Essay Online

Authors in their quest to get published can fall victim to scams. Here’s a few tips to help you avoid the traps.

Online Matching Services and Email Blast Programs

These services, for a fee, put your query letter, synopsis and first chapter online. Acquisition editors and literary agents then have the opportunity to peruse the offerings. You have to ask yourself if you truly believe that the average literary agent, who receives 1100 unsolicited queries a year, has the time to look at these websites.

The reverse, or maybe it’s the inverse, are services that have databases of agents and publishers. You specify the genre of your book and up pops agents/publishers who have said they are interested in your genre. Sometimes the agents/publishers have provided their acquisition specs and sometimes the owner of the database has just input the information from other sources.

Finally there are services who will email blast your query letter to agents/publishers. If the participants have agreed to receive the query letters there is a higher probability you will be successful. But, again you have to wonder, with all the unpublished manuscripts out there looking for a publishing home, why would an agent/publisher feel it necessary to sign up for these types of services.

Book Doctors…but are they quacks?

The beginning author wonders: 1) Do I really have talent? 2) Is my book ready to be marketed, or does it need additional work?

One option is to hire an editing service, sometimes called a book doctor. This is not simply a copy editor who checks for grammar, sentence structure, and spelling. A book doctor looks at the plot, characters, dialogue, continuity and flow.

It almost seems like more people making a living selling editing services&ndashbook doctors, script doctors&ndashthan writers earning a living. In screenwriting, it has become an epidemic. Producers who run out of money have even taken up the script doctoring profession to pay the rent while they are “between films.”

Asking another person to re-write your work is problematic. Who knows your story better than you do? It is extremely difficult to evaluate how talented these editors are, to determine if they are really going to improve your work.

Fees for these services can range from several hundred dollars to five or ten thousand dollars.

Remember that all manuscripts need editing. And that one of the publisher’s jobs is to work with the writer on getting the manuscript ready to publish.

Another option is a critique service; this is usually less expensive. They provide a report of their view of what is good and bad about the work, and perhaps its market potential. They are, at best, just one person’s opinion. If the critique service isn’t a publisher, how do they know what will sell and what won’t.

Marketing Services

There are many companies who provide legitimate services to authors in marketing and promoting their titles. Just because a company requires a fee doesn’t mean it’s a scam.

Having said that, if your book is not offered with industry standard terms, bookstores are highly unlikely to stock it, no matter what the marketing efforts are. Your book must be returnable to the publisher through the major wholesalers. It must be offered with 90 days for payment. It must be offered with at least a 40% discount from the retail price. These terms must be offered from the publisher not the author &ndash unless of course the author is the publisher. Keep in mind that the author must own the ISBN, International Standard Book Number to be considered the publisher.

When a marketing company is unconcerned that the terms are not industry standard you should be concerned.

Has anyone else noticed a trend of books, both self-published and from commercial publishers, that were originally ebooks and have not completely shaken the unfortunate signs of their origin?

1.Since ebooks can be sold easily at 80-100 pages, but print books cannot, the book version gains length through appendices that take up one-third of the page count. Sometimes the appendices are quite tangential to the main topic, and other times they contain golden information that should have been better integrated with the main content. There’s also padding evident within the book, especially a lot of large illustrations, cartoons or Powerpoint slides that add little to the reader’s learning experience.

2.Because ebooks are often sold with a lot of time-limited bonuses, these books also contain bonuses printed in them &ndash bonuses that have already expired when the book was purchased! This just happened to me with a hardcover 2007 book from John Wiley purchased through Amazon.com - not from some aftermarket source. What were they thinking?!

3.Ebooks, both free and for-fee, often function as a first step in a marketing funnel, with a disproportionate emphasis on moving the reader into the next, higher-priced offering, such as a boot camp or seminar. I’ve read two hardcover books recently that have too prominent and too pushy a pitch for the author’s very expensive seminar. A book should be a self-contained information unit, with other offerings mentioned but not with a hard sell. All promos should be placed after the main text, not within the chapters.

4.It’s common to create and sell or distribute an ebook anthology by asking contributors to send something in on a loosely defined theme and accepting all the contributions, with wildly uneven quality and relevance to one another. If it’s got a salable title, people will buy this sort of thing as a print book also, but reviews will be so-so at best, and the book is destined for a quick death.

