Full Moon Over Bunganut Communications, which has been working with aspiring authors to prepare manuscripts for publication, is taking the next giant step in its development.

Henceforth, we will be known as Full Moon Over Bunganut Publishing!

The first release of the new publishing house is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Jim Henry, titled Antiquity Calais: Standing at Armageddon. The story features hero Antiquity Calais, a writer who has a gift of receiving visions of natural disasters, sometimes before they occur, sometimes as they are occurring. At the novel’s outset, Antiquity has a vision of the worst tsunami in recorded history, a tsunami that inundates the entire east coast of the United States. From Portland, Maine to Key West, Florida, everything is under water. No one in their right mind would believe this was anything but an act of God. Antiquity knows, however, that this unprecedented tsunami was conjured by a mysterious man in black, whom he later learns is Satan’s most prolific Destroyer, Leviathan Avalon.

As the story progresses, Antiquity meets friends Gillian Usha, Sherman Yazu and the Mighty Mundoo Asquith, and together they travel around Creation in search of Avalon, even descending to the lowest depths of hell, until they are all Standing at Armageddon!

New submissions are welcomed by published and unpublished authors alike. Submissions may be sent electronically to fullmoonoverbunganut@gmail.com.

Initially, Full Moon Over Bunganut will utilize Print on Demand services, which will open the door for us to consider a more diverse array of talented authors than we otherwise could, if we had to order large quantities of books up front.

To learn more about us, visit our blog at http://www.fullmoonoverbunganut.wordpress.com .

We are actively seeking submissions. For writers’ guidelines, visit our blog.

We would also be honored if you would sample Antiquity Calais: Standing at Armageddon. It is available at our online bookstore at https://www.createspace.com/3394449 and the book can be viewed at http://www.Amazon.com as well. Copies may be ordered through us directly, particularly if you wish to purchase a copy without use of a credit or debit card. Contact us by email for more options.

Neal Armstrong once took one small step for man, as he was the first to trod on the Lunar surface. Just as his step represented “one giant leap for mankind,” this announcement represents one giant step forward for Full Moon Over Bunganut Publishing. Today, we are lifting off for the moon, with the goal that we will make stars of talented published and unpublished authors. When our authors shine brightly, all of us shine!

To sum up my first month’s work on helium will be exciting because I will get to look through the first things I’ve written on helium.com and see my growth and progress through a critical lens and then share it with you!

Please enjoy!!

Always and forever

Based on three separate poems, I’ve created this poem which is basically what I consider to be an engagement, newlywed or recommitment poem about marriage, being together and loving each other always and forever and the prospects of this new way of life. Helium has rated it 2/37.

How motherhood changes a woman

A friend of mine laughed at the fact that when I started on helium, most of the articles I had written were in their Parenting & Pregnancy channel, even though I am not a mother. I just wrote to titles that stuck out to me when I joined helium and this was one of them. I found that this was a title that was part of a writing contest helium was writing and it placed me at #14 in the list of publishers who wrote for the selected titles of the contest in the topic of Parenting & Pregnancy. I don’t quite recall how I first even found the title but I want to say that through rating, I came across many titles that stuck out to me, which I then would look up in order to write for.

This article has been 1/51 but the ratings went down and I could not understand why but when I was honest with myself, I knew that the couple of typos I’d corrected weren’t the only thing wrong. I realized my article was missing key information when it comes to physical and when it comes to professional, occupational and career changes that motherhood has on a woman. So, I “leapfrogged” the article (revising, adding to and editing an article and submitting it to be rated by the helium community as compared to your original article for the approval to, ultimately, leap over and literally replace the former article), which actually resulted in it going from two pages in length to four but all I knew was that I was making sure I put what I needed to say there in order to reflect my real take on the title. Needless to say, it reclaimed its rightful place in rating!

Should teachers have a right to deny a students need to use the bathroom?

Now, I came across this title and saw that it was a debate title, meaning you can come on the page and vote yes or no and can write an article relaying your argument for your side and your stance. A writer who wrote for the “No” side had a post on her blog/helium zone with a link to vote to “protect” children in public schools. Even though I actually loved her article [even added her to my favorite helium writers list on my profile] as well as her heart, I wrote for the “Yes” side. After writing, I learned that the channel category was for Secondary Education so I leapfrogged this article as well in order to ensure it reflected high school students and high school life at a more in depth capacity than it had previously. The article is rated 1/2 for the No side. In case you’d like to know and would find it to be valuable information, there are currently 4 articles on the yes side as compared to the 2 on the no side.

The impact of father-mother relationship on children’s well-being

This is something I’ve felt extremely strongly about and am glad to have gotten off of my chest exactly what and how I feel about it. Now, others can see and learn from it and they obviously appreciate since it is rated 3/14.

