Essay Online

“I have told this story to Colette for many reasons. I want people to understand what happened during World War II, to know what was done to us Jews for no reason at all, other than that we happened to be Jewish. I also want young people to learn from the things I did in my life that allowed me to survive. But my greatest hope in sharing this story is so that my parents and other family members did not die in vain. I truly believe that telling others about their murders and speaking out against genocide, racism, and hatred can and will make a difference.”

Nina Grutz’s family was successful in business in Poland. The community respected them. Nina’s life was one of wealth. “The Grutz family was part of a Jewish population that thrived at a time when almost three-quarter of the Jews in Europe called Poland home.” “It seems to me now that my life before the war was so very happy and full. My own little world was regulated and small, but this was how my parents raised me and it felt very secure. I had a good family life, I loved my sisters, and I even began to spend time with boys in a social way. We did not go out on dates like young people do today, but spent time in groups with relatives or together with adults present.”

Then came the day when Nina’s father felt it was no longer safe. One day Nina attended a lecture with a companion. He realized Nina was Jewish. “I walked in with him and found that there were older students directing people where to sit. They yelled out, “Jews on the left side and Poles on the right!” I was proud to be a Jew, so I started to go to the left when my companion pulled me by the hand and asked, “Where are you going?” Nina was proud to be Jewish and never tried to hide it but she spoke fluent Polish and dressed like everyone else.

When the bombings began, the Grutz family decided it would be safer to separate. Nina went to live with her aunt. Life was never the same for Nina but she didn’t give up. Nina assisted with the Underground by smuggling travel papers. She met and married Josef Morecki. Nina’s story is one of triumph.

This is a story that has to be told. This is a heartrending story, but it is more. “This is one survival tale that is neither enduringly sad nor depressing. It is, in fact, a story of hope and endurance and, ultimately even prosperity in a new life in a new land.”

Colette Waddell is an extremely talented writer. She uccessfully paints a picture of words that tells Nina’s life. It is an honor to read Nina’s story. It is told with humor, which testifies to the character of Nina. I’m glad I read this book. It should be required reading for everyone. For only when we come to understand what happened during the Holocaust will be make sure it never happens again. It is with great honor that I highly recommend “Through the Eyes of a Survivor” to all readers.

Through the Eyes of a Survivor: A Living History of Nina Morecki from

Pre-WWII Poland to Modern America

Colette Waddell

Topcat Press (2007)

ISBN 9780979151804

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (3/07)

Are you trying to get organized so you have more time to write? Here are six rules guaranteed to make you more productive and more organized when you add them to your life.

1. Work with Yourself, Not Against Yourself

When you’re trying to become more organized, it’s tempting to try and fit into the existing organizing system of an “expert.” They seem organized and they promise that if you try it, you’ll be organized, too.

What’s more effective is to understand your personality and what works for you. There are MANY solutions and you may have to experiment to find the system that best fits the way you work–your mind, your body and the way you think. And this might be a combination of ideas from many different experts.

Give something new a fair trial, but if after a month or so it feels awkward or counterintuitive, let it go and find something else!

2. Focus and Pay Attention

If you find that you always seem to be busy but that you never have anything to show for it, this could be the most important tip for you.

When possible, do one thing at a time. Don’t let your mind or hands wander to another task. Picture the finished project in your mind, and focus only on that. Get in the “zone” &ndash you’re able to be so much more effective when you’re giving your whole mind, thought and attention.

When we split our attention between different tasks (”multi-tasking”), most likely none of them will get done right, if at all. As well, you can find yourself in a perpetual state of having many “open projects” started but not completed. Each project moves forward just an inch at a time.

If you choose ONE, you can move it forward to completion much faster. To choose one, you need to estimate which project will give you the best results when it’s finished. It sometimes takes an outside perspective and feedback to help you make that choice, and a coach is a great tool for this.

Putting aside other projects clears the clutter from your mind, attention, desk, workload and focus.

3. Invest Your Time

Just like we invest our money, we have to invest our time in the best way. Setting up your new organizing systems can be considered an investment.

Applying this tip can have the greatest impact on your level of organization. By investing your time at the beginning of a project to examine how you can complete it most efficiently, you can save yourself a lot of frustration later. Saving just 20 minutes each day gives you an extra 120 hours each year.

