Domino Magazine Left Standing

Domino Magazine

 

by Phyllis Fine, Friday, March 31, 2006
I WAS ONCE SUCH a household schlub, an ex-boyfriend called me "Slobba"; he was "Meticulo," in our version of a Shakespearian "Odd Couple."

 

Then my husband and I hit the real estate jackpot, when the up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood where we'd bought a co-op gentrified way beyond our expectations.  Embarrassed yet delighted, I began furtively checking out home design mags for tips to make our place suitable for a nabe where Hollywood "It Couple" Heath and Michelle also live.

 

When Domino debuted last year, I found a level of literate quirkiness in its pages that suited my ambivalence about becoming house-proud and benefiting from gentrification, a process which too often replaced useful stores with gourmet cheese and tchotchke shops. Unlike Better House This and Beautiful Home That, Domino has run features trying to duplicate the shabby gentility of the house in the movie "The Royal Tennenbaums," for example.

 

And even though the mag uses its Condé Nast  fashion legacy to good effect, featuring photos that might have appeared in Vogue (April's "Accidentally Inspired" compares '60s style icon Lee Radizwill's evocation of an "opium den" with a modern-day "Moroccan-inspired lair"), the mag isn't snooty. Instead, Domino is like a friendly, helpful fashionista friend, educating me about topics on which I've been clueless--ranging from flipping houses to how to buy art without feeling intimidated. There's even fodder for my social consciousness with the monthly feature "Giving Back," a roundup of ecologically correct products and shopping venues--as well as places to send your useless crap after you've cleaned out your closets.

 

As a shopping pub (sister to Lucky and just-killed brother Cargo), Domino doesn't just showcase beautiful rooms; it explains what elements make them so darned good-looking, and how readers can obtain those elements.

 

That practical, step-by-step approach informs most of the features, like the December article on how an editor redid a guest room on a deadline, with visitors due in a week.

 

Domino is as gorgeous as most style-conscious Condé Nast books, but its photos are tempered by such real-people touches as Chinese food carton on the floor. And real, quirky people--not the socialite airheads you might think--populate its pages as well. Take the Dallas-based couple, the Wrubels, whose colored-drenched design esthetic was inspired by living in Rome. Lucy Wrubel is a social observer, too: "Every Italian man owns a pair of red pants. They're like khakis there," she says.

 

A certain level of airhead fluff does rear its giggly head in the March feature, "Diary of A Renovation." Here, the homeowner, a model, almost doubles the cost of her budget--from $55,000 to $100,000--because she hates the paint colors she's picked, can't measure her air-conditioner correctly, and assumes--get this--that the contractor's estimate includes the cost of a refrigerator. At first I thought it insensitive of the editors to show  expensive mistakes that most readers probably couldn't afford to make. Later, I realized the feature was meant as an object lesson of how horribly wrong home renovation can go--but it also shows that some stereotypes about dumb models are correct.

 

Similarly, the April issue includes a decorator citing the Strand, my favorite New York discount bookstore, as a great place for his clients to outfit "a library, "because they can instantly stock a huge space with gorgeous, high-end books." Books as colored design elements instead of, well, reading materials? I wonder: have I gone over to the dark side with this whole design thing?

 

Still, much of Domino shows it's possible to have both good design and smarts. That's a goal for me as well, as I continue with my version of "The Taming of the Schlub."

 

Phyllis Fine is columns editor for MediaPost.

 

Magazine Rack for Friday, March 31, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

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Fear and Loathing of Sales Training

Cincom’s Expert Access Presents the Fear and Loathing of Sales Training

 

03-29-2006  - (openPR) - Cincom’s Expert Access Presents “The Fear and Loathing of Sales Training”. Cincom's award-winning Expert Access e-zine presents best-selling author Dave Stein’s latest thought leadership paper titled, “The Fear and Loathing of Sales Training.” The paper is a must-read for any person or organization struggling with success in the complex sales environment. It includes current research into;

 

• Why many organizations don’t invest in sales training
• The challenge of sales training in today’s complex sales environment
• The case for sales training

 

Also included in the paper is a thirty day free guest membership to the ES Research Group. It entitles the reader to online access to samples of ESR/Insight, (2- to 3-page online expert, premium-value, commentary-style, articles posted weekly) and research and analysis briefs.

 

What Is Cincom's Expert Access?

 

Cincom's Expert Access is a free, award-winning biweekly e-publication with approximately 135,,000 subscribers in 49 countries, Expert Access provides relevant, concise, objective information, sometimes in an irreverent, humorous manner, to help readers do their jobs better, become aware of new ideas, products, services or occasionally have a B2B laugh.

 

Why Is Cincom's Expert Access E-zine Different?

 

Cincom, in addition to its vast internal technology expert base, has recruited and partnered with some truly brilliant and forward-thinking technology analysts to participate in its "Ask the Expert" program. One of the unique aspects of Expert Access is the ability for subscribers to ask "experts" for feedback/answers to questions revolving around innovative business strategies and technologies. Some of the truly visionary and world-class technology, marketing, and sales experts that have contributed include:

 

• Marc Seifer, Author of “Wizard; The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla (interview with Expert Access on 4-11-2006)

 

•Elliot McGucken, author, poet, artistic entrepreneur and founder of the "Jolly Roger," a web portal hailed as the "Flagship of the Renaissance"

 

• Dave Stein, best-selling business author of "How Winners Sell" and founder of ES Research

 

• Al Ries, author of "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR"

 

• Skip Press, author of more than 20 books including "How to Write What You Want and Sell What You Write"

 

• Dr David Abshire, Center for the Presidency

 

• Dr. Paul Pearsall, international best-selling author of "The Beethoven Factor"

 

• David Meerman Scott, author of "Cashing In With Content"

 

• JoAnna Brandi, customer loyalty expert and customer retention maven

 

• Ken Sutherland, creative impresario and the music behind the film "Savannah Smiles"

 

•Louis Columbus, former senior analyst at AMR Research, and currently Cincom Senior Manufacturing Business Consultant and weekly columnist for CRMBuyer.com and Informit.com

 

•Lou Washington, Cincom's mainframe master of MIPS

 

• Dale Wolf, senior marketing manager at Cincom, managing editor of the Simplicity Blog and author/publisher of the Context Rules Marketing Blog

 

• James Robertson, Smalltalk wiki and blog guru

 

• Marsha Friedman, President of Event Management Services

 

• Bob Fitzgerald, Director of China Operations, Cincom

 

• Dana VanDen Heuvel, Director of Business Development for Pheedo

 

About Cincom

 

For nearly 40 years, Cincom has delivered innovative software and services that enable thousands of clients worldwide to simplify complex business processes. We empower our clients to outperform their competition by providing ways to increase revenue, control cost, minimize risk and achieve rapid ROI.

