding different new words and at the same time developing your speed reading skills.

You can find out more on how to effectively double your reading speed and accelerate your learning abilities to the extreme on Rene Graeber?s website at <a href="http://www.smart-ways-to-make-money.com" title="http://www.smart-ways-to-make-money.com" target="_blank">http://www.smart-ways-to-make-money.com</a>

The Business of Publishing
Congratulations, you're published! But what exactly does it mean to be "published"? Besides the fact that your work is finally in print and your college alumni has asked to interview you for their newsletter it also means fame and fortune, right? Well, ok, maybe not on the level of J. K. Rowling, but at the very least you can expect a call from Oprah, right? I hate to be the one to break it to you but you're probably not even on her radar screen. The truth about publishing is really stranger than fiction and the truth is: getting published is only half the battle. The other half is to keep your reality check in balance so it doesn't bounce.

While publishing is all about creative expression, it's also about business and it's those business savvy authors who will succeed in the end. Now you don't have to be an MBA to be a keen business person, you simply have to understand that the choices you make relative to your books future should be based on strategies that will enhance sales not just drain your pocketbook. So, how do you do this? First, take a long, hard look at your reader.

At Author Marketing Experts, we always create a reader profile for each book we promote. This reader profile will tell us where to find buyers for the books we represent. Taking this first step helps us sort through our choices when it comes to book promotion and make decisions on behalf of our authors that are sound and will help leverage sales.
There are times when it's a waste of resources to do a nationwide radio or TV promotion. In fact, some of our programs don't include any outreach to broadcast media. Why? Because as alluring as it might seem to appear on the Today Show, what's the point if your audience doesn't watch morning TV? And, if your audience isn't watching this show, the chances are slim they'll even consider you anyway. What? More rejection? Who needs it!

As you embark on or continue your campaign, ask yourself a few tough questions. First, what's your ultimate goal for this book? If it's just to give away at family reunions, that's great! But then you'll probably want to nix any marketing. If your book is an arm of your business and you have speaking engagements lined up through the end of the year. You probably don't need to spend a lot on marketing since most of your sales will come from your speaking engagements (i.e. back of the room sales). On the other hand, if you wrote this book to grow your business or to leverage your credibility then you will probably want to dial yourself into your industry through enhanced media exposure.

For fiction authors this area becomes a little tricky. First, you need to determine your long term goals. By long term we mean: do you want to stay in this business or was this book just "something you wanted to do." If it's a hobby, then treat it as such but if this is going to be your career, then you need to keep your message out there on a continual basis, through venues such as author events, talks, signings, print and broadcast media.

Make sure the choices you make, make sense for your book and aren't just made because you've always dreamt of being on Oprah. I've known authors lured into inappropriate marketing plans by big, flashy names and promises of stardom, wasting thousands of valuable marketing dollars and heading in a direction that wasn't right for them. If you're serious about your work, ready to let go of your muse and face the task at hand with some business savvy, then you're really ready to get published. Below are some guidelines that will help further your success!

1) Reader profile: create one of these at the beginning of your marketing campaign and keep refining it as you move through the process. Refine and redefine who and where your audience is and how to get to them.

2) Time commitment: determine what you can and can't reasonably do. If you have a full time job it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to commit yourself to forty hours of marketing a week unless your boss is on vacation.

3) Investment: how much are you willing to invest in your future? Are you willing to invest money without seeing much in return knowing that you are building a foundation or do you want to see immediate monetary results? Most authors don't see a return on their investment for a year or more. Are you committed enough to yourself or your project to keep this investment going?

4) Reality check: what's realistic for the industry you're in? Are you latching onto a fad or something with more longevity? Are you getting into a brand new market that will require lots of reader education? Or are you trying to go mainstream with a non-mainstream topic? While this is an admirable goal, it can be like swimming upstream.

5) Budget: while we encourage authors to invest in their future, we've also seen a number of people go into heavy debt, quit their jobs and even sell their homes just to promote their book. While that kind of dedication is certainly admirable, remember that although you have the potential to make a great deal of money it's not going to be overnight. The lure here is of course that "If I stick with it, this next sale will make me famous." Well, maybe or maybe not. If you've been plugging away for a while without any significant success get a professional to give you some honest, constructive feedback about your plan, your market, and your book. It might be that a poorly designed cover is the reason you're not making sales, or a topic that's fallen off of the public's radar screen. In the meantime as you're waiting to hit the big time you'll still need a place to sleep and Uncle Vinnie's couch will get old real quick.

6) Burnout: we hear this term often, even to the point of being overused. What we're really talking about here is author burnout. We've found that the average author only markets their book for ninety days. That means ninety days of day and night marketing, radio interviews at 3am and a book signing every weekend. On day ninety-one they are so tired, so discouraged and so broke they quit. You can avoid this by giving yourself realistic goals and a realistic timeframe in which to complete them. There's nothing in the world like seeing your book in print. If approached realistically, objectively and with sound business sense, it can be one of the most exciting times in your life.

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 courses 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