Book Review The Zapatista Reader Edited by Tom Hayden

Written by Gina Ruiz
Published March 28, 2007

Part of Corazon y Alma: Chicano and Latino Books

The Zapatista Reader is one of the most amazing collection of essays, interviews, stories and insights by some of the greatest writers of our time: Jose Saramago, Paco Taibo II, Octavio Paz, Naomi Klein, Elena Ponitowska, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Monsavais, Manuel Vazquez Montalban, John Berger, Andrew Kopkind, Eduardo Galenao, Alma Guillermoprieto, Pascal Beltran Del Rio, Saul Kandau, Jorge Mancillas, John Ross, Regis Debray, Jose de la Colina, Mike Gonzalez, and many more.

There is a brief historical timeline and an introduction by Tom Hayden, who also serves as editor of the collection.

The Zapatista Reader is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to learn about the movement. Some of the finest reporting and commentary ever are in this collection. It contains eyewitness accounts of that New Year's Day back in 1994 that the Zapatistas took the world by storm, the writings of Subcommandante Marcos and essays by some very fine and thoughtful writers.

Paco Taibo II, one of Mexico's foremost writers, wrote an article which was originally published in The Nation in March of 1994. His thoughts of what is happening around him are wonderful. He is awed by this development and angered for the people of Chiapas. He states in this article, “Chiapas lies at the asshole of world, where Jesus Christ lost his serape and John Wayne lost his horse.” He says of living in Mexico City at the time of the uprising, “I haven’t left the house in three days except to buy the newspaper. I talk on the phone, listen to the radio, watch television with the fascination of a blind man seeing an image for the first time."

Eduardo Galeano in his Chiapas Chronicle, which originally appeared in La Jornada on August 7, 1996, says “Marcos, the spokesperson, came from elsewhere. He spoke to them; they did not understand. Then he entered the mist, he learned to listen and was able to speak. Now he speaks from them: His is the voice of voices.” Galeano is at his most poetic when speaking of Chiapas.

There are less poetic parts of this books, statistics and important pieces of information. It is remarkable to have all these articles and essays compiled into a single book.

Now, as the Zapatista battle is in its 13th year, as Marcos has issued a Red Alert, as the massacres and injustices this book is more important than ever in the war against oblivion. It should be in every library, it should be read and re-read, quoted and used. It is the thread to keep pulling, it will lead to more and more books on the movement, research, and will give impetus to find out more.

Gina MarySol Ruiz has worked in the entertainment industry for the past 15 years including the completely online publication group specializing in the animation and visual effects industry worldwide, AWN.com.

The Power of Persuasion: How We’re Bought and Sold

Updated paperback edition: John Wiley & Sons, 2006

Reviews

Robert Levine offers readers an incisive new take on the mindsets of those who prod, praise, debase, and manipulate others to do things they never thought they’d do—and are sometimes later sorry they did. He takes a hands-on approach by attending training sessions for magicians honing their craft and by taking jobs as a door-to-door salesman and a used car salesman. Levine explores the remarkable effect and power of subtlety on effective persuasion, the great illusion of personal vulnerability, and the unlikely similarities across a wide range of persuasive strategies, from parents to con men to lovers to religious leaders.
--from the publisher

This valuable and nonacademic guide reveals the extent to which we are surrounded by persuasion, and how we can resist. Levine (A Geography of Time), a professor of psychology at Cal State Fresno, opens by demonstrating that all of us (including himself) can be persuaded under the right circumstances. He goes on to study financial manipulation and the use of the sense of obligation (which exists in all cultures, even if it is most strongly visible in Japan), and then proceeds to a nuts-and-bolts analysis of salesmanship by describing what he learned and did (and had done to him) as an automobile salesman. He offers an admirably concise and unemotional analysis of the famous Milgram experiment, involving the (claimed) administration of ever-stronger electric shocks to test the impulse to obedience. Inevitably, he moves to cults, the Moonies and the ultimate persuasion horror story, Jonestown. Not so inevitably, he avoids hysteria and demonization, even of Jim Jones, and points out that brute force is required at the extreme end of the persuasion spectrum. Levine's final chapter offers ways of dealing with unwelcome persuasion while remaining part of a society in which some persuasion is part of almost any social interaction. The final results are about as far as possible from the shrill Hidden Persuaders tradition or the cult deprogrammers who become cult gurus themselves-and quite persuasive about the author's credentials, common sense and ethics.
--Publishers Weekly

Levine puts such analysis in the service of his real mission -- to arm the reader against manipulation.
--The Wall Street Journal

If you're like most people, you think advertising and marketing work--just not on you. Robert Levine's The Power of Persuasion demonstrates how even the best-educated cynics among us can be victimized by sales pitches."
--The Globe and Mail

One of the ten most influential books of the year.
--Kingstone Books

Read this book if you’re interested in how to persuade others and reduce your own chances of being manipulated.
--Skeptic News

Written in a jovial style, not just for the psychology reader. . . Levine's style of writing makes the reader feel as though they are in the story with him, often feeling 'cheated' themselves when he tells of yet another incident when his or his student's naivete was tested by a good persuader. . . An excellent read and well-recommended to those particularly interested in advertising, group dynamics and occupation psychology.
--The Psychologist

Happily, Levine does not write in the academically pretentious style often found in books by college professors. Instead, he provides authoritative insights into the way persuasive words and images affect the thinking of most Americans. “The Power of Persuasion” will help readers convert attempts to influence their thinking into a sensible perspective.
--Tulsa World

. . . an engaging, highly readable survey of the sophisticated methods of persuasion we encounter in various situations. From television to telemarketing and from self-deception to suicide cults, Levine takes a hard look at all the ways we attempt to persuade each other - and how and why they work (or don't). . . Besides being a cracking good read, it's fully footnoted, indexed, and so stuffed with information as to make a worthy addition to anyone's reference library. The next time you wonder what possessed you to pay $50 for a medallion commemorating the series finale of Friends, you'll know where to turn.
--Slashdot.com

He repeatedly amuses the reader with his rueful descriptions of occasions when he has been conned; but then analyses the experience in detail to show the persuasion technique used.
--AdLib

The distinguishing features of this book are its readability, clarity, timeliness, and use of many examples. . . Highly recommended as a concise sourcebook to learn the negative aspects of manipulation in sales, advertising, politics, and religion.
--Cultic Studies Review

If you've ever felt manipulated by smooth-talking salesmen, but didn't understand the psychology behind his pitch, you'll be fascinated by “The Power of Persuasion.”
--Fresno Bee

Be sure to read "The Power of Persuasion," a hypnotic work by psychologist Robert Levine. It's being hailed as the successor to Cialdini's classic work on influence. Levine studied everyone from magicians to con artists to discover how they so easily manipulate us. And don't think you don't need his book. His first chapter is titled, "The Illusion of Invulnerability." Read this one to better protect yourself, as well as to better understand the process of persuasion and influence.
--Vitale Marketing Newsletter

Granted, this might be the anti-marketing book, but it is a fascinating read. I'm three-quarters through it, and I still vacillate between reading it as a marketer and reading it as a consumer. The Power of Persuasion : How We're Bought and Sold by Robert V. Levine will definitely get you thinking about what we fall for as consumers and what we strive for as marketers.
--Sharon's Marketing Monthly

Persuasion is powerful and pervasive in our lives, as this wonderful book by Bob Levine demonstrates in a most engaging style filled with wit, wisdom and plenty of street smarts on the side. It is a noble successor to Cialdini’s masterpiece on Influence and my work on Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior. It will change the way you think and act in many realms of your life.
--Philip Zimbardo, Stanford University

Levine has written the rare book that is both very important and very interesting. He covers one of the most important topics in psychology—how humans influence one another -- and he does it in a most interesting style. Both our students and the public should read it.
--Edward Diener, University of Illinois

This witty and wise book blends social psychology's hard-wrought persuasion principles with fascinating street-smart examples. I couldn't put it down. A great book for anyone who wants to be a more discerning consumer or a more critical thinker.
--David Myers, Hope College

Bob Levine has a rare talent for combining a discerning eye with psychological knowledge to reveal the secrets of persuasion. Levine's masterful analysis reveals plainly and often shockingly how human nature is manipulated in everyday life by con artists, salespeople, politicians, and others who seek to control our minds and our wallets. Written in clear, no-nonsense language, this outstanding and thoroughly engrossing book provides a must-read survival guide for resisting unwanted influence in the 21st century.
--Harry Reis, University of Rochester

I can't say enough about this book. This book is like a bible of persuasion/influence and contains an enormous amount of research about how you and I might not know each ourselves as well as we think. Get this book! You will get new ideas and tips that I had not seen prior to this book and that is rare indeed. Buy this book. It is one of the best in the field.
--Kevin Hogan, author, “The Psychology of Persuasion”

Note: An updated, paperback version of The Power of Persuasion was published by Wiley & Sons in 2006.

Media review copies
http://psych.csufresno.edu/levine/power.persuasion.html

Books For Children - A Reading List

Books for Children has been published by the Children’s Literature Center in the Library of Congress since 1964 for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and those interested in the best of this country’s current children’s literature.

HOW SELECTIONS ARE MADE

The editor and an advisory committee of children’s book specialists meet on an average of once a month during the year to examine newly published titles-well over five thousand hardcover and paperbound books in 1993-to choose about a hundred titles they consider to be the most noteworthy.

Selection criteria have remained constant over the years. Quality of plot, theme, style, pace, characterization, and setting is essential for any story to be satisfying. In addition, for the picture-story book, the art-its harmony with the text-is vital. For nonfiction books, accuracy, organization, timeliness, and clarity of presentation as well as quality of writing and illustration need to be evaluated.