 

Cincom serves thousands of clients on six continents including BMW, Citibank, Boeing, Northwestern Mutual, Federal Express, Ericsson, Penn State University, Milacron Manufacturing, Siemens, Rockwell Automation, and Trane.

 

For more information about Cincom's products and services, contact Cincom at 1-800-2CINCOM (USA only), send an e-mail to info@cincom.com, or visit the company's website at www.cincom.com

Fashion Magazine To Speak Spanish, Si?

Cashak Magazine Expands Reach to 64 Million New Viewers
 
Press Release by: Cashak Magazine 

 

(openPR) - Cashak Magazine is known for being a stylistic and pioneering fashion magazine to the millions of English speakers on the internet. Today the online magazine adds a Spanish version to reach one of the largest and fastest growing segments of internet users. According to InternetWorldStats.com there are nearly 64 million Spanish speakers online. The same website cites Spanish as the fourth most used language on the internet. With the new Spanish version, Cashak Magazine grows its potential market to 375 million people. The website is available at: http://www.cashakmagazine.com/es

 

Spanish speaking viewers have access to the same original, first run content published in the English version of Cashak Magazine. The premium content includes high-definition fashion spreads, advice and tips from leading professionals in the beauty industry plus nightlife and fashion show coverage.

 

Cashak Magazine is a new fashion publication which embraces new thinking and ideas. Christopher Cashak, the founder of Cashak Magazine, holds the core idea that: “Fashion is meant to be seen, not read about in articles.” Cashak Magazine primarily tells fashion’s story through pictures. Cashak Magazine is the first fashion publication photographed entirely on location in high-definition, wide-screen format. The photographs are comparable to motion-picture productions, with fashion showcase and entertainment value. In the publication viewers will also find first-person interviews with leading professionals in the industry. Cashak Magazine produces 100% of its content, unlike most publications which recycle much of their material from news feeds and other media outlets. Nationally renown designers Request Jeans, Susan Di Staulo, Tiffe Fermaint, Cristina Bollardi, Rhonda Zayas, among others, were featured in the publication’s online preview.

 

Today, Cashak Magazine launches a Spanish version of its online publication to reach a large new and growing internet audience.

 

***

 

Portrait of the companies involved
Christopher Cashak
Cashak Magazine
Phone: +16025249071
Email: email@cashakmagazine.com

The New Yorker Magazine

The New Yorker

 

by Dorothy Parker, Thursday, March 30, 2006

 

THERE'S an exquisitely telling document on the letters page of this week's New Yorker. A quiet little missive about the magazine's legendary editor, William Shawn, written by his two sons, it's an unintentional howler, a rollicking substantiation of Tom Wolfe's famous essay, ''Tiny Mummies: The True Story of the Ruler of 43rd Street's Land of the Walking Dead!'' And so far, the letter hasn't been remarked upon in the press.

 

In response to a movie review about the movie ''Capote,'' Shawn's sons, Allen and Wallace, write, ''we would like to ...note...that in surface detail and in substance, the William Shawn depicted in 'Capote' is invented out of whole cloth by the filmmakers. ... The real-life William Shawn did not believe that articles or their authors should be publicized. He resisted even putting a table of contents into the magazine itself to trumpet what each issue contained. He never organized a reading for Capote or any other writer, and never addressed one, as he never spoke in public. He didn't... publish any photos by [Richard] Avedon, as he didn't think there should be photographs in The New Yorker. ...

 

"The real Shawn never went to Kansas to visit with Capote, and in fact he never had the experience of flying on an airplane.''

 

If ''Tiny Mummies'' acted like a carpet bomb that blew the lid off the inbred and ossified folkways of the otherwise revered publication, this letter certainly finishes the job. What century did Shawn live in? I was surprised that the Brothers Shawn, in their antique quaintness, didn't substitute the words ''daguerreotype'' for photographs, and ''flying machine'' for airplane. And I especially liked the use of ''trumpet'' in the context of publishing a Table of Contents page. What a repugnant thing of easy virtue such a listing would seem!

 

Yes, the introduction of a T of C was left to that noted British strumpet, Tina Brown. The New Yorker staff remains a mystery without a masthead, but other innovations wrought by Brown, that Diana-obsessed Belle Watling of the publishing game, include the aforementioned letters page--aka ''The Mail,'--and (gasp!) photographs, sometimes in multi-page portfolio form, full-page-color illustrations, and a contributor's page. Although the contributors' page does not trumpet, either. An example from this week's issue is hilariously deadly and uninformative. It reads, ''James Surowiecki (The Financial Page, p.33) writes about business and finance for the magazine.''

 

As the new Shawn, David Remnick followed Brown (whose flirtation with Hollywood did hit a new low by allowing Roseanne to guest-edit an issue.)

 

Whereas the Remnick years have made The New Yorker a consistently solid and, more importantly, often culturally relevant, read.

 

In the ''Shouts and Murmurs'' column, Paul Rudnick's piece ''My Billy'' is a scaldingly delicious parody of the current mania for diagnosing children with various versions of ADHD.

 

(It also features a color illustration by Jules Feiffer. Woo hoo!)

 

''Billy is a dandelion child,'' Rudnick writes, ''a term used for unusually bright and active children whose special powers will someday change the world.... Dandelion children are so evolved that the rest of us literally can't understand them, and not just because they enjoy tugging panty hose over their heads and announcing, 'Look at me, Mommy. I'm a testicle!'''

 

Picking up on a theme, there's a profile of Sean Penn, with his own kind of ADD, by John Lahr, and it made news when he referred to Ann Coulter's ''funny areas.'' Penn talks at length about his father, Leo, who was blacklisted as a Hollywood actor and later became a TV director. (That's where the political passion comes from. The rage, apparently, comes from his mother, an alcoholic actress who left her calling to raise three sons.) Penn tells Lahr about how much he hates the neo-conservative Coulter, whom he calls a "pure snake-oil salesman--she doesn't believe a word she says.'' Coulter wrote disparagingly about his father Leo in her book Treason. Apparently, he has a Barbie-like doll of her that he likes to deface. "We violate her," Penn says. "There are cigarette burns in some funny areas. "

 

The issue also includes the always-worthy Jerome Groopman, one of the few doctors who not only writes stylishly, but also without condescension. He's great at profiling rare cases and their treatment. This piece, about the controversial question of whether patients' families should be able to be in the room when their loved ones are being resuscitated, covers a less intriguing subject. What is interesting is that doctors complain that ''family presence'' is an increasing distraction, and that TV shows like "ER" and "Rescue 911," which tend to show ''miracle cases,'' are fueling the public's misconceptions about CPR. Actually, CPR is mostly unsuccessful, and in the rare cases when the patient survives, it's often with brain damage or debilitating neurological conditions.