For example, set-up a mailing station with all of the supplies you’ll need to ship out book orders. You can also set-up a schedule of weekly errands such as the bank and the post office. If you know you’ll be heading out to the post office on Wednesday, then when an order comes in on Friday you don’t need to stop what you’re doing and prepare that order immediately. You know you have a different time set aside for shipping.

4. Make a Habit of It

Once you have these plans in place, work at making them a habit. You can create a new habit (or lose a bad one!) in 21 days. For only three weeks of effort, you can create a lifetime of good working habits.

As you are creating a habit, you’ll need some kind of trigger to remind you to do it &ndash alarms on your computer (i.e. Outlook or PDA), a “to do” list or a written schedule for the day with time blocked out for your specific tasks.

Start small with one new habit at a time, and then see if you can add more (pull back if it gets to be too much).

5. Use the Right Tools

Make sure you have the right tools handy when you need them.

From the low-tech (I only use retractable pens &ndash the kind that “click” on and off &ndash because there’s no caps to lose!) to the high-tech, there are many ready-made solutions out there to keep you organized. As we mentioned in Rule #1, it’s important to find tools that work FOR YOU.

Another example &ndash did you know that if you use PayPal as your shopping cart, they’re automatically tied in with the US Post Office and you can print your shipping labels right from the PayPal site? This has been a huge time-saver for me when shipping my Organized Writer CDs.

6. Work Forward

Organize for your work ahead; don’t organize what’s already finished. We’re often tempted to organize our old bills, receipts and invoices. Sometimes we’re afraid or hesitant to move forward until we’ve finished old stuff.

It’s much more important to set-up the system and files for what’s coming at you next. Look at what has been creating the biggest stress in your life and start by improving that area going forward. Then, when you have more of your future work under control, you can deal with the old paperwork (the old bills, receipts and invoices).

As you work on bringing these six rules into your life, you’ll be amazed at how much more time and energy you have to pursue your writing and remember the number one rule &ndash only use what works for YOU!

Shouting Blog [The Tech Blog] is the newest tech blog in World Wide Web with the latest technology and information articles and posts. The blog is given the name “Shouting Blog [The Tech Blog]” by the owners and is publicized widely with the same name. The Shouting Blog is a blog of latest generation which not only won the heart of teenagers in just a very small span of time but also provided them with the latest technology related stuff and news articles for which they were always seeking for. Shouting Blog [The Tech Blog] adds a number of articles daily to its database. At Shout Blog [The Tech Blog], by adding number of articles to database, doesn’t mean adding useless crap articles but it’s all about adding the latest articles with attracting stuff for new generation.

Before going to marketplace to purchase any gadget, we strongly recommend you to search the Shouting Blog [The Tech Blog] before making your purchase. At this blog, we hope you will find reviews, positive and negative points of the gadget you are searching for and final opinions about purchase. We also love your money. So don’t waste it by spending it for crap. The two top most categories which are always filled up of posts are Sony Ericsson and YouTube. Whether it is Microsoft versus Google, AMD versus Intel or any other rivalry, the Shouting Blog [The Tech Blog] tells you which one is the best.

Shout Blog [The Tech Blog] can also help students in their assignments or home works too. Might be you are looking for some latest technology stuff which we have already defined at our blog. So Students! Don’t go anywhere else because we can give you whatever you want. Moreover, you can contact us and request us if you want something which we don’t have. We’ll do the search, create an article and will post at the blog. Leave your work for us!

The clean user interference, fast loading of pages and beautiful skin adds to the beauty of Shout Blog [The Tech Blog]. So, come in and join us today. We do hold a lot of stuff for you!

Some people think newsletters don’t work. Often, they’re right. In a world where most newsletters don’t work, it is common to be confused about how to define newsletter success.

What’s it good for?

Over the past ten years, I have paid attention to newsletters. I can tell you why most don’t work. It starts with confusion about what newsletters are good for. Confusion about how to monitor success comes from that.

How many next-day phone calls?

Many marketers expect a newsletter to generate results as soon as it arrives. Most newsletters do. However, when the results expected are new sales and referrals following each issue, most newsletter issuers eventually conclude that newsletters don’t work. By the way they gauge success, they’re right.

Check your perspective.