Is there too much sex on television?

I definitely had no choice but to write to this title. Everyone who I know who has read the article I wrote has thoroughy enjoyed it and thought it to be accurate and insightful as well as humorous and very debate-worthy. It is fact-driven and shares personal accounts as well as it challenges and raises questions. Enough of that, though, because what I want to say to you is that it shouldn’t be a question and I think that whoever wrote for or even just believes in the No side should “go spank themselves,” as someone I know says from time to time. Needless to say, I wrote for the Yes side and all I can say now is to just, please, read it yourself. Formulate an opinion if you have not yet done so. Lastly, fight for what you believe in because change does start with one man…every one man makes things how they are and every individual man is needed for things to change, so why not just go ahead and start with you?!

This article was numer 1/54 and was leapfrogged after a while because new information arose. It still sits at the top!

So, there we have it — a poem, two debates and two parenting articles and that sums up the best of  eDITORcHRIS/Christina Bernice’s helium.com writings from October 2009.

Qualquer adolescente fã de Crepúsculo e Lua Nova vai concluir inconscientemente ao ver o comercial:

Quero uma Canon dessas e uma turma descolada também!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhgSba6bvio

Instalacja

Podczas instalacji możemy uaktualnić nasz poprzedni Office do 2010. Jednak, jeśli nie zajżym do “custom”, instalator zainstaluje nam wszystkie aplikacje dostępne niezależnie od tego co mamy aktualnie zainstalowane. Poza tym, aktualizacja przebiega szybko, sprawnie i bez niespodzianek. Klucz podany na stronie jest niepotrzebyny do prawidłowego działania systemu. Nie zauważyłem również żadnych zabezpieczeń antypirackich (aktywacja itp.).

Pierwsze wrażenia

Pierwsze uruchomienie jakiegokolwiek programu trwalo i trwalo. Po uruchomieniu bez restartu systemu niektóre funkcje nie działały, a Outlook nie potrzafił się ponownie uruchomić, jednak restart wszystko naprawia. Kolejne uruchomienia są błyskawiczne. Wersja Beta uruchamia się szybciej od Technical Preview, a nawet od Office 2007.

Wygląd pakietu jest “miekkszy” od tego w 2007, przez co moim zdaniem wiele traci. Interface w kolorze czarnym jest po prostu bardzo ciemno szary, a nie jak w poprzedniku czerń z elementami srebrnymi, według mnie jest brzydki, ale to moja opinia. Ciekawie jest natomiast rozwiązane przejście z paska tytułu na pasek wstążki, którą zresztą ulepszono. Możemy ją edytować, uproszczono również chowanie wstążki, które sprowadzia się teraz do jednego przycisku.

Word

Główny program pakietu, edytor tekstu, niewiele się różni od poprzednika. Poza zmianami kosmetycznymi, Word doczekał się w końcu Text Effects’ów zamiast WordArt’ów. Mamy ponadto możliwość zaawansowanego usuwania tła z obrazków i ich dostosowania. Poza tym dodano kilka mniejszych funkcji jak bibliografia, dodawanie screenshot’ów oraz poprawiono współpracę z plikami .odt. Dodano opcję publikacji na Live SkyDrive i SharePoint.

Excel

Poza dodaniem funkcji Sparklines, wersja 2010 nic nowego nie wnosi. Oczywiście również posiada opcję publikacji na SkyDrive, SharePoint i obsługuje format OpenOffice.

PowerPoint

Tu jest chyba najwięcej zmian. Dodano bardzo dużo nowych, efektownych przejść, nowe motywy i długo wyczekiwanej opcji eksportu prezentacji do video. Podczas wstawiania klipu wideo do przezentacji mamy zaś możliwość przycięcia pliku, a podczas prezentacji wyświatlane są kontrolki. Obrazy możemy edytować jak w Wordzie (usuwanie tła, efekty, kolory itd.). Prezentację również możemy przesłać na SkyDrive.

Outlook

Chyba drugi w kolejności program, który się tak zmienił. Poza interfacem wstążkowym dodano kilka nowych funkcji. Poprawiono współpracę wiadomości z kontaktami. Między innymi program grupuje konwersacje (powobnie jak w aplikacji Gmail), pozwala wyszukiwać wiadomości od tego samego nadawcy i kilka innych.

Onenote

Interface wstążkowy usprawnia wiele rzeczy i wprowadza wzgędny porządek. Jednak funkcjonalność programu pozostaje niezmienna.

Publisher

Ten również dostał interface wstążkowy. Dodano kilka templatów oraz opcje publikacji.