 

We'll concede that the jury is still out on Remnick's attempt at interactivity, the mostly unfunny cartoon caption contest on the last page that can be entered and voted on over the Internet. This week's winner reads, ''Well, that was abominable.'' Mr. Shawn himself could not have said it better--if he spoke in public.

 

Magazine Rack for Thursday, March 30, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/
 
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Baseball The Magazine Plays By It's Own Rules

Baseball The Magazine

 

by Larry Dobrow, Wednesday, March 29, 2006
BASEBALL SEASON STARTS ON Sunday night at precisely 8:07 p.m. EST. You know what this means, right? Yup, from Monday onward I'll be mailing in this column like nobody's business. Since November, I've actually read every word in every publication I've covered in this space; starting on Monday, I'll be lucky to catch every fifth story. On the plus side, my opinions and wordplay probably can't get any more oafish than they already are.

 

To help me ease into my spring/summer/early fall mental hiatus, I corralled Baseball The Magazine off the increasingly barren Barnes & Noble shelves (seriously, whoever's handling distribution duties for the chain's Upper West Side magazinatorium needs to step up his/her game). In theory, the publication would appear to fill a serious market chasm: while fantasy-baseball dorks have 337 previews from which to choose, few titles bother to cover youth baseball even peripherally.

 

In practice, however, Baseball The Magazine functions about as intelligently and efficiently as the Royals' front office. About four pages in, one realizes that the publication is a mere cog in some kind of multimedia/marketing play designed to sell bats and hype grassroots tournaments. As such, we're treated to profiles that read as if they were written by sports-information directors, generic photos seemingly plucked from college Web sites and press releases masquerading as stories. Frankly, I'm kinda embarrassed that the cover duped me into expecting something legit.

 

Roughly 826 different items get lumped under the heading of "Headliners": a "watch list" for both the Clemens and Wallace awards, quickie predictions for division I teams, a feature on United States Specialty Sports Association Baseball (which, best I can tell, is either a loose affiliation of tournaments or the baseball equivalent of "Fight Club") and more. "Around the Horn" offers a few piddling youth-league photos, while the blurbs that comprise "Product News" rhapsodize about "new dimension[s] in performance technology." By the way, that description is assigned to a baseball bat, as opposed to, say, a next-generation nebulizer.

 

Baseball The Magazine's writers seem to lack even passing familiarity with this great language of ours. Florida State coach Mike Martin certainly deserves the professional plaudits thrown his way, but you can't take seriously the cover story's panegyrics about "this amazing man" whose "veins run garnet" and "heart is gold." I do, however, applaud the writer of "Coaches [sic] Notes" for his refusal to conform to conventional norms of hyphenation.

 

Meanwhile, remember all the what-about-the-children-won't-somebody-PLEASE-think-about-the-children hand-wringing about the possibility of editorial sponsorship/product placement within magazines? Baseball The Magazine, god bless its mercenary soul, crosses that line unrepentantly. Someone/something called the Wuesthoff Rehabilitation Network sponsors the "Health Tips" column on concussions (a worthy item, for what it's worth), plus Easton Sports attaches its name to the semi-coherent "Line Up" guest column. In a real publication, maybe this would give me pause. Here? Meh.

 

Finally and definitively, the profile on Eastern Carolina coach Keith LeClair has thrown down the gauntlet for all aspirants to the Magazine Rack Worst Opening Paragraph 2006 throne: "As you grow older, you learn that life is really a lot like a chain. And each experience, each new thing or person, sad or happy, becomes a link on that chain. The link represents not just the item or the situation, but everything that contributed to the end result, and the links that you gain connect you to other people who have passed through, or are still a part of, your life... [this goes on for 150 more words]... For a group of young men in Greenville, North Carolina, the link in their life that represents Coach Keith LeClair and the East Carolina teams that he coached, will be among the most treasured, most important, links of all." I mean, wow.

 

To cut to the chase: the minds behind Baseball The Magazine may know a little something about the game, but they don't know diddly about publishing. Apologies for wasting everybody's time with this one--I'll try harder come the end of the World Series, honest.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Wednesday, March 29, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/
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Book Publisher Negotiating To Discuss Book On Evil

Get Good Credit Book Publisher Campaigns Feds 
 
Washington, DC  20201     March 28 2006 

 

Evil Money Evil Credit by Alton J. Jones 
 
Alton J. Jones, "How to Get Good Credit" expert and author of the book, “Evil Money Evil Credit,” which was published by High Tower Books, is touring the nation to teach the fundamentals of credit and the perils of personal finance and life skills mismanagement from his own experience.
Just as teens need to be ready to learn to read when they enter high school, they also need to manage their personal finances as they enter the workforce. High Tower Books is currently negotiating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ State Director’s Offices to discuss its solution for assisting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program recipients in assisting them in obtaining self-sufficiency as well as assisting the State Offices in data and caseload reduction credit maximization. Rob Gentry, Editor-in-Chief says, “John Hougen, Director of Public Assistance at the North Dakota Department of Human Services was quite receptive to reviewing our literature. We are anticipating other states will follow suit.”

 

TANF is a block grant program designed to make dramatic reforms to the nation's welfare system by moving recipients into work and turning welfare into a program of temporary assistance. TANF replaced the national welfare program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the related programs known as the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program and the Emergency Assistance (EA) program.

 

High Tower Books and Jones plans to bring together legislation, lending and educational institutions across the country to help develop solutions for enhancing financial literacy.

 

High Tower Books and Jones are committed to encouraging legislation to significantly strengthen its efforts to teaching financial literacy programs.

 

Rob Gentry (Sales@HighTowerBooks.com)
Editor-in-Chief
High Tower Books
2425 East Camelback Road, Suite 950
Phoenix, AZ   85016
Phone : 888.308.5858
Fax : 602.296.0243 
 
High Tower Books 
 
More Information Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program Summary 

---

[Editor's comments: I was impressed when I read this:

 

"High Tower Books is currently negotiating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ State Director’s Offices to discuss its solution for assisting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program recipients in assisting them in obtaining self-sufficiency as well as assisting the State Offices in data and caseload reduction credit maximization."

 

However even after reading it a couple of times I am still not sure of what it means...? (hris ]

Writer Suspicious of Special Business Week Magazine

Business Week Magazine

 

by Larry Dobrow, Tuesday, March 28, 2006
I'M INHERENTLY SUSPICIOUS OF any magazine issue (not to mention any sale, sauce or sitcom episode) that bills itself as "special." Take the April 3 BusinessWeek: if it's truly special, does that mean that the issues preceding it, which lacked comparable cover braggadocio, were ordinary? Is it so darn special that the issues following it will cower in its imposing shadow, relegated to treading water in its furious wake? I can only imagine the pressure that the mag's staffers must be feeling today as they rush to close the April 10 edition--which, absent the front-page designation of "special," will be perceived as decent at best. Labels can be so hurtful.