From a sales perspective, an ineffective newsletter should be canned. But first, consider other perspectives. For example, think from the perspective of the impression left on readers. What impression would it make on you to receive two or three newsletters, then none at all, from your accountant? your lawyer? your investment advisor?

What newsletters do

Because of mismatched expectations, many who issue newsletters conclude either that newsletter success is harder to achieve than they imagined, or that newsletters just don’t work. Yet, I see something in these situations that often escapes people struggling with an unsuccessful newsletter: A newsletter shapes people’s perceptions of you.

Four Brand Effects

It can do other things, such as announce news and complement advertising; still, every newsletter is a reputation-shaping instrument of brand management. Any newsletter will:

*leave a first impression, or

*mould an already-formative impression, or

*validate a formed impression, or

*confuse a formed impression.

A newsletter makes an impression.

How does this fit into a context where more sales and good referrals are wanted now? Consider the following example.

Maintain meaningful contact.

There are people who receive newsletters from their credit union who would never attend a competing bank’s grand opening in their own neighbourhood. They’re so loyal to the credit union that they don’t want the bank’s cupcakes or door prizes. The credit union’s newsletter refreshes their loyalty every three months. It maintains meaningful contact with them. It’s a tool of client retention.

Effective at what?

The problems solved by the credit union newsletter in the example include:

*competition of extrinsic incentives (e.g. “Free gift when you sign up!”).

*vulnerability to client attrition.

*the cost of acquiring new clients.

*the opportunity cost of losing profitable clients’ future business.

Watch the numbers.

Watch-the-books managers should direct attention to:

*business per client &ndash segmented by profitability per client.

*referrals per client &ndash with a profile of clients providing referrals.

*client attrition &ndash with a profile of clients lost and why.

*net increase in clientele (including clients gained and lost by all means).

Monitor over time.

Review these metrics on a quarterly basis and compare each quarter. Use this review to set newsletter performance goals in tandem with business performance goals (even if your newsletter is not a quarterly). Why not measure newsletter success this way?

Steady, no spikes.

A good newsletter might not cause a spike in sales. It can prevent losing a client who is being wooed by competitors, though. What business problems do you want to solve? Is it reasonable to expect a newsletter to help solve them?

Client relations success

Newsletters shape market perception, first and foremost, and can help to maintain hundreds of business relationships with meaningful engagement. Those who accept this and apply it wisely can find great success with newsletters. Those who expect each issue to boost sales or to bring new customers are wise to consider other methods. A good newsletter as a client-relations tool improves business measurably over time.

The world of creative writing is an ever expanding one as stories or genres continue to evolve in a natural reaction to the changes in time. Having confirmed writing skills, however, is not enough to succeed in creative writing. Having passion for it is more important than having technical expertise. Love for creative writing, and not adherence to the grammatical elements, is what will ultimately guide you to doing things properly and successfully.

6 Tips for Your First Jab at Creative Writing

Don’t Stop Reading &ndash It’s impossible to become a writer, much less a creative writer, without being a reader first. Discovering your love for writing shouldn’t stop you from further devouring reading materials but should instead encourage you to diversify your taste. If you want to become good in creative writing, you need to broaden your horizons. Don’t limit yourself to reading one genre because this can only provide you with limited knowledge. If you want to improve, read everything that you can get your hands on.

Don’t Stop Learning &ndash You can ask Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Dan Brown, and JK Rowling, and all of them will surely tell you that they’re not perfect writers and will never be. No one can be perfect in any way, and if you allow your writing to stagnate, readers will soon get bored with your work. Of course, before you can continue learning about creative writing, you first have to acknowledge the fact that your writing is definitely imperfect. Get past your ego if you want to be a successful creative writer.

Choosing a Topic &ndash You’ve heard countless people tell you that to be a successful writer, you need to write about you know, and that’s true. But more importantly than that, you have to write about something you love or something you hate, just as long as it’s a topic that arouses passion in your heart and brings your pen aflame! If you find something that interests you but you don’t have adequate knowledge about then research it by all means! Research, research, and research, until you can safely say that you’re writing something you know and love.

