Posts Tagged ‘books’

Pointers For Publishing Your Ideas

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Ebooks or electronic books are getting more and more well-liked 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 tendency will continue, because ebooks are much cheaper than printed books. Not only that but it is easier to download a book in moments than go to a book stare.

Traditionally, ie since the Internet started, individuals read ebooks on their desktop or laptop computer. In ‘those days’, most ebooks were promotional items, providing just limited information as a tempter to go to the author’s web site in order to increase sales. In other words, most ebooks were merely adverts to hook a potential client.

That situation still goes on, but increasingly, ebooks are stand-alone items of value without any promoting or any links back to a website, because they are complete things in themselves – like any regular book you would buy in a shop. But they are cheaper and more readily available.

A different very attractive aspect of ebooks for authors is that it is easier to be up and running – selling your books. If you have ever tried to get a book published, you will know that it can be – and usually is – a very long, drawn-out process involving long spells 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 the case 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 subjects, have the opportunity to spread their expertise and make some money as well. The fact is that publishing a book in the conventional manner is so expensive that the subject of the book has to be very well-liked or the book will be too expensive 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 price 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 firms bring out low-cost ebook readers and more and more firms are prepared to host, market and sell your ebook for a commission.

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 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 website at Kindle vs Book

Paper From Past To Future

Saturday, July 2nd, 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.

The beauty and value of this tool can be seen through its history. One could say that without it, there might be less history to study. After its invention in China around 100 B. C., it grew in popularity as a tool for recording important statistics, and philosophy. Like any new technology, it is probable that this new writing medium increased in quality while it decreased in price over time.

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.

Many readers would agree that there is just “that certain something” about curling up with a good – paper – book. Something about the smell, the feel, the way the light interacts adds to the experience of reading.

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.

Paper is a useful and beautiful material that has stood the test of time, played a large part in recording history and brought literacy to millions. This material is so versatile and has such an emotional appeal to consumers, that it will continue to form a bridge between past and future for a long time to come.

Metallic paper is becoming more popular. Whatever your paper needs are, we could have it just for you right now – come see.

When Fear Is A Part Of Life At School

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Do you have happy 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. Frequently it is the clever kids who are taunted for being swots and teachers’ pets. They are safe in the class, but the travelling to and from school and the school breaks can become nightmares.

However, it is not only bullying from other children that causes fear in school children. There are other reasons for fear in school as well. Occasionally, children think that a certain teacher does not like them and sometimes children are just frightened of failing or doing badly. Occasionally teachers are frightened 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 be greater in state schools because the teachers are subject to success charts and the children are more open to bullying. Furthermore, all of the school shootings in the world have taken place in state run schools.

However, the most subtle form 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 pupils. The regime of fear is exacerbated by over-sized groups. Why?

Because teachers can hold the attention of only so many pupils – as we all can in regular discourse. Therefore, if the class is too big, the teacher will have to switch roles from being a teacher to a controller. When this happens, 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 instruct their children themselves are: distrust of the state education system; fear of bullying or worse of their children; a desire to educate their children in a more traditional or religious fashion.

There are education packages that parent-teachers can purchase to give them guidelines on what to teach. There is also a lot of help accessible on the Internet. The difficulty facing any parents who wish to educate their own children is providing an all round education.

All people have a natural tendency to specialize in one topic or group of topics like, say, astronomy or the sciences, which is why schools provide numerous 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 program or set of guidelines to follow. It is difficult to teach maths if you have no aptitude for it, so look at your strengths but also your weaknesses before you take the momentous decision to withdraw your children from school and teach them themselves

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on numerous topics 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.

Kindle Books Can Be Lent To Other Kindle Users

Sunday, November 14th, 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.

Apart from making huge volumes of reading material available for Kindle owners, Amazon has also gone out of its way to make it easy to read Kindle books without a Kindle reader. This has been done by making a number of Kindle apps which allow Kindle books to be read on a range of different devices freely available.