Office Web Apps

Internetowa wersja pakietu jest co prawda jeszcze w wersji Technical Preview, ale nie działa jeszcze poprawnie. Przede wszystkim dokumentów Word’a nie możemy jeszcze edytować w przeglądarce. Uruchamiałem PowerPointa Web App w Firefox’ie i niestety nie załadował się, nawet w IE8 miał problemy, natomiast w Google Chrome działa bez zastrzeżeń. Ponadto nie możemy dodawać zdjęć do prezentacji. Co prawda jest taka opcja, jednak jakikolwiek format nie próbowalibyśmy wgrać wyskoczy błąd o nie wspieraniu wgranego formatu. Poza tym możliwości Web Apps’ów są całkiem spore, jednak wymagają jeszcze dużo pracy.

Podsumowanie

Office 2010 jest na pewno lepszym pakietem niż poprzednik, jednak tylko w niektórych aplikacjach wprowadzono modyfikacje, a w pozostałych niewielkie poprawki. Tak czy owak kolejny produkt Microsoftu jest godny polecenia.

GETTING PUBLISHED THE HARD WAY

It’s the American dream to start your own business or publish your own book. The truth is that not everyone will get that opportunity, but we should all reach for it. Too many great ideas for new businesses and books die on the back of cocktail napkin or notepad. Sure there are a lot of obstacles, but you owe it to yourself to step up to the plate and at least take your best swing. Pick something you are passionate about, and then aim for the bleachers…You never know..

I’ve heard it said that everyone has at least one good book inside them. That being said, I’ve determined that writing the book is the easy part. Everyday promising young authors pen (or in most cases, type) a plethora of written material from poetry to how to books. Of course some of the work is very sophomoric, but a great deal of the material is very solid, literary quality work. You might ask the question, “why does one book get published over another”. Remember, publishing like every other enterprise is big business. Companies that bring books to press expend huge sums of capital and take a chance. It’s only natural that they try to go with proven formulas and formats to reduce their risk.

Now the challenging part of the process begins. The author of the work decides that he/she would like to have the material published and get compensated for it.(in short, they desire to have their book published). Most first time authors do not have any idea as to where to start in this process.

I can tell you that the process is normally long and arduous. Publishers and literary agents are swamped with requests and manuscripts and they purposely put up roadblocks to dissuade all but the most aggressive new authors.

You can spend a great deal of time on the internet using search engines to find the proper channels to follow to get published. In most cases you will get entangled in a web of confusing search results, with most being dead ends or clever solicitation to buy information on the subject. Many new writers go down the path of self publishing. They contact a “vanity press” that will produce copies of their book in paperback or hardcover for a printing and editing fee, and then ship them to you. If you have the right product you can then go out and start selling copies to friends, relatives, and business associates. To be honest, most authors end up with dusty boxes filled with several thousand copies of their book, just sitting in their garages or basements, as souvenirs.

There are some very good reference books available like the Writer’s Market that will furnish you with a list of publishers, magazines, as well as literary agents. Each listing will tell what type of work the agents are interested in, and they are usually very specific. They will also tell you what their submission guidelines, terms, and exactly the type of content they want. Again they are usually painfully specific.

The fact is, many of the agents will not take submissions from new authors and those that do will be in no hurry to get back to you. Remember, it’s a business for them and there is way more supply than there is demand. I’ve looked thru hundreds of agent’s submission guide lines and it seems that many of them just don’t want to work. I’ve seen statements like: We only review submissions in March and April, unsolicited manuscripts will not be read or returned, we are inundated with submissions are not accepting any at this time, we may get back to you within 6 months..please do not contact us in the interim, or , send no letters, e-mails, or phone calls. Ok, I think you get the idea of what I’m saying here. Don’t expect these folks to welcome you with open arms.

There are a few viable alternatives. If you believe in your work and are willing to invest a relatively small amount of money you can go the self publishing route. There are publishers out there that will publish and even help edit your book for a contract price. You are the free to market and sell your book and keep all the profits. Another popular alternative is to offer your book as an e-book, or on line book. The content is then transferred to your end purchaser by e-mail or file transfer. This method bypasses the large publishing companies and their distribution system as well as the hard printing costs. The down side is your marketing costs are out of pocket, and you get no upfront advance.

I think the best advice is not to get discouraged and to keep trying. It’s important to get your work out, because you never know who may read it and skyrocket your writing career.

I’m working on a web site to expose new authors work to readers over the internet. It’s kind of a grass roots movement to recognize new work, and also give the new author a chance to be read and generate some income. All writing genres will be accepted from pamphlets, how to books, novels, poetry, videos, and sports. The authors would have to submit a detailed synopsis of their material, a short blurb “about the author”, and also a sample of their work, perhaps a chapter or two.