5.Above all, laziness abounds. Since most ebooks have a short shelf life, there’s little thought given to making the contents substantive enough to withstand the evolution of the marketplace for a year or two. People who buy books for their personal library don’t want something that will make little sense when they pull a volume down from their shelf in three years’ time.

People can be fooled once, but book lovers won’t buy that author’s “books” again when it’s really an ebook in the trappings of a book &ndash without a book’s soul. Additionally, one of the big benefits for an author of publishing in print is getting books into libraries. Librarians don’t normally purchase books with the above weaknesses.

Want to turn an ebook into a print book that fully works in its new format? Give it depth, organize it well, use quality control if coordinating multiple contributions, make it useful and relevant for years to come, and keep self-promotion low-key. Then you’ll have readers eagerly awaiting your next book &ndash and the next and the next &ndash to add to their personal libraries.

I like article marketing and find it an enjoyable and profitable way of promoting my websites. I never plan articles, the ideas just come out of the blue from something I have seen or heard. Once I start writing the words just flow, but before I write an article there are two things that I consider.

1. Why am I writing the article?

2. Would it be of any use to webmasters for their sites or for newsletter publishers?

It does not take rocket science to figure that I and every other article marketer am using articles to benefit our own promotions, but they will be of little benefit to us if we do not produce quality articles that others will actually want to read and use.

Owning my own article directory I have read thousands of articles, many of which I would never use on my other sites or in newsletters and many I have declined for various reasons. Let us consider the rights and wrongs of articles starting at the beginning.

Attention Grabbing

Your title is your headline, there to grab attention and many people never look past the first 2 or 3 words. I could have called this Sheep Do Not Mix With Article Marketing Success but I want people who are interested in article marketing and not sheep to read it. Another type of title that will not grab me is The Top 20 Tips For Passionate Sex. It would be more likely to create interest if it was Passionate Sex My Top 20 Tips.

Writing Standards

Spelling and grammar are important. You are promoting yourself and your business and you need to present yourself as professional to be taken seriously. I write my articles in Word first and use the spell checker. I sometimes fall out with it because I am English and prefer not to use Americanised spelling.

If you have problems with writing but good information the answer is to use a ghostwriter or copywriter. There are plenty of good writers advertising on the Internet and personally I think that one good quality article will do more for your business than 10 poor articles.

Know Your Subject

Good advice for writers is that they should always know and understand what they are writing about or their articles have no credibility. I was gobsmacked last week to read an article about my own country that I knew to be very ill informed and by somebody I suspected had never set foot on our shores. The guy could not even spell Britain right and as his misspelling was in the title he sunk without trace before he even started!

Original Copy

The best and most memorable articles are purely original, thought provoking and offer different viewpoints to a subject. Some writers submit zillions of slightly changed articles about the same subject over and over; yawn. They are boring and eminently unreadable after the first one or two. There are exceptions where writers are providing updates and news about their chosen subjects. I would use those articles for my sites.

Lists of quotes from the bible for instance are not original articles. At least 90% should be your own work and quotes only used as a point of interest not as the whole article. Submitting articles on behalf of others is suspect, how do readers know whether you have filched them or not? Plagiarism, not worth going there, eagle eyes and google will find you out!

Advertorial Blues

An advertorial is an advert written in article form. They carry no unbiased information or advice that would be of any help to anybody interested in that subject. There are plenty of places to advertise for free on the Internet, so trying to fob adverts off as articles is unfair on directory site owners or visitors who want to read articles not adverts.

Link Usage

The reason most of us use Article Marketing for promoting our businesses is to place links to our websites in the author resource boxes usually placed at the foot of articles.

I like to maximise the potential and use the up to 3 links usually allowed. Many article directories allow active links, but some do not. A problem can arise when articles are automatically submitted if the script the site uses strips the html. I prefer to submit manually mostly and then I can activate the links myself or just put my website address if the site doesn’t accept html links.

Links within the articles are unacceptable on most directory sites, but as you get 3 chances in the resource boxes there is no point trying to cheat.

All Keyed Up

You will be asked to provide some keywords for your articles so choose wisely. Study your content and consider what somebody who might be interested in your article is most likely to enter into the search engines. A poor example is if you are writing about search engine optimisation and your title is SEO, Internet Business Bread And Jam, you would not use jam and bread as keywords unless you wanted to attract hungry people. Apart from that your articles credibility takes a nosedive if you do not know what a good keyword is.

