The Coolest Places to Go in the Sky

By Meredith Wynn

In honor of our latest book The Complete Guide to Building Tree Houses: For Parents and Adults Who are Kids at Heart, we have scoured the Internet searching for people who have developed some really cool places and activities involving nature’s largest resource. These tree top dwellings from around the world are full of unique qualities that can inspire you to create your own masterpiece in your back yard!

1. The Grand Treehouse Resort of Eureka Springs, Arkansas offers guests luxurious suites located in the trees. Some rooms even have trees growing through them! 

2. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa has incredible rooms located inside the lush forest on the shores of Lake Buena Vista. These Treehouse Villas can sleep nine people comfortably!

3. Basement Systems Tree House Team offers its 15 employees a lofty workspace — literally!

4. The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant in New Zealand is located 10 meters up in a redwood tree.

5. The Alnwick Garden in the United Kingdome features one of the world’s largest wooden tree houses.

6. The Tree House Restaurant, Bar & Café allows guests to dine inside a canopy in Costa Rica.

7. The Tree House Italian Grill in Austin, Texas invites guests to dine in an      oak tree that is more than 700 years old.

8. Tree Yoga is a form of exercise that uses slings to stretch or hoist themselves onto the tree to perform stretching exercises.

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Interior Design Business: With Companion CD-ROM

An active real estate market has turned interior design into a boom industry in recent years. Interior designers owning their own firms have a median income of $75,000. Tens of thousands of homes are for sale in the United States today, and many need the help of an interior designer to be sold. Interior designers create the spaces where we work, play, and live every day. Whether it is a private residence, corporate office, retail store, or a zany restaurant, interior designers use their creativity, as well as their knowledge of color principles, architecture, and design, to make it work and look amazing. As a result, they are well compensated for the work.

This guide provides readers with an understanding of the basic concepts of starting their own interior design business. This new book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the business side of interior design. You will learn everything from the initial startup decisions to working with clients. If you are investigating opportunities in this type of business, you should begin by reading this book.

You can build a highly successful business using your talent and understanding of color and architectural features, while providing a much needed service to home owners. If you enjoy working with people and have that creative knack, this may be the perfect business for you. Keep in mind that this business looks easy but, as with any business, looks can be deceiving. This complete manual will arm you with everything you need, including sample business forms; contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; setting up your office; and dozens of other valuable, timesaving tools of the trade that no business should be without.

While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through every detail that will bring success. You will learn how to draw up a winning business plan (the companion CD-ROM has the actual business plan you can use in Microsoft Word™) and about choosing a name; getting Started; the who, what, when, why, and how of interior design; equipment; selling your other services to your present customers; home staging and interior redesign; how to build a portfolio; how to get your first clients; how to attract and bid on new jobs; contracts and billing procedures; advertising; insurance; legal matters; basic cost control systems; market research; getting new clients; tax laws; zoning laws; pricing; leads; sales and marketing techniques; and pricing formulas.

You will learn how to set up computer systems to save time and money, how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff if necessary, how to meet IRS requirements, how to manage and train employees, how to generate high profile public relations and publicity, and how to implement low cost internal marketing ideas. You will learn how to build your business by using low and no cost ways to satisfy customers, as well as increase sales and have customers refer others to you.

You will learn the basics of accounting and bookkeeping procedures, auditing, successful budgeting, and profit planning development, as well as thousands of great tips and useful guidelines. This manual delivers innovative ways to streamline your business. Learn new ways to make your operation run smoother and increase performance. Successful entrepreneurs will appreciate this valuable resource and reference it in their daily activities as a source of ready-to-use forms, Web sites, operating and cost cutting ideas, and mathematical formulas that can easily be applied to their operations. The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms found in the book, as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.

Sleep: Not in the forecast for first-time fathers

By: Dan Peterson

Sleep: It’s the most important advice I can offer to a father-to-be.

Dan Peterson is a wildlife biologist living in Ocala, Florida. He and his wife, Melissa, will celebrate their three-year anniversary this year. Their first daughter, Delaney, was born in May 2009.