The author determines the sale price for their work.( I will give you some guidelines to consider. Remember the reader/buyer must feel it’s a bargain)  Once the online reader/buyer wants the rest of the work, it will be sent by e-mail or they will be issued a password to open the rest of the file. There will be a small registration fee and a commission on work sold, that’s it. There will be no risk on the part of the author and he/she will retain all rights to the work. Author will be free to terminate the agreement with a 60 day notice, if they choose. This system will work with printed material also, but the focus will be on “e-books”.

If you are interested in this format, please send me an e-mail and I will contact you with details, when the project is ready.

Send me your name, phone #, and e-mail address and I will stay in touch.

pooritalianboy@gmail.com

I’ve posted it on most of my sites, but good news!

I won!!!

My entry in the NaNoWriMo Contest is in the Winner’s Circle for 2009.

Today I received a YOU WON!!! email and a certificate stating that I completed the contest to write a 50,000 word novel within 30 days.

The contest started November 1, 2009, and within a two week period I hand wrote and typed up the rough draft for The Calamity Girl – The Promotion.

I entered it on Monday November 23, 2009 and was sent the email on Thursday November 26th, telling me that I was a winner!

I woke up feeling pretty crappy today so this was welcome news.

I had worried about this manuscript entry for the past month.

It’s the first novel that I’ve written for a contest.

I have another novel but I didn’t enter it into the contest last year when I participated in NaNoWriMo in 2008.

At the time, I wasn’t aware you could register for it.

This year I found out more about the program and participated in it.

Now for the next 2 months, were supposed to complete revising the novel and then send it out to be published in the spring.

I’ve kept this book fairly easy with some travel spots in it.

As I’ve been participating in a bloggers discussion on Pro Bloggers about writing to your readers and not writing “at” them.

In short, we are supposed to have the reader participate in the novel, by stimulating the imagination and making them feel like they are there in the story with our characters.

I know how to do that but I kind of got side tracked with writing names of places that my characters were visiting but didn’t really describe what it was like to be there.

I’ll have to work on using the 5 senses to describe things in a better light.

I am looking forward to doing this chic lit because it’s a short project, compared to The Munroe Series that I’m working on.

That one is 15 books in total, and I’ve only completed book one of the series and still need a professional editor to look over my work and help me fashion it into a gem of a book.

I decided I’m going to start working on getting my chic lit books published first, then I’ll bring out the series.

One’s more serious then the other so I’ll bring out the light hearted stuff first.

nanowrimo_2009_winner_Linda Michelle Randall The Calamity Girl - The Promotion The Idea Girl Says

Adam Pasick

Publisher Atlantic Media (THE ATLANTIC, GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE) has hired Adam Pasick as managing editor of a new digital media brand launching in early 2010 and “targeting global business executives,” per a press release.

This mysterious website came to light about two months ago when the publisher announced that Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate, would serve as editor-in-chief of “a new digital media property launching in early 2010.”  A company spokesperson only admitted that it will be “a separate property under the Atlantic Consumer Media umbrella.”  And, it was not “The Atlantic Wire,” that the magazine then had just launched.  The current press release did not bring any more revelations, so – for now – the mystery continues.

Pasick was previously with Reuters, most recently as US editor of Reuters.com.

As a fulltime writer and publisher, my work life doesn’t start at 9 and end at 5 like most. If anything, my day starts around 10 in the morning and ends around midnight, six days a week.

Of course, I’m not sitting in front of a computer for 14 hours every day. I’d go into severe burnout if I did (i.e. I pulled a 17-hour shift the other day and paid for it bigtime the next). But my work day has no off switch. I get the bulk of what I need to do done before 5pm, have supper, spend time with my family, then usually work from 8-10pm again. However, during those hours away from the computer, I’m still working inside my head, thinking about the various projects I’m involved in, how I’m going to solve certain problems in, say, a book’s design or layout, or what color text I’m going to use on the cover. If I’m in the middle of a personal writing project, my mind’s going a mile a minute, thinking about the next scene or three, perhaps even getting new ideas for other stories.

Which brings me to today. I’m excited. Today, if all goes to plan, I’ll be wrapping up two projects. And, for me, “wrapping up” doesn’t just mean I’m done writing or getting a book ready for press, it’s means that that project is done-done, gone to press and left alone till release time.

Up until today, I’ve been caught in an internal whirlwind, one of a constantly-busy head and fluttering emotions thanks to the excitement for each of these projects.

Once I lay these puppies to bed, that tornado of thought and feeling does a final zip through my body and then–POOF–gone . . . until we get close to release day.

I’m excited for the rush of wrapping these things up, the final slurry of emotions and thought, the big OOMPF at the end of a job well done, and the amazing sense of accomplishment at seeing yet another couple projects through to their completion. There’s nothing like sitting back, crossing your arms and knowing something is done, complete and finito.

I love it. Can’t wait.

Gotta get to it.