 

I'll leave the question of whether the April 3 BusinessWeek attains specialness (specialitude? specialistasticity?) to the marketing wonks who tagged it as such. Instead, I'll wonder aloud how a single publication can alternate between some of the smartest content to be found in any magazine--business or otherwise--and items that would be deemed too lower-middlebrow for a college newspaper. In the simplest terms, this is what happens when a high-thinking magazine attempts to perk itself up for consumption by dullards.

 

Take the "BusinessWeek Fifty" cover feature on the corporate world's top performers, as determined by a formula that takes into account everything from sales and earnings growth to inseam measurements. It's a catchy editorial gimmick, sure, but one to which Fortune long ago laid its claim. It doesn't help that the accompanying featurettes on a handful of the ranked companies (yet another rapturous paean to Apple, a Goldman Sachs primer that sheds no light on the firm's tactics) elicit little more than shrugs.

 

Then there are the items which must have found their way into the issue via some kind of production snafu. Extending an olive branch to business folk who don't read newspapers, watch TV or leave the house, BW breaks the story that banks are no longer relying on Mr. Coffee giveaways to lure new customers. Al Jazeera International's difficulty in securing distribution from U.S. cable and satellite providers is presented as somewhat of a surprise--how could it be anything else, given Joe Topeka's stated preference for an I-spit-on-your-value-system counterpart to American Idol? And apparently those "free Wal-Mart gift certificate!" e-mails aren't real. Next they'll tell us that the Tooth Fairy isn't really married to Fiona Apple.

 

On the plus side of the ledger, BW still boasts a smattering of magazinedom's sharpest regular columns, including Stephen H. Wildstrom's "Technology & You" deconstructions and Jon Fine's arch "MediaCentric" dispatches on marketing and media. The mag handles workplace and related issues with aplomb, as witnessed by the you-are-there report from a Seagate corporate retreat in New Zealand.

 

Given the U.S.-first thrust of so many magazines and newspaper business sections, BW impresses with its global wingspan. In the April 3 issue alone, we learn that Adidas and Nike are waging some kind of apparel warfare on one another in advance of the upcoming World Cup, that there aren't enough lawyers in Japan and that the Germans like eBay almost as much as they do David Hasselhoff. Each of the stories teems with anecdotal flair and pointed analysis, as opposed to canned bleats from the usual slate of talking heads.

 

Additionally, BW's design transcends the USA Today-ish murk in which its mass-market competitors find themselves bogged. While sidebars flourish like hothouse flowers, the mag complements them with decidedly arty touches: a mining concern's CEO posed in front of old photos of workers, an illustration of a CEO striding confidently atop a stock-market-graph dealie.

 

As has been noted before in this space, I hate stupid people and publications that pander to them. So I guess it saddens me when a venerable title like Business Week temporarily lets down its guard, weighing down an otherwise lean editorial mix with fluff about "culinary travel" and waterproof, genetically modified super-dungarees. Last I checked, there were one or two lifestyle magazines on the ol' rack; BW would clearly be better served by leaving the pap to those purveyors of low thought and getting back to, uh, business.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Tuesday, March 28, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com
 
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Anti-Counterfeiting Label Catches Eye, Counterfeit Products

3M Introduces New Confirm Security Label with Floating Image Technology at Authentication Connections Forum in Tampa, Fla.; Strong Overt and Covert Technologies Combine to Help Fight Counterfeit Products

 

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2006--3M today announced its newest, high-security anti-counterfeiting label will be introduced on March 30 at the Authentication Connections Forum in Tampa, Fla. This new security solution, the 3M Confirm authentication label with floating image technology, incorporates a unique eye-visible security feature that provides powerful product authentication and can be verified easily with or without the use of a tool.

 

The label's floating image has an optically variable device (OVD) - a unique, overt security feature. The OVD image appears to "float" above or "sink" below the surface of the label and then disappear as the viewing angle changes. Dramatic movement of the image is easy to detect and recognize using only the human eye, enabling quick and easy authentication that proves the label and product are genuine. The label also incorporates a very secure and time-tested covert security feature inherent to Confirm security material.

 

"Electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, apparel, and cosmetics - the list of items that are counterfeited is endless," said Bill Markovitz, marketing development manager, 3M Security Systems. "The new Confirm security label will allow manufacturers and distributors to certify their products as authentic and then let wholesalers, retailers and end-consumers rapidly identify fakes. 3M currently sells a similar security product to governments for passports and driver's license programs. That same high level of security now will be available for commercial applications."

 

These labels build on 3M's proven retroreflective security technology - 3M Confirm security labels - which have been very well-accepted in the security marketplace for more than 25 years. The new floating image security feature enhances the inherent security of Confirm authentication labels and is based on proprietary technology. Verification is easier than ever and can be accomplished by a diverse population.

 

For more than 30 years, 3M has provided premier security solutions and services that identify, authenticate, secure and track materials and information by combining security and productivity. Drawing on its broad technology base and expertise, 3M creates solutions for a wide array of security needs. Examples include issuance and authentication of travel documents and personal identification cards, brand and asset protection solutions to fight counterfeiting and tampering, file tracking solutions, and library security and workflow management solutions.

 

About 3M -- A Global, Diversified Technology Company
Every day, 3M people find new ways to make amazing things happen. Wherever they are, whatever they do, the company's customers know they can rely on 3M to help make their lives better. 3M's brands include Scotch, Post-it, Scotchgard, Thinsulate, Scotch-Brite, Filtrete, Command and Vikuiti. Serving customers in more than 200 countries around the world, the company's 69,000 people use their expertise, technologies and global strength to lead in major markets including consumer and office; display and graphics; electronics and telecommunications; safety, security and protection services; health care; industrial and transportation. For more information, including the latest product and technology news, visit www.3M.com.

 

3M, Confirm, Scotch, Post-it, Scotchgard, Thinsulate, Scotch-Brite, Filtrete, Command and Vikuiti are trademarks of 3M.

 

Contacts
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2006 Book Fair Attracts Self-Published Authors

Queens, New York - Queens Book Fair 2006 Announces Early email sign-up

Queens Book Fair 2006 Announces Early Email Sign-up (Date to be announced). Last year the Queens Book Fair was held on April 30, 2005 and was featured in Newsday, May 3, 2005, article "This book fair’s for the self-published" New York City Edition Neighborhoods section pg. A52. Self-published authors from around the country flocked the 2005 Queens Book Fair, along with book lovers around the tri-state area.

[ClickPress, Wed Mar 22 2006] Queens Book Fair 2006 Announces Early Email Sign-up (Date to be announced). Last year the Queens Book Fair was held on April 30, 2005 and was featured in Newsday, May 3, 2005, article "This book fair’s for the self-published" New York City Edition Neighborhoods section pg. A52. Self-published authors from around the country flocked the 2005 Queens Book Fair, along with book lovers around the tri-state area. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall proclaimed the month of April as Book Month in Queens.