Sleep now while you can. Go to bed early. Sleep in. Once the baby comes, sleep deprivation will be something you will fully understand. Unfortunately, enjoying a restful night’s sleep may become impossible even before the baby arrives. Toward the end of your partner’s pregnancy, she’s likely to be too uncomfortable to sleep well. Her back will hurt, the baby will kick her in the ribs, and she’ll have to pee — a lot. My best advice is if your partner can’t sleep, you should be supportive. Make her a snack, rub her back, and whatever you do, do not bury your head under the pillows and ignore her. She’ll make you regret it in the morning — trust me.

After the baby is born, your sleeping patterns will never be the same. Expect to be up every two to three hours for the first three to four months, and even though you will not always be awake for long periods of time, these short interruptions will really mess up your sleep. Remember to stay calm and stay positive — especially with your partner. Lack of sleep will make you very irritable, and you may say things you later regret.  Remember to count to three and breathe before you say or do anything you may not really mean. This is a stressful time for both of you, and yelling or saying unkind words will not make anything easier. It will be a frustrating first few months — and perhaps a frustrating first year — and the only way to get through it is by working together and loving each other.

Be prepared to take on more chores around the house. Adding a baby to your life will take a lot of time and work. To compensate for this, both of you will have to put in extra effort to keep your home orderly and clean. Keeping a clean house is one way to keep your sanity. Watching bills and laundry pile up will only add to the amount of stress you will undoubtedly experience. If your partner usually pays the bills, sit with her before the baby comes so you can help out if she is too tired to handle this the first month after the baby is born. If you usually only wash your own clothes, wash hers too. Remember: Don’t wash her white clothes with her red sweater. This will not turn out well.

When leaving the house — even if you are only going to be gone for a few hours — be prepared for the journey to and from the car to take as long as the journey itself. With all the additional supplies and getting your new baby in and out of the car seat, getting ready to go and packing it all up will take some time. Even though you may not think all of the supplies are necessary, if your partner does, your best bet is not to argue and go along with her. She usually knows best, anyway.

My daughter is 9 months old now, and her personality is really starting to come through. Every day, she learns something new and makes us laugh while she performs her new tricks. She is still a lot of work — but in different ways. Sleep is a little easier – although she is teething now and last night I got a total of three hours of sleep — but she is a lot harder to keep happy while awake. The longer she has been with us, the more normal this new life has become, sleep deprivation and all. Is it worth it? You would be hard pressed to find a new father who would tell you “no.” My daughter, like all children, has brought so much laughter and love into our home that I wouldn’t have it any other way; although, I do wish she would learn to sleep past 6 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Good luck, and remember to thank your partner. Not only for carrying your baby for nine months and then giving birth, but for understanding that adjusting to this new life is just as hard for you as it is for her.

Need more advice? Check out Atlantic Publishing’s new book, I’m Going to be a Dad: Now What? Everything You Need to Know About First-time Fatherhood.

Atlantic Publishing Group Inc. is your No. 1 source for nonfiction books. We publish nonfiction books, focusing on small business, management, online media, and real estate, as well as parenting, cooking, and traveling. Atlantic Publishing Group is the leader in providing training materials including books, videos, posters, tools, and software to the food service industry. Follow us on Twitter @AtlanticPub.

Author’s Corner: Craig Baird Dishes on Future Fatherhood

Writing about being a father brought forward plenty of challenges. Undeterred, I decided to learn as much about being a father as I could possibly learn. With some help from a series of books provided by Atlantic, and a lot of Internet research, I was able to begin putting together a meshwork of what it meant to be a father. There was plenty to learn.

Through my research for the book, the first thing I learned about was pregnancy. Just like everyone, I knew the general process of pregnancy but to learn about the minute details that come into play that a husband and future father needs to think about? Let’s just say I was quite surprised. There are the many trips to the doctor, the need for Lamaze, the complications that can arise and most importantly, what a future mother goes through with pregnancy. I know now that a husband has to be there for their spouse to help with their spouse’s emotions and needs. That means when the time comes for me, I will be ready for the challenge.