WHAT IS SELECTED AND FOR WHOM

The selected books run the gamut from rhymes, concepts, and picture-stories to adventure, fantasy, natural history, biography, and science. Books are chosen for readers from the toddler stage to the teenage years. Some are to be read aloud; some are for instruction; some are for fun; some are to be borrowed from a school or public library or bought as gifts. All were chosen with the intent of stimulating the imaginations of children and adults alike.

up to 4

CHRISTMAS CAROL A poem by Sara Teasdale. Pictures by Dale Gottlieb. New York: Holt. 1993. unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-8050-2695-9 Brightly colored, childlike pictures enhance the appeal of this simple little poem celebrating the birth of Jesus.

DINOSAUR ENCORE (By) Patricia Mullins. (New York): Perlman/HarperCollins (1993) unp. $15.00 ISBN 0-06-021069-9 For the youngest, a guide to dinosaurs using fold-out flaps to compare various prehistoric beasts with animals of today while supplying brief facts and a glossary.

JOHN BURNINGHAM’S ABC (By John Burningham) New York: Crown/Random (1993) unp. $13.00 ISBN 0-517-59503-6 An uncluttered fresh-looking alphabet book, with letters, capital and small, representing a wide range of images, from fruits to birds, to people, animals, and flowers.

NOAH’S ARK Retold & illustrated by Lucy Cousins. Cambridge, Mass.: (1993) unp. $14.95 Candlewick Press ISBN 1-56402-213-7 A simple retelling of a favorite Bible story for the youngest features the artist’s bright, cheerful pictures, naive in style.

THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF Retold & illustrated by Glen Rounds. New York: Holiday (1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-8234-1015-3 Droll, unpretentious pictures and spare text make this work a welcome addition to collections of illustrated nursery favorites.

5 to 7

EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE By Patricia Lillie. Pictures by Nancy Tafuri. New York: Greenwillow/Morrow (1993) unp. $14.00 ISBN 0-688-10082-1 Reminiscent of Jessie Willcox Smith’s work, these clear, uncluttered pictures show various creatures in their natural habitats-the cow in the barn, the bird in the nest, the human baby in a mother’s lap.

GO AWAY, BIG GREEN MONSTER By Ed Emberley. Boston: Little, Brown (1993) unp. $12.95 ISBN 0- 316-23653-5 Scraggly purple hair, long blue nose, and little squiggly ears, and a monster is fashioned feature by feature with each turn of the die-cut pages, then quickly banished by its creator, not to return 'until I say so.'

IN THE SMALL, SMALL POND (By) Denise Fleming. New York: Holt (1993) unp. $15.95 ISBN 0- 8050-2264-3 The busy life in frog’s pond as the seasons change is chronicled in exuberant rhyme and vibrant collage.

ADVENTURES OF SNAIL AT SCHOOL Story & pictures by John Stadler (New York): HarperCollins (1993) unp. (An I can read book) $14.00 ISBN 0-06-021041-9 Three funny stories about Snail who manages to find a highly improbable adventure each time his teacher sends him on an errand.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE HALLOWEEN MOON (By) Caroline Stutson. (Illustrations by) Kevin Hawkes. New York: Lothrop/Morrow, 1993 unp. $15.00 ISBN 0-688-12045-8 A cumulative tale, in which a cat in pursuit of a mysterious tapping toe triggers a procession of wonderfully imagined Halloween creatures.

THE COW WHO WOULDN’T COME DOWN Story & pictures by Paul Brett Johnson. New York: Orchard/Watts (1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-531-05481-0 How Miss Rosemary outwits a stubborn cow who takes to flying is told in lively text and pictures.

COYOTE STEALS THE BLANKET: AN UTE TALE Retold & illustrated by Janet Stevens. New York: Holiday (1993) unp. $15.95 ISBN 0-823-409961 Vigorous pictures and rhyming text show trickster Coyote, for once, getting his just desserts.

DARCY AND GRAN DON’T LIKE BABIES By Jane Cutler. Illustrated by Susannah Ryan. New York: Scholastic, 1991. unp. $14.95 ISBN-0-590-445871 A nice twist on the sibling rivalry story, with beguiling pictures and a satisfactory ending.

GRANDADDY AND JANETTA (By) Helen V. Griffith. Illustrated by James Stevenson. New York: Greenwillow/Morrow (1993) unp. $14.00 ISBN 0-688-11226-9 For grandfathers everywhere, this engaging companion to Grandaddy’s Place (1987) reveals new delights that Janetta and her Grandaddy share-fanciful stories, night noises, and a new litter of kittens.

GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY Written & illustrated by Allen Say. Boston: Houghton (1993) 32p. $16.95 ISBN 0-395-57035-2 Elegant paintings and spare text capture the bittersweet emotions of an immigrant grandfather and his grandson whose hearts are divided between two dramatically different countries, Japan and America.

THE FIRE CHILDREN: A WEST AFRICAN CREATION TALE Retold by Eric Maddern. Pictures by Frane Lessac. New York: Dial/Penguin (1993) unp. $14.50 ISBN 0-8037-1477-7 Brilliantly colored, primitive paintings complement this West African myth about the creation of the world’s different peoples. Fine for story hour and reading aloud.

FOX ON STAGE (By) James Marshall. New York: Dial/Penguin. 1993. 48p. (Dial easy-to-read) $10.89 ISBN 0-8037-1357-6 Young readers will savor the comic adventures of Fox and his friends, told tongue-in-cheek in text and pictures.

GARTH PIG STEALS THE SHOW By Mary Rayner. New York: Dutton/Penguin (1993) unp. $13.99 ISBN 0-525-45023-8 Another thoroughly satisfying story about the Pig Family in which the ubiquitous Mrs. Wolf, still in pursuit of Garth Pig, disguises herself as a sousaphone player, only to be outwitted by the intrepid William Pig. Beguiling pictures.

HOW YOU WERE BORN (By) Joanna Cole. Photographs by Margaret Miller. New York: Morrow (1993) 48p. $15.00 ISBN 0-688-12059-8 A revision of a 1984 stanby, with fresh, engaging color photographs.

I LIKE MONKEYS BECAUSE.... (By) Peter Hansard. Illustrated by Patricia Casey. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press (1993) unp. (Read and wonder) $14.95 ISBN 1-56402-196-3 An appealing volume, one of six Read and Wonder books, introduces young children to the various species of monkeys found around the world. The series includes Think of a Beaver (Karen Wallace; illustrated by Mick Manning); Think of an Eel (Karen Wallace; illustrated by Mike Bostock); and What is a Wall, after All? (Judy Allen; illustrated by Alan Baron), all published in 1993.

IF ANYTHING EVER GOES WRONG AT THE ZOO (By) Mary Jean Hendrick. Illustrated by Jane Dyer. San Diego: Harcourt (1993) unp. $13.95 ISBN 0-15-238007-8 A fanciful tale, perfect for reading aloud, about a spirited young animal lover whose wish to have the animals at the zoo come to her house comes true.

MATTIE’S LITTLE POSSUM PET By Ida Luttrell. Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. (New York: Atheneum, 1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-689-31786-7 Take a sentimental human, a dog and a cat, add a possum, and you have a rollicking tale of misplaced kindness. Bouncy pictures.

NANA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY (By) Amy Hest. Pictures by Amy Schwartz. New York: Morrow (1993) unp. $15.00 ISBN 0-688-07497-9 Two young cousins, Maggie and Brette, pool their talents to make their grandmother the best birthday present ever.

RAVEN: A TRICKSTER TALE FROM THE NORTHWEST Told & illustrated by Gerald McDermott. San Diego: Harcourt (1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-15-265661-8 Geometric pictures in vibrant colors enhance this retelling of a Northwestern trickster tale in which Raven manages to steal the sun for his people.

THE REAL MCCOY: THE LIFE OF AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN INVENTOR By Wendy Towle. Paintings by Will Clay. New York: Scholastic (1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-590-43596-5 A well-illustrated, straightforward biography of the Canadian- born African-American, son of runaway slaves, who invents the first successful automatic oil cup for locomotives.

THE OUTSIDE DOG Story by Charlotte Pomerantz. Pictures by Jennifer Plecas. (New York): HarperCollins (1993) 62p. (An I can read book) $13.95 ISBN-0-06-024782-7 A childlike story, flavored with Spanish words, concerns a little Puerto Rican girl and the stray dog she wants her grandfather to adopt.

OWEN (By) Kevin Henkes. New York: Greenwillow/Morrow (1993) unp. col. il. $13.95 ISBN 0-688-11449-0 In this beguilingly pictured, satisfying story with a cast of mice, Owen’s mother finds an ingenious way to separate him from Fuzzy, his treasured yellow blanket, before school begins.

SEVEN CANDLES FOR KWANZAA (By) Andrea Davis Pinkney. Pictures by Brian Pinkney. New York: Dial/Penguin (1993) unp. $14.99 ISBN 0-8037-1292-8 Handsome woodcuts and succinct text take a family through the seven days of Kwanzaa, from December 26 through January 2, as they celebrate their African-American heritage, the family, and the harvest.

TEN SLY PIRANHAS: A COUNTING STORY IN REVERSE (A TALE OF WICKEDNESS AND WORSE!) (By) William Wise. Pictures by Victoria Chess. New York: Dial/Penguin (1993) unp. $13.50 ISBN 0-8037-1200-6 A tongue-in-cheek counting rhyme featuring ten of nature’s most ravenous creatures who are done in by their nature.

THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG (By) Eugene Trivizas. Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. New York: McElderry/Macmillan (1993) unp. $15.95 ISBN 0-689-50569-8 Sly pictures give a nice fillip to this twist on the familiar nursery tale that casts the pig as the sinister villain.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MANYONI? (By) Catherine Stock. New York: Morrow (1993) unp. $15.00 ISBN 0-688-10352-9 Wonderfully detailed paintings take the reader with Manyoni through a peaceful Zimbawe countryside on her way to school. The appended list of unfamiliar words and picture glossary of animals add to the pleasure of the book.

YO! YES? By Chris Raschka. New York: Orchard/Watts (1993) unp. (A Richard Jackson book) $14.95 ISBN 0-531-05469-1 Cartoonlike drawings and minimal text depict with humor the beginnings of a friendship between two hip youngsters. Fun for the older reader.

THE CUCKOO CHILD (By) Dick King-Smith. Illustrated by Leslie W. Bowman. New York: Hyperion (1993) 127p. $13.95 ISBN 1-56282-350-7 With the unwitting help of his two pet geese, Jack manages to raise an ostrich from the egg, with astonishing results.

DINAH IN LOVE (By) Claudia Mills. New York: Macmillan (1993) 143p. $13.95 ISBN 0-02-766998-X Here Dinah, as impetuous as ever, throws herself into sixth-grade life-the class debate, the class play, a sock hop, and a feud with a boy.

DINOSAURS ALL AROUND: AN ARTIST’S VIEW OF THE PREHISTORIC WORLD By Caroline Arnold. Photographs by Richard Hewett. New York: Clarion/Houghton (1993) 48p. $14.95 ISBN 0-395-62363-4 Numerous photographs and an informative, well-organized text present the work of paleoartists who construct life-size models of dinosaurs for museums and exhibits.

8 to 10

AUTHOR’S DAY Written & illustrated by Daniel Pinkwater. New York: Macmillan (1993) unp. $13.95 ISBN 0-02-774642-9 A hilarious account of the horrors experienced by a celebrated writer during a visit to an elementary school.

THE BOGGART (By) Susan Cooper. New York. McElderry/Macmillan (1993) 196p. $14.95 ISBN 0-689-50576-0 Catastrophe dogs Emily’s heels when the ancient, mischievous Gaelic spirit she has inadvertently transported to Toronto in her suitcase encounters the wonders of modern technology. Funny, fast-paced.

GREEK MYTHS Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean. Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. New York: McElderry/Macmillan (1993) 96p. $18.95 ISBN 0-689-50583-3 An attractively illustrated edition of sixteen familiar Greek myths, freely retold.

THE HAPPY HOCKY FAMILY (By) Lane Smith. (New York): Viking/Penguin (1993) 60p. $13.99 ISBN 0-670-85206-6 A glorious spoof of the classic 'Dick and Jane' reader, complete with stilted language and two-dimensional characters.

HARRIET AND THE PROMISED LAND (By) Jacob Lawrence. New York: Simon & Schuster (1993) unp. $15.00 ISBN 0-671-86673-7 The new, enlarged format for this reissue of a 1968 title lends an extra dimension to the full-color paintings and verse that tell the story of Harriet Tubman for young readers.

LADY DAISY (By) Dick King-Smith. Illustrated by Jan Naimo Jones. New York: Delacorte Press (1993,c1992) 131p. $14.00 ISBN 0-385-30891-4 A soccer playing nine-year-old boy finds, to the consternation of his family, that his greatest treasure is an antique doll who, unbeknownst to them, is able to communicate with him.

LYDIA, QUEEN OF PALESTINE (By) Uri Orlev. Translated from the Hebrew by Hillel Halkin. Boston: Houghton, 1993. 170p. $13.95 ISBN 0-395-65660-5 An engaging narrative about Lydia, a young Romanian Jewish girl and self-proclaimed Queen of Palestine, who remains her

indomitable, ferociously imaginative self despite the hardships of World War II, her parents’ divorce, and the structured life of a kibbutz.

THE MAN IN THE CEILING Written and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) 185p. (Michael di Capua books) $14.89 ISBN 0-06-205036-2 Witty and sophisticated, this story focuses on Jimmy, a young cartoonist, and his struggles to win acceptance in a world that ridicules his talents.

MUMMIES & THEIR MYSTERIES (By) Charlotte Wilcox. Winneapolis: Carolrhoda Books (1993) 64p. $22.95 ISBN 0-87614-767-8 A well-organized, profusely illustrated examination of burial customs, concentrating on mummies and the cultures which produced them.

OF SWORDS AND SORCERERS: THE ADVENTURES OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS By Margaret Hodges & Margery Evernden. Woodcuts by David Frampton. New York: Scribner (1993) 96p. $14.95 ISBN 0-684-19437-6 Nine well-told stories from the Arthurian cycle, including the coming of Merlin to Wales, the sword in the stone, and the passing of Arthur.

MATTHEW AND THE SEA SINGER (By) Jill Paton Walsh. Illustrated by Alan Marks. New York: Farrar (1993) 46p. $13.00 ISBN 0-374-434869-3 This gem of a fairy tale for young readers tells of staunch young Birdy who cleverly manages to save Matthew, the boy she purchased for a shilling, from the seal people who kidnap him because of his golden voice.

MORE ROOTABAGAS Stories by Carl Sandburg. Pictures by Paul O. Zelinsky. Collected and with a Forward by George Hendrick. New York: Knopf (1993) 94p. $18.00 ISBN 0-679-80070-0 A selection of heretofore unpublished Rootabaga stories, for reading aloud. Illustrated with fanciful pictures.

POW WOW Photographs and text by George Ancona. San Diego: Harcourt (1993) unp. $16.95 ISBN 0-15-263268-9 A 'kaleidoscope of feathers, beadwork, fringe and facepaint' characterizes this full-color photographic essay of the biggest annual powwow in the United States.

SCOOTER (By) Vera B. Williams. New York: Greenwillow/Morrow (1993) 147p. il., part col. $15.00 ISBN 0-688-09376-0 Spunky, engaging Elana Rosen illustrates a notebook to record the friendships, drama, and pleasures of New York urban life as she explores her new neighborhood by scooter.

WE’RE ALL IN THE DUMPS WITH JACK AND GUY By Maurice Sendak. (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) unp. (Michael di Capua books) $20.00 ISBN 0-06-205014-1 Powerful illustrations link two little-known nursery rhymes to tell the story of homelessness and abandoned children.

11 and up

ANN FRANK: BEYOND THE DIARY: A PHOTOGRAPHIC REMEMBRANCE By Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven. In association with the Anne Frank House. Translated by Tony Langham and Plym Peters. With an introduction by Anna Quindlen. (New York): Viking/Penguin (1993) 113p. $17.00 ISBN 0-670-84932-4 Captioned photographs from the Frank family album and succinct commentary make a gripping addition to what is known about the girl who kept a diary and died in the Bergen Belsen death camp.

THE CHAMPION (By) Maurice Gee. New York: Simon & Schuster Books (1993. c1989) 212p. $14.00 ISBN 0-671-86561-7 Set in New Zealand during World War II, this tightly constructed, thought-provoking novel tells what befalls a young, black American soldier who is sent to an all-white small town to regain his strength.

CHAMPIONS: STORIES OF TEN REMARKABLE ATHLETES By Bill Littlefield. Paintings by Bernie Fuchs. With a forward by Frank Deford. Boston: Little, Brown (1993) 132p. $21.95 ISBN 0-316-52805-6 An inspiring book about ten men and women who excelled in their chosen sport after overcoming such obstacles as severe poverty, disability, and prejudice.

BEHIND THE SECRET WINDOW: A MEMOIR OF A HIDDEN CHILDHOOD DURING WORLD WAR II By Nelly S. Toll. New York: Dial Penguin (1993) 161p. $17.00 ISBN 0-8037-1362-2 A Jewish child’s experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland are vividly recreated in this memoir, and illustrated with the vibrant pictures she painted while in hiding.

BLACK SHIPS BEFORE TROY: THE STORY OF THE ILIAD (By) Rosemary Sutcliff. Illustrated by Alan Lee. (New York): Delacorte (1993) 128p. $19.95 ISBN 0-385-31069-2 An elegant and simple retelling of the siege of Troy and its aftermath.

BULL RUN (By) Paul Fleishman. Woodcuts by David Frampton. (New York): Geringer/HarperCollins (1993) 104p. $13.95 ISBN 0-06-021446-5 These compelling vignettes that lead sixteen fictional characters to their destiny at the Battle of Bull Run give an unusual perspective on the Civil War.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: A LIFE OF DISCOVERY (By) Russell Freedman. New York: Clarion/Houghton (1993) 198p. $17.95 ISBN 0-89919-862-7 Striking photographs and perceptive text tell the story of a remarkable woman, undaunted by an anguished childhood, who became a successful, albeit controversial First Lady.

FREAK THE MIGHTY By Rodman Philbrick. New York: Blue Sky/Scholastic (1993) 176p. $13.95 ISBN 0-590-47412-X In this compelling novel, eighth-graders Max and Kevin join forces to overcome their considerable physical and emotional problems, and almost beat the odds.

THE GIVER (By) Lois Lowry. Boston: Houghton, 1993. 180p. $13.45 ISBN 0-395-64566-2 Twelve-year-old Jonas, who is chosen to bear the burden of his society’s memories, must decide whether to accept his destiny or take flight. A thought-provoking, Orwellian novel.

HAVELI By Suzanne Fisher Staples. New York: Knopf (1993) 259p. $18.00 ISBN 0-679-84157-1 Sequel to Shabanu, this powerful novel chronicles the determined struggle of Shabanu to survive and protect her small daughter after the death of her husband puts her, the youngest wife, at the mercy of his other wives.