The past couple of books I have written ‘Who Moved my Job?’ (Lulu 2008) and ‘Global Services: Moving to a Level Playing Field’ (British Computer Society 2008) have both been published under license for South Asia by Viva in Delhi.

Viva took a look at my most recent book – Talking Outsourcing (Lulu 2009) – and said they are not interested in publishing it because they don’t feel it connects to the reader in the same way as the other books I have written.

That’s fine. They have their opinion. Only I think they are wrong.

Here’s why.

I don’t think they understand that this was a book of a blog. This book is drawn from the best of my ‘Talking Outsourcing’ blog in Computing magazine, featuring blog entries from 2006 to 2009. It’s written and presented as a chronological business diary. Everything that’s going on in the world of services globalisation and outsourcing from my point of view over that three year period.

It’s worth pointing out that the British national tech magazine Computer Weekly thought so highly of my blog, they shortlisted it for blog of the year in their IT Blog Awards 2009. The launch event at London South Bank University was also very successful – take a look at the video here.

Clearly there are a lot of people involved in the hi-tech service sector in India and I am sure they would like to see this book.

It highlights the issues, the trends, the failures, and the successes of the past three years in the global hi-tech industry and India gets a fair share of that business.

Sure, it’s a book of a blog and not written with a new narrative focused on a single topic, but that’s part of the idea here. Take the content from the blog and make it work in a different way by putting it all in one place, so it can be quickly skipped through.

If you are a publisher in India and you are interested in the South Asia rights for this book then get in touch with me. I’m planning to be there in February so if you move fast we could do some personal appearances around the launch. You can reach me here…

Hello everyone,

We are honored to announce our own CD and DVD printer and publishers . These machines are so amazing that can print and also burn a dvd , all with the same machine, computer-controlled. So basically you have the comfort of control from your desk, just click Burn, add the data to the compilation, click “Burn” and voila. Then simply add your picture or design, and click “Print” . What makes ours better than the competitor’s machines, is the better.. everything. Higher disc capacity, two independent rails for print head and disc picker instead of just one for both, so the load / unload time is 50% faster , and then it comes the printing throughout , also affected by the two rails, which increases to 50-70 discs per hour instead of around 40 for other products.

Also , we filled it with goodies, to make it feel like a regular printer, like for example the Job Status Monitoring. And to make it an outstanding offer, you’ll receive it with the Kiosk mode for free, which increases the capacity to 100 discs, and at a special price.

The Systor DiscMaster series is composed by one printer , 2 publishers with 1 burner or 2 burners , and also 2 Blu-Ray publishers, in the same categorization , with 1 Blu Ray Burner or 2 Blu Ray burners.

Limited offer, check it out now at https://www.duplicator4all.com/

Cel mai mare publisher online din lume ramane Yahoo! care prin grupul sau de site-uri (si sunt o multime) asigura cam 14% din piata reclamelor de pe Internet. Din martie cand avea cota de piata de 13,2% pana in septembrie cand a ajuns la 14,5% Yahoo! a tot luat market share de la competitorii sai. Ca idee, in martie Yahoo! a avut aproape 43 de milioane de reclame expuse in diversele pagini web, reclamele fiind vazute de 140 de milioane de vizitatori unici!

Pe locurile urmatoare se gasesc Fox Interactive Media, Facebook.com (7.7%, 25 milioane reclame expuse, 53 milioane vizitatori unici), site-urile Microsoft (5,5%, 18 milioane reclame expuse, 89 milioane vizitatori unici), AOL si Google abia pe locul 6. Site-urile Google sunt si ele in crestere, de la 1,3% in martie la 2,2% in septembrie insa diferenta intre el si Yahoo! este uriasa. Urmeaza eBay, Viacom, Glam Media si CNN, fiecare cu mai putin de 1% market share.

Pentru a-si creste propria cota de piata si implicit veniturile Google tocmai a cumparat o companie americana din Silicon Valley, Teracent, specializata in advertisingul bazat pe imagini pe Internet. Tehnologia dezvoltata de Teracent si care i-a facut cu ochiul lui Google este capabila sa particularizeze reclamele pe site-uri dupa profilul fiecarui vizitator, de exemplu reclame la pantofi celui care vizioneaza informatii despre incaltaminte sau articole sportive celui care navigheaza site-uri de profil. In plus tehnologia pare a fi usor de integrat in site-urile Google asa incat s-ar putea sa vedem in curand imagini in loc de reclame text la cautarile pe Google.

Pentru ca mentionam mai sus Fox Interactive Media, iata site-urile din curtea lor: AskMen.com, Fox.com, FoxSports.com, GameSpy, MySpace, MyNetworkTV.com, PhotoBucket.com, Scout.com, MyFoxny.com, Direct2Drive.com si altele.

