Posts Tagged ‘books’
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Each parent wants to get their children reading as soon as they can. This means spending a lot of time on daily reading practice sessions. Often children’s early reading books are of the interactive type. First readers often have pop-up images to exemplify the key words on the pages.
Why not take this a step further by buying your children multimedia ebooks? Multimedia ebooks for children can take pop-up paper readers to the next degree and more. Even older children may benefit from multimedia ebooks. Educational ebooks on Beethoven, for instance could play excerts from his music.
Ebooks on birds could play their songs and even short films of birds building their nests or in courtship. There are fantastic opportunities for ingenious authors of children’s multimedia electronic books.
The ebook could have different modes such as with or without auto-read. The book could read itself aloud and a word could change colour or become underlined as it was being read. The voice could then instruct the child to click on a word to make an event happen, say, replay a bird song or show a short film.
It is frequently hard to keep a child’s interest and an interactive ebook like this could be just the way to keep it interesting. This form of ebook is itself still in its early years, but it seems that authors of children’s books will have to begin publishing this in this manner more and more.
One potential problem is children and electronic gadgets. Children nowadays are definitely more used to handling electronic gadgets than any previous generation, but still the hand held ebook readers would have to be very robust and battery operated.
Today’s ebook readers normally have screens which are only capable of displaying text in black on a white, blue or gray screen, so the displays would have to be capable of full colour and the sound replaying facilities may have to be enhanced. Neither of these enhancements are big issues.
A further advantage of an ebook reader is its ability to transform the size of the text. Children occasionally have problems with their sight and an ebook reader may be just the answer.
It has also been said that some forms of dyslexia can be improved if the text is displayed in, say, yellow on a brown background or pink on a blue background. All combinations are feasible with an ebook reader with a colour screen, such as a notebook.
Home schooling is more and more common and school books are being sold to parents at quite a discount to paper books. Paper school books are already expensive, but they are bound to rise in price as the world’s populace increases and the number of trees for use in paper mills declines.
Ebook readers are great for taking on holiday, if you enjoy reading, because they will hold 3,500 ebooks. This will save you lugging three or four paperbacks on holiday with you next time. It will not be long before every household has a few of ebook readers.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now concerned with kindle reader format. If you want to know more, please go to our web site at Kindle vs Book
Tags: article writing, books, children, education, hobbies, home business, leisure, literature, marketing, other, publishing, reading, society, Uncategorized, writing
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Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Ebooks are beginning to come of age. It is now becoming a more practical option to sell your knowledge or niche book on line than it is to sell it through a conventional publisher. There are on line publishers like Amazon that will upload your ebook, help you market it, deliver it to your customers, track sales, take the money and pay you the balance.
You get to set your own cost for the book and you will receive about 70% of the absolute revenue. Dedicated ebook readers are making the ebook even more accessible. For instance, say that you are travelling and you finish your book, you might find it a problem to buy a different book to read for a time, particularly if you are abroad.
Not so with modern ebook readers. You only go online with their built-in WIFI capability and download a different one. Or you could download a dozen so that you do not run the risk of being without. Ebooks are cheaper than traditional paper books and more readily accessible. Lots of readers will also hold over 3,000 books.
So, this is a manner to go for publishing a book, but what if you cannot write well enough? What if you have immense ideas for books – fact or fiction – but you just cannot write them down? There can be a number of reasons for this. Maybe writing in not your forte; maybe English (the biggest market for books) is not your mother tongue; or maybe you only do not have the time.
So why not outsource them? Many books purportedly written by well-known sports personalities were in fact outsourced or written by ghost writers. That is nothing new and no source of shame. It is just horses for courses.
This actually is a business in a box. Let us look at some scenarios. If you think that the current fad for stories on macabre topics will continue, why not think up a few scenarios and pay for five short stories that you can compile into one ebook? Or look on line, find out what individuals are having problems with and pay for ebooks to solve those issues.
You could have ten books for sale on Amazon within a month offering revenue for years.
So how do you go about it? Well, first of all, someone has to have the concepts and that has to be you or your family or friends. Then you have to outline those ideas for the writer to be able to follow. Then you have to state how long the writer has to complete the project; how many words it should contain and what standard of English you expect.
Then Google ”ghost writers desired’ or something similar. There are many sites acting as go-betweens and lots of solo writers too. Give them the specifications and carefully choose your writer.