MAKE LEMONADE (By) Virginia Euwer Wolff. New York: Holt (1993) 200p. $15.95 ISBN 0-8050-2228-7 The lives of two teenagers-one a high school drop-out and single mother with two young children, the other, a fourteen-year-old girl trying to earn money for college by babysitting-connect at a crucial point, with bittersweet results.

TONING THE SWEEP (By) Angela Johnson. New York: Orchard/Watts (1993) 103p. (A Richard Jackson book) $13.95 ISBN 0-531-05476-4 Set in the New Mexican desert, this powerful, tender novel concerns the complex relationship between three generations of African-American women who are brought together by the grandmother’s terminal illness.

WINDLEAF (By) Josepha Sherman. New York: Walker (1993) 121p. $14.95 ISBN 8027-8259-0 To rescue the girl he loves from her implacable father, young Count Thierry finds himself engaged in a desperate, bitter contest with the proud Lord of Faerie.

MALCOLM X: BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY By Walter Dean Myers. New York: Scholastic (1993) 210p. $13.95 ISBN 0-590-46484-1 A gripping picture of a controversial figure who, despite great odds, was able to turn his life around and use his considerable intelligence in the struggle for justice.

PLAIN CITY (By) Virginia Hamilton. New York: Blue Sky/Scholastic (1993) 194p. $13.95 ISBN 0-590-47364-6 A 'mixed' child, twelve-year-old Buhlaire tries to unearth her past and her family history as she learns that the long-missing father who she thought was dead, is alive and homeless.

A SHORT WALK AROUND THE PYRAMIDS & THROUGH THE WORLD OF ART By Phillip M. Isaacson. New York: Knopf (1993) 120p. $20.00 ISBN 0-679-81523-6 A well-organized introduction to the many forms art takes, from sculpture, painting, pottery, and photography to furniture and city shapes.

family fare

A. NONNY MOUSE WRITES AGAIN! Poems selected by Jack Prelusky. Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. New York: Knopf (1993) unp. $13.00 ISBN 0-679-83715-9 This delightful mixture of traditional and original verse is enhanced by the artist’s jaunty pictures. A continuation of Poems of A. Nonny Mouse.

BROWN ANGELS: AN ALBUM OF PICTURES AND VERSE (By) Walter D. Myers. (New York): HarperCollins (c1993) unp. il. $15. ISBN 0-06-022917-9 A nostalgic glimpse of turn-of-the-century African-American children.

CHRISTMAS GIF’: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CHRISTMAS POEMS, SONGS, AND STORIES Written by and about African-Americans. Compiled by Charlemae Hill Rollins; illustrated by Ashley Bryan. With a new introduction by Dr. Augusta Baker. New York: Morrow (1993) 106p. $14.00 ISBN 0-688-11667-1 Ashley Bryan’s stunning black-and-white linoleum prints enrich this anthology of African-American Christmas customs, traditions, poems, stories, and recipes.

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: A TREASURY OF AMERICAN FOLKLORE AND FOLK SONGS. Illustrated by Eleven Caldecott Medal and Four Caldecott Honor Book Artists. Compiled by Amy L. Cohen. New York: Scholastic (1993) 399p. $29.95 ISBN 0-590-42868-3 A fascinating compendium of Americana-stories, songs, legends, and traditions from the various cultures that have shaped the country from its beginnings.

MOOMINPAPPA AT SEA (By) Tove Jansson. Translated by Kingsley Hart. New York: Farrar (1993,c1966) 224p. $17.00 ISBN 0-374-35044-2 A tale that tells what befalls the Moomintrolls after they leave Moominvalley and go to begin their lives afresh in a lighthouse on an island.

PRAISE FOR THE SINGING: SONGS FOR CHILDREN Collected by Madelaine Gill & Greg Pliska. Illustrated by Madelaine Gill; arrangements by Greg Pliska. Boston: Little, Brown (1993) 64p. $18.95 ISBN 0-316-52627-4 An inviting collection of religious Americana, including African- American spirituals, Shaker and Jewish songs, and traditional melodies. All are arranged for singing.

LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING (By) James Weldon Johnson. Illustrations by Elizabeth Catlett. Introduction by Jim Haskins. New Yorker: Walker (1993) unp. $14.95 ISBN 0-8027-8250-7 A celebration of the African-American’s long journey from slavery to liberty, in powerful linocuts and stirring words.

THE STORY OF THE CREATION: WORDS FROM GENESIS (By) Jane Ray. New York: Dutton/Penguin (1993) unp. $16.00 ISBN 0-525-44946-9 Evocative, folk art paintings add to the pleasure of the verses selected from the King James version of the creation of the world. Available in Spanish (ISBN 0-525-45055-6).

Editor: Margaret N. Coughlan Children’s Literature Center

Assistant to the Editor: Divna Todorovich Children’s Literature Team, History and Literature Cataloging Division

Committee members:

Nell Colburn Prince George’s County (Md.) Memorial Library System

Sharon Grover Arlington County (Va.) Public Library

Elizabeth Guldseth Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Public Libraries

Steven Herb Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.)

Ilze Long Reston (Va.) Regional Library

Caroline S. Parr Central Rappahannock (Va.) Regional Library

Maria Salvadore District of Columbia Public Libraries

Jewell Stoddard Cheshire Cat Bookstore (Washington, D.C.)

Victoria Velsey Georgetown Day School (Washington, D.C.)

Martha Walke Thomas Jefferson Middle School (Arlington, VA)

Get Free Content at http://www.ContentMart.com

Do You Want Unique Content, Here's The Answer

By: Jeffrey A Solochek

The problem starts when you have written a lot of articles over the years and you put these on your site. They have probably been grabbed by other site builders from these article directories. This may be content that you had created entirely on your own but because you submitted them to these directories they are now all over the place. Some marketers sell these articles telling you that all you have to do is ad your info to them as the author but these articles were probably given to so many people that unless you rewrite them word for word that these will be seen as duplicate content.

So how do we put together a site where the search engines will see them as unique without duplicate content? First what you do is to choose all the keywords that will be used for your site. Then you will make use of a service that acts as a ghostwriter. I've seen sites that offer 100 articles each being at least 400 words for as little as $5 each but these may end up being article that were put together by some garbage software that are not readable by humans. With these you will need to rewrite them so that a visitor to your site will be able to understand them.

You can also find individual ghostwiters using a service like Elance or Guru. Now when doing this expect to may a little more than these junk article sites charge. I would first look at the other listings and see what the going rates are. You can see what other companies are offering for a ghostwriter and what ghostwriters are offering to charge for creating an article for people. I would start out by posting an ad describing what you are looking for and then ask for the ghostwrites to make offers to you in regard to how long this will take and what they would charge.

When looking at these offers I would keep in mind that most people will ask for a little more than they are used to getting. With this in mind you can then take the first offer and write back to the person with a starting bid of lets say 2/3's. If you just went ahead and agreed to the first price they offered to do this for then you would probably find in the future that you paid a little too much Just as long as you don't make some ridiculous offer you should be able to meet the ghostwriter at some price that you both feel comfortable with

As long as you only put these articles on your site then you can never be accused of using duplicate content. This may be more than you initially were looking at in regards to setting up a site but look at it this way. This will save you a lot of money that you would have to pay services for submitting your site to the top search engines because of this you will get high organic results from the search engines.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com

Jeffrey has over 2 decades experience in the business world. When he writes he blends his unique wit and humour into every article which if you rread his blog you can see all of his many works. www.nosugarcoating.info

How to Sell Your Story to Publishers

By: Roberto Bell

Making a living exclusively as a novelist or freelance writer is the dream of millions of people around the world, yet only a handful of people are able to realize this dream. The reason is that many novice writers simply don't know what it takes to be a professional writer. However, if you can learn the skills and techniques used by successful authors you too can start making a good living as a writer.

Know Your Market

The first thing that you need to learn about when entering the professional writer's market is what publishers are looking for. Simply having a good story idea isn't enough to make a story sale. To make a sale you have understand your market niche and you need to understand what publishers are looking for. You also need to stay on top of writing trends and keep your material fresh. You don't want to submit an article or story for publication that examines a topic that has been covered from every conceivable angle. Publishers want material that appeals to the current tastes of readers, but that also presents a unique perspective of the topic.

Edit Your Work

One common mistake that novice writers make is not editing their submissions. Publishers expect that the material that they receive for consideration will be perfectly formatted and composed. They don't have the time to correct your spelling mistakes and grammar errors, nor do they have the time to coach you to a publishable copy. If you want to make consistent sales, your work needs to be formatted properly, be free of spelling errors, and be grammatically correct. If you are not a good editor then you need to partner with someone who is. This partnership will help improve your sales volume and profit margin.

Always Put Your Best Foot Forward

In addition to submitting a grammatical gem to publishers, you also need to produce material that is worth reading. Most novice writers think that everything that they write is worth publishing, and for the most part this may be true. However, you need to realize that not everything that you write is going to be a pearl of wisdom. To help you to weed out questionable compositions you should ask a friend or colleague to read the piece and give you their candid opinion. By getting a second opinion about your composition you will be able to determine what pieces need further revisions, what pieces should be scrapped, and what pieces are ready for submission. This filtering system will also help you to establish yourself as a quality writer with publishers because they will only be exposed to your best writing.

Follow Directions

The final method for improving your chances of being published is to read submission instructions provided by publishers carefully. Every publishing house and magazine has its own unique set of submission rules. If you don't want your submission thrown away without being reviewed then you need to follow these rules to the last letter. Make sure that you understand what submission methods the publisher accepts, what format your material needs to have, and to whom you need to submit your work to.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com

The Intellectual Property Association is dedicated to assisting writers protect and promote their creative works. Contact the Intellectual Property Association for a Consultation.