Publisher Meredith (BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS, MORE, FAMILY CIRCLE) CEO Stephen Lacy recently spoke at an investor event and confessed he longed for a health magazine.

According to mediapost.com, he said that with Meredith’s sprawling female-targeted magazine portfolio, the company could benefit from a foundation magazine along the lines of PREVENTION or HEALTH.  “What we could use is an anchor brand in women’s health and well-being.”

Any buys might be 12 to 18 months out, after the company has completed paying down its current debt.  But, he said, “there will be some very good properties that will become available.”

What health magazine should Meredith buy?  Let us know.

The book’s one step closer to publication.

Tonight I submitted the interior file (aka everything between the front and back cover).

I finished my 5th (or was it 6th) edit of the book and sent it on it’s way.

All that’s left now is finalizing the cover and submitting the entire book for publication. Hopefully I’ve done all my work correctly up to this point and everything will be good to go.

Once my files are reviewed, a proof copy of the book will be printed, I’ll check it and then if nothing else needs adjusting, we’ll send this book out into the wild.

I’m still hoping for a mid-December publication (if not before).

I’m also hoping to have a Kindle version ready by then as well. So keep checking back and be sure to submit pictures of your sanctuaries on the http://www.flickr.com/groups/stpetersbrewery/ or Facebook page.

There are a few submissions already, hoping to see many more in the days to come.

Thanks again for your interest and support!

Shalom!
jdblundell

Dear Doctor Query:

Peter Grant had the good sense to retire from his stint as a Marine on permanent loan to the CIA while all his parts were still in working order. Fifteen years as the pointy end of Uncle Sam’s big stick earned Grant the right to a quiet life.

Then an old friend calls in a chit, asks a simple favor. Since Grant already has plans to visit Tibet, all he has to do is deliver a letter when he gets there. The recipient? A mole. A high-ranking officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army, commander of a top-secret military facility outside Lhasa.

Based on an intelligence officer’s assessment, Grant expects to find a self-important, avaricious traitor who’s lost his nerve. Instead, he meets Colonel Sun, a determined, principled man caught in the closing jaws of a State Security investigation. Sun requests exfiltration, a move that would threaten the existence of the Tibetan network.

Grant finds himself sucked into the vortex that swirls around clandestine operations gone bad. A State Security officer dogs the colonel’s steps, half a world away Chinese spies relentlessly dig for the truth, and the carefully woven shroud of subterfuge that protects the Tibetan underground begins to unravel. In the scramble to protect networks, operatives, and secrets, the interests of nations threaten to grind the Chinese agent under the wheel of necessity.

But, Grant doesn’t have to let it happen. He doesn’t work for the CIA anymore.

Deep in hostile territory, operating naked on the remote Tibetan plateau, Grant takes a risky gamble. He plots Colonel Sun’s escape, a hell-for-leather race to freedom.

The simple favor just got complicated.

I am seeking representation for SKY FUNERAL, a completed 90,000 word spy thriller, the first in a planned series. I have a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and a fourteen-year career in the defense industry. I’ve been a member of Pikes Peak Writers, Colorado Springs Fiction Writer’s Group, and Valencia Critique Group, and have attended numerous writing seminars, conferences, and classes.

This is very good.

You have given us a sense of urgency, and your voice has authority.  The query and the subject matter fit together, and your life experience makes a convincing argument that you could tell this story.  As a reader, I feel as though I would be in good hands with you.

The only thing I would do is tighten it up.  Take your seven paragraphs and try to turn them into three or four. Brevity is strength.

Then send it out!

That is all.

Doctor Query

This post is second in a series of articles which are excerpts from our Self Publishing Guide for Indian Market. If you have not already, please read the first article of the series before proceeding with this one

• What is Publishing?

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What is Self Publishing

Self publishing in strict sense is a special case of publishing where author herself is the publisher. The author takes the complete control and responsibility of all the aspects of publishing – preparing the book, printing and marketing the book. In fact, anyone – be it an individual or an organization – can self publish. In our discussion of self-publishing we include publishing carried out by any individual or organization whose main business is not publishing, even if it is not self-publishing in the literal sense of the word (that is the author is not the publisher).

Self Publishing: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

No need to spend time convincing publishers/agents.

• The author is the boss and has complete control over content, design, pricing.
• Faster way to get your book published.
• Easy to publish books for a niche audience.

Disadvantages

• Needs financial investment for the publishing process – editing, designing, printing, marketing.
• Lack of sales and marketing expertise. No pre-launch publicity, no launch hype with celebrities and media.
• Chances of lower credibility because the book is not validated by an independent/traditional publisher.