Readability

Finally, your article should not be repetitive and should be interesting. Short paragraphs make it easier to read, text talk makes it more difficult. All capitals in the article body or title are a no no, they only stand out in the sense that the reader feels shouted at and nobody wants to feel like that.

I hope that you have found this interesting and useful and that we get lots more quality articles to read.

Overview

Incomplete User Documents disappoint your Readers. Two attitudes of many Technical Writers result in incomplete User Documents. These two attitudes are:

. “Everyone Knows That”, and

. “The User Can Figure It Out”

This article describes these attitudes and presents methods for overcoming them. The result is more effective User Documents and more satisfied Users.

1. “Everyone Knows That”

The “Everyone Knows That” attitude makes assumptions about your Reader’s knowledge. These assumptions cause your Reader grief.

Here’s an example of a possible “Everyone Knows That.” Do you know this:

Tomatoes. Most of us keep them in a refrigerator. However, storing them in a refrigerator will ruin the taste and nutrition of tomatoes. Tomatoes should be stored on a kitchen counter at room temperature, until they are cut. Once cut, tomatoes should then be stored in the refrigerator.

Does everyone know that? What do you assume that everyone knows about your product?

Sometimes your User Documents have to overcome previous User experience. Everyone thinks that they know how to properly (safely) shut off a barbecue…they don’t! The safe shutdown method is described in most barbecue User Documents, but it is not “advertised” (forcefully presented) in the User Documents.

It’s rarely true that “Everyone Knows That”. Just because you find something to be obvious, it does not mean everyone knows that something.

Here’s another example: How do you use a (combined product — ‘2 in one’) shampoo and hair conditioner? When shampooing, the shampoo is massaged into the scalp and immediately rinsed. When conditioning the hair, the conditioner is massaged into the hair, and remains on the hair for about two minutes. Now, what do the Users do for the combined product: rinse quickly, or let the product remain in the hair?

If you have the “Everyone Knows That” attitude when you write, you will tend to leave out needed material from your User Document. You will be doing a disservice to your Readers, and to your writing.

When in doubt whether “everyone knows something,” assume that they do not. Then,

. add some text explaining the topic, or

. tell the Reader where to find information that will explain the topic

Another Caution

Be careful about assuming that just because you explained something earlier in your User Document, your Reader will remember (or even have read) that information. It is rare for Users to read product documentation from start to finish.

When in doubt, add a reference to that earlier (background) information. Tell your Reader where to find it, or provide a link to it if your document is electronic.

Here’s a Thought Experiment: You are a User of products: How often do you read the product documentation from start to finish? If you always do, then ask some other people. (The great thing about this fact — that Users do not read the documentation from start to finish — is that it results in great flexibility in writing, formatting and editing the product documentation.)

2. “The User Can Figure It Out”

The User does not want to have to figure things out. The User is not reading a mystery novel or any other literature, where he/she wants to think about what is happening.

When someone uses your product, they are using it to meet their own needs. Your product may be central to your life, but to your Users, your product is a means to an end. And they do not want to have to decipher your product documentation.

Here’s a simple example. An e-mail tells you to call someone, but the message leaves out the phone number. You are expected to find the phone number on your own. The writer probably knew the phone number, but left it out. This “information oversight” gets expensive within a company when the e-mail is sent to many employees…each looking up the phone number on his/her own.

My favorite pet peeve: dates. Within recent memory we “survived” the Year-2000 transition. Yet we still write dates sloppily. We use “06″ for a year, instead of “2006.” When we see things like “07/11/04″ what is the date it is referring to? Is it November 4, 2007, April 11, 2007, or some other permutation of the numbers. The standards for the format of dates vary around the world. This is an example of both assumptions:

. “everyone knows that” (because there is a “standard” date format — there is not), and

. “the User can figure it out” (by seeing if my other dates provide clues to the format)

Don’t leave things for the User/Reader to figure out for themselves. It takes you only a few moments to include the material your Reader needs, and will save many Readers many hours in figuring things out.

Do It:

The writing literature tells you to “know your Reader.” Here is where you use that knowledge to improve your writing.