Your E-book is your Viral Salesman

by Naoki Shimizu

E-books are the future and the future is now. The printed word on paper and bound into books used to be the only way information was given and received. They were great, you could take them with you and put them on shelves and they do still exist and will continue to for the foreseeable future but the time of the E-book has arrived.

The marketing E-book is a slightly different animal from just an E-book. Marketing E-books contain text, images, links to web pages and navigation controls. The marketing E-book has become a very important part of marketing on the Internet.

With a marketing E-book you can present your story in an effective way and include links to your web sales pages. Your E-book can become your best salesman.

First, your E-book needs to be interesting and informative. It always has links back to your web site and to your sales page.

Next, be sure that you have a prominent section telling readers that they are free to give your E-book away. Let them know that they can post it on their site as a free download, that they can use it as a bonus, and that they can bundle it with other products. This is the way to create viral marketing for your products or services. Remember those links back to your site contained in the E-book?

Last but certainly not least before you send your E-book out to the world, double check spelling and grammar and be sure that you have tested every link to verify that it goes where it is supposed to go. Obvious errors will reflect badly on you and will not be of much value to you, it could even by damaging.

Post your E-book to some of the E-book directories. Many let you post it for free, or will let you post a link on their site to your E-book.

About the Author

Naoki Shimizu
Full-time internet marketer since at the beginning of 2006.
He has an experience especially in affiliate marketing.
Make Money Online

10 High-Impact Viral Marketing Strategies

by Max Lund

Viral Marketing is allowing people to giveaway and use your free product or service in order to multiply your marketing quickly over the internet. The idea behind viral marketing is that you include your ad with the freebie people giveaway or use. Below are ten high impact viral marketing strategies:

1. Allow people to reprint your articles on their web site, in their e-zine, newsletter, magazine or ebooks. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.

2. Allow people to use any of your freebies as free bonuses for products or services they sell. Include your ad on all your freebies.

3. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own web site. Some people don't have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.

4. Allow people to sign up for a free web site on your server. Since you are giving away the space, require them to include your banner ad at the top of the site.

5. Allow people to add their link to your free web site directory. Just require that they return a link back to your web site, advertising your directory.

6. Allow people to provide your free online service to their web site, visitors, or e-zine subscribers. They could be free e-mail, e-mail consulting, search engine submissions, etc.

7. Allow people to give away your free software. Just include your business advertisement inside the software program.

8. Allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site.

9. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free ebook if, in exchange, they give away the ebook to their web visitors or e-zine subscribers.

10. Allow people to give away your free ebook to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the internet.

About the Author

Max Lund is an leading internet marketer. 337+ High Quality Software Products Give Away For FREE!" For more information take a look at this website 117 Softwaregoodies.com

Choosing a Fantasy novel to read

by Will Kalif

There are a million books out there and there are thousands of fantasy novels to choose from. How do you find one that you will like?

Have you ever looked for a book on Amazon.com and before purchasing it you read through all of the reader reviews only to discover that some readers absolutely panned the book while others praised it as the next best thing since sliced bread?

You probably have done this and it left you a little confused. So is the book good or is it bad? You don't want to be shelling out your hard earned money on a book that is going to sit on the nightstand collecting dust. There is probably nothing worse than anticipating a new world to explore and discovering you just don't believe it or the characters just don't interest you.

So the question of good comes down to what you consider to be good. You can read all the reviews and you can read through all the listings in the chatrooms but when it comes down to it your shoes are going to be the ones getting muddy in this new world so only you can decide whether or not it is "good".

How do you do that?

You have to ask yourself some questions about what you like about Epic Fantasy and what things really get you excited.

The first thing to consider is the writing

There are two important components to the writing. Is it good writing and is it in a style that you like? The question about good writing is almost a non factor because for any book to make it into the mainstream of our culture it has to be reasonably well written. Now not every novel has the elegant brevity of A Wizard of Earthsea (183 pages) or the sheer detail of exposition of The Wheel of Time series (800+ pages per book and there are currently 11 books). Nor is every writer as capable a wordsmith as Stephen King. But ninety-nine percent of the time you are going to get a book that has been written and edited to an acceptable quality.

You're not an expert in Composition and Rhetoric so how do you know if the writing is good? This is easy. If you have to stop and think about the sentence structure or you have to re-read a passage because you didn't understand something, or things don't seem to flow right it is probably because the writing quality isn't up to your personal standard. If you have to think about the writing then it has failed. Writing should be invisible. All of your thoughts should go into what's happening inside the world and not the sentences that explain it.

But good writing doesn't mean it is good epic fantasy -at least not for you. So what are the things that make it good epic fantasy from your perspective. Assuming that the writing is of good quality we have to consider the writing style.

Every writer has a different style; some you will like and some you will hate.

How do you know which is which?

You have to read some of it. If you have read a book by a particular author and you liked it then you are safe to move on to other works by the same author. But if you want to discover new authors you have to experiment a bit before you dish out thirty bucks for the latest hardcover release. Pick up an older book by that author or read some excerpts and If you can, read the first couple of pages online or in the bookstore. The goal isn't whether you are going to like the story but whether the writing is comfortable for you. Remember, if you have to stop and think about the writing then it probably isn't a good choice for you.

Okay we have gotten past the writing part and now we want to figure out what makes good Epic Fantasy based on the story.

First of all, it is Epic Fantasy that you are looking for so there are some elements that just have to be there. It has to be Epic in scope. No stories about the challenge of a single person overcoming the greedy land baron and reclaiming the Town Well. You want something where the whole world is at stake. That world has to be big, and it has to be imaginitive and different -otherwise it isn't fantasy. Gone With The Wind is Epic but it sure as heck isn't Epic Fantasy.

So all of that stuff was pretty easy to understand. The writing has to be good, in a style that you like and it has to be imaginitive and epic. But what makes GOOD epic fantasy?

There are three things that are critical to good epic fantasy:

1.The main character or characters have to grow in the book or series
2.the world has to be powerful and imaginitive
3. and the story has to be thought-provoking.

Growth of the main character is critical in good epic fantasy. It parallels what we are experiencing in our ordinary lives. And epic fantasy touches on a chord somewhere deep inside us as human beings. There is a harkening back to our tribal selves. Why else has the epic of Gilgamesh survived for such a long time? This growth of a character comes in stages and Joseph Campbell has described these steps in his book The Hero's Journey. Here are a few of the steps he describes:

The Call to Adventure -Something bad is brewing and our hero has to move toward action
Refusal of the Call- Our hero doesn't want to be a hero, he like life the way it is
Supernatural Aid- Our mentor appears (usually a wizard)
The Crossing of the First Threshold - The adventure begins
The Belly of the Whale- things look really bad but our hero learns to persevere

The world has to be powerful and imaginitive. Again this harkens back to the tribal self within us. Who doesn't long to explore a strange new world? We are creatures of curiosity. We have an endless desire to learn new things. Yet when we explore an Epic Fantasy world there is complete safety. Does it get much better than this?

Finally and most importantly, the story has to be thought provoking on an epic level. It has to bring up the big questions. I mean the really big questions about life. Questions about philosophy, religion, truth, beauty, society, good, evil, and power. And it has to bring them up in a big way. To be good epic fantasy a novel or series has to swing at these questions of our existence with a big sword or a two fisted axe; or even rain down upon them the fury of a lightning storm. It has to hack at them with a relentless fury then sort through the rubble and show us what it has discovered. This is the best indicator of good epic fantasy. It sets you out on a big journey to tackle big questions and overcome big obstacles. Along the way it forces you to see the big questions in new way. And hopefully, much like real life you have a jolly good time doing it!

About the Author

Will Kalif is the author of two epic fantasy novels. You can visit his personal website at: Storm The Castle.com - Creativity with an edge
Or his epic fantasy website at: The Epic Fantasy Website
His Epic Fantasy blog: Heroic Dreams

'Guerrilla Marketing' Sells Itself

by Nola Redd

If small business owners could read no other book, I would love to have them study Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits From your Small Business. Originally published in the early 1980s, Guerrilla Marketing is a must-read for entrepreneurs searching for inexpensive yet effective marketing strategies. Revised again (and again, depending on which volume you select), the book offers not only simple suggestions for making the most of the smallest things but also fantastic marketing advice on everything from developing a plan to waiting patiently for your strategy to succeed.

Levinson's usual mantra states that customer service is king. However, the 1993 version of Guerrilla Marketing focuses on bringing more customers in, rather than maintaining the current customer base. He provides numerous weapons for widening the customer base, giving ample detail on how each one should be worked. The 1993 volume obviously neglects the Internet (and a view of the 1998 rewrite online similarly neglects the subject), but otherwise the real-word tips are hands-on helpful.

Levinson splits the book into five sections. The first one focuses on 'the guerrilla marketing approach'. This helpful, encouraging set of chapters describe marketing secrets, marketing plans, and my all-time favorite chapter, 'Secrets of Saving Marketing Money'. Section two focuses on mini-media marketing, reviewing everything from personal letters to telephone marketing to classified ads. I found the last especially helpful, as trying to place an ad in a major metro paper such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution can be daunting at best. He then moves on to section three, maxi-media marketing, and reviews newspapers, magazines, radio, and direct mail. A chapter on television advertising focuses on maximizing profits for the small business owner (with suggestions such as 'film several commercials at the same time to cut costs'), and describes how cable and localized advertising makes the price tag for television more affordable for small business owners. The fourth section describes non-media marketing; free seminars and demonstrations, trade shows, public relations, and miscellaneous marketing tools (such as newsletters). Finally, he closes the book with a section on launching your guerrilla marketing attack.

