Hey Officer, Book That Presenter

We spend a lot of time talking about how to deliver your message verbally to your audience. However, there’s a lot more to communications than just the spoken word. For your typical do-it-once-and-it’s-over internal business presentation, the actual delivery is enough – do it well and then move on. But what about those presentations that you REALLY care about – the ones in which you’d like to change the world…?

There’s a lot of different ways to make your presentations have a life after you’ve gotten done giving them. Podcasts, videos, etc. are cheap and easy to do these days. However, I think that if you are really trying to get your message across, then the written word is your most powerful tool. That my friend means that you just might have to write a book…

Write a book you say? Not me! I’m no J.K. Rowling or Steven King. Hey, you don’t have to be – you just have to have something interesting to tell your audience and the words will flow out of you.

Neil Chethik is a published author who also works with others to help them get their books published. If you really care about the message that you are trying to communicate, then perhaps we need to spend just a few moments listening to what Neil has to tell us about getting a book published.

If you care enough about your message, then Neil says that there are three things that you need to think about when you are writing things down:

What is going to make your book unique (there are a lot of other books out there!)
What makes you so special that you are the best person to write this book (you are the best person, now figure out why…)
What are you going to do to make this book appear to have value for the audience of readers that you want to buy or obtain this book?
If you can make sure that your writing answers all three of these questions, then you are getting close having a published book. Once you have poured your heart out onto the (electronic) pages before you, the next step is to get yourself published.
Thankfully, Neil is once again here to help us out. He points out that here in the 21st Century there are a number of ways to get your message/book published. Its actually pretty easy to publish a book yourself. Somewhat tellingly this is called “vanity publishing”. However, let’s spend some time talking about the more difficult road to traditional publishing.

Neil tells us that here’s what you are going to have to do in order to get the attention of a traditional publisher:

Do Some Research: off you go to your local Borders store. Find out where your book, once published, would be displayed. See what’s already there. How would your book be different? Make sure that it would be different!
Propose!: Create a 10-25 page (double spaced) business proposal that tells a prospective publisher why they should publish your book. It’s good to get help on this and the book How to Write a Book Proposal is a good place to start.
Do You Need An Agent?: This one is pretty simple – if you want one of the 25 biggest publishing companies to publish your book, then you need an agent. If you can live with being published by a smaller shop or a university press, then you can just send your book proposal to them directly.
Pick An Agent: book agents get about 15% of anything that you make. Just like when finding a real estate agent, pick carefully.
Personalize It: After you’ve picked the agent that you want, create a personalized letter to include with the manuscript that you are sending to them. It has to make them want to read your manuscript – make it interesting and watch your spelling!
Get A Lawyer!: Because I know that you are going to be successful, please get a lawyer BEFORE you sign any agreement with an agent. You don’t want to get taken to the cleaners here!

Gourmet Cheese Gift Baskets – The Perfect Holiday Present

At a loss what to give your boss or the friend who seems to have everything? Give gourmet cheese gift baskets!

In this day and age, anything can be be ordered online so it should not come as any surprise that you can order cheese, too. If you are struggling to come up with a classy but unique present for your boss or for a special someone, send them cheese – not just any cheese but beautiful, delicious gourmet cheese.

What makes cheese such a great holiday present is that most of us have become completely tired of consumerism. The last thing anyone needs is another cute little device or electronic gadget cluttering up the home, or a scarf or a picture frame that will never see use. Why not take a different gift-giving route? Give something that is edible and handmade. The people you give gourmet cheese gift baskets to will be pleasantly surprised by the unique present.

But, what cheese do you give? Should you pick nicely aged cheddar? What about a chunk of Swiss? Will you be better off sticking with Brie? Should you give Stilton or Manchego instead?

Fortunately for you, you do do not have to puzzle over such things yourself. The retailer you get your gourmet cheese gift baskets from is an expert on such things. They can help you choose what basket to give, what cheddar to put in, and what wine to pair it with if you want such a pairing tossed in. All you need to do choose your package and write a short message on the card. Best of all, you do not have to worry about delivering the present yourself. Your retailer has perfected the art of shipping cheddar to any part of the globe!

How to Present Yourself to A&Rs

Online music profiles are the key line that contains necessary information regarding the singer, band, production team, song writer and musician. The sites are useful for your biography to present yourself to the music industry, to your fans and to the world. It makes a significant asset on the Internet. Therefore well formed and well written to the point will help to market and promote yourself. Do consider to make it presentable while writing such manuscript. Let me give you some interesting point in this aspect how to present yourself to A&R’s.

A&R representatives might be listening to your production on some source and may think, “Who is the person or the band?” To get the answer they will obviously click on your name to have more knowledge about you. This means your production of beats make them come to understand you. The questions are they going to be impressed what there going to read?

Label representative may browse the artist profile for the band they might need for specific project or for some other causes. Another question that comes here is, do the profile influence and show the required information and description to let them have all knowing with a bird eye view.

A webmaster in the Internet world will tell you the contents act as a king. The reason behind this is that, it is the source how people are able to find you. Search engines are the source to drive you out. If I advice you to improve the interchange to your profile and information, add as much contents as you can to describe your music, act, history, image and goals about the music.

State clear description at the top of the website. Rest fills it in the bottom or as it may look awesome. The reader will read more and follow through if you are able to grasp them at the beginning of the page. Or in either case they may quit your profile and may look for another band that may be better in presentation than you.

Kids, Presents and Christmas Sweets!

Christmas season is one of the most awaited holidays of the year. Kids and parents are all excited to welcome the spirit of hope and joy that this yuletide season brings. During this season, everyone celebrate the birth of Christ. But for children, this season also means Santa Clause, presents and Christmas sweets!

Kids and parents are all excited because of the many fun activities that they can do during this season. Long holidays and family gatherings also keep them enthusiastic. Additionally, they are also excited for these activities:

Preparing Christmas shopping
List preparing itinerary for the holiday
Coming up with menus for Christmas dinner
Christmas shopping for clothes, gifts, Christmas sweets, and a lot more!
Wrapping of presents
Receiving and opening of gifts
Spending time with loved ones
Sharing gifts with family and friends
They all say that Christmas is for children. That is because these children really look forward to celebrating Christmas. The grownups, on the other hand, are busy preparing the things that will make Christmas even more enjoyable to kids. Parents prepare the gifts, Christmas trees, Christmas decors and Christmas sweets.

Activities for kids during this season become more exciting. As Christmas approaches they become more eager because they will be able to see Santa Clause in shopping malls again. They all can’t wait to tell Santa Clause what gift they want to receive during the holidays.

The common things that kids want to receive this Christmas are: toy robots and remote controlled cars for boys and Barbie dolls and clothes for girls. Some kids prefer modern gadgets such as laptop, ipod, PSP, and computers. Some even ask for new bicycles. There are also kids that prefer to receive cash. But there are others who are ecstatic when they find their Christmas stockings filled with Christmas sweets in the morning.

Probably the most exciting time during Christmas is after the Christmas dinner when children have to go to bed. They keep waking up to check if Santa Clause already delivered their gifts. They go to check under the Christmas tree if there is a gift that’s named for them. Finally in the morning they all come rushing downstairs to open their presents. The wide smile on their faces manifests the joy they feel when their presents are finally revealed. And for hours that morning everyone will sit happily while sharing their gifts and eating Christmas sweets.