Either

. find someone who is like your intended Reader, or

. “do your best” to act like your intended Reader (you can do it if you need to)

In reading and evaluating the document, look for places where

. the writing assumes that “everyone knows that”

. the writing expects the Reader to be able to “figure it out”

. the writing makes jumps that your Reader cannot follow

. the writing makes the assumption that the Reader has read and remembered the entire document

Fix these places. It only takes a few words or sentences.

Everyone will be happier.

People’s eyes are attracted to beauty and it’s quite natural. We look at flowers, landscapes, pieces of art, and gracious movements of a ballet dancer with admiration. We understand why it is beautiful and the sight of the above-mentioned things brings us pleasure. People also think of a man’s/woman’s appearance as of a masterpiece of nature and enjoy it as much as a landscape in the Alps. But is the essence of this beauty the same?

Landscapes are parts of nature, pieces of art are created by gifted people; these objects are not alive, don’t possess an intellect, so it is much easier to define the essence of it’s meaning and purpose. Humans have divine gift of speech, abstract thinking and freedom of action. We can’t but agree that it’s very difficult to define, what is hiding behind good looks. Our mind is used to assume that beauty contains only good things. We forget that beauty can also be dangerous. This rule can be applied to some people that use their appearance to harm others for their own profit. Good looking people are called lucky and others that don’t fall under that category are extremely jealous as usual. “Why is my mark “unsatisfactory” if I worked on my term paper topic a lot? My friend didn’t even do a research and got a “good”. This is all because she is pretty”. No matter what your term paper topics are and how well they are worked at, there still will be someone, who is way more successful than you are. That is a usual way to think. In most cases those who complain are right. But we want to draw your attention to the fact that “pretty” doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. This statement can be easily proved.

What we have to do is just a little psychological research. People are in the habit of using everything they possess in order to reach success. Pretty face and nice figure can also be used. There’s nothing bad in it, of course. We see famous movie stars and celebrities doing it every day. The story is totally different in everyday life. People who are attractive get used to the attention and admiration. They get proud and think that everything that they reach is due to the way they look. People who are attractive use their looks to get a job, to be promoted, to be excused from doing something they don’t want to. The only inconvenient thing for them is authority that they create. The atmosphere around them can not be ruined in any way. Once the reputation is ruined, nice looks will not help any more for they don’t matter from no on. But there are people who are equally pretty inside and outside. Such people are pride of the society and are respected greatly. Every one of us knows a lot of examples of above described phenomenon; there’s no need to do it here. It is quite possible that people can change so appearances won’t matter anymore. The article is meant to help those who suffer from such discrimination to improve their situation, and those who want to start a new life forgetting about their past abuse of own appearance. Beauty is meant to serve to greater good, so a person always has a choice. And it is: to be good and respectable, but use fair ways that sometimes can be hard, or to go the easy way of manipulating people by using your gift, such as appearance. As for those, who suffer from being “one out of the crowd”, one can advice to show that you are special in a different kind of way. There must be a special talent that makes you a credit to your parents. Anyhow, we are to celebrate beauty, if it deserves it and to try to get it on the right track if its direction is messed up.

Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of .Bookpleasures.com, is excited have as his guest Frank McGee, author of A Song for the World: The Amazing Story of the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen: Musical Diplomats.

Frank has built a distinguished career as a writer and journalist over half a century. In the tumultuous 1960s he covered stories as far a field as Brazil, Indonesia, and Viet Nam. As managing editor of Pace magazine, a contemporary of Life, Look, and Holiday, he worked with thought leaders from around the world.

Norm:

Will you share a little bit about A Song for the World: The Amazing Story of the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen: Musical Diplomats with us?

Frank:

Glad to Norm. This is a book about the power of music. It tells the story of four musicians, The Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen. The Colwells were already country and western instrumental and singing stars in their teens, on TV and national radio in the Tex Williams shows that originated at Knott’s Berry Farm, the first theme park in America. They were the youngest group under contract with a major label, Columbia Records.

Herb Allen of Seattle, a true music prodigy, conducted the Seattle Baby Orchestra at age four. He was a xylophone maestro performing weekly on radio from age five to sixteen, a student of classical piano scheduled to enter Oberlin School of Music, and in high school, conductor of his own dance band, “Herbie Allen and his Orchestra.”