The Queens Book Fair presented a Power Networking Breakfast prior to the opening of the Queens Book Fair to "Connect the Dots" between Corporate, government, Small Businesses and the literary world.

The fair has generated local buzz for emphasizing the growing phenomenon of self-published African-American authors. The writers have seized mainstream publishers’ attention by independently printing small quantities of their work and controlling all of its creative and financial aspects.

The authors’ success hinges on marketing strategies as diverse as door-to-door sales, street vending and arranging book signings at popular restaurants or nightclubs. But before this year, only Harlem had established an annual book fair where writers are exposed to thousands of readers in one setting.

The Queens Book Fair attracted hundreds of people to Jamaica Market, and Piper and Rogers were counting on the event to introduce some writers to a bigger audience than they've ever enjoyed.

"It was packed," Rogers said. "And I was shocked. It was rainy and we didn’t think people would show up. But they still came out."

To some degree, the women are all about taking chances. They started their book business almost by accident a decade ago, while selling gift baskets and floral arrangements at the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Flea Market in Jamaica.

C & B Books Distribution began bringing used books from their own collections to sell at the market, selling out each week. A frequent customer soon asked if the pair could get their hands on books by other African-American authors.

"She asked how soon we could get them, and I said we'd have them for her the next Saturday," Rogers said. "And I thought, ‘I don't know how I'm going to get these, but I'm going to find out.’"

Rogers, 44, not only supplied the requested books, but soon found herself fielding requests for work by other black writers. Within weeks, she and Piper were visiting distributor warehouses that stacked dozens of titles from tiny imprints around the country.

By 2001, the women sensed a revolution stirring in the African-American literary community. Sister Souljah’s 1999 cautionary coming-of age novel "The Coldest Winter Ever" had reinvigorated an urban-literature market that had hibernated for decades, provoking a new generation of black writers to eschew the mythic glamour of drugs and violence.

Other genres took shape around the same time, including revenge melodramas, romance thrillers and inspirational memoirs about overcoming abuse, addiction and lives of crime.

"It’s a whole industry booming within an industry," said Angela Wallace, whose self-published novel, "Secret Dramas," earned acclaim for its unique hybrid of soap opera and mob intrigue. "[Writers] are implementing their own imprints. As a result of that, they're bringing other black authors in under their umbrella. I think mainstream publishing is noticing that."

Brenda Piper and Carol Rogers established their own tiny umbrella on the Internet in 2002. In March 2002 Mr. Phil Andrews joined C & B Books as its Public Relations Director to strengthen C & B Books brand name recognition in the literary community. C&B Books Distribution eventually opened its first physical location at the Jamaica Market in October and introduced its newest location in a compact corner store in Flushing in January.

The partners built their stock through consignment deals with self-published authors, advising writers through labor-intensive processes such as mission statements, cover design, press releases and book signings.

While she tirelessly provides encouragement and advice, Piper, 53, insists that no book will sell without its author’s own follow-through.

"They have to be willing to get out," she said. "They can't just drop their book at the store and expect the stores to sell their book. We support authors through C & B Books authors club which promotes self-published authors.

But the women treat the Queens Book Fair like a community service as much as they do a business endeavor.

The event, which offered seminars and workshops for published and unpublished writers alike, kicked off with a networking breakfast to help forge partnerships in New York’s independent literary scene. Readers had the chance to meet and solicit advice from their favorite authors, as well.

"Harlem and Brooklyn, they already have their recognition - even the Bronx," Piper said. "Queens was very low-key, and it’s just starting to blossom."
To be placed on our email list for the 2006 Queens Book Fair or to join our authors club you may log on to our web site at www.cbbooksdistribution.com or you may email us at cbbookdist@aol.com

Company: PA Public Relations Company Contact Name: phillipandrews Contact Email: phil.andrews@papublicrelations.com Contact Phone: 718.380.2062

Mean Magazine

Mean 

 

by Amy Corr, Friday, March 24, 2006
OSCAR WILDE ONCE SAID that "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." This quote is emblazoned on the spine of the March/April issue of Mean magazine, the pub's first-ever fashion issue. Already I'm guessing Mean doesn't take itself too seriously.

 

Mandy Moore graces the cover in a low-cut white dress that makes me wish I were a betting woman, for I'd bet the house that a hefty amount of double-sided tape was used at that photo shoot. Interestingly enough, Moore's Q&A discusses her clothing line MBLEM, which focuses on "modest" offerings.

 

Mean is part music, part celeb Q&A, part fashion, and also correlates social world issues into the mix. For example, a front-of-book item discusses a California-based clothing line that uses politically-themed slogans on its T-shirts, and whose sales help impoverished children in Uganda.

 

The front of the book also contains car and tech-gadget reviews, but it was the story on artists using commercial products such as sneakers and snowboards to create contemporary works of art that interested me most. The story asked exactly what I was thinking: do I wear it or store it in a safe place?

 

Each celebrity profile runs in Q&A format, a layout that ideally suits the pub. I didn't like that multiple actors from the same movie were profiled, albeit they were distanced from one another. Both Mandy Moore and Seth Meyers were interviewed and both can be seen in the upcoming "American Dreamz." In addition, you'll find fellow actors Gabriel Mann and Sarah Polley in "Don't Come Knocking" and while each Q&A takes a different spin on the actors, I would have preferred a Q&A or update on actress Rachel McAdams to find out what movies she'll be starring in next.

 

The award for best Q&A goes to director Spike Jonze interviewing Nathanial Hornblower, director of countless music videos for The Beastie Boys. Readers of Mean would be privy to the fact that Nathanial Hornblower is a pseudonym/alter-ego of Adam Yauch, one third of the Beastie Boys.

 

"Hollywood Loves Dick" listed the breadth of sci-fi movies ("Minority Report," "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Paycheck," etc.) that evolved from ideas or short stories written by Philip K. Dick, a man that has been dead for 23 years.

 

The fashion portion of the magazine was nothing to write home about, although I did stare intently at the Louis Vuitton-branded chainsaw that actress Kristen Stewart brandished in one photo.

 

Mean's layout is striking and the Q&A format offers answers to questions not likely posed by the writers at Entertainment Weekly, such as how John Waters convinces his partners to accept his sexual quirks. Mean is aptly suited for those looking to keep their hands on the beat of underground music, offbeat movies and one-of-a-kind celebrity interviews. As for the rest of us, snappy inside jokes would be lost on us, and we'd end up feeling like we were the last to be picked in gym class.

 

Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost.

 

Magazine Rack for Friday, March 24, 2006:
http://publications.mediapost.com

 

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Time Magazine

Time

 

by Larry Dobrow, Thursday, March 23, 2006
I GREW UP READING Newsweek, because Mom and Dad subscribed to it. Over the last year or so, I've been reading Time, because the kind folks at Time Inc. zip me over an issue every Monday. So basically, my choice of newsweekly has heretofore been determined by access to freebie copies.