At the moment, free Kindle apps exist for the Windows PC, the Apple Mac, any device which runs the Android Operating System, the iPhone, the iPad and Blackberry’s smart phone. At first glance, it almost appears as if Amazon is setting up in competition to itself, but the truth of the matter is that each of these apps acts as a retail outlet for Kindle books.

Amazon has just advised that, in the near future, Kindle owners will have the ability to “lend” each other ebooks. The date for this is yet to be confirmed, but it will commence sometime this year.

Kindle owners will have the option of lending Kindle books to their family and friends for a couple of weeks at a time. The “borrower” can read the book using their Kindle – exactly as if they had bought it themselves. The original purchaser will be unable to access the book whilst it is “lent out”. Just like a real book in 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 it will extend its free Kindle apps to include newspapers and magazines in addition to Kindle books. First to be activated will be the Apple devices, followed by desktop applications and Android devices.

Over the last couple of years or so, the ebook reader and ebooks have really taken off. Although the ebook market is still developing and is at an early stage, the public already seems to have accepted ebooks. This latest development by Amazon brings ebooks even closer to the functionality of conventional books. Apart from balancing the leg of a wobbly table or pressing flowers, ebooks can now do just about anything that conventional books can. It’s another major step forward for ebooks and ebook readers, and it will help them to become even more widely accepted by the reading public.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.

Amazon’s Future Profits Will Be Generated By Kindle Books – Not Kindle Readers

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Since its November 2007 launch, the Amazon Kindle reader has been a great product for the company. The strong association that Amazon has with both books and electronics makes it the perfect product for their business model. After the release of the upgraded Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009, followed by the release of the large display Kindle DX model in the summer of the same year, the Kindle went on to become Amazon’s best selling product.

During the 2009 festive season, the Kindle became Amazon’s most gifted product ever. On Christmas day 2009, Amazon sold more Kindle books than they did physical ones for the first time. In all probability this would have been due to people who had got a gift of a Kindle downloading a book or two to try it out. Nevertheless, it was a noteworthy event for both Amazon and the Kindle.

However, there were times when it seemed as if Amazon was a somewhat reluctant manufacturer. They went out of their way to make sure that Kindle books could be read – even without a Kindle reader. Currently, Amazon has released Kindle “Apps” for a huge number of alternative devices. These include the PC, the Mac, the iPod Touch, the iPhone, the new iPad, the Blackberry and any device which runs Android. On the face of it, Amazon seemed to be their own main competition.

However, the reasoning behind Amazon’s open policy became clear with the release of the Apple iPad. Among its many features, the iPad can be used to read e-books, and the price of e-book readers went into free fall as Apple enthusiasts rushed to get their hands on Apple’s new device. However, even as e-book reader prices were plummeting, the average price of the e-books for use with them was climbing.

This was chiefly due to a deal struck between Apple and the major publishing houses. Apple agreed to let publishers set the price for their e-book editions at whatever level they liked, as long as they didn’t offer the e-book at a lower price on any other reader. Amazon’s policy of selling all e-books for $ 9.99 or less was in tatters. At first glance it looked as if the iPad was to be Amazon’s nemesis, both in terms of Kindle reader hardware and e-book sales.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Amazon’s policy of releasing free Kindle Apps for just about every device known to man was a master stroke. Each App is nothing more than an outlet for Kindle books and, given that the price of these is increasing, Amazon can now afford to drop the price3 of their Kindle reader hardware secure in the knowledge that they will make a profit from the sale of e-books over the lifetime of the reader. For that matter, even if the iPad – or any other reader – seriously dented the sale of Kindle readers, Amazon would continue to sell their Kindle books.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise and protect your reader.

A Kindle Reader Is A Top Item On Amazon For Very Good Reasons

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

The Kindle reader rapidly rose to be the top selling item on Amazon. All it takes is a few minutes to review the benefits offered and it is apparent why that has happened. There are a tremendous number of books available for immediate download to the Kindle. You will also be able to read your personal PDF files and receive a large number of periodicals. You can use it almost anywhere in the US, and many other counties as well. There will be no other cables, a computer or software required. The reader will be ready to go right out of the box.