There has been plenty of comedy done about men on the day their child is born, worrying about the birth and panicking while the mother calmly prepares for labor. Again, through research for this book, I learned not only about the phases of labor, but what one needs to have ready 24 hours a day for when the labor begins.

Of course, pregnancy and labor was only the first third of the book, and there was plenty more for me to learn about being a father, or a future father in my case. Taking care of a puppy is nothing compared to the effort it takes to take care of a baby. For the first few months, there is very little sleep and a lot of worry about how to be a father. There is playing with the baby and finding ways to entertain the baby while helping fuel the development of their mind and personality. As the baby ages, there are the worries about illness and even knowing what I know now, I know I will be rushing to the hospital at the first sneeze from the baby. (Babies sneeze: It’s nothing to worry about.)

There is a lot to know about being a father, and that may deter some fathers but if I took one thing away from writing this book, it is this: Being a father is a joy. With every worry over a single sneeze and wonder about the growing fetus in your partner’s belly, there is the joy of playing with a new baby and helping to forge a new life into this world. There is the happiness that comes from your baby’s first steps, their first words and their smile. Like seeing my dog’s tail wag even after I have had a hard day, seeing a baby’s smile has a way of making a father smile no matter what happened during their day.

Writing this book I now know that there is much more responsibility in being a father than I ever thought possible, but much more happiness as well.

Craig Baird is a writer based out of rural Canada, where he lives on a ranch with his wife and dogs. He has published several books and short stories, as well as written for magazines and newspapers across Canada. When he is not writing, he spends his time traveling the country and hiking in the outdoors with his wife, Layla. Follow him on Twitter @CraigBaird.

Are you going to be a new dad? Check out Craig Baird’s new book, I’m Going to be a Dad: Now What? Everything You Need to Know About First-time Fatherhood.

Atlantic Publishing Group Inc. is your No. 1 source for nonfiction books. We publish nonfiction books, focusing on small business, management, online media, and real estate, as well as parenting, cooking, and traveling. Atlantic Publishing Group is the leader in providing training materials including books, videos, posters, tools, and software to the food service industry. Follow us on Twitter @AtlanticPub.

Go From an Average Order-Taker to Everyones’s Favorite Bartender

By: Amber McDonald

In an effort to contribute to the efforts in Haiti, Atlantic Publishing Group will be donating 20 percent of the sales from every single book purchased from our Web site (www.atlantic-pub.com) from now until Feb. 14.

For many people, finding an accommodating bar with an entertaining bartender, especially in crowded cities, is as important as finding the right beauty salon and hair stylist. If providing this service is your fortè, you understand that being knowledgeable and full of personality will keep customers coming back, not only for the drinks, but to see their favorite bartender, too.

According to professional bartender Valerie Mallema, a bartender who can initiate interaction and activity among bar patrons is more likely to create “regulars,” and better bar business.

“Games, tricks, and toasts provide a feel of camaraderie and fun in a bar,” Mallema wrote in her book The Professional Bartender’s Handbook: A Recipe for Every Drink Known — Including Tricks and Games to Impress Your Guests. “Keeping the guests entertained helps to sell drinks and fill up tip jars.”

Keep the cash – and the liquor – flowing with these four bartending techniques. The engaging activities will transform you from the typical “order taker” to a charismatic, personable bartender:

1. Games are a guaranteed way for getting patrons to loosen up and have a good time at your bar. Try introducing some of these entertaining activities the next time you notice a group of people struggling to make conversation:

Football Madness: This game is for two or more players and must be played during a football game on television. The game is more fun if there are individuals rooting for different teams. Before the game begins, each person must announce which team they are supporting.

To Play: Players take the corresponding number of drinks when the team they are not supporting gets a:

• First down: 1 drink

• Touchdown: 3 drinks

• Field goal: 1 drink

• Two-point conversion: 2 drinks

• Interception: Finish drink

When the team you are rooting for receives one of the following, the player must take the corresponding number of drinks:

• Fumble: 3 drinks

• Safety: 3 drinks

I Never: This game is best played with two or more players – the more the merrier.