Build Your Vocabulary &ndash True enough, Ernest Hemingway earned fame by using poignantly &ndash but sometimes brutally &ndash simple words for narrating events in his stories. But building your vocabulary surely wouldn’t hurt, would it? Broadening your vocabulary and discovering its etymology can be one of the ways for you to develop a story idea or an effective way of setting the tone or mood for a particular chapter. But more important than that, building your vocabulary will reduce the instances when you can’t just quite say the word you want but it’s already in the tip of your tongue.

Don’t Let It Get Away &ndash If an idea suddenly occurs to you, and it seems excellent for a future story, write it down. If you’re walking down the street and you suddenly think of a good dialogue for your characters, write it down. Don’t let anything get away because the human mind is a tricky thing, and it might be impossible for you to recall exactly what occurred to you just three minutes ago. Good story ideas are a dime in a dozen, but great ideas are definitely few, and who knows if what you’ve written down will one day become one of the latter?

And last but not the least, NEVER STOP WRITING. Don’t make publication of your work the ends and means for your writing. Write because you love to write!

Only in the age of information marketers finally understood the power of a web page. 75% of potential customers firstly do an online research and only then go shopping for whatever they looked for. The question is rather up-to-date but the answers vary. Some experienced copywriters already possess some ideas about good strategy that attracts customers to a web site. The truth is that there is no definite plan; there are only ideas and principles. The site may be well designed, content &ndash literately written, but the number of clients still stays close to zero. These tips are for marketers to start with: The majority of internet users do not look for loads of informative passages online. The interest lies in brief and laconic summary of what is offered. Instead of scrawling down the endless page, the user will switch to another site that does not require to reads loads of unnecessary information. Take a closer look at your web page and see what can be taken out of it with no harm for the rest. It is harder to analyze what you’ve written yourself, so you can ask for assistance. The main aim is to make the text more easy and attractive to read.

There is nothing attractive in a solid volume of text that has over four thousand words in it. It is better to structure the text making paragraphs and giving a separate headline for each. Use a lot of white space and do not make paragraphs too expanded. Try to make your content salable and informative. Make the title the exact reflection of the paragraph so visitors may spot just what they are looking for. General information is important but the core “hook” shouldn’t be hidden between fancy phrases destined to furnish the text. The main point of creating of the website should stand out from the text.

Structure your website in the way that makes its usage easier for a client. Divide information into several web pages that make the information of the page easier to find. But consider that it takes more time to download and print out information organized like this. Attract attention by making a graphical illustration of your benefits and features, arranging it all into a nice composite of graphics and text. The last advice would be to research. This field is relatively new for the marketing agents and there is still a lot to explore. Do not be afraid to experiment, to research and develop new strategies, new solutions for content and new ways to attract customers. This is a sphere where you can give an idea for a revolution in this business, so act open-mindedly and freely and success will come to you eventually.

People interested in other freelance writing careers usually look upon copy editing with disdain. Copy editing doesn’t involve attention to the actual structure of a piece, they say, and involves little research and fact-chasing necessary to create a lively, memorable article or story. However, copy editing carries its own unique challenges; such as:

1) you need to pay careful attention to the basic mechanics of writing; and

2) you need to pay attention to accuracy, both in facts and in language.

Freelance copy editing isn’t just a simpler offshoot of freelance writing in general, but an important discipline in its own right — and a rewarding one.

To become a successful copy editor you need to know how to use style guides. With some exceptions, editors of newspapers, magazines, and other print publications require you to write in a homogeneous style, both to compensate for writers with occasionally sloppy spelling and usage and to ensure consistent terminology over time. (This is important with newspapers: the names of foreign leaders, organizations, and other foreign-language nouns are often subject to variant spellings.)

The most commonly used style guides include AP (Associated Press), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Chicago. Any budding freelance copy editor would do well to own a copy of each of these, and to become familiar with their use before applying for jobs. Prospective employers will not hire copy editors who lack knowledge of style guides. Use a product like StyleEase software to help with style.

Fact checking is another prime skill for copy editors, as it is a publication’s first line of defense against accusations of libel or misrepresentation. Fact-checking is a simple procedure: call the author of the article, ask for his or her sources, and, if warranted, call the sources directly to confirm quotes or statistics. Different publications will have different procedures for fact-checking, all of which should be explained when you take a job.