Make sure that all intellectual copyrights are signed over to you on payment and then go over to Amazon, open a publishers account and follow the instructions. You could be publishing within 20 minutes and earning within a few days. It is really a business in a box.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Kindle screen size. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Kindle vs Book
Tags: books, ecology, education, employment, environment, happiness, hobbies, leisure, literature, other, reading, school, society, technology, Uncategorized
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Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Ebooks or electronic books are becoming more and more popular in comparison with normal paper books every month. In 2010, Amazon sold more ebooks than traditional books for the first time ever. It is likely that this trend will continue, because ebooks are far cheaper than printed books. Not just that but it is easier to download a book in moments than go to a bookshop.
Traditionally, ie since the Internet started, people read ebooks on their desktop or laptop computer. In ‘those days’, most ebooks were promotional items, providing only limited information as a lure to go to the writer’s web site in order to increase sales. In other words, most ebooks were merely adverts to hook a possible client.
That situation still goes on, but increasingly, ebooks are stand-alone items of value without any advertising or any links back to a web site, because they are complete things in themselves – like any standard book you would purchase in a shop. But they are cheaper and more readily available.
Another very attractive feature of ebooks for authors is that it is easier to get up and running – selling your books. If you have ever tried to get a book published, you will know that it can be – and normally is – a very long, drawn-out process involving long periods of waiting and nail-biting.
For instance, it is rumoured that it took the writer the book ‘Virgin Soldiers’ 21 years to find a publisher, yet it became a successful film too. The same, to a lesser extent is true of the Harry Potter books.
If books of that calibre had concerns, what opportunity do you think that you have? I have read that approximately one manuscript in ten thousand appears on the book shelves. Would odds like that encourage new writers? No. So how many good authors are falling by the wayside? Quite a few, so it would seem.
Another bonus for online ebook publishing is the fact that writers on small niche topics, have the chance to spread their expertise and make some money as well. The fact is that publishing a book in the conventional fashion is so costly that the topic of the book has to be very popular or the book will be too costly to sell.
This is not an issue for ebooks. If you are interested in, say, German teddy bears from 1950-1955, you can publish your book as an ebook whenever you like for the same cost as a high interest issue like, say, the Death of Princess Diana – almost at zero cost.
This situation will only improve as more and more businesses bring out low-cost ebook readers and more and more companies are prepared to host, market and sell your ebook for a percentage.
For example, Amazon will handle the sales and distribution of your ebook for 30% of the cost of your book, which you can set yourself. This empowers authors who would never have got their books to market in any other way.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Kindle screen size. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Kindle vs Book
Tags: books, ecology, education, employment, environment, happiness, hobbies, leisure, literature, other, reading, school, society, technology, Uncategorized
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Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Everyone knows about the problem of the production of greenhouse gases and the destruction of the rain forests. We all know of the stress that over-population puts on the environment and we all know that we are attempting to do our bit by recycling. The differences of outlook usually come down to extent. In short, we all know that it is happening, but we do not all agree how serious it has become yet.
Fair enough, in my estimation. I distrust anyone who calls himself an expert. That is a word that should be used to describe you, no one that you use to portray yourself. Like the individuals who call themselves entrepreneurs rather than business people because it sounds grander.
Anyway, I am going off on a tangent. One of the things that readers can do is not purchase books, newspapers and magazines. This would alleviate the strain on trees and permit the recycled material that we currently use for books, newspapers and magazines to become used on essential school books. It may even make them a bit cheaper.
Of course, publishers of paperback books, newspapers and magazines are not going to be glad with that proposal and neither are people who work in the industry or readers who like to hold their purchase in their hands. Nevertheless, it appears inevitable that it will come to pass one day.
Indeed, numerous moves have already been taken in that direction. There are dozens of handheld ebook reading devices on the market, the most well-known of which is almost certainly the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle comes in two sizes: the normal 6″ model for reading ‘regular’ books and the 9.7″ item for reading technical books, newspapers and magazines. Needless to say, the larger model will also display normal books.
The Kindle and lots of the other similar handheld ebook reading devices will permit the owner to link to an online book store, library or repository and download books, newspapers and magazines for a fee. Having said that, there are hundreds of thousands of books that are out of copyright, which can be downloaded free of charge from Amazon, Google and the Glutenberg Project.
Lots of these handheld ebook reading devices will hold 3,500 books! That is a great deal of paper, whichever way you look at it. 3,500 books at your finger tips and in your pocket with millions more where they came from and many more being added to the libraries every day. All downloadable from anywhere where the Internet is accessible anywhere in the world in a minute or two.
This means that avid readers or researchers never need wait for the bookshop to open again or have to go into town to look for a bookshop or library. How many trees and gallons of petrol will that save you in your life?