The tips and suggestions within these pages have been implemented by successful small business owners for nearly twenty years. Implementing both humor and realistic examples, Jay Conrad Levinson has written a must-read for the small business owner involved in marketing (that should be all of them).

Levinson has written a variety of other guerrilla marketing books. For more information, see his website at www.gmarketing.com.

About the Author

Nola Redd is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Fiction Writing. To see more of her fiction and nonfiction works, visit http://scottiegaz.Writing.Com/.

Secrets of Word Of Mouth Marketing

by Jodjie Azurin

This article is based on the following book: The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing "How to trigger exponential sales through runaway word of mouth" George Silverman, Amacom 2001 ISBN 0-8144-7072-6 272 pages

Spread the word about your hot new product or company!

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful and persuasive weapon you can use, and it won't cost you anything! Based on George Silverman's years of consulting with successful word-of-mouth campaigns of his own clients, here is one of the first resources on how to harness the often underestimated power of word-of-mouth, and be heard above the media noise.

1. Word-of-mouth is actually the center of the marketing universe. 2. Just as it is untrue that the sun revolves around the earth, marketing does not really revolve around advertising, selling, and promotions. Much of marketing actually centers around illusion-creation. 3. Word-of-mouth offers an authenticity to it because the source is normally independent of the company, he or she is offering his or her own candid opinion and therefore, the marketing appears credible. 4. Advertising is the renting of a medium to send out a carefully crafted message to a specific audience. Everything is paid for, whereas word-of-mouth is a more effective tool; and best of all, it is absolutely free. 5. Word-of-mouth can take on a life of its own. There are no limits to how far-reaching it can be. Just study how fast a good joke on the e-mail circulates. 6. Studies have shown that a satisfied customer will tell an average of three people about a product or service she likes, and eleven people about a product or service with which she had a negative experience. 7. Because this is the age of the Internet, e-mail, websites, chat rooms, and video teleconferencing, word-of-mouth is even more important to businesses today than ever before. 8. The most important way by which sales can increase is by increasing the speed with which decisions are made. Decision speed is the time it takes for your customer to go from initial awareness to enthusiastic use and recommendation of your product or service. Simplicity, ease, and fun govern the decision process. 9. Marketing success is determined more by the time it takes for your customer to decide on your product than by any other single factor. Decision speed is more powerful than positioning, image, value, customer satisfaction, guarantees, or even product superiority. 10. Shortening the customer's decision cycle means your product's benefits, claims, and promises must be obvious and compelling; information must be clear, balanced, and credible; comparisons must reveal meaningful differences, your trials should be free and easy, your evaluations, clear and simple. Guarantees should be ironclad and generous. Testimonials and other word-of-mouth marketing must be relevant and believable. Delivery, training, and support offered must be superior. 11. A good way to spread the word on your company is to circulate true, positive stories about it. FedEx is famous for its legendary employee who hired a chopper just to deliver a package forgotten on the tarmac. People love a good story, and that is the essence of word of mouth. 12. There are 9 levels of word-of-mouth. They range from the public scandal of minus 4, the product boycott of minus 3, to the raving customers/advocates who tell you how great your product or service is (plus 3) to the "talk of the town" level (plus 4). 13. Examples of those who have reached plus 4 level of word-of-mouth marketing are: 14. Lexus Automobiles, Saturn Car Company, Harley-Davidson, Netscape Navigator, Celestial seasonings herbal tea, The Internet, and Apple Computer

15. Some ways of harnessing word of mouth are by using experts like customers, suppliers, salespeople, experts' roundtable discussions and selling groups. Take advantage of seminars, workshops, and speaking engagements, dinner meetings, teleconferenced panel discussions, and trade shows. "Canned" Word of Mouth consists of putting out videotapes, audiotapes, using a well-designed website, or distributing CDs. There are also ways such as referral selling programs, testimonials, and networking methods, hotlines (1-800 numbers) and e-mail.

16. Using traditional media for Word of Mouth means using customer service as a word-of-mouth engine, public relations, placements, unusual events, promotions, word of mouth in ads, sales brochures, or direct mail, salesperson programs, sales stars, peer training, or using salespeople as word-of-mouth generators, word-of-mouth incentive programs ("Tell-a-friend" programs), useful gifts to customers (articles, how-to manuals) that they can give their friends.

17. Employees should be actively spreading word of mouth about your products. Spread stories around about examples of superior customer service. Give people a common mission and make rewards dependent on the accomplishment of that mission.

18. Word of mouth accelerates the process of customer decision-making, from deciding to decide, asking for information, weighing options, evaluating a free trial, and then finally becoming a customer and advocate.

19. With customer-oriented service, your company can increase sales via word of mouth.

Specific steps in creating a word of mouth campaign: 1. Find some way to get the product into the hands of key influencers. 2. Provide a channel for the influencers to talk and get all fired up about your product. 3. Gather testimonials and endorsements, like actual letters of praise. 4. Form an ongoing group that meets once a year in a resort but once a month by teleconference or daily by list group 5. Create fun events to bring users together and invite non-users. Saturn, Harley-Davidson, and Lexus have been successful with this approach. 6. Produce cassettes, videotapes, and clips on your Web site featuring enthusiastic customers talking with other enthusiastic customers. Custom-create some CDs for each potential customer. 7. Conduct seminars and workshops 8. Create a club with membership benefits 9. Pass out flyers. Tell friends. Offer special incentives and discounts for friends who tell their friends. 10. Use the Internet! 11. Do at least one outrageous thing to generate word of mouth. 12. Empower employees to go the extra mile. 13. Network and brainstorm for ideas 14. Run special sales 15. Script! Tell people exactly what to say in their word of mouth communication.

By: Jodjie Azurin http://www.bizsum.com/freearticle2.htm "A Lot Of Great Books....Too Little Time To Read" Free Book Summaries Of Latest Bestsellers for Busy Executives and Entrepreneurs Mailto:freearticle@bizsum.com

BusinessSummaries is a BusinessSummaries.com service. (c) Copyright 2001-2002, BusinessSummaries.com - Wisdom In A Nutshell http://www.bizsum.com

About the Author

Jodjie Azurin is the President and General Manager of BusinessSummaries.com

Experience the Drama and the Science of the Genre of Prehistoric Fantasy

by Will Kalif

Prehistoric fantasy is the genre of stories written in prehistoric times. But they aren't just "caveman" stories. They are wonderfully written dramas that also take a good look at real anthropological and archaeological subjects.

The term "Prehistoric Fantasy" often brings to mind images from movies about cavemen, which are often comedies and parodies. But the genre of prehistoric fantasy is a wonderful, mature genre that often takes a serious look at anthropological and archaeological subjects and questions, then builds these questions into great dramas set in the prehistoric period. And the prehistoric period is a time of great drama where strange creatures roamed the earth, massive glaciers covered the top of the world, and behind every tree lurked the possibility of a hungry predator. It was seemingly a simpler time, yet so much more dangerous than modern times.

We can safely guess that everyday life in prehistoric times was a struggle for survival. How did people from these times cope with these struggles and what were their views on the world and on life in general? We can only speculate on these questions; and through archaeology and anthropology we have theories about these early people lived. And it is in these questions that an extra dimension is added to the genre of prehistoric fantasy. By examining and hypothesizing about prehistoric life we also shed light on how we came to be, how we live, and what are the things that drive us as a modern people and society.

The genre itself has been around a long time but it came to the forefront as a legitimate genre with the publication of Jean M. Auel's book The Clan of the Cave Bear. In this book many themes are explored but the central theme was the question of modern man, how he possibly evolved from Cro-Magnon man and how the race of Neanderthal man died out. Auel takes a good look at the minds of these two races, how they differed in their thinking, and how the brain of cro magnon was clearly superior and destined to survive. And all of this is wrapped in a wonderful story of a five year old orphaned Cro-Magnon girl who is taken in by a clan of Neanderthal.

Auel has written a series of five books called the Earth's Children series and these books take place in Europe during the Ice age. But the genre of prehistoric fantasy also covers the whole of the earth and another great series in the genre is the First North Americans Series by Kathleen and Michael Gear. This series of books takes place in many areas of North America toward the end of the last Ice age; A time when early Native Americans and Mammoths roamed the prairies and lands. This series of books is currently up to thirteen volumes and if you are interested in reading some of it the first novel in the series is called The People of the Wolf.

Prehistoric fantasy is a wonderful "thinking persons" genre because not only does it offer great drama but it also offers insights into the ways that we as humans lived in prehistoric times and how this shaped the way we as humans live and think in modern times. If you love fantasy but also would like to derive some very serious food for thought about life I recommend you try a prehistoric fantasy novel. You won't be disappointed.

About the Author

If you would like to learn more about the genres of fantasy visit the authors website at
CastleFiction.com - Everything about fantasy in books, movies and more.

If you are a fan of epic fantasy visit his website at:
Epic-fantasy.com - The Webs only Epic Fantasy site.

How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business

How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business (Book Review)

by Joy Cagil

When I first started reading "How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business," I had a difficult time figuring out if this book was motivational or informative. After a few chapters, however, I decided it was both.

The book is geared toward small business owners or those entrepreneurs who want to start their own small businesses. For a successful and profit-producing business, in Chapter III, the author, Jeffrey J Fox, lists "a grab bag of idea starters" and directions, through which one can prospect a small business. In Chapter IV, Fox lists a very important blueprint for the small business owner to be successful.

A good advice is: "To make money, you must work extremely hard, on what comes easy to you." Rule number one that must never be "forgotten or violated" is "to have a customer." In addition, a small business owner has to set his priorities straight in the order of their importance. "Selling is job number one."