When to self publish

Given the pros and cons of self publishing, there are certain cases where it work well. Some of them are listed below

• Experts: If you are some sort of expert in anything, you could self publish a book targeted towards that audience. Expertise need not mean global fame. You could be a blogger on environmental issues with a following, for example.
• Niche publications: The way the economics of traditional publishing works, if your audience is niche and small, publishers may not be interested in your book. If you have a way to access this niche audience and market your book, self publishing is the way to go.
• Publishing as gift: A book can be published for gifting purposes or for distribution to friends and family. For example, you may want your book just for your family, or may want to surprise a friend by publishing his/her writings as a birthday gift.
• Support to profession and brand building: A book can be published to establish your credibility and thought leadership in your profession. Coaches, training institutes and other professionals/organisations can publish a book themselves and distribute or sell them. It will help brand building.
• Complete control over the book: If you do not like to succumb to the demands of the editors on how the book should start, read and end, self publishing is the option for you.

SMITHSONIAN ZOOGOER has a new editor, Peter Winkler, winklerp@si.edu. The query/pitch address is zoogoer@si.edu…

BON APPETIT has lost Heather John as senior editor but will continue to cover wine, beer and spirits as a contributing editor…

The Fashion Beat blog, www.tfbeat.com, has been launched by former lifestyle reporter Lauren Sherman, lauren@tfbeat.com…

SAVEUR has replaced wine and spirits editor David Wondrich with David Rosengarten…

FLARE, the Canadian fashion magazine, is without health and lifestyle editor Karen Kwan…

Haute Travels is a new blog covering travel and fashion at http://hautetravels.blogspot.com…

PARENTING EARLY YEARS, PARENTING SCHOOL YEARS creative director Nancy Brooke Smith has left the magazine…

AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE RACING JOURNAL has folded and will become a section of AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL…

Cygnus Business Media (PRINTING NEWS, ASPHALT CONTRACTOR, MASS TRANSIT) just announced that three vice presidents will be leaving, including Dave Davel, VP of Publishing, due to “streamlining of the management structure.”…

DMNEWS, the trade pub covering direct marketing, is celebrating its 30th anniversary on November 30…

BEST YOU has received the go-ahead to assume a regular print schedule by owner Reader’s Digest Association…

MILLIMETER, for those in the motion picture and TV production industries, has gone online-only…

Martha Stewart just signed a new deal with her company: $2 million per year with a bonus of $1 million and a signing bonus of $3 million…

NEWSWEEK laid off another dozen staffers because of the “economic climate in publishing.”  Editor Jon Meacham wrote in a memo: “I have no spin to offer.  I will say this, though: our new magazine and website have been well received by readers.”…

944 MAGAZINE ATLANTA has hired Isoul H. Harris as managing editor.

ART BUSINESS NEWS has added Gabriel Kiley as managing editor for its print and online editions.  He replaces former managing editor Jennifer Dulin Wiley.

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS* has named Katherine Pushkar as lifestyle editor.

Blacktie-Colorado.com has advanced Nancy Koontz from reporter/feature writer to editor.

CAPITOL FILE* has announced that publisher Susan Nixon has resigned.

CIO CONNECTION has tagged Stephanie Fraser to replace Katie Weitkamp as editor.

DEPARTURES* has promoted Adam Bookbinder to design director.

ESSENCE* has announced that Web site fashion and beauty producer Tiffany Miller and Web site fashion and beauty editor Qianna Smith are no longer with the magazine.  Other exiting staffers include technology editor Evan Narcisse, research chief Bridgette Bartlett and Web site associate editor Charreah Jackson.

EVERY DAY WITH RACHAEL RAY* has lost Jessica Wozinsky, an assistant editor covering lifestyle.

FAMILY CIRCLE* has added staffer Jocelyn Voo to serve as senior Web editor.

Gizmodo.com has reported that contributing editor Joanna Stern is leaving.

THE HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL has lost editor John Ferraro.

HouseLogic.com has tapped Mike DeSenne as online managing editor.  He had been executive editor at SmartMoney.com.

INTECH has laid off editors Greg Hale and Nick Sheble, as well as associate editor Ellen Fussell Policastro.  Publications manager Susan Colwell has taken over editor duties.

INVESTMENT NEWS has hired Jeff Nash as assistant managing editor.  He previously was a reporter for sister publication PENSIONS & INVESTMENTS.

LUCKY* has announced the departure of editorial assistant Emily McCarthy.

MARIE CLAIRE* has reported that accessories assistant Jennifer Kramer is no longer with the magazine.

Mediabistro.com has named Jason Boog as editor.

More.com has hired Jodie Green as director.

O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE* has hired Abbe Wright as contributing assistant to the creative director.  She had been assistant to the editor-in-chief at MODERN BRIDE*, ELEGANT BRIDE* and YOUR PROM.  In other news, Gillian Berenson has been named art director.