In their teens these four musicians made a choice that startled everyone who knew them: they committed their lives to public service. The remarkable story of how this happened, and what their decisions led to, is told in the book.

Here’s a quick rundown: The Colwells went on to perform in 37 languages and dialects, including songs written with locals in the scores of countries they visited. They sang in African villages, the Diet of Japan, and Carnegie Hall. They worked for a full year in the Congo as the country gained independence, lived through revolution and invasion, and made 400 broadcasts on Radio Congo (there’s a quite dramatic chapter, if I may be permitted to say so, about that tumultuous year). They walked through Indian villages with Gandhi’s disciple Vinoba Bhave seeking land for landless peasants.

The Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen began collaborating from their first meeting in Switzerland in 1953. In 1965 they were the musical founders of Up with People, and a decade later literally invented the modern Super Bowl Halftime Show format during America’s Bicentennial Year, 1976. They performed in three more Super Bowl shows, more times than anyone else on record. That’s how many people came to know of them: through television audiences of 90 million at those games. In 1978, at the end of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, their Up with People cast was the first performing company to visit China. And in 1988, before the Berlin Wall came down, the first in the Soviet Union, where they returned three more times. There’s lots to tell.

Norm:

What motivated you to write your book and whom do you think will benefit from reading it? What are your hopes for this book?

Frank:

The seed was planted in 2003. At a gathering of longtime friends a prosecuting attorney from California told us about terrible things youth in her city were facing. “There ought to be a book about what the Colwells and Herb have done,” she declared. That resonated instantly with all of us. We knew the adventures of these amazing musicians were not only history making but topical. Of course I only realized after the research just how profound the story was, an intensely relevant story of courage, and doing something of value with your life.

Who will benefit from reading the book? I think what a great English headmaster said in 1862 would answer that: “Music is the only thing which all nations, all ages, all ranks, and both sexes do equally well. It is sooner or later the great world bond.” Music has the power to connect people whether they’re musicians or not. Some read the book as an adventure story, not a Harry Potter sort of one of course, but a story from real life that also intrigues the imagination.

Here are my hopes for the book. The Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen have been called musical diplomats. Doors have opened to them wherever they’ve gone, because they’ve gone to listen and to learn, to appreciate instead of compare. That sort of diplomacy is needed in the polarized environment of our times. Many NGOs operate on that basis. But if official diplomacy also did, think what a giant step that would be toward building a better world. That’s why I hope to see this book utilized by schools and universities that train public servants and candidates for Foreign Service.

Norm:

Can you explain some of your research techniques, and how you found sources for your book?

Frank:

With this book I was really lucky. The families of these guys kept the letters and photos they’d received from their globetrotting sons. Among hundreds of letters were the personal stories of the struggles they’d faced operating for years in crisis areas around the world, of the sheer grit and sacrifice involved. Then when it got out that a book was in the works, people from other countries began sending photos and documents they’d squirreled away about some historic event. I received emails, letters, photos, publications, and record albums from across the world, Zurich to Anchorage, London to Cape Town, Hollywood to Helsinki. And of course the color of the story and much of the dialogue developed through hours of interviews with the artists, and with music industry people with whom they’ve worked.

Norm:

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you overcome these challenges?

Frank:

I’ll mention just a couple. The first challenge shouldn’t have existed: biographers should portray their subjects with complete objectivity; I was a journalist long before I put on the hat of “author” and well aware of that. As the story unfolded though, with its unparalled global connections, and I became increasingly impacted by the lives and work of these four musicians, I needed to be certain that I let the story speak for itself. They’ve never made claims, and neither should I.

The other challenge turned into a very great plus. Initially I wanted the book to include story-telling pictures throughout, as we had unearthed great photography from around the world. But an important New York publishing company we were in contract negotiations with made it a condition that they would control the design and format, much to my unhappiness. That contract was not finalized, fortunately, and Many Roads Publishing in Santa Barbara, California produced a picture-rich design and format that greatly enhances the effectiveness of the book.

Norm:

What’s the most difficult thing for you about being a writer and journalist?

Frank:

Well, you’ve probably heard the old saying: “There comes a time in the life of every decision when it’s got to be made.” I translate that to mean that if you’re a writer and journalist you need deadlines. I’ve never relished them, something to do with my temperament I suppose, but it’s obvious that until there’s a deadline, nothing happens.