 

I guess that's my roundabout way of saying that I've always found the two titles roughly interchangeable. This is not intended as a slap at either one; I've just never gotten the impression that I'd be setting myself adrift in the estuary of ignorance if I only checked out one of the two. In my ever-humble opinion, Time has always been sharper on the hard-news front, while Newsweek tends to suss out lifestyle trends in a more timely and relevant manner. To each his own.

 

Looking at the March 27 Time, the question isn't whether the magazine remains a consistently smart, durable read--of course it does. The question is whether, in today's topsy-turvy world of information super-duper-shmuper-saturation, any weekly publication can keep up with the pace of the Internet.

 

Clearly Time excels in surrounding the week's most pressing issues, often providing a days-after, contrarian take rarely found outside the blog world. The March 27 issue's "Was Iraq Worth It?" compilation gives academics, historians, and editors of Egyptian and Lebanese newspapers a chance to assess the war. The commentators--few of whom we regularly hear from, with the exception of William F. Buckley Jr.--both inform and provoke.

 

Time also earns its mettle with newsy one-pagers on stories you likely missed while fretting over the minutiae of Star Jones' botched boob job. The mag's dispatches add the insight and bigger-picture perspective absent from earlier reports on this month's massive Alaska oil spill and newly discovered loopholes in cell-phone privacy. Best is the "Letter From Paris" news/analysis mashup, which details France's recent student strike and the subsequent rioting. Let them eat cake, indeed.

 

As always, the up-front "Notebook" ably juxtaposes pithy quotes and statistics with hard news (in this issue's case, an item questioning whether a previously censured Guantanamo Bay general got a bum rap). You gotta love the mag's list of items seized by the government from celebrities and then sold--if Peabo Bryson's two Grammy Awards fetched $25,000, what do you suppose Peaches & Herb could get for their toenail clippings?

 

The March 27 issue falls curiously short on the feature front, however, especially in its cover story on the multitasking teens it dubs "Generation M" (ooh, sounds like somebody's trying to coin a catchphrase! Alert the semanticists!). Never mind that this same story has been written multiple times by technology, lifestyle and even entertainment publications. If one were to create a ready checklist for it, it would include an anecdotal lead (yup), a list of dos/don'ts (natch), photos of teens on the phone and/or in front of the computer (but of course), and a grumpy old man bemoaning those kids today, with the long hair and the fancy cell phones and the loud music (naturellement).

 

To put it mildly, clichés abound. The story's only saving grace? A neato diagram that explains how the brain processes multiple streams of information at once, a handy skill in those instances when a Rangers game coincides with The Shield.

 

A few other decisions don't sit right with me. The cover poses two we're-gonna-make-you-think-if-it's-the-last-thing-we-do questions ("Are Kids Too Wired For Their Own Good?" and "Was Iraq Worth It?"), but omits mention of the issue's best piece of investigative journalism (a report on whether the killing of 15 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines was self-defense or a deliberate act of revenge).

 

While I recognize the need to balance the hard news with lighter fare, the "Your Time" items on sleeping pills and family travel descend into Reader's Digest pap. Plus the mag pushes way too hard in its Bette Midler Q&A--man, she must've been steamed when they asked her if she was planning to tour again.

 

Anyway, to answer the question I posed in this treatise's third paragraph--the one strategically located right above paragraph four --yeah, a weekly Time (or Newsweek) booster shot should still be an important part of your weekly information diet. Hell, I could make an argument that the newsweeklies may be more useful now than they've ever been before: The two major cable news networks favor personality over substance, the Times seems perpetually in a state of catch-up, and local news broadcasts work only as a source of unintentional humor ("three local schools caught serving poison chocolate milk--we'll tell you which ones... later in the hour!"). Now as before, Time is an eminently worthy companion for your leisure hours.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Thursday, March 23, 2006:
publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=41379

 

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HTML Book Publication Easier With Online Publication Tool

Publication Easier with Features in WebAsyst Quick Pages Upgrade

WebAsyst LLC releases upgraded Quick Pages - application of WebAsyst Suite providing facilities to easily update websites and create HTML books.

[ClickPress, Wed Mar 22 2006] WebAsyst Announces Quick Pages Upgrade. (http://www.quick-pages.net/) The company’s easy-to-use online publication tool with integrated HTML editor is now bigger and stronger. The major new feature added in the update is Publication Themes. This facility allows users to predefine and save layouts for future publishing.

Publication Themes provide for flexible adjustment of all visual elements that appear in the browser: Book Header, Table of Contents, Headings, Page Body, etc. Users can choose from default Themes, or customize and/or create custom Themes. This is especially useful when publishing different Books on related materials - the same branding reinforces their relation.

WebAsyst Quick Pages is part of WebAsyst Suite, a family of communication and collaboration software developed to facilitate teamwork and web-resource maintenance. Other applications in the Suite are Contact Manager, Quick Notes, Project Manager, Issue Tracker and Document Depot. All these applications can be used individually, or combined as a complete software solution.

“WebAsyst is just the application we were looking for,” says Maarten Rotthier, Webmaster for SN Brussels Airlines. “In addition to accessing the tools through a web interface, the Windows client is a handy tool to collaborate in an easy and fast way between our offices worldwide, even when they are not logged in onto our company network infrastructure.”

WebAsyst Quick Pages was developed to create, compile and publish user guides and manuals available online. In addition, this tool allows HTML-inexperienced users to maintain and update websites. Publication Themes is of value to both: user guide books for different products can be published in their brand colors, and textual sections of websites can be surrounded with specific colors to distinguish them in both content and appearance.

“Publication Themes is another step toward satisfying customers’ needs,” says Alexey Bobkov, WebAsyst Suite Lead Developer. “We continue to make more such steps. Even now, we are working on new features for the next update; they will enhance WebAsyst Quick Pages with even greater flexibility and extend fields of application.”

Company: WebAsyst LLC Contact Name: webasyst Contact Email: publicrelations@webasyst.net Contact Phone:

New Article-Free Fashion Magazine Launched

Cashak Magazine Launches Preview of New Fashion Publication
 
Press Release by: Cashak Magazine 

 

(openPR) - Two years after losing his web advertising business to a crooked partner and six months after leaving his photographer position at a deteriorating periodical, Christopher Cashak launches a world-wide online preview of his new publication- Cashak Magazine. Christopher Cashak, a veteran of the media and technology fields, brings the fashion industry an original magazine which embraces new thinking and ideas. Cashak Magazine is the first to be filmed entirely on location in wide-screen format. The magazine has no articles, but brings its audience fashion and beauty advice through direct interviews. By producing all of its material Cashak Magazine sets a new standard in publishing. Cashak Magazine focuses on the sexy styles and trends that affluent, fashion minded women wear. The preview, now online at http://www.cashakmagazine.com/ , brings the world a taste of Christopher Cashak's new publication.