PARADE* has tapped Brett Wilson to serve as publisher.

PARENTS* has acquired Kara Corridan as health editor.

THE PARIS REVIEW has announced that resignation of editor Philip Gourevitch.

ShackNews.com, a site targeted at gaming enthusiasts for Pcs and consoles, has lost co-editor Nick Breckon.  Co-editors Chris Faylor and Aaron Linde will remain in their positions.

SPORT DIVER* promoted Eric Michael from senior editor to editor.

TASTE OF HOME* has named Christian Millman as executive editor.

TensionMagazine.com, a new quarterly online magazine on the fashionable side of crocheting, has announced it will be co-edited by Julie Armstrong Holetz and Josi Hannon Madera.

Time Inc Business, News and Sports Group has promoted John Cantarella to senior VP-digital.  He will oversee CNNMoney.com, Time.com, SI.com, Golf.com and LIFE.com.

Tonic.com has recruited Mark Dagostino as senior editor.

UsMagazine.com has named Justin Ravitz as staff editor.

WINDING ROAD has named Seyth Miersma as editor-in-chief.

WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY has announced the exit of media market editor Irin Carmon.

WonderWall.com has promoted Saryn Chorney from senior editor to managing editor.

GARDEN & GUN* skipped its October/November issue and fears were high that it would also pass by its December 2009/January 2010 issue, but publisher Rebecca Darwin emailed foliomag.com that the issue has gone to press..

We have recently prepared a self publishing guide to help people understand the idea and process of publishing and self publishing, especially in Indian context.

This post is the first of a series of articles, which are excerpts from the guide (these articles may be modified a bit to suit the form of blogs better). This article explains in simple words what publishing is and what tasks it involves. Content may seem obvious to some readers. But before we start discussing self publishing and its nuances, it is important to be on the same page regarding what publishing itself means.

Of course, publishing is a word used in a large number of different contexts. Our discussion here is in the context of publishing books – that too in print.

With more of prologue than actual content, here is the article

–

Publishing

Publishing is the process by which books, magazines and other reading material are produced and distributed among the readers. The aim is to make information, ideas, thoughts, stories available for public viewing and, maybe, make some money too.

Publishing Process and Tasks

The process of publishing a book can be broken down into the following steps:

• Selection of manuscript – This is the step where the struggling writer goes from pillar to post, hoping to draw the attention of some editor or publishing house. This is the step where publishers have to take the crucial decision of making an investment in particular manuscripts in the hope that readers pick them up as books in enough numbers and they get good return on their investment.
• Editing the book – Once a manuscript is selected, an editor starts cutting the flab — doing away with what is unnecessary. Also under the scanner are language, syntax and readability.
• Designing the book – Once the basic text is ready, it needs to be packaged the right way to appeal to the target audience. The designer’s job is to ensure, for example, that an Economics textbook does not have Katrina Kaif on the cover.
• Printing – This crucial process can be handled in different ways, depending on the requirement. We shall discuss this in detail in one of the articles later.
• Sales and marketing – Thousands of writers get their books printed every year. You need to let the readers know that your book is unique, luring them to buy it. You can have a great book but if the reader does not know about it, it will never get bought! The book needs to be distributed so that every reader – or even a possible reader – gets to buy a copy at the nearest book shop.

Publisher

Publisher is a person or an organisation which takes the manuscript from the author and handles the tasks outlined above. A typical publisher brings in the editorial and design expertise, distribution contacts, marketing muscles and financial investment needed for the entire process, which are important in making a book a success or a failure.

Wild wines around the world have been created since the dawn of time, with nearly every civilization and culture on earth developing their own means of fermenting and distilling various fruits and grains into aromatic, strong spirited drinks that have graced the tables of kings and peasants alike. Making your own wild wines, using some of the most popular recipes in the world can be a fun, highly rewarding project that allows you to take full control of the taste and body of your favorite dinner side drink.

This book will show you more than 100 recipes for wild wines, using the best herbs, fruits, and flowers to create some of the most beloved drinks in the world for you and your friends and family. The basics of wild wine recipes are laid out here in great detail, providing you with everything you need to know to both understand and start making your own wines in no time. You will be shown the basic information or dozens of varieties of herbs, fruits and flowers, including how they are best used in wine recipes, what you need to do to them to prepare them, and how they will taste, feel, look, and smell in a finished product. You will learn what you can do to promote the integrity of your wine and how many different ways there are to vary the aspects of both white and red wild wines without sacrificing taste. After learning the basics of wild wine making, you will be shown through the process of making each of 101 different recipes that have been received well around the world. Expert interviews have been conducted and included to provide you with insight into special tips and tricks you can utilize to perfect your wines and to ensure the best possible wine is produced every time. For every aspiring amateur wine maker out there, this book is an absolute must.