Beyond that, all that it takes to become a successful copy editor is a sensitivity to cumbersome phrasing, grammar, and spelling, as well as a sensitivity to an author’s personal style. Many novice copy editors take a far too forceful approach to their work, effectively rewriting a reporter or other writer’s article for them in line with style guides and their own ideas about what makes good writing. This isn’t the function of a copy editor. Yes, clarity, grammar, and other issues with writing mechanics are all important, but a writer’s ego is important as well, and a too-free hand in the editing process can alienate a publication’s staff reporters and foster general enmity.

Since rewriting someone’s article causes you more additional work as well, why would you want to do it? Instead, just try to achieve sufficient clarity while leaving as much of the original article “as-is” as you can. If there are any substantial portions of text that inhibit clarity or exhibit serious mechanical errors, talk to the writer personally before making any changes. Yes, it’s an extra step, but one that ensures professional respect in the workplace.

If you don’t want to work for a publication, there are plenty of opportunities available for freelance copy editing, both for corporations and for private individuals. Educational publications, in particular, are always looking for good copy editors, and book publishers and literary journals always have a few spots available. You can find out about these opportunities through classified ads, or by making inquiries directly to the company. There’s typically a lot of competition in these sorts of jobs, so a solid interview technique and some excellent samples are mandatory for securing work. Once you have your foot in the door, though, corporate copy editing can provide a stable — if occasionally dull — source of income.

Copy editing projects offered by individuals are another option, and one which can bring you a more varied body of work and a much more informal attitude toward style guides and format restriction. But this option carries with it some heavy caveats. Often, copy editing projects given by individuals amount to ghostwriting without appropriate compensation, and pay rates can be sketchy as well, ranging from low to nonexistent (with a promise of “resume experience,” maybe.) Although when work is consistent, low pay isn’t necessarily a problem, individuals can rarely guarantee a sufficient volume of work to ensure your livelihood and a decent career.

Before you accept individual copy editing projects, make sure that you know how much you’ll need to make per hour to make the project financially worthwhile (as well as an estimate on how many hours the project will take), and don’t accept less than that hourly rate. You may get less work with this approach, but clients won’t rip you off either — an important consideration for professional copy editors.

Copy editing is a good, low-stress writing job, enjoyable on its own merits or as practice for other freelance writing goals down the line. You can succeed as a freelance copy editor if you familiarize yourself with style guides, and have a good grasp of grammar, spelling, and style usage.

There’s an estimated 3 million Independent authors worldwide. If these writers join forces the potential impact is staggering.

As of right now, the print-on-demand companies estimate that over 90% of their authors sell less than 30 books per year. The question is: how do you expand the position and exposure in the bookselling market and offer Independent authors an opportunity to sell more books?

The traditional brick and mortar marketplace has an established base of approximately 10,000 retail locations large enough to warrant the attention of major New York publishers. Unit sales of individual titles are in decline and some experts suggest readers are tired of the same old thing &ndash the market lacks new authors and new titles.

Total book sales in all markets (excluding schools and textbooks) is estimated at around $20 billion dollars. One percent equals $200 million dollars. All that is required for Independent titles to capture this one percent in sales is to form an online market, a central location, totally independent from any established publishing entity. That new creation would allow the Independently published book to be shopped by readers from around the world. The potential increase in sales is dramatic. The key is the development of this community, a destination for readers interested in purchasing the finest Independently written and published books from around the world: A place where the potential for Independent writers would open up to the world.

The concept is to open the market for Independently written books and offer readers the opportunity to shop for new titles, never before seen by the public at large. One community, bringing voices never heard and stories never told to the world.

The biggest problem with selling more Independent books is that an individual cannot imitate what the bigger publishers do in a market they control. The best opportunity to sell more Independently published books is to create your own market. Big publishing houses don’t use the Internet to sell their books. Exploit their weaknesses, and help establish your own online destination for selling book(s).

It is not economically feasible to establish a brick and mortar presence for Independently published books. The hurdles to even the smallest market share is cost prohibitive. The best strategy is through the use of technology, the Internet, to create a combined web presence, a community, where writers can market themselves and their book(s).

The strength of the Independent writer and author is the combined size of the group. When we create the community and develop a following, the old adage “build it and they will come,” will ring true. Major New York publishers relish in the fact the market for Independent books is fragmented and floundering. The last thing they want to see is a joining of forces into one location where readers can shop for books. The creation of a single community of Independent authors would send shock waves throughout the business! Let’s create our own market and stop trying to break into theirs.