But deadlines are insignificant compared to the satisfaction, intense at times, of creating something that you know has significance and value. I’m very lucky to be in this profession. I became a photographer in Brazil, moved on to creating magazine photo essays, and then to editing, writing, and publishing.

Norm:

Do you feel that writers, regardless of genre owe something to readers, if not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?

Frank:

I definitely feel writers owe something to readers. Some books have been hinges on which doors of enlightenment have opened. Whatever we read remains forever in the mental landscape of our lives. Whether the contribution grows or withers is up to each individual, but putting it there in the first place is a considerable responsibility, I would say.

Norm:

As a follow up, what does it mean to tell the truth? And what does it mean to tell stories in a work of non-fiction?

Frank:

What a great question, Norm! A wise family friend once told us of an exchange she’d had with her professor at Vassar College. Apparently she had submitted a paper in which she’d stated some opinion as fact. So her professor asked her, “And what else is also true?” The topic of truth has filled countless volumes and will fill countless more. What is truth to one might seem lies to another. But if writers portray what they sincerely believe, we should regard their writing as ethical, even if we are diametrically opposed to what they’re saying. Sounds like we’re describing the religious and political divides of the world here, doesn’t it?

About stories, I think they can make non-fiction immensely readable. My wife Helen, who was an English major, has insisted for years that history should be taught through literature; it would be better absorbed and understood. Currently we’ve been reading historical novels, and I’ve become intrigued with things I never thought I’d care about, as I tended to fall asleep in history class. In A Song for the World, I’ve been fortunate, as there was a wealth of first person information in the letters retained and in the interviews.

Norm:

In the past few years or so have you seen any changes in the way publishers publish and/or distribute books? Are there any emerging trends developing?

Frank:

Many changes, Norm, and all of them contributing to the accessibility of information. Conventional publishing channels still run the Olympic games for writers, but the initial selection process can overlook significant manuscripts. A friend recently sent me an article that appeared in The Guardian. It seems that a writer, puzzled by continuing rejections of his masterpiece, submitted to eight major publishers the first chapters, with surnames and locations only slightly modified, of several Jane Austin novels. He received seven rejections, with standard not the type of book for us explanation and keep writing and good luck best wishes. Only one responder mentioned the plagiarism, which he seemed to find amusing.

I think writers, now as always, need to catch the attention and spark the enthusiasm of someone who will carry the writer’s banner, and will wave it where it can be seen. You’ve heard the axiom: “You can promote anyone but yourself.” But the writer may have to work to find that third person, whether enthusiast, agent, or publisher.

Publishers have long probed distribution channels and are expert at exploiting book clubs, bestseller lists, teacher assignments, library recommendations and more. Of course now the apparently limitless possibilities of the digital world are changing everything from bottom to top.

Norm:

What do you think of the new Internet market for writers?

Frank:

Well just look at us, Norm. Here we are having this conversation online! Our kids think it’s perfectly natural, and it is today, but I grew up before you could say something like that, and I still find it pretty amazing. Someone might read your interview tomorrow in Berlin, or Bangkok, or Budapest. Of course A Song for the World is all about that, isn’t it? Connecting?

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered and what is next for Frank McGee?

Frank:

Most of all I hope a lot of people will read the book, because what these musicians have done offers real hope for the future. There’s an engaging glimpse of the story at .asongfortheworld.com, and the book can be purchased there.

We’re in the midst of a book tour now and there is information about that on the website. Special appearances by the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen in connection with the tour have caused a buzz in cities across the country.

Next for me is a novel I was working on and set aside to write A Song for the World. I’ll be expecting a bidding war for the publishing rights for that, of course. Many thanks for inviting me today, Norm.

The Mystery Writers of America (MWA), an organization that defines itself as ” the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre,” has developed a list of “approved publishers,” and a set of criteria authors must meet to join as active members or enter the prestigious Edgar Award contest. The MWA criteria blatantly discriminate against authors whose books are published by companies that are not on an MWA-approved list. And in an alarming trend, conferences and contests are adopting this discriminatory, elitist list.