It is already often predicted that universities will start selling course books to their students on such devices within five years and that high schools and colleges will follow suit within ten years. These handheld ebook reading devices are probably not suitable for infants because they are not robust, but private readers are taking them up rapidly.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a range of subjects, but is now involved with Kindle screen size. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Kindle vs Book
Tags: books, ecology, education, employment, environment, happiness, hobbies, leisure, literature, other, reading, school, society, technology, Uncategorized
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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
There can be numerous factors why you would want to publish an ebook, but the two most usual are to advertise something and to publish a novel. This article will concentrate on how to use an ebook for promoting, because even the author of ebook novels has to promote them because they do not have a publisher.
If you are considering using Internet promoting techniques, three of the best are all related. You may write an article for a newsletter or blog (perhaps as a guest author); you could compose pieces on subjects related to what you want to promote and hope that owners of newsletters and blogs copy your piece into their publication or you could write an ebook on the subject.
Whichever course of action you choose, you will be hoping that the reader of your piece, clicks through to your web site and buys what you are advertising. They will be able to do this, because you have left a hyperlink to your web site at the end of your article or book.
Which of these methods is the best might depend on your skill as a writer, on your abilities as a promoter or on the technique that best suits the product that you are attempting to advertise. Time can also be a factor. It will naturally take longer to compose a book than an article.
So, is there anything to be gained from writing an ebook instead of an article? That depends on quality and your ability to send the piece or book viral.
What does viral mean? it simply means that the writing is so good, practical or funny that people will want to pass it on to their friends.
You can see why this is known as viral advertising: your twenty friends forward the article to their twenty friends et cetera, et cetera. It could be read by millions in a week. If it is decent enough. An article of less quality may be read by thousands over the same period in low-circulation newsletters.
So, let us go for the top. How do you decide on a topic for an ebook? Well, does it have to relate to something that you are already selling or planning to sell? Is the ebook itself the product or is it a promoting tool? In viral advertising, the ebook ought to really be a free signpost to your web site.
So, in order to find a subject, look in places like Yahoo Answers. See what surfers are having issues with. Mosquitoes in the summer; presents for the loved one at Christmas and St. Valentine’s Day, etc. etc.. Then open Google’s search page (open an account if you do not have one) and turn on predictive text.
Now type the phrases that you lifted from Yahoo Answers slowly and see what comes up. These are the most popular search phrases for that subject to have been used recently. Note a couple of of them down and type them back into Google or whichever search engine you like.
How many other sites are using that key phrase? 500 million? Well, at least you know that individuals are interested in it, but there is loads of competition. Find a key phrase that you are pleased with, compose your ebook using that title and then you ‘only’ have to advertise it, but at least you know that the public want it and you know the strength of competition.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with electronic book devices. If you want to know more, please go to our web site at Kindle vs Book
Tags: article writing, books, education, employment, hobbies, leisure, literature, marketing, other, publishing, reading, society, Uncategorized, writing
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Sunday, August 21st, 2011
We every one have skills, whether they be work-related skills like construction or welding; or managerial skills like working in or running an office; or sales or public relations skills like working in a shop or the front desk of an office. There are also other skills or experiences like parenting or having learned how to cope with a serious illness, whether it be your own or someone else’s.
Everybody has experiences that are either shared or unique. Like growing up – if you look, you will be able to find both universal common experiences and also (quite) unique individual life experiences. The key is unravelling all of these experiences and working out what people would be interested in reading (or paying to read).
So, if you would like to publish a book or, to a lesser level, an article, you have to endeavour to determine what interests people. There are at least two ideas at this stage. You could:
1] simply write about what you are interested in and hope for the best or
2] do some investigation to find out which is the topic that you know most about that will have the best chance of selling to a (fairly) wide public
It seems that most people who write short articles adopt the first approach, but successful writers of larger works tend to adopt the latter. This is of course because of the amount of time that it takes to write a book compared with an article.
Nevertheless, lots of individuals in both the book and short story markets are almost certainly destined to failure because they have adopted the wrong approach. For instance, spend weeks researching a book that might take you a year to compose, but why spend the same amount of time researching an article that will only take you an hour to write?
You can go too far and not far enough in your research and if common sense does not counsel you, then you will have to wait for experience to tell you instead.
Once you have chosen your topic and written your ebook (or had it ghost written for you – do not forget that alternative), you have to think of marketing it – bringing it to the public. This used to be the hardest part, but now you can sell it through quite a number of online bookstores including Amazon.
These firms will advertise your book, deliver it to your customers, collect the money and pay you out after they have taken their cut of about 30%. There has never been a less risky or / and easier way for a writer to get going than now and if you want to sell hard copies like paperbacks or hardbacks, Amazon, through their associates, can take charge of that as well.