The book goes on showing several ways to make a small business work. With some of those methods, a reader may agree or disagree. In my opinion, not all that is suggested would fit every business owner.

In Chapter XLIII, the daily to-do list should be of help to any small business owner. Among the last chapters are "Calculate the Size of Your Market" and "Getting Start-up Money." I think these two chapters belong to the beginning of the book and the beginning of any entrepreneur's small business attempt.

The chapters are short and snappy, and the language and the ideas are down-to-earth though sophisticated. The ideas and the methods show common sense, and they might work most of the time.

"How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business: Unexpected Rules Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know" is a long title for a small book of 176 pages. The book is in hardcover with ISBN-10: 0786868252 and is also downloadable as an E-Book.

The author, Jeffrey Fox is the president and the founder of Fox & Company, Inc., a marketing consulting firm. Although he lives in New Hampshire, Fox has offices in Avon, Connecticut. Jeffrey Fox is a graduate of Trinity College, with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is the winner of Sales & Marketing Management magazine's Outstanding Marketer Award, American Marketing Association's Outstanding Marketer in Connecticut, and the National Industrial Distributors award as the Nation's Best Industrial Marketer.

His books are:
The Dollarization Discipline: How Smart Companies Create Customer Value...and Profit from It
How to Become a Great Boss - The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees
How to Become CEO
How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business : Unexpected Rules Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know
How to Become a Rainmaker: The People Who Get and Keep Customers
How to Become a Marketing Superstar: Unexpected Rules That Ring the Cash Register

"How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business" instructs, inspires, and motivates the reader. If you want to have a general idea on how to run a small business or to start a business of your own, this book could lead you to practical and functional methods.

About the Author

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.Facsimile.Com/ which is a site for Fax Machines. Joy cagil is an author in http://www.writing.com.

I Love Craft E-Books

by Xandra Veal

I Love Craft E-books!

But before I get completely carried away, I am assuming that, as you're reading an online article, you know what an e-book is?

In the off-chance that you don't, it's really just like any other book in content - but it's a computer file and as such doesn't exist in the "real world". It's true that some e-books are also printed, but that's not the point as that is then an ordinary book.

E-books come in a number of formats - too many to go into here - but increasingly I think it's the Adobe PDF format that is the most popular. The reader software is always free (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) and it works on all PCs, Apple Macs and, as far as I am aware, virtually all popular hand held devices like Palm, etc. There are a small number of dedicated portable reading devices that PDF doesn't work on, but that's such as small percentage of the market it's not relevant to us as craftspeople. Trust me, if you're going to buy an e-book, or your going to write one, use PDF.

But why e-books anyway? There are hundreds of hard cover and soft cover books out there, enough choice for everyone you might think. So why bother with e-books at all?

Well for a start, as far as I'm concerned there will never be too much choice! You can't ever have too many ideas - and this is one of the main benefits of e-books.

You see e-books are much cheaper to publish than "normal" books. A traditional publisher has to do a lot of math before deciding to produce a book. There's paper, ink, print costs, storage, distribution... and all this has nothing to do with whether the book is a good one or not - just whether it's "commercially viable".

On the other hand, you can produce an e-book on your computer - right now. You can set up a website to promote it. People can buy it and download it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the world.

I'm not saying it's necessarily an easy thing - I've collaborated on quite a few and it's hard work - but it is do-able, and you aren't restricted by the commercial considerations of traditional publishing.

The great benefit that this gives us is that smaller interest groups can be catered for. An e-book publisher doesn't have to sell "X" number of copies just to break even, they can do it for the love of the subject. Sure, if it ages a few bucks that's nice too - but it doesn't need to be the main motivation.

And so we get really knowledgeable, creative people sharing their skills with us. People who might never have been published normally can give us the benefit of what they've learned in pursuit of their craft.

There are a couple of practical benefits as well.

Because it's a digital file you download it to your PC in minutes. You don't have to wander the shops, you don't have to wait for the mail and, because there are no delivery costs, they're quite often cheaper.

You can read it on screen or print just some of the pages out - which if you think about it is particularly pertinent to crafts people.

For example, if you knit and your e-book has patterns, then you only need print them out - not try to balance the whole book on your lap or on the arm of your chair. If you're a wood or leather worker, for example, you can just print the relevant patterns or instructions and take them to your workshop or studio - and of course because the book is digital you can do this once, twice, a hundred or more times. So no more trips to the copy shop either!

Finally - and I've done this one myself - you don't have to worry about those little "accidents" ruining your precious book. If you spill coffee or paint or anything over you just go back to the computer and print another one!

So I know what you're asking - what about the downsides? An e-book isn't exactly a treasured possession for your library, is it.

True - and I probably wouldn't buy my favorite novel as an e-book to curl up in front of on the sofa. But I'm talking about craft e-books. They are reference works, instructional, often with patterns - so yes, I prefer them. The only down side I can think of is that because they're relatively cheap to publish there are occasionally a few which aren't of the best quality.

But even then there's a solution that you won't often find in the world of "normal" books. Almost every craft e-book publisher I know of has so much faith in their product they offer a 100% no-quibble money back guarantee. So you can't loose. If you don't like the book you simply ask for your money back.

Try that at your local bookstore.

About the Author

Xandra Veal runs http://craftbooksnow.com a website which reviews over 70 craft e-books covering needle-crafts, kids crafts, jewelry, beading, scrap-booking, soaps, fragrances, candles, flowers, leather, wood and more.

How to market your books successfully

How to market your books successfully by Thao Nguyen

Marketing your own book can be fun, but it can also be a daunting task.If you decide to market your book,you should decide how and when you need help will usually depend on a few things.First of all,if your successful book is suffering because you do not have enough time to promote it,you might want to consider having something to promote it for you.While promoting for the most books,they can be run for months or even for years.There are several things (book reviews, signings and tours,web marketing and so on) that you cannot afford to wait on.There are something to contribute to your creative process-it's called market focus.

Marketing your book is about reaching audience,advertising your book is available, and persuading audience to read it.Remember that 90% of marketing book is wasted but nobody knows which 10% of it is effective.So,please be careful but don't worry if you think you have missed the target.

How much, and which activities you undertake depends on the type of your book.Different kinds of books need different approaches of marketing way.It's your job as a publisher to work out how to reach your market.Also,you will need some good copies for the cover and for the information sheet.It's a skilled task.

What should you prepare to publish your book?Take a look at http://www.book-marketing.about.tc/, so you might think of preparing if you are going to have some format publicities.Also, you need a good press release to modify this for different marketing shots.If you are aiming at one class of special journals,explain the relevance at the start of your release.Modify it for each mail shot to keep it relevant.Increasingly, you have to introduce yourself as the author rather than the book.A two pages of biography are about yourself with stories.Always keep in mind,any of your books must be prepared for months before publication.

It's extremely difficult to obtain a review of your book in the national media.But don't worry, local papers and local radio are open to new writers, especially if some topical or local links can be contrived.Apparently,even the big publishers are now getting national reviews.You can link this to market to the local bookshops.The buyers at the local bookshop will probably take the book if they know there is a review coming.Also,always make personal contact and send a review copy only if requested.Be patient.It may be several months before you get profits on your books.

http://www.book-marketing.about.tc/ also provides you how to find free spaces to promote your books.Some websites are regularly crawled all over by the web spiders which supply information to the major search engines,so that the informations about your book will soon be noticed and your pages should be listed in response to web search.It's also one of the ways to target your audience.If you expect to sell most of your early copies online,then you need to spend a bit of energy on what you prepare for your web page.You might put up some illustrations and background relating to the writing of the book.Ask yourself and explain why you wrote the book.Talk about the characters,explain the background to any historic incidents in your narrative.

That's all I know on how to market the books.It sounds hard, but no need to worry.If you need specific steps,take a look at http://www.book-marketing.about.tc,, you might think of preparing and promoting your book.

About the Author

Thao Nguyen is just a newbie webmaster of adsense sites,who creates those sites to help readers save time and money by finding reviews,helpful articles that will let you choose the best way to make more money

The Current Best Selling Books On The Market

The Current Best Selling Books On The Market by Danny Wright

With thousands of books written every year on all sorts of topics from business to fiction to religious, it is impossible to read every book released. Thankfully, The New York Times gives us some help by releasing and constantly updating the best-seller list for all of the topics you can imagine. Here are the current best sellers for four different categories.

Hardcover Fiction The number 3 best seller for hardcover fiction books is Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline. This is a fast-paced thriller that keeps the reader's attention and will keep you reading non-stop. The number 2 non-fiction book is Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella. This book takes the main character, Becky, amidst a possible love triangle with her husband and his ex-girlfriend as she shops for the perfect world for her baby. Finally, the number 1 best seller is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. This is another contemporary thriller by Picoult about a high school shooting.

Hardcover Non-Fiction The number 3 non-fiction best seller on the New York Times list is 'I Feel Bad About My Neck' by Nora Ephron. This comedy book discusses the topic of aging, in particular women aging. The number 2 book is 'A Long Way Gone' by Ishmael Beah, which takes into account the life of a young boy at the age of 12 who is swept into the horrifying world of civil war. The best seller currently for non-fiction books is 'In An Instant' by Lee and Bob Woodruff. This tells the tale of the traumatic experience Bob Woodruff experienced in Iraq and how he and Lee Woodruff worked through the difficult times after.

Children Number 3 on the list for children's books is Flotsam by David Wiesner. It all begins as a boy finds a camera that is washed ashore, and from there it is an adventure full of pictures. The number 2 best seller is Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems, which tells the story of a piggie who is optimistic about flying and an elephant that is skeptical. With a little help from others, amazing things happen. Lastly, the number one book is Someday by Alison McGhee, which tells an enchanting story of a mother's dream coming true, watching her child live life to the fullest.