To Play: Players take turns announcing actions that they have never done, such as “I have never smoked a cigarette.” After the player makes their statement, all of those players who have done this action must take a drink. If a player makes a statement and nobody else has done it either, that player must take a drink.

If a player makes a statement and is accused of lying, the accuser must have proof that the individual is lying and must provide an accurate description or circumstance in which the person did that action. If the player is caught lying, then the player must take five drinks.

2. There are many tricks of the bartending trade.Familiarizing yourself with a few will pique a guest’s attention, while showing off your bartending knowledge and skills. Popular tricks include:

Multi-mixing: At most bars, shots are ordered in rounds for groups of people. To make two to four shots, quadruple the recipe to save mixing time. Line up the shot glasses and pour down the line.

Be in the Know: Bartenders gain a lot of respect when they keep up with what is going on around town. Be sure to check out the entertainment section of the newspaper and get up to date on current events, parties, bars, movies, and concerts. Many out-of-towners will come to a bartender for information on the city and directions. Be prepared for these situations.

Flair: One way to get the attention of customers while working is to use working flair. Working flair consists of doing little things like flipping the shaker tins before scooping ice into them and then pouring two liquors at once. Add flair to shaking, stirring, and pouring. Flair might consist of learning to spin and flip a bottle before pouring, or tossing a shaker between hands while preparing a drink.

3. Toasting is a great way to honor someone. Toasts are often difficult to come up with, so, being a bartender, someone might ask for toasting ideas and suggestions, which could include:

“May all your troubles be little ones.”

“May the most you wish for be the least you get.”

“Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. ” – Ogden Nash

“Here’s lookin’ at you kid.” - Humphrey Bogart

“Here’s to cold nights, fine wine, and good friends to share them with.”

4. Part of being a great bartender is having an extensive drink recipe repertoire.As a bartender, you will likely be asked to suggest drinks for customers, or to simply whip up something tasty that has a particular alcohol, like vodka. Try making these your go-to recipes:

Tasty Drink Recipes

Cosmopolitan:

2 oz. Vodka

¾ oz. Cointreau

Cranberry Juice

1 Lime Twist

Ice

Directions: Fill mixing glass with ice. Pour in ingredients and fill with cranberry juice. Shake. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with lime.

Creamsicle (frozen):

½ cup of Ice

1 oz. Rum

½ oz. Triple Sec

½ oz. Vanilla Liqueur

½ scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream

½ scoop of Orange Sherbet

Popsicle Stick

Directions: Blend all ingredients until smooth. If too, thick add milk. If too thin, add ice or ice cream. Garnish with Popsicle stick.

Stiletto:

1 ½ tsp. Amaretto

1 ½ oz. Blended Whiskey

Juice of ½ Lemon

Ice

Directions: Pour all ingredients into an old-fashioned glass over ice cubes, stir, and serve. Bourbon may be substituted for blended whiskey, if preferred.

Tom Collins:

2 oz. Gin

1 oz. Lemon Juice

1 tsp. Superfine Sugar

3 oz. Club Soda

1 Maraschino Cherry

1 Orange Slice

Ice

Directions: In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the gin, lemon juice, and sugar. Shake well. Strain into a Collins glass almost filled with ice cubes. Add the club soda. Stir and garnish with the cherry and the orange slice.

Tequila Mockingbird:

1 ½ oz. Tequila

½ oz. Triple Sec

½ oz. Blue Curacao

2 oz. Orange Juice

1 oz. Cranberry Juice

1 Lemon or Cherry

Garnish (optional)

Ice

Directions: Fill a tall rocks glass or tumbler with ice. Add tequila and Triple Sec, followed by the orange and cranberry juice. Add blue curacao. Do not mix. Garnish with lemon or cherry if desired.

If becoming a more effective and personable bartender is your goal, the suggestions included will certainly start you on the right path to drink making greatness.

For more great recipes and to learn how to make your bartending business boom, check out Atlantic Publishing Group’s The Professional Bartender’s Handbook: A Recipe For Every Drink Known — Including Tricks and Games to Impress Your Guests.