One of the most interesting features is the high quality of text that is provided by the “E ink” technology that uses ink that is electronically displayed. It gives the sense of looking at a page from a book on the six-inch diagonal screen. You will find it does not seem you are reading from a computer screen. There are six different font sizes to choose from.

Basically, all of your books can now be large-print text if you prefer. Images are presented in sixteen shades of gray which ensures images are bright and clear. They can also be rotated and displayed in full-screen mode. You can browse basic text-based websites and services for sport scores, images and maps.

Since there is no back-lighting involved, you will find there is no glare like with typical electronic devices. Users are very impressed with the ability to use a Kindle inside, or out on a sunny beach, with no loss of clarity. There is 2 GB of internal storage. The battery will last for two weeks when you turn off the wireless capability, otherwise the battery life is cut in half, you will be able to carry it with you anywhere.

The Kindle is designed to be synchronized with computers and hand-held devices. You’ll be able to read on any of the devices and pick up where you left off. The included power adapter and USB cable will enable you to recharge the battery. The USB cable will also allow for easy file transfer of larger files that are downloaded to your computer.

With over a half-million books, nearly 2 million public domain writings, over 50,000 audio books, ebooks and periodicals available, you will build a very impressive personal library. There are free samples for almost all books. If you like it, one click and it can be purchased and downloaded. There is even a text-to-speech function with most books.

The Kindle is designed for long-term use. It only weighs 10 ounces, yet holds up to 1,500 books. If you ever come to a point you need more room, all of your purchases are stored for you and can be re-downloaded. It is very thin, about the thickness of a lead pencil, so it can be held comfortably in one hand. Both sides of the screen have the buttons used to turn the pages.

A Kindle reader will allow you to carry your personal library with you and keep track of where you left off in each book. You will be able to read what you want where you want on a computer or hand-held devices and keep them all in sync. Bookmarks, notations and clips saved will always be kept for your reference. Add some MP3′s for background music and reading will take on a whole new perspective.

Tired of carrying a lot of gadget that you like to read on your car trip? Why not get a amazon kindle? Well, these tiny electronic gadget allows downloaded gadget to be written in it’s memory. We have what you need and a lot of kindle accessories.

Homeschooling And The Family

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

If a survey by the National Center For Education Statistics is to be believed, almost 1.1 million children underwent home schooling in 2005 alone. That is a lot of children. Once upon a time, homeschooling used to be an extreme statement – something like a declaration of independence.

It was the conservative Christians who advocated homeschooling in the 1980′s and legalized it in every State. But these day, average homeschooling student is not religiously motivated.

More recent surveys show that parents are really fed up with the public school system where a lot of the learning is superficial and compulsory. They are also concerned about the damaging environment in school, ranging from drugs and abuse to negative pressure from their peers.

Because of this, we have a surprising mix of people who form the homeschooling world of today. They cut across all religious creeds and all regional borders. Their main aim is providing meaningful and productive learning through a method that strengthens the bond between the various members of the family.

These families all have one main thing in common – a long standing commitment to the sanctity of childhood. The children of these families are accorded a primary position. Many believe, and, I think, rightly so, that home schooling allows parents to bring up their children in a more natural and caring environment.

Public schools can make a child anxious, subservient and downright mean. Children who get their education at home are protected from these damaging, negative influences until they reach an age where they can deal with them.

Home-schooling draws the whole family into the almost religious job of teaching. Everyone is put to work. Both the parents together form a bond with the children. Any experience can be turned into an learning experience. Both the parents are aware of exactly what is going into their child’s education.

Parents also have a greater say over the kind of religious and moral values that the child is learning. Even watching a film together can become an educational experience. Trips to the libraries, zoos, museums and other places become educational as well as recreational.

A home-schooling family is primarily dependent on the income of one earning member. That means that often outgoings have to be curtailed and proper planning of expenditure is necessary. This helps to bring the family members together and everybody becomes involved in the task of saving money.

Just having a parent at home to look after, to nurture and to care for the children brings with it a lot of love and caring. Even the husband takes part and there is just no room for boredom.

Yes OK, problems still do sometimes crop up, and there will be a lot of misgivings in your mind, but when you know that your kids can always count on you, and your kids know it too, then homeschooling becomes a very rewarding experience.