Religion The number 3 religious book is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. This book guides you to learn to understand and speak the unique language of love through a couple's guidance. The second book on the best seller list is by Richard Dawkins entitled The God Delusion. Richard Dawkins attacks arguments for the existence of God in this controversial book. The number one religious book on the market is Grace by Anne Lamott, which takes Lamott's life into the realm of reality as problems of faith pop up in the most unexpected places.

About the Author

Danny Wright is the webmaster for MerchantLand.com .Come visit and see for yourself our great selection of current best sellers and new releases from your favorite authors at very reasonable prices.

How to Write a Critical Book Review

How to Write a Critical Book Review by Jennifer Burns

To let you understand what a critical book review is, let's define firstly what is a book review itself? Book review is an academic paper that gives an analysis of a book based on content, style, and merits. To make a book review critical, you should add more personal judgments and evaluations. It is very important to understand the book completely in order to write a good book review. Now, let's divide your critical book reviewing into steps. Even before an actual reading, study the table of contest and chapter titles, read the preface. It will help you to understand a book's structure and writer's way of thinking. You should study the writer's biography to understand the reason of his writing. It might be good to read others critical reviews. Take some notes while reading, then you will use them for your outline. Find a way you are going to criticize, then revise your notes and eliminate all that doesn't relate to your future thesis. First thing you have to do, is to write a draft. Think about what will go into your introduction, body and conclusion. For example in the intro you can analyze the potential target audiences. Tell about the author's purpose in writing the book and what have influenced him/her to write the book. Show your overall opinion of the book. In a few words explain the basis of your opinion and state the main thesis. In the body of the review you start to evaluate the book. This evaluation should contain your arguments that support your thesis. Here you can identify the author's main thesis and agree or disagree with them. Try to discuss not only the author's point of view, but the accuracy of the facts, the use of the language and writing style. Comment all these by using quotations from the text, so that your book review reader would understand right away your idea. You can criticize by answering such questions as: Is the book lacking of argumentation or information, that in your opinion has to be? Are the ideas logical and easy to follow? How skillfully does the author use vocabulary, explains and supports his own arguments? Is there anything that is missing in the book? Does it need illustration? Don't make any offensive statements here. In general you can find lots of information from the book to criticize. Be creative and remember that you have always to prove and explain your statements. In the conclusion you should summarize your main thesis. On the ground of your short summary tell about your expectation. Were they met? What have you learnt from this book? There is a good way of an impressive end. Imagine that you could meet the author of the book and tell about your possible conversation. This will leave your review reader ran information to think about. After you will be done with the draft, proofread it. Check for grammar and punctuation errors, for errors in your quotations, and for your logical development. Ideally, you should leave your first draft for a day or two before revising. Then you will be more open minded and will be more objective in checking. This might lead even to some radical changes of your paper's plot.

About the Author

Jennifer Burns is the head of customer care center at Custom-Writing.org, custom essay writing. Having completed a number of academic assignments himself, Jennifer uses her knowledge to provide individualized customer support to students, who order thesis writing

The "One" Way to Sell Books

The "One" Way to Sell Books by Philip Davis

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (played by Jack Palance) tells Mitch Robbins (played by Billy Crystal) that he has to find the "One" thing. The dialogue goes as follows:

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean [nothin']. Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"

Curly: [smiles] That's what *you* have to find out.

The "One" thing for a book to sell well is that it must generate Word of Mouth. The goal of every tactic you employ to sell books is to create Word of Mouth. Why does every author want to get on Oprah? Because she's the biggest Word of Mouth in the market. Look at the brief list below of tactics you can use to promote your book:

* Podcasting * Book Trailers * Book signings * Razorpages.com * Websites * Landing Pages * Blogging * Book Reviews * Book Giveaways * Press Releases * TV interviews * Radio interviews * Newspaper interviews

The purpose of every one of these tactics is to create Word of Mouth. The Da Vinci code is, of course, a huge success, but I didn't read the Da Vinci code until a good friend of mine said he had read it and that he thought it was very provocative. Just about every book I've ever read has been the direct result of Word of Mouth.

Generating Word of Mouth actually begins before we even write the book. If your book isn't interesting, it simply won't create Word of Mouth and selling it will be difficult. But once your book is written and you begin to employ the tactics listed above to promote the book, if you keep in mind that your primary objective is to generate Word of Mouth, it helps you choose how to deliver your message.

For example, I was coaching an author who had written his first novel and was conducting book readings nearly every month with little success. I asked him what sections he was reading from and then I told him that the sections he was reading were not the most interesting sections and gave him suggestions on which parts of the book I would read.

The same rule applies when conducting interviews. You should control the message of any PR message and any interview. What's the hot spot of your message? That is the message that needs to be conveyed. You have very little time to get the word out on your book. Think like you are standing in an elevator and someone wants to know why she should buy your book. You've got maybe 30 seconds to convince the potential buyer to buy your book. What would you say?

Remember Curly's advice and find the "One" thing that will create the buzz, the Word of Mouth, about your book. And once you find that "One" thing, use it in every marketing tactic you use.

About the Author

Phil Davis has been in the on-demand printing industry over twenty years and has been helping both corporations and individuals publish books. He is the majority owner of ZDocs zdocsonline.com. On his blog, howtopublishabookblog.com

Top Ten Free eBook Websites

Top Ten Free eBook Websites by Sandra Lu

Top Ten Free eBook Websites

1. Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org

2. The Online Books Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ Listing over 25,000 free books on the Web. The site is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Library.

3. Asiaing.com: http://www.asiaing.com Over 2,000 free ebooks & free magazines. Most of them can be downloaded directly.

4. PSU's Electronic Classics Site: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/jimspdf.htm Classic works of Literature.

5. PlanetPDF http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1 Classics works of Literature.

6. University of California, eScholarship Edition: http://content.cdlib.org/escholarship/ The eScholarship Editions collection includes almost 2000 books from academic presses on a range of topics, including art, science, history, music, religion, and fiction.

7. University of Adelaide Library's collection of Web books: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/ The collection includes classic works of Literature, Philosophy, Science, and History.

8. AvaxHome.ru: http://www.avaxhome.ru Some new ebooks. Rapidshare download links. Copyright is a problem. 9. The National Academies Press: http://www.nap.edu Read more than 3,000 books online FREE!

10.You! Everyone has his own favorite ebook website. Maybe It's already on the list. Maybe not. It doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you love eBook.

About the Author

Sandra Lu, a professor living in China.

A Guide to the 5 Most Influential Women of Epic Fantasy

A Guide to the 5 Most Influential Women of Epic Fantasy by Will Kalif

Epic Fantasy is a very wide genre and it encompasses a lot of work that has been defined in a lot of different ways from fantasy to childrens fantasy to high fantasy. Women writers have been breaking new ground and exploring new ideas and concepts in this genre since its inception. Here are some of the pioneering women writers of the genre of epic fantasy.

Edith Nesbit

She was born in 1858 and was a prolific writer who is generally considered to be the creator of the genre of the childrens fantasy novel. She created the whole idea of several children who embark on a grand magical adventure. This is a theme and tool that still stands very strong to this day with works like The Chronicles of Narnia. Some of her most famous works include Five Children and It (1902) and The Story of the Amulet (1905). Her work has fallen into the public domain so you can get copies and read her work for free.

Ursula K. LeGuin

LeGuin is a prolific writer who rose to fame in the sixties and seventies with a series of books that crossed genres between science fiction and fantasy. Her mark was made on the epic fantasy genre with the publication of her novel entitled A Wizard of Earthsea which is the first book of a quartet that takes place in a world (Earthsea) that she is still writing about today. The main story line of this first Earthsea book is about a young boy who has magical powers and sets off to magic school. Sound familiar? This is a beautiful series of books that take place in a masterfully crafted world complete with wizards and dragons.

Marion Zimmer Bradley

She was another prolific author who wrote some science fiction but focused mostly on fantasy. Her most famous work is a signature piece in the whole realm of fantasy called The Mists of Avalon (1979) and it is a retelling of the Camelot Tales from the point of view of the women Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar. Bradley and her series of Avalon books has been a major force in the development of a whole generation of woman writers. And the Avalon books are a triumphant addition to the whole sub genre of Arthurian writing.

Anne McCaffrey

McCaffrey is an author in the realm of fantasy that formulated and created much of what the modern epic fantasy saga is all about. She is one of the originators of the template that writers follow to this day. She has done this with her nineteen volume Dragon Riders of Pern books. Pern is a fully realized world with a fully developed history, society and economy. The world of Pern has inspired many different media offshoots including a vibrant fan community, a video game and an upcoming major motion picture. This is pure epic fantasy at its best.

J. K. Rowling

Is there anything I can say about the Harry Potter phenomenon that hasn't already been said? Her books are wonderful and wildly successful but I believe that her real gift to the genre is the bridge she has built between the past and the future. She, single-handedly, has had a tremendous impact on the genre of fantasy. And she will no doubt be seen as the inspiration for a whole new generation of writers over the course of the next several decades who will add to and grow the genre of epic fantasy in wonderful and new ways.

Epic fantasy is a genre of writing that has been profoundly impacted and grown by women writers and there are literally hundreds of great writers that I could have discussed in this article. These five are just who I consider to be among some of the most influential and important when looking at the development of the genre as a whole.

About the Author

Will Kalif is the author of two novels and a big fan of all things epic fantasy. If you want to learn more about the genre visit his website epic-fantasy.com

For a daily dose of Medieval and Fantasy things visit his popular blog:Heroic Dreams - Never Give A Sword to A Man Who Can't Dance