It’s free, and the first step toward total independence in the marketplace for bookselling.

Think journaling is old fashioned? Think again. Are you having a hard time getting started on your article writing? Combine writers block with journaling to spark your article writing frenzy.

Journaling is a powerful tool for brainstorming ideas, keeping your writing skills sharp, and for storing ideas and notes for future article pieces. To make the most of your journal, I suggest the following 4 tips to all article writers, beginning through advanced.

1) Get the right tools. I love shopping for notebooks because there’s such a wide variety available today. Looking for a journal with flowers and other fancy designs? Try Barnes and Noble or Borders bookstores. Wal-Mart and office supply stores sell functional albeit less expensive journals. Make sure it feels good in your hands. Too small and you’ll breeze through the pages too quickly. Too bulky and you won’t take it with you for fear someone might snicker.

And, don’t forget your writing utensil. Your pen options are either rollerball or gel. I use a 0.38 Uniball pen. I’ve only been able to find them in OfficeMax. I adore the fine point but they do tend to run out of ink faster than other pens. Use what you like best. If you hate to smear ink, or are clumsy like me and get gel all over you hands, shirt, and pants then stick with a ball point. Or, better yet, get a pencil. I don’t use pencils because I tend to erase too much.

2) Make it a habit. This goes without saying. If you want to be successful at journaling, you have to journal. Pick a time and spot where you can write everyday. Then just do it. Stay away from your computer so you won’t be distracted by everyday business.

3) Fire your inner critic. I used to think that all writing should be critiqued, reviewed, and revised. Once I let go of my inner critic, I began to enjoy journaling. Many times I pen random thoughts that would have been lost otherwise. Journaling should be inspirational, not drudgery. For those of you who are perfectionists, this step will be harder to do. Don’t write on your computer. When you see the autocorrect marks lighting up your screen, you’ll be tempted to make corrections. It’s less tempting to use paper and pen.

4) Use your journal for article fodder. Can’t think of anything to write? Flip through older journal entries. I guarantee it won’t take but a few minutes to find and idea or inspiration to get started. I purposely review journal entries to find new article ideas.

Journaling is an exercise to help you let go of yourself and break through any writer’s block. The important point to remember is that there is no wrong way to journal. Try to journal at least once a day. Don’t think you have anything to journal about? Write down your daily to do list. Sometimes just getting something on paper will get your mind working. You never know until you try. Have fun, enjoy the time, and get writing!

Why would anyone want to create a printed book, when then can create eBooks a lot more easily — and cheaply? Why would anyone want to get mired in the process of printing and shipping physical books that take time to deliver to customers, when they can deliver a digital information product immediately, with no additional production or shipping costs? What’s the point of having a tree-killing artifact of yesteryear in your creative portfolio?

Well, like it or not, a lot of people still prefer printed books to eBooks. They like — no, they love — the feel of a printed copy in their hands. It gives them a sense of well-being and solidity, to have a physical work they can carry with them and put on their bookshelves. They’re “old school” and they like it that way. Or, they just never warmed up to eBooks or digital media.

I had a conversation with an international television reporter about one of my books that was coming out soon — I didn’t yet have the printed version in my hands, but I had a PDF eBook I could send him. He said many times over that he hated to read eBooks, but that was all I had at the time, and so I sent it to him. It would have been a whole lot better if I could have sent him a printed copy, instead. Of course, I made do with what I had, but if only…

Now, there’s a very good reason some people like printed books better than eBooks — they can read them anywhere, anytime, without needing a computer to do it. For all the talk about “portable media,” these days, a book is really the ultimate in portable media! It fits in your hand, it doesn’t require batteries, and there are no complicated instructions to figure out! As advanced as our technology may be, there’s nothing like a book to truly “transport information” quickly and efficiently, across the bounds of time and space.

Ironic, isn’t it, that the ultimate medium for portable, instantaneous information sharing is just the thing that a lot of us thought was on its way out, with the advent of the internet!

Books are not “reserved” for the technologically gifted. They’re not available only to people with a computer and a broadband connection. They’re easy to use, easy to transport, and — unlike some of the cutting-edge entertainment technology available today — everybody understands what they’re all about.

When you publish a printed book, you level the playing field for potential customers, and you make it possible for a wider variety of people to access and enjoy your work.