If you are thinking about Home Schooling then please pop along to our site at Home Schooling Information

Home Schooling Learning History

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Do you think that spending time in traditional classrooms is a waste of time? For some people, that is probably true. For example, a test is coming up and the students are told to memorize a list of dates and names. However, after taking the test, they will probably forget 90% of those dates and names. That’s what the majority of students do when they have tests. If you are one of these people, you will find traditional history lessons boring, so home schooling, which focuses more on the history of the world, will surely interest you more.

Simple memorization by rote is just not enough to realize the significance of historically famous people and fateful events. However, through home schooling in history, you can study the different cultures of the past in a different, but interesting way – that is your own way! By the study of history, you will also understand the situation of the world today.

However, if you consider that home schooling is the most effective method for your child’s learning, you should also be prepared to take on certain responsibilities. As there will be no teacher present ‘on site’, you will have to supervise your child’s educational progress by yourself.

Let’s say your kid is interested in a particular sport. You could combine history and home schooling by just putting a map on the wall of your child’s schoolroom and mark the location of his favourite sports team. Make sure that you track all the team’s games, scores, activities and schedules. Then, you could return to history lessons by reading biographies of the different athletes, who had been famous in the particular sport that your child follows. Apart from that, you could also study the history of that specific sport and discover where it originated, its inventor, and the other things happening in that particular time in history.

For instance, let’s say your child follows baseball, you can teach your child about the history baseball, government hearings on the use of steroids and other favourite hobbies at that period of time. But remember that you can adapt this method to any interest like dancing, flight, cars or any invention. You can also have conversations with your child about current affairs or read interesting historical documents and other books. Aside from that, you can also watch documentaries together with the rest of the family. There are various resources that you can use in home schooling, such as TV, maps, newspapers, books, a globe, an atlas, and encyclopedias. Due of the exciting adventures that you and your child will read about and see on film, your child will find it easier to remember the names and dates of the history lessons. After all, education is best when it is done in a fun way.

These methods are recommended for when your child is still young, but when your child is older, you should choose a home schooling program that is suitable to his/her particular age group. The programs are pitched at the elementary, high school, and even college levels. You just have to search the Internet for these various programs. One good thing about these programs is that you can adapt them to fit the needs of your child. However, you must ensure that all the lessons are learned by your child.

Once you and your child have decided to give home schooling a go, you will have to be ready to make some changes in your lifestyle. The learning will now take place in your home not at a remote school and through the various resources that you want to use, which should include a computer and the Internet.

If you are into Home Schooling then please visit our website at Home Schooling Information

categories: homeschooling,teaching,school,parenting,children,books,reading,writing,mathematics,computers,science,motivational,stress,other

Speed Reading – Where Do You Start?

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

No one really knows when speed reading was first used, but it might have been a long while in the past. For hundreds of years, reading was the privilege of a minority of the most highly-educated people in the world, the overwhelming majority of whom were monks and priests. This small, select group of men protected their privilege and were loathe to coach the general populace to read. Furthermore, during those hundreds of years there were relatively few books to read compared with today. Books were also very costly as they all had to be copied out by hand. Possibly the only fact that has not altered is that the Bible was the most common book in existence and even now the Bible is the most prevalent book.

The world is quickly becoming a place where individuals are slowly but surely giving up on books and becoming fixed in front of monitors or television screens. In such a world, parents must not ignore the importance of developing a zeal for reading in themselves and their children. Reading is a habit that should be established when the child is fairly young, so what can you do to engender this habit?

Well, there are several strategies you can employ, although one of the best to lead by example. Read with your child every day, even if its only for 10-15 minutes. Allow your child to see you reading. By this I mean, don’t only read in bed before you go to sleep, but instead of watching television from time to time and read your children a bed-time story. Encourage them to read too. You could also:

Register your child for reading lessons, if you honestly don’t have much time or your child is a little slow at reading. There are many well-structured after school reading classes that aspire to make books more appealing to children. They help children with pronunciation, idioms and phrases. These lessons can be pleasurable with animated characters and pictures, especially for young children,. They frequently use Illustrated books, nursery rhymes, comical songs and short stories to enliven the imagination of younger children.