The MWA approved-publisher list reminds me of the Dr. Seuss story about the Star-Belly Sneetches. If you recall, down in Sneetchland&ndashor wherever they lived&ndashsome Sneetches had stars on their bellies and some didn’t. The Star-Belly Sneetches thought they were so much better than the Plain-Belly ones that they ignored them, didn’t invite them to their events and generally would have nothing to do with them. This is a lot like the way some traditionally-published authors aren’t inviting us self-published or independently-published authors to have author status at their conferences.

Under the MWA criteria, for me to have “author status” at these conferences, my book must not have been published by a privately-held publishing company with whom I have a familial or personal relationship, and it must not have been published by a company in which I have a financial interest. And, the publisher of my book must be on the MWA list of approved publishers, which requires that a publisher meet a long list of criteria&ndashincluding having been in business for at least two years since publication of its first book by a person with no financial or ownership interest in the company, and publishing at least five authors per year other than those with financial or ownership interest in the company.

Some who defend the use of the list (let’s call them the old guard) say the list’s use by conferences is not discrimination because no author has a right to have author status at a conference. The old guard says that the authors and publishers whose books are rejected are only rejected because their books don’t meet certain standards. They liken this to other requirements&ndashsay, for example, a job description that requires an applicant to have at least two years of experience in the field in order to be considered for employment. So&ndashthe old guard asks triumphantly&ndashwould you say that all the people who don’t have two years of experience are being discriminated against by this job requirement?

Duh. Of course we wouldn’t say that. We (let’s call us the reformers) would agree that we can’t claim it is our right to be on a panel at a conference or have our books for sale in a conference’s dealer room. All we are saying is that if some authors are to be granted certain privileges and status, the criteria for who is or is not selected should be based on individual merit. Judge the books by their quality. Don’t assume you can judge their quality on the basis of who published them. Don’t assume that if they were any good they would have been published by a traditional publisher. That is discrimination because it’s exclusion based on being in a certain category or group, rather than on the merit of the book.

But back to the Sneetches. One day a guy named McBean showed up in Sneetchland with a machine that, for a small fee, would add stars to the bellies of the Plain-Bellies. Thrilled, they lined up, went though and popped out with stars. With great excitement they proclaimed that they were exactly like the Star-Bellies and no one could tell them apart. No surprise that the Star-Bellies were very upset. They knew they were still the best and the others were the worst, but they didn’t know how to tell who was who anymore.

Hmmm…maybe that’s what some traditionally-published authors are worried about. Self-publishers and small independent presses have gotten so good that it’s hard to tell our books from theirs. Good grief! Someone might mistake one of our books for one of theirs, start reading it and actually like it before realizing that it should be considered inferior because its publisher isn’t on the approved-publisher list.

But the Sneetches’ story goes on. Once more, the clever McBean had a solution for them. For a slightly higher fee each, he put the original Star-Bellies through the machine and removed their stars so they once again looked different from the others and could proclaim that they were the best. Well, then the Sneetches with stars had to go through the machine again and get theirs removed. And then the others got their stars put back on&ndashand on and on until no one could tell at all who was a Star-Belly and who was a Plain-Belly.

Wow! What if there was no MWA list of approved publishers? How would conferences like Left Coast Crime and Mayhem in the Midlands figure out which authors should be granted author status? Would they have to open their panels to applications from all authors? Would they have to accept all mystery books into their dealer rooms?

That’s what the Sneetches did. They finally decided that stars didn’t matter at all and that no kind of Sneetch is inherently better than the others. Will the Mystery Writers of America and conference organizers wise up the way the Sneetches did? We can only hope.

There’s no doubt about it. Audio books have made life a whole lot easier.

For those of us who like to workout to stay in great shape, audio books can help us achieve this with less stress.

No longer should you engage in workouts just listening to music or to the radio. Now, with audio books, you can kill 2 birds with one stone.

Below are exact ways in which you can use the power of audio books to maximize your workout.

One - there are educative audio books that will show you more beneficial ways of staying in shape. Many people who workout don’t even know the right ways to do so. Instead of guessing it, there are great audio books that will help you out.

No matter how much you think already know about working out, there are audio books out there that will teach you much better ways.

Some of these workout related audio books come with calming music in the background, thereby making you stay focused and attentive during the workout.

Two - audio books during workouts help to take your mind away from the physical activity. Instead of concentrating on the pain of the workout, you will be concentrating on the message contained in the audio book.