Another reason to create a printed book, is for credibility. With a printed book in hand — especially one with an ISBN — you can approach magazines and newspapers and radio and television hosts and have something in hand to talk about with them. You can mail your book to reviewers and reporters, and you can hold up your creation for the camera, when it comes time to tell the audience what all the excitement is about. And when members of your audience go to their local bookstore to see if they carry your book (depending on what service you use to publish your book), they can put in a request for the book from the bookstore, and potentially help you get it stocked on the bookshelf stores. (Though you may already be convinced, like many other infopreneurs, that bookstores are not the place to sell books, still, it doesn’t hurt to see your book on the shelves of a brick-and-mortar store.)

Probably my favorite reason to publish in print, is how it can take your ideas to a whole new level and get you the kind of exposure once reserved only for the connected elite. Having a book in print has a way of instantly establishing you as an expert, in ways that producing (even getting rich from) digital information products can’t, in the “real world” offline. When people hear you’ve written a book, and they see that book in your hands, a connection kicks in, somewhere inside their heads, that says you must be pretty smart. Chances are, it’s true — you are! But the perception of others that you must be one smart cookie, since you’ve written this book, usually doesn’t get so far as to delve into the nature of your book, if it’s any “good,” or if your work is widely accepted and respected in academic or commercial circles.

Everyday folks have an innate respect for people who can write down enough coherent thought, and organize it completely enough, to produce a book. An awful lot of people never get that far. Some may think about it, but never do it. As a published author, as far as a lot of folks are concerned, you’re in a league of your own. And that’s a pretty good feeling!

I’ve gotten a bit of practice having that feeling. To my friends and family, I’m “just Kay” and that’s fine with me. All that fame business just kind of gets in the way, when it comes to my personal relationships. But to people who read the international press in the areas I publish in (technology and cross-cultural concerns), I have a somewhat different persona — I’m a published author who has caught the attention of folks from Asia and Europe with a controversial and rabble-rousing work that hit the presses in the fall of 2006. It’s pretty cool, to come across people from far away, who have read reviews of my books in magazines and newspapers I’ve never heard of. And I’ve got some pretty cool clippings of articles that mention me — and my book — exclusively, or in passing. That was all possible, because I published a printed book. It doesn’t matter that I have eBook versions of my works available for instant download. Most of the time, that’s not even on the radar of the mainstream international press. In fact, if anything, they kind of turn up their noses when I mention my eBook. But my printed version of that same book… well, that’s another story.

Publishing a printed book widens the reach of your ideas in ways that digital media can’t quite do. You open up your ideas to a whole different audience, and you get the chance to make even more of an impact with your concepts and your unique “take” on the world… taking a position of true thought leadership in a hurting world that’s sorely in need of fresh, new ideas. In fact, now is really the perfect time to be stepping out as a innovative new author in the print publishing world. The old formulas and the old ways of seeing the world and talking about it and conceptualizing it and relating to it, are pretty tired and worn out. We need fresh new ideas, brilliant new insights, and innovative ways of thinking about our world. You may have distilled everything you know and popped it into an eBook, but the print world offers you yet another medium (or “channel,” if you prefer marketing lingo) for your ideas.

My favorite reason of all for publishing a printed book, is the profound satisfaction that comes from holding a real, honest-to-goodness tangible book in your hands. I’ve been a book reader for over 30 years, and I’ve never lost my love for the sight of words on a printed page. All the better, when those words are mine! Some would call it vanity, but I call it doing my talents justice… and having something to show for all my work, all those live-long years of writing, writing, and writing some more, against all odds, hope against hope. I’m a very tactile person, when it comes to words, too, so I like to have something to hang onto. Digital is great — it’s my medium of choice, these days — but I can’t flip through the pages of a PDF quite the same way I can thumb through a book.

It really is an incredibly exciting time to be a writer and independent publisher! I’m so deeply grateful to have been born at this point in history, with my love of language and books — and the ability to put that love into manifest product. The possibilities really are endless… provided, of course, you know how to explore them. And that’s what this guide is about — getting you, an infopreneur or digital product creator, the tools and the skills and the orientation you need, to turn your digital content into print format, so you can reach a wider audience and more firmly establish yourself in your own niche of thought leadership.