This is a magnificent time for non-established writers. Once you have done your research and written your book, it costs nothing to get it out there on immediate download in front of billions of potential customers!
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a range of topics, but is now involved with Kindle screen size. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Kindle vs Book
Tags: article writing, books, education, employment, hobbies, leisure, literature, marketing, other, publishing, reading, society, Uncategorized, writing
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Saturday, July 9th, 2011
This remarkable invention is certainly among the greatest advances in technology. Made from natural cellulose fibers and binders, paper has applications in many industries. Paper has a warmth of hue and feel that impart an intrinsic beauty. The industry of papermaking still has a large element of art. This remarkable product has a long and successful history and it appears it will be around for a long time to come.
It was probably not long after its invention in China around 100 B. C. That the value of this versatile material as a writing tool was discovered. It became a popular media for recordkeeping of all kinds, and because of its convenience and availability, that history itself was recorded in greater detail. Successful technology often follows a pattern of an improving product and falling costs. Today, this media is available to more people than ever before.
This material is strong, it makes a good insulator, and it can be made from a variety of cellulose fibers and with a variety of colors and textures. It is used in wide applications in various industries. Manufacturing, construction, crafters and artisans all make good use of its qualities.
The smell, warm light, feel, and even sound of this natural material just cannot be duplicated with any other media. These products have an intrinsic beauty that enhances the experience of reading and adds elegance to invitations or other greetings.
Whether you dabble at papermaking at home, are an artisan, or a huge industrial manufacturer the act of making the product can be as beautiful as the product itself. The art of getting the right texture, or absorbency, or colors, or strength and so on is still alive and well.
The beauty and the value of paper can be seen through its own history, which is the history of the refinement of a tool by which history itself can be more faithfully recorded. Using this tool, human thought and endeavor took great leaps. It seems certain that this versatile material’s utility and pleasing aesthetics will continue to form a bridge from the past through the present and into the future.
Metallic paper is becoming more popular. Whatever your paper needs are, we could have it just for you right now – come see.
Tags: books, business, envelopes, history, hobbies, invitations, letters, paper, papers, photography, scrapbooking, Uncategorized, wedding, writing
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Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
Do you have fond memories of your school years? Do you have happy memories of teachers and school friends? If you do then you were lucky, because some children hate each minute of being in school and not because they are no good at it either. Often it is the bright children who are taunted for being swots and teachers’ pets. They are safe in the class, but the journeys to and from school and the school breaks can be nightmares.
However, it is not just bullying from other children that causes fear in school children. There are other reasons for fear in school as well. Sometimes, children think that a particular teacher does not like them and occasionally children are just scared of failing or doing badly. Occasionally teachers are afraid of doing badly as well. It can all lead to an atmosphere of fear at school. It makes you ask yourself how anyone could have enjoyed their school days, does it not?
This atmosphere of fear can become greater in state schools because the teachers are subject to success charts and the kids are more open to bullying. Furthermore, all of the school shootings in the world have taken place in state run schools.
However, the most insidious kind of fear in school comes from teachers who are scared of missing the targets set by the state, because that will cost them their jobs. This fear is passed on to their students. The regime of fear is exacerbated by over-sized classes. Why?
Because teachers can hold the attention of only so many pupils – as we all can in normal discourse. Therefore, if the class is too large, the teacher will have to switch roles from being a teacher to a controller. When this occurs, education suffers for the sake of keeping order.
For all of these reasons and more, many parents are turning to home schooling. Some of the reasons why parents are deciding to educate their children themselves are: distrust of the state education system; fear of bullying or worse of their children; a desire to teach their children in a more conventional or religious manner.
There are learning packages that parent-teachers can purchase to give them a course of action on what to teach. There is also a lot of help accessible on the Net. The problem facing any parents who wish to teach their own children is providing a rounded education.
People have a natural tendency to specialize in one topic or group of topics like, say, astronomy or the sciences, which is why schools supply many teachers, so that each one can teach his or her favourite subject. However, if you are the only teacher you will have to teach all the subjects yourself.
This is why it is best to have a course or set of guidelines to follow. It is difficult to teach maths if you have no talent for it, so look at your strengths but also your weaknesses before you take the considerable decision to remove your children from school and teach them themselves
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on numerous subjects but is currently involved with Fear At School and home Schooling. If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Home Schooling.
Tags: books, children, Computers, homeschooling, mathematics, motivational, other, parenting, reading, school, science, stress, teaching, Uncategorized, writing
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Saturday, November 6th, 2010
It’s now been three years since Amazon launched the original Kindle reader. Despite the enormous influence of the Kindle, it’s worth bearing in mind that it was not the first ebook reader on the market. However, the public are quickly becoming accustomed to ebooks – chiefly due to the Kindle’s influence. Whether traditional printed books could eventually become obsolete or not is open to debate – but it looks as if ebooks are here to stay.