You will have to learn how to kindle your child’s interest. If your child has a favorite character, pick a series of books that include this character. Attempt to encourage your children to read real books not comics. The style in comics typically leaves a great deal to be desired with its slapdash English and street slang. As an alternative, go for series of books like Harry Potter or Tarzan.

You should build yourself a library of your own books. This may sound a little impressive, but after all, a library is only a collection of books. Begin with a good-looking bookshelf that you can easily add to. A skill like reading cannot be learned in only one place, so you cannot afford to leave all the difficult work to the day-school or even the after school curricula. You have to collect books that you think your child will like too. Use the Internet as a resource for learning about the modern reading games that will attract little children to the excellent and ancient art of reading,

Once you child is interested in reading for its own sake, you might read up on speed reading. Speed reading is best suited for educational revision and background reading. It’s greatly suited to cramming or studying for examinations. It is ideal for school and university. Nevertheless, the first job, before you can think about speed reading, is to get your child reading in the first place.

Are you interested in speed reading for yourself or a loved one? If so, please visit our web site called Speed Reading.

categories: speed reading,reading,books,articles,hobbies,career,entertainment,education,school,college,self help,self improvement,homeschooling,other

Home Schooling And Computer Learning

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

There is a computer in almost every household in the West these days and the rest of the world is catching up very quickly. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to have one at home too, because of the many benefits it can bring especially if you have an Internet connection. Nowadays, you must have some computer experience, if you want even a half-decent job, so learning computers must start at school. You and your child can have a interesting educational experience with a computer at home. Children of today must learn about this extremely important instrument from the earliest possible age and one of the best ways to do that is through home schooling computer programs.

These days, even kindergarten children are being taught how to use computers and their associated resources. If you choose for home schooling, you and your child will also spend most of your time making use of a computer and the Internet. Teaching your children will be a lot better when done online, because of the diverse resources available there. You and your child will have available some of the best educational resources, from which you will benefit greatly not least since job market trends today overwhelmingly involve the Internet.

One of the largest ethnic groups who prefers home schooling is the African Americans because of some society issues and they can keep themselves informed about their heritage through home schooling. The parents of children from minority groups can help their children learn more about their history by having an Internet connection at home. The children’s education can be better encouraged by parents and they can also assist in improving the psyche of their children too. Parents can teach their children about their own particular heritage through the different online resources.

It is vital to remember that home schooling only works properly, if the parents are prepared to give their kids their complete support. They must also be steadfast and ready for the challenges that they will come across. The parents should look for a rally good computer program or book that can help their children to learn about using computers. Often, the lessons are separated into several parts or series so that the children can cope with them easily. Children have different learning capacities and since too often children are not given much chance in traditional schools, the use of computers is a perfect chance for you to bring out the best in them.

Home schooling is no longer new, so if you suspect that your child is not doing well in school, consult with his teachers and get some information regarding your child. The guidance counsellor can also help you to select the best education for you child. Home schooling is already accepted and maybe it can help your child to learn more in the safety of your own home.

If you are will to commit yourself to home schooling, you will need to talk over the matter with your child. You could start by asking your child about his experience in school and then raise the subject of home schooling. See what your child thinks about the idea. Explain its advantages. You could say that computer learning will be more beneficial. It’s better if you and your child both agree to home schooling, since you have to work closely together. It might not be easy to persuade your child to give up traditional schooling, where he has all his friends, so you will have to spend time with your child and know his/her interests. Explain that computer programs can help a great deal in home schooling. Tell your child that they can learn more about their particular interest, if they know how to use a computer.

So why not look for the most suitable home schooling computer program now? Talk to your friends, ask at the library, go online and do your research. There are lots of home schooling programs to choose from and it could take some weeks before you can find the right one.

If you are interested in home schooling then please visit our site at http://home-schooling.the-real-way.com

categories: homeschooling,teaching,school,parenting,children,books,reading,writing,mathematics,computers,science,motivational,stress,other