This will allow you to stay longer when working out. If you usually jog for, say 10 minutes, with an interesting audio book you will be able to increase the jogging time to, say 30 minutes or more.

Three - there are specific audio books that talk about the importance of staying in shape and looking great. Such audio books can be great during workouts.

They help to give you more reasons why you should stay at it working out, instead of giving yourself excuses why you shouldn’t.

For example, audio books by motivational experts such as Anthony Robbins who was previously overweight, but now has lost weight and looks great, can influence you on the need to workout, even when you don’t feel like it.

These books will help you to understand why you should workout to lose weight and realize that if Anthony Robbins could do it, you can do it too.

Four - for those who might want to give up their exercise when it gets difficult, an inspiring audio book during exercises can influence and motivate you to keep at it.

So, if you have always had a problem with sticking with your workout, get some great workout related and motivational audio books, such as Anthony Robbins “Awaken The Giant Within” and “Unlimited Power”.

Not only will these helpful audio books help you mentally, they will help you stick to your workout plan. And eventually you will look great physically and feel great mentally.

We all know that the way you say things is often just as important as what things you say. Expert authors know that they must be careful with the words that they choose. Everything that you put before your readers must not just be engaging, but it has to keep their eyes glued to the page and their hearts pounding with every idea. You are giving them the secrets to make their dreams come true! Who could stop reading that?? Who would WANT to stop reading that??

The format for gluing your readers to your book starts with the title of the book. It should be like the headline of an ad that is pulling in millions of dollars every day.

Next, you need to build great chapter titles. If you see the book title as a headline, consider the chapter titles as the sub-heads. To put it a different way, the headline is the bait that gets the fish to snap, the sub-head is what makes the fish keep chomping so the hook sinks deeper and deeper!

It is imperative that you are able to write titles that pull. A more technical way of looking at it is that your book title and your chapter titles are a series of descriptors that clearly describe your Unique Selling Proposition (Your USP). Your USP is essentially that which separates you from your competition in the market place. It is what provides you your competitive advantage.

Let me assure you that the way you word something can mean the difference between success and failure or in our case, between being read and being ignored!

Here is an interesting study:

One marketer discovered the value of words by trying 4 different headlines, marketing a diet product, over a 3-month period. The sales material remained identical.

Only the headline was different in each case (In other words, only the words changed. Look at the huge difference in results.)

The headlines were as follows:

1. Breakthrough New Diet Product!

2. A New Diet Revolution!

3. How A Texas Housewife Lost 23.5 Pounds In 32 Days!

4. Dieting Secrets Of A Desperate Housewife!

The Big Question!!!!

Which one do you predict would outsell all the others and by a wide margin?

I pick # ____ and Why did you pick that one?

The Study Results

Every individual response was carefully tracked and recorded. The actual

documented results may surprise you. Total sales were 165 units over this testing period.

Let me repeat myself.

The ONLY thing that changed in this whole sales process was the headline. Everything else stayed exactly the same!

Here’s a breakdown of the results each specific headline produced:

1. Breakthrough New Diet Product! 13 Sales (8% of total sales)

2. A New Diet Revolution! 8 Sales (5% of total sales)

3. How A Texas Housewife Lost 23.5 Pounds In 32 Days! 98 Sales (59% of total sales)

4. Dieting Secrets Of A Desperate Housewife! 46 Sales (28% of total sales)

Why do you think that number three out-pulled every other headline by a lot? I’ll tell you. Number three alluded to a REAL STORY. A REAL person who lost REAL WEIGHT in a REAL AMOUNT OF TIME. It combined in a sense the UPP with the USP. The target market that this ad was aimed at could identify with that, and thus they bought the product.

What if the advertiser just crafted headline #1 and wouldn’t change it? He would have lost 92% of his sales!!

What a lesson! You need to make sure that you craft a book title and chapter titles that will continually sell your readers on why they need to keep reading AND why they need to buy what you are selling!

I have lived in New York City my entire life. I often feel privileged to be a part of the energy and magic of this Mecca of celebrity. Under the semi privileged dome of my existence, I encounter the rich and famous at every turn. When I was a teenager, I crossed paths with Jerry Lewis in Times Square and bumped elbows once with Marvin Gaye.

As a passionate college student of Cinema Studies, I dined across the room from Woody Allen and stopped to compliment his latest film. At Caf