However, ebook readers seem to have been adopted by the public and many people are buying them. Recent price cuts by Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Sony means that ebook readers are now a much more affordable option for many customers. Whilst the Kindle is the clear market leader, it’s far from the only option available. So, if you’re looking for your first ebook reader, what are the main factors to take into consideration?
One of the most important factors that you need to consider is the quality of the display. Special e-ink technology displays are used in most ebook readers. This gives a reading experience that is surprisingly similar to reading text printed on paper. It’s considerably easier on your eyes than reading on a back-lit computer screen. It is also easy to read in direct sunlight or even glare from fluorescent lighting. A further advantage of e-ink technology displays is that they use power only when “turning the page” – so battery life is extended.
It’s tempting to go for the largest display possible. Obviously readers with larger screens have a higher ticket price than those with smaller displays. They are also physically larger of course – and they weigh more. This will impact upon the portability of the device. That may not represent a problem for you if it’s your intent to read mainly at home. However, a larger reader will be harder to operate with one hand – something which many users like to do.
One of the major factors in the success of Amazon’s Kindle was its ability to browse and download books in under a minute from virtually anywhere. However, Amazon and Barnes and Noble now have Wi-Fi only versions of their readers available. These cost a little less than the 3G readers and could be a good option for anyone who doesn’t foresee the need to download books without using a computer or connecting via a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Obviously there’s little point in owning an ebook reader unless there’s a wide selection of books available to download for it. At the moment, no standard format for ebooks has been agreed. The ePub format is used by Google – but Kindle books are in a format which is proprietary to the Kindle. However, Amazon has released a number of free apps that lets users read Kindle books on a wide variety of different devices – without the need for a Kindle reader.
Ebook prices can be very different on different readers. If you read a book a week, then choosing the right reader could save you enough money on ebooks to make the reader self financing in a matter of months. Before you decide which reader to go for, it’s well worth checking.
Check out the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Tags: books, Computers, ebook readers, ebooks, electrical items, ereaders, gadgets, opinion, personal electronics, product reviews, publishing, reading, shopping, technology, Uncategorized
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Friday, November 5th, 2010
A key factor in the success of the Amazon Kindle reader has undoubtedly been the number of Kindle books available for consumers to choose from. Currently, Kindle owners can choose from over 725,000 Kindle books – and that’s just the paid titles. Amazon also offer 1.8 million out of copyright books which can be downloaded to the Kindle free of charge.
In addition to making so much reading material available for Kindle users, Amazon has certainly bent over backwards to allow readers to enjoy Kindle books without a Kindle reader. This has been achieved by releasing a number of free Kindle apps which permit Kindle books to be read on a variety of different electronic devices.
At this time, there are free Kindle apps for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, any device which runs the Android Operating System, the iPad, the iPhone and Blackberry’s smart phone. At first glance, it almost looks as if Amazon is its own worst enemy but, in reality, the fact of the matter is that each of these apps acts as a very efficient retail outlet for Kindle books.
Amazon has just announced that, in the near future, Kindle owners will be able to “lend” each other Kindle books. Amazon has not yet confirmed the exact date – but it should start prior to the year end.
Kindle owners will have the option of lending Kindle books to their family and friends for a fortnight. The “borrower” will be able to read the book on their Kindle reader – just as if they had bought it themselves. Whilst the book is lent out, the original purchaser won’t be able to access it. Precisely the same as normal book in point of fact.
Not all books will be able to be lent to friends and family. The final say as to whether or not a particular Kindle book may be lent out rest with the book’s publisher. It will be interesting to discover how different publishing houses react to this.
Amazon has also confirmed that its currently existing free Kindle apps will be extended to include magazines and newspapers in addition to Kindle books. The Apple devices will be activated first, followed by desktop applications and Android devices.
Over the last eighteen months or so, ebook readers and ebooks have really taken off. They are still at a relatively early stage in their market development – but the public seem to have become accustomed to them. Amazon’s latest development brings ebooks ever closer to the full functionality of traditional, printed books. Ebooks can now be considered to be pretty much interchangeable with traditional books – apart from the fact that you can’t mark your place with a dog-ear. It’s another significant step forward for ebooks and ebook readers and will help them to become even more widely accepted by the reading public.
Check out the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.
Tags: books, Computers, ebook readers, ebooks, electrical items, ereaders, gadgets, opinion, personal electronics, product reviews, publishing, reading, shopping, technology, Uncategorized
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