 

Many have heard Christopher Cashak's core philosophy that: "Fashion is meant to be seen, not read about in articles." Cashak Magazine primarily tells fashion's story through pictures. The magazine is the first fashion publication photographed entirely on location in high-definition, wide-screen format. Cashak Magazine photographs are comparable to Hollywood motion pictures with entertainment and fashion showcase value. The magazine compliments its fashion photography with advice and tips from industry professionals. The exclusive interviews are from fashion designers, makeup artists, hair stylists and other professionals captured in a first person, to the point perspective- not lengthy articles.

 

Mr. Cashak is a strong critic of "rerun publications" that reprint the vast majority of their content from news wires and other media outlets. He brings fashion publishing an unprecedented magazine that produces one-hundred percent of its content. The exclusive photographs and interviews found in Cashak Magazine give it a distinct advantage over publications that are dependant upon content from a shared source. Christopher Cashak simplifies this idea by saying: "If you run the same as everyone else, how will you win the race?" The magazine's content originates exclusively from professionals in the fashion industry, not amateur, student or intern contributors, which give it another unique advantage.

 

Christopher Cashak also condemns the dilution of fashion magazines with the mixing of off-topic material. In many national and local publications, which claim a fashion focus, readers will find articles on everything from real estate to sex advice, and lamp shades to celebrity gossip. Cashak Magazine intends to be a leading authority in the industry by only publishing fashion related content.

 

Single-handedly, Christopher Cashak is building Cashak Magazine without the help of a corporation or existing media outlets. He is described as a "one man publishing army" by professional peers. Through his years of experience in every aspect of publishing he is able to personally work in all parts of the magazine. Mr. Cashak simultaneously acts as the publisher, editor, photographer, interviewer, fashion stylist, photo shoot manager, web developer, public relations agent, etc. for Cashak Magazine. Mr. Cashak cites his diverse skill set as a publishing advantage: "I am able to keep a consistent vision, style and professionalism in all areas of the magazine. Rather than waiting for someone else to do it tomorrow, I can get everything done today."

 

Coming from outside the traditional fashion hubs of New York City and Los Angeles, Cashak Magazine brings a new perspective to the industry. The publication is based out of Scottsdale, Arizona- one of the major emerging fashion markets in the United States. The city is dominated by affluent and successful women who religiously search for the newest sexy styles and trends in fashion.

 

Cashak Magazine capitalizes on its local talent plus national and international fashion designers. The online preview features work of Arizona designers Susan Di Staulo, Rhonda Zayas, Tiffe Fermaint, Lisa Jacobs, Cosmopolitan Accessories, Melis Accessories, Rumbly, Inc. and more. Viewers will also find national designer Request Jeans and international jeweler Cristina Bollardi from Italy.

 

Cashak Magazine continually discovers new model, designer, makeup artist and hair stylist talent from all over the world. Prospective artists are encouraged to send a portfolio and contact information to email@cashakmagazine.com

 

Even before the official preview of Cashak Magazine went online, the publication was establishing itself as a major fashion brand. In 2005 Cashak Magazine was the sole media sponsor for the largest fashion event in Arizona, the Labelhorde Fashion Ball. The publication was also a part of the rock and roll inspired fashion event- SOUNDSTYLE. Cashak Magazine is a sponsor of the upcoming Frock n' Roll, charity fashion show and concert, held in Phoenix.

 

When asked why he took on the gargantuan task of launching a major international magazine by himself, Christopher Cashak said: "Through my years of experience I saw how not to do a magazine, now it's time for people to see how one is done right."

 

The new fashion publication, Cashak Magazine, launches an online preview at: http://www.cashakmagazine.com/

 

"Cashak" and "Cashak Magazine" are trademarks of Christopher Cashak.

 

***

 

Cashak Magazine
Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 USA
Phone: +16025249071
Email: email@cashakmagazine.com

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Caring Today Magazine: Worthwhile, But Somewhat Superficial

Caring Today

 

by Phyllis Fine, Wednesday, March 22, 2006
WHEN DANA REEVE, ARGUABLY America's most famous caregiver, died recently, the obits mentioned she'd given up an acting and singing career to devote herself to her husband, paralyzed movie star Christopher Reeve (now deceased too, of course).

 

Dana, described as a model of graceful serenity in her caregiving role, often noted that she had no bitterness about her sacrifice.

 

As profiled in the magazine Caring Today, then-19-year-old Bridget Bennett also gave up her acting dreams to become a caregiver for her mother, Helene, a breast cancer victim. And as far as I'm concerned, Bridget made an even bigger sacrifice. Helene told Bridget it was time for her to quit college, where she was a theater and journalism major, and go into the family business--home and car insurance. "It's not something I had dreamed of doing," Bridget is quoted as saying, "but I enjoy working with the people." As with all accounts of Dana Reeve, Bridget's story focuses on the positive: "My mother's illness has made me more spiritual" and inspired her to lose 80 pounds, Bridget says.

 

I'm sure if I were a caregiver, I'd be heartened by this story, but also a little pissed off at getting only the superficial side. Where is the anger and ambivalence that Bridget must have felt, having to stop the fun of acting classes to attend "the Professional Insurance Agent school"?

 

While Caring Today does a competent job of fulfilling the mission in its tagline--providing "practical advice for the family caregiver"--digging a little deeper would serve its readers well and spice up a sometimes-bland mix of articles, like a boring food column and the front-of-the-book medical items, which are way too long and read like press releases.

 

The longer medical features are better. A three-part diabetes section targets readers smartly, focusing on the subtle surface symptoms of the disease in teeth, skin and feet that caregivers need to watch for. "Understanding Arthritis" puts the condition in context as the nation's leading cause of disability, discussing its various permutations and treatments simply enough so that even a medical idiot (me, for instance) could understand.

 

"Gentle Travel Adventures" helpfully discusses the accessibility of three U.S. cities, but is marred by its generic travel brochure style, complete with the worst fault of the genre, the baffling mention of a supposedly world-famous sight: Chattanooga's Ross's Landing, "where the infamous Trail of Tears began"--what trail? What tears? The blurb with the story asks a good question that never gets answered: "If your traveling companion has a physical disability, you face a unique challenge. So, how do you get the real break you need?" A first-person approach here, maybe describing how a caregiver went on a trip and balanced her needs with those of her charge, would have livened things up considerably.

 

A story about a New Hampshire-based breast cancer support group--"Oh, Those Breast Friends!"--thankfully livens its inspirational tone with humor, like the mention of The Young and The Breastless, a rock band one of the support group's members wanted to form.

