by Alice Schertle
llustrated by Jill McElmurry
Ages 3–7.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Meet Blue. A muddy country road is no match for this little pick up--that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they're willing to whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road.
Having as many people as possible market you makes good business sense.
Or does it?
How can you convince a speakers bureau to represent you? And what, exactly, does “represent” really mean? Will the bureau send a steady stream of business to you — or will it be an irregular trickle? Bureaus are inundated with speakers wanting to be booked, so how can you cultivate a positive relationship? And how do you know which bureaus are ethical, credible, and won’t leave you with unpaid travel expenses?
You will learn:
- how to get a bureau to represent you
- what it means to have a bureau represent you
- what you need to have before contacting a bureau
- how to find and choose bureaus to approach
- how to learn how they want to be contacted
- why you should not balk at paying a materials review fee
- the best ways to develop a relationship without being a pest
- the difference between net fees vs. gross fees and the importance of fee consistency
- realistic expectations of a bureau’s frequency of booking you.
by Terry Pratchett
The sea has taken everything.
Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.
Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. . . .
Internationally revered storyteller Terry Pratchett presents a breathtaking adventure of survival and discovery, and of the courage required to forge new beliefs.
$16.99 $11.55
... or request it free*
I had a wacky thought recently… can you learn the skills required to be a good public speaker by picking up women?
Sounds crazy doesn’t it… but according to experts, the key areas to pickup up women are things like:
Which is also a similar set of skills required to be a good public speaker.
“Like the chicken and the egg, enthusiasm and success seem to go together. We suspect, however, that enthusiasm comes first. If you hope to succeed at anything in this world, polish up your enthusiasm and hang on to it.”
-John Luther
"Fans and new readers alike will greedily devour McKinley's latest, a high fantasy as perfectly shaped and eloquently told as Beauty and The Hero and the Crown."
Care for a cup of tea with J. K. Rowling? To celebrate the U.S. release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Scholastic, Rowling’s U.S. publisher, is sponsoring a national essay contest for U.S. kids—and the five winners and their chaperones get an all-expense paid trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, to attend an exclusive event at the National Library of Scotland.The December 4, 2008 celebration includes a children’s tea party, where Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, will read from Beedle the Bard and then take part in a question-and-answer session hosted by Barry Cunningham, publisher of the Chicken House imprint and Rowling’s first editor. read more...
After my last article on experiencing creativity, there was a question in the resulting forum discussion about how to enter this highly creative flow state, the state where you lose all sense of time, your ego vanishes, and you become one with the task in front of you. Is this peak creative state a rare chance event, or can it be achieved consistently?
Chris Cleave
'A powerful piece of art... shocking, exciting and deeply affecting...[a] superb novel... Besides sharp, witty dialogue, an emotionally charged plot and the vivid characters' ethical struggles, THE OTHER HAND delivers a timely challenge to reinvigorate our notions of civilized decency.' (Independent 20080804)
'Searingly eloquent.' (Daily Mail 20080803)
'It would be hard not to romp through it.' (Financial Times 20080828)
'An ambitious and fearless gallop from the jungles of Africa via a shocking encounter on a Nigerian beach to the media offices of London and domesticity in leafy suburbia...Cleave immerses the reader in the worlds of his characters with an unshakable confidence. ' (Guardian 20080728)
'In a novel that tackles serious and uncomfortable subject matter, Cleave's writing makes one laugh and despair in equal measure. (4 stars)' (Time Out )
'Stunning... a haunting work of art.' (Newsweek on INCENDIARY )
PDF Download: Read an excerpt from The Other Hand
£12.99 £9.09
... or request it free*
Tim Wilson has a useful set of suggestions on how to close a speech. One of my favourites, that he doesn't mention, is to leave with a challenging thought. It could be a question, but doesn't have to be. It should produce "an ah-ha moment" or a smile from the audience, of understanding and agreement.