Atlantic Publishing Group Inc. is your No. 1 source for nonfiction books. It publishes  nonfiction books, focusing on small business, management, online media, and real estate, as well as parenting, cooking, and traveling. Atlantic Publishing Group is the leader in providing training materials including books, videos, posters, tools, and software to the food service industry. Follow us on Twitter @AtlanticPub.

Janet Ivey’s Tips for Writing & Publishing for Children

I have been working with children since 1992. I have written live stage shows for children, written two children’s books and currently host, write and produce a children’s series that airs on 100 + public television stations around the country entitled “Janet’s Planet.”

Today as I sat in my office, linking everything from my YouTube Channel to Twitter to Facebook to my incredibly cool and soon-to-be updated Website, I received a knock on my door, and my production manager introduces a “fan” that would like to meet me.  My fan, Caleb, was 7 years old and in first grade.

I showed him my around my office, showered him with some Janet’s Planet merchandise and then asked him what he liked best about Janet’s Planet or maybe something that he had learned from my show. (I ask this because I am hoping that I am about to receive real honest feedback from a member of my target audience.)

Caleb took a moment and then told me that he had learned that “when he is on the internet to not give out his address or his real name to anybody.”

One of the many interstitials that I have produced was on Internet safety. And I have to tell you that as a writer, it felt like I had just won the lottery.  If Caleb could recite and remember what I had said on television, I had done my job successfully. It is the best affirmation possible, as someone who writes for children, to know that you have engaged a child in such a way that they can retain and recite for you the gist of the message you were hoping to deliver.

The positive reactions that I have received from Caleb and other children over the years is why I believe one of the most important things for a children’s writer to do is to know your audience. You must respect how smart and perceptive children are and do your research.

Whenever I am writing something for children, I will pull in a focus group of my target age group and sit around and ask them questions about the topic.  I am an actress and so often I will ask them to improvise a scene around the subject, and I have my pen in hand as the action begins. I scribble all the words, phrases and sentences that this exercise offers and am on the lookout for ways that the children tackle an issue or a thought. I often discover an emotional response that I wouldn’t have expected or an illogical or random way of solving a problem that unlocks something so much more interesting than what I might have written if I had not listened and observed these children.

Next, I read the books the children are reading. If you want to write for today’s children, and be published by today’s publishers, you need to be reading today’s children’s books — and the same applies if you want to write for children’s television, you need to watch children’s shows. And not just occasionally: You need to be spending as much (or more) time reading the books as you spend trying to write them. If you are not up to date with what’s being published, chances are your manuscript is not tailored to today’s market, and so it is not ready to be submitted.

So as the natural, creative, talented writer that you are, you have to understand your craft, read the books, know the trends, and then offer the market your fresh, unique voice. You are the only you that will ever be so write as you and no one else.  Dr. Seuss and J.K Rowling are beloved but you can’t be them, nor should you attempt to do so. That voice that only you can offer is the best one to use as you write for children.

And most of all: Speak from your heart and from your own wild imagination. Whether you want to write picture books, historical fiction, how-to books or YA novels, the distinctive way you paint and color the characters, dialogue, setting and emotional tone of your book is what children will respond to. They will become fans and come and read your books time and time again when you are true to what matters to them, and true to what matters to you.

See you on the bookshelf,

Janet Ivey

About the Author:

Janet has won seven Regional Emmys and three Gracie Allen Awards for her Informational/Instructional series, “Janet’s Planet.”  Author of Tell Me About Heaven…I Think I’m Forgetting (Ideals Children’s Books) and Something’s Different In Samesville (Self-Published.) Her website is www.janetsplanet.com)

Helpful sources on writing for children:

Write4kids.com

Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, by Alice Pope (Produced Annually) (Essential if you want to get published in the US or Canada especially)

Janet Ivey’s Tips for Writing & Publishing for Children

I have been working with children since 1992. I have written live stage shows for children, written two children’s books and currently host, write and produce a children’s series that airs on 100 + public television stations around the country entitled “Janet’s Planet.”

Today as I sat in my office, linking everything from my YouTube Channel to Twitter to Facebook to my incredibly cool and soon-to-be updated Website, I received a knock on my door, and my production manager introduces a “fan” that would like to meet me.  My fan, Caleb, was 7 years old and in first grade.