 

Though I'm not usually big on reader-written stories, the best piece in this issue is one penned by a reader, Ami S., about the dog that takes care of Ami's Alzheimer's-stricken mother. Any tendency toward the maudlin is counterbalanced by Ami's clear-eyed voice and detailed focus on a dog who does everything short of putting on a nurse's uniform and asking, "How are we feeling today?" Madison, the dog, "wears a backpack containing a change of clothes, medicine, money, ID and other things my mother needs but no longer can keep track of, recognize or carry." Ami even claims that Madison "can hand a clerk a credit card (but won't sign for the purchase)."

 

Since it's the real-life stories that shine, it's particularly disturbing that Caring Today's cover photos are actually posed model shots. In place of the March/April phony cover, I wish the mag's editors had chosen a great inside photo of Bridget, the young caregiver, with her mother, Helene: Helen is wearing that chemo-bald look, which makes the photo more genuine still.

 

If Caring Today's editors want to be heartwarming, they should focus more on the real heart of the mag's topic, and forget the generic photos and text.

 

Phyllis Fine is columns editor for MediaPost.

 

Magazine Rack for Wednesday, March 22, 2006:
http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

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Expensive CD-ROM Offers Information Found Elsewhere

For Immediate Release

 

Instant Publisher Platinum CD-ROM
 
September 26, 2005
  
A Resource Guide for Entrepreneurs

 

One of the most difficult tasks every entrepreneur faces is finding the right tool, product or service needed to accomplish a project. Sometimes weeks or months can be spent trying to find a company to handle a simple but unique task.

 

A new CD-ROM solves all that. The Instant Publisher Platinum CD-ROM offers a quick and easy way to find out about many new products and services offered by companies catering to entrepreneurs.

 

By taking advantage of the tremendous storage capability of CD-ROM technology, the developers of the Ultimate Resource Guide for Entrepreneurs CD-ROM have been able to pack the CD with full color, full page, information sheets (some with audio) about many different services.

 

A Must Have Resource Library!

 

The Instant Publisher Platinum CD-ROM makes it easy for business owners and entrepreneurs to find the exact resource they need, when they need it.

 

Information can be found on companies offering CD-ROM product services, audio, video, CD disk duplication services, copywriting, marketing, and packaging, as well as many other services.

 

Easy-to-Use!

 

We tried The Instant Publisher Platinum CD-ROM and were pleasantly surprised. It is so easy to use even the computer virgins in our office could run it!

 

To start the program, all we had to do was to put it into our computer's CD-ROM drive, and the CD immediately presented us with a main menu of resource categories. Selecting any menu item, immediately takes you to an index of full-color information sheets, showcasing various companies and products.

 

It Really Works!!!!

 

Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to see if we could find someone on the CD-ROM who could produce a CD-ROM for us. So, from the main menu we selected the category 'CD-ROM Producers'.

 

We were immediately presented with a menu listing several different CD-ROM producers. With the click of a button, we found out the complete details of each producer, including the services he or she offered and prices charged.

 

We further experimented with the CD and with a little exploring discovered a demo of an automatic CD-ROM authoring program, a tool that allows just about anyone to produce their own CD-ROMs.

 

Continued exploration of the CD-ROM revealed sources to have the books we've written professionally recorded onto audio-tapes. Sources to get audio tapes (and every other media) duplicated, and even professional copywriters who could write sales letters for us!

 

Our verdict…The Instant Publisher Platinum CD-ROM actually works, is very easy to use, and a valuable business resource.

 

Even Better…Its Affordable!!!

 

If you had to search out all over the world to find the resources listed on this CD, you could spend a fortune in phone calls and still have no success. With this CD, all the information is available when you want it.

 

With a retail price of $145.00, this CD-ROM is a real bargain.

---

[Editor's comments" Yeah, a real bargain for those selling the CDs...! This press release was found on one of many sites selling this product. Some of them may be responsible for the spamming of many classified ad sites including ones that I own with a partner. Someone went to a lot of trouble to promote a site and then never registered the domain...! ]

Press Release For Book That Shows Authors How to Promote Books With Podcasting. Huh?

New Book Shows Authors How to Promote their Work to Worldwide Audience with Podcasting

 

"Podcasting Your Virtual Book Tour" takes independent authors and publishers step-by-step through the process of creating a "virtual book tour" podcast, and distributing it online to millions of iPod users.

 

[ClickPress, Wed Mar 15 2006] Book tours and public readings are an important part of any newly published book's promotion and marketing. But not all authors are able to travel, due to time, money, or health constraints. "Podcasting Your Virtual Book Tour", by author and podcaster Kay Stoner, teaches authors and independent publishers how to create a virtual book tour with podcasting -- online audio that can be downloaded and listened to on a computer, or on an iPod.

 

Apple's iPod popularity has been phenomenal, by any measurement. According to RTE Business, "Apple Computer chief executive Steve Jobs says the company sold a record 14 million iPod music players in the fourth quarter, a leap from 4.5 million in the same period of 2004... The number of iPods sold far exceeded the 1.25 million Macintosh computers sold in the same quarter." However, listeners don't need an iPod to listen -- anyone on a computer that's connected to the internet and can download and listen to audio, can enjoy podcasts.

 

"I got the idea for podcasting a virtual book tour from watching C-SPAN's Booknotes program," says Kay. "Watching C-SPAN and seeing groups of people gathering to listen to authors talk about their books, I thought that if people like me are tuning in to television programs about book readings, they would also be interested in downloading audio of book readings."

 

With "Podcasting Your Virtual Book Tour", almost any author with a standard personal computer, a microphone, free audio editing software, and an internet connection can record a series of readings and then upload them to the internet as podcasts for all the world to hear. The virtual book tour experience can be just like a recorded "real-life" tour, with readings of selections from the author's work, audience participation, questions and answers, and other ambiance the author wishes to include.

 

This 98-page manual teaches authors how to plan their "tour" and script their readings, how to find the sound effects that add to the ambiance, how to put all the pieces together with free audio editing software, how to publish the audio as a podcast, and how to promote it for all the world to hear. With podcasting, an independent author can create their very own virtual book tour, on their own time, on their own terms, for very low cost with their own home computer.

 

Company: Thought2Form Productions, LLC
Contact Name: Kay Stoner
Contact Email: kaystoner@yahoo.com
Contact Phone: 617-816-1382

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Psychology Today: A Chick Mag?

Psychology Today
by Larry Dobrow, Thursday, March 16, 2006

 

WHEN DID PSYCHOLOGY TODAY become a chick mag? Why wasn't I notified? And who's to blame for this genre-migrating fiasco?

 

I grabbed the publication's April issue expecting the usual cursory explanations of why I do the many, many stupid things I regularly do (absentmindedly stapling the webbing between my thumb and forefinger, etc.). I imagined that I'd be treated to pointed looks at any number of personal compulsions, with every piece of advice firmly grounded in research and coherent thought. I assumed the words "passive" and "aggressive" would somehow figure in the conversation.