I showed him my around my office, showered him with some Janet’s Planet merchandise and then asked him what he liked best about Janet’s Planet or maybe something that he had learned from my show. (I ask this because I am hoping that I am about to receive real honest feedback from a member of my target audience.)

Caleb took a moment and then told me that he had learned that “when he is on the internet to not give out his address or his real name to anybody.”

One of the many interstitials that I have produced was on Internet safety. And I have to tell you that as a writer, it felt like I had just won the lottery.  If Caleb could recite and remember what I had said on television, I had done my job successfully. It is the best affirmation possible, as someone who writes for children, to know that you have engaged a child in such a way that they can retain and recite for you the gist of the message you were hoping to deliver.

The positive reactions that I have received from Caleb and other children over the years is why I believe one of the most important things for a children’s writer to do is to know your audience. You must respect how smart and perceptive children are and do your research.

Whenever I am writing something for children, I will pull in a focus group of my target age group and sit around and ask them questions about the topic.  I am an actress and so often I will ask them to improvise a scene around the subject, and I have my pen in hand as the action begins. I scribble all the words, phrases and sentences that this exercise offers and am on the lookout for ways that the children tackle an issue or a thought. I often discover an emotional response that I wouldn’t have expected or an illogical or random way of solving a problem that unlocks something so much more interesting than what I might have written if I had not listened and observed these children.

Next, I read the books the children are reading. If you want to write for today’s children, and be published by today’s publishers, you need to be reading today’s children’s books — and the same applies if you want to write for children’s television, you need to watch children’s shows. And not just occasionally: You need to be spending as much (or more) time reading the books as you spend trying to write them. If you are not up to date with what’s being published, chances are your manuscript is not tailored to today’s market, and so it is not ready to be submitted.

So as the natural, creative, talented writer that you are, you have to understand your craft, read the books, know the trends, and then offer the market your fresh, unique voice. You are the only you that will ever be so write as you and no one else.  Dr. Seuss and J.K Rowling are beloved but you can’t be them, nor should you attempt to do so. That voice that only you can offer is the best one to use as you write for children.

And most of all: Speak from your heat and from your own wile imagination. Whether you want to write picture books, historical fiction, how-to books or YA novels, the distinctive way you paint and color the characters, dialogue, setting and emotional tone of your book is what children will respond to. They will become fans and come and read your books time and time again when you are true to what matters to them, and true to what matters to you.

See you on the bookshelf,

Janet Ivey

About the Author:

Janet has won seven Regional Emmys and three Gracie Allen Awards for her Informational/Instructional series, “Janet’s Planet.”  Author of Tell Me About Heaven…I Think I’m Forgetting (Ideals Children’s Books) and Something’s Different In Samesville (Self-Published.) Her website is www.janetsplanet.com)

Helpful sources on writing for children:

Write4kids.com

Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, by Alice Pope (Produced Annually) (Essential if you want to get published in the US or Canada especially)

The Craft of Writing for Children By Cynthia Reeser

If you have ever seriously considered writing and publishing a children’s book, you should know two things. One, it is possible. And two, there is no magic. It simply takes dedication, hard work, perseverance, and the ability to handle rejection.

Writers are rarely, if ever, true overnight successes. Even those who make the bestseller list with a first novel practiced their skill for years before completing the manuscript in most cases. Count it as likely that the manuscript also went through many revisions before making it to the publisher, and even more before appearing in print. Some in the publishing industry say that even established writers have to prove themselves again with every book they write. Even those who have repeatedly been through the agent/contract/publisher process continue to perfect their craft and hone their skills for as long as they are writers.

But what does it all mean if you are a beginning or unpublished writer? Tangibly, it means being present at your work and attending to the page. There is an old adage that says, “Writers write.” Writing for children demands just as much attention to craft and professionalism as writing for adults. It is not a profession to be taken lightly, and it is not “easier” than writing in any other category. If you are serious, make the time to write on a regular basis. Join or start a writer’s group. Get feedback on your work. And read as many children’s books as you possibly can — see what children’s authors are writing; join associations, network, and make as many contacts as possible.

Being published is not outside the realm of the possible. It may seem so, especially when you are first starting, but give yourself a fighting chance by keeping at it. Develop a tough skin against rejections — every writer, no matter how talented, receives these. Thin skins are responsible for many talented writers abandoning their dreams of writing and publishing. Most successful authors were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths. They simply keep at it, against odds and in spite of rejections. Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) had his first manuscript, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, rejected 26 times — but he did not let rejection stop him.

Published authors have a certain dedication to their craft, and keep at it no matter what. They put time into their writing, continually work to improve it, and many are members of writing groups and associations, such as the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Networking with other writers has many benefits, both tangible and intangible. First, you make new friends. Second, you gain a support system. Third, you gain access to information, such as contests, workshops, literature, events, and other opportunities and resources that can prove to be of immeasurable benefit. Many groups and associations offer conferences and workshops, which afford opportunities for writers, editors, agents, and others in the publishing industry to interact.

Bio

Cynthia Reeser is the editor-in-chief and founder of a quarterly literary journal, Prick of the Spindle, and author of How to Write and Publish a Successful Children’s Book: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply. She is a practicing visual artist whose work has been featured on several book covers. Her works of criticism, nonfiction, and poetry are widely published in both print and online media.

How to Use the Internet to Get Your Next Job

There are millions of jobs posted on job boards, corporate Web sites, and online newspapers every day, and it has been estimated that between 40 and 80 percent of employers conduct searches for job candidates online. People have been using the Internet to search for jobs for years, but only recently has it exploded into a phenomenon. Find out how you can use the Internet to your advantage in your next job search by reading this book.

In this new, exhaustively researched book, you will explore the world of online job searching and consider career alternatives and options that previously were not available to you. You will learn how to conduct an effective job search by determining keywords and phrases, creating and formatting an online résumé, and performing successful online communications. You will also learn how to manage the time you spend online, how to research potential employers, and how to employ the effective strategies found within these pages. 

Perhaps most important is the collection of job search sites we have compiled to aid you in your job hunt. Included are the major sites, such as Monster, Yahoo! Hot Jobs, and CareerBuilder, as well as niche sites for every industry, from healthcare to administrative, from accounting to public relations. This book also lists résumé banks and online newspapers that may be helpful in your search. However, How to Use the Internet to Get Your Next Job does not stop there. You are also provided with reviews and overviews of popular job listing and recruitment sites. 

With this book you will learn how to harness the powerful search capabilities of the Internet to find your dream job, no matter what industry and no matter what level. The strategies presented in this book will help you conduct a timesaving, low cost, and high-impact job search that will ultimately land you a great job. Whether you are a first time online job searcher or a veteran, you will find useful tips and valuable information in this book.

How to Write and Publish a Successful Children’s Book: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply

Children’s books are a very special medium that have introduced millions of young people to the joys of reading. Everyone from single moms to top celebrities have penned bestsellers promoting the virtues and values that children need to learn at a young age to lead happy, healthy lives. There are many different ways that a children’s book can be written, from the simplest rhyming picture books to more involved novella stories. Whatever your story may be, publishing it is well within your grasp.

This book provides a complete overview of everything a prospective children’s writer needs to complete and publish their own children’s book. You will start by learning how to recognize the market and style of the book you have written and adjust your book if necessary to fit a specific market where it will be easier to publish. You will learn the basics of the children’s book publishing industry and how it is fundamentally different from that of the regular publishing industry. You will learn how to choose the right publisher or print on demand option for your book and how to start preparing the package, with special consideration for illustrations and other aspects of your book that might change the overall presentation.

Top publishers and writers in the children’s book industry were interviewed and have lent their expertise to this book to provide an overview of everything that is needed in the process. You will learn what morals and values publishers and readers look for in good children’s books and what you should expect in a publication deal. You will learn how to handle your editor, what to expect in revisions, and how to go about the process of selling your book. You will learn how to gain publicity on your own and what you can do to build your book into a long term career. For anyone that has ever written or is considering writing their own children’s book, this book will provide the information and resources you need to get it published.