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The Differences:

The most obvious difference between these two digital reading gadgets available for purchase at this time is that just one works in the United States while the “Global Kindle” works in over 100 countries all over the globe. If you live in a country besides the US (or if you’re a US citizen who frequently visits countries around the world) then that makes your choice (such as it is) quite obvious; You have to choose the Kindle with Global Wireless.

Besides that, the obvious difference is that of their sizes. The Kindle DX Reading Device is far larger as far it’s display and it’s memory capabilities. It is also much bigger as far as it’s cost.

While the DX is 9.7 inches, the Kindle with Global Wireless is just 6 inches. The bigger screen is particularly helpful with newspaper subscriptions (it makes it more like reading a real paper.) On the other side, the smaller size of the global version can make it more easy to carry with you.

There’s also a big difference when it comes to memory size. The Kindle DX can hold up to 3,500 books while the other version can hold about 1,500 books. But really, who has such a ridiculous amount of books?! Honestly, I have a difficult time imagining this huge amount of space that the DX has is needed for the majority of potential buyers.

Another difference between these devices is the auto-rotating screen that the DX has.The DX also has a built in PDF reader that the smaller version does not have.

The Similarities:

They both can download from a selection of about 350,000 books, magazines, and newspapers which can usually be purchased for lower prices than their paperback alternatives. These books can all be downloaded within just 60 seconds from anywhere (they have G3 wireless so there’s no need to search for wi-fi spots.)

Both kindles have text to speech software which can turn all of your books into audio books. Yes, your Kindle will read to you!

Neither of these electronic reading devices have any monthly charges to worry about. The way the wireless service works is much like the service for GPS navigational systems.

Both devices have a very basic built in web browswer that lets you check out websites wherever you are. This web browswer is meant for text based sites such as blogs and Wikepedia.

They both have a display that has no glare so that it reads like real paper. If you’re worried that reading a Kindle’s display will be like reading your computer’s monitor then don’t be!

Mysteries have always been popular with middle grade readers. They are generally fast-paced stories that build self-confidence by allowing the reader to solve the crime. Simple mysteries for this age group follow a clear formula where the author provides clues for the reader in a predictable fashion, using escapes, setbacks and coincidence. The Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books are both in this category.

As readers become skilled at solving mysteries, they reach for books that require careful scrutiny to discern clues. Mystery of Drear House by Virginia Hamilton and Goody Hall by Natalie Babbitt and are excellent examples. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you choose to write mysteries for children.

* Unlike other types of children’s books, the child protagonist in a mystery does not go through major character development during the story. His or her character must be strong at the beginning of the book, and have qualities the reader will identify with or admire. However, one of the protagonist’s character traits (such as having a photographic memory) can be used to solve the mystery, as long as the readers know about it.

* Another distinction between mysteries and other types of fiction is that in mysteries there is little or no underlying theme to the story (such as loneliness, peer pressure, etc.). The plot drives the story, and the conflict and tension is derived from what happens to the main characters from without, rather than what’s going on inside themselves.

* The child in the story must be as smart, or smarter, than the grounups. Adults can help in certain situations in order to make the story believable, but the child must uncover the major clues and solve the case.

* The clues to the crime, as well as the crime itself, must be accessible to children in real life in order for the story to be realistic. This also helps the reader unravel the mystery. A child would not know, for example, how someone could alter the brakes on a car, but he or she is most likely aware of how this was done to a bicycle.

* The reader must have access to all the clues available to the protagonist. It’s not fair for the author to withhold information.

* It’s a good idea for the author to rehash the entire crime and round up all the clues at the end of the book. A common method is using the progatonist to summarize the crime to another character just before solving the case. This will remind readers of the clues, and give them a better chance of coming up with the solution on their own.

�Laura Backes is the publisher of Children’s Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children’s Writers. For more information about how to write children’s books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children’s Book Insider’s home on the web at http://write4kids.com and the CBI Clubhouse at http://cbiclubhouse.com

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Sure, it’s aggravating. You work like the dickens on your manuscript, revise, re-write and revise again. You submit to publishers and get a slew of rejections. Meantime, some pop star or athlete gets a big money deal to write a children’s book without lifting a finger.

Well, that’s just the way of the world. No need to get down about it. Just get to work. Non-celebrities get book deals every day. Here’s how you can do the same.

Step 1: Learn the Rules.

If you?re not famous, your manuscript or query letter takes the same route at a children’s book publisher as the rest of the non-celebrities. It gets plopped, as part of a huge pile, on the desk of an overworked, underpaid, editorial assistant (or a freelance reader). Her job is to sift through the pile of dross and find a few nuggets of gold, and then pass them on to an equally underpaid and overworked editor. The editor then reads through the smaller pile, sets aside the submissions that catch her eye, and brings them to an editorial meeting. If the general consensus is “yes, this is a book we want to publish”, you?re on your way to partying it up with L.L. Cool J in the special “Children?s Writers? V.I.P. Lounge” at the Viper Room.

Buried in that timeline is some bad news, and some good news. First the bad news: The editorial assistant sifts out up to 95% of the submissions that arrive. In other words, the vast majority of submissions to a publishing house never even make it in front of a person in a position to publish it. Why not? They may, of course, simply be terrible submissions, loaded with poor grammar, misspellings and hackneyed writing. They may be the obvious work of amateurs, handwritten on lined paper with childish drawings. Or, and this is where there?s some hope, they may simply get turned down because they?re the less obvious work of amateurs.

More subtle things, such as using single spacing rather that double spacing, or a manuscript whose word count is out of whack with the “norm” is sometimes all it takes for an EA to say “Beginner”. Rejection.”

So here?s the good news: simply by learning the specific, but not wildly arcane, rules of children?s publishing, you can leapfrog over the madding crowd. When an EA or reader reads a manuscript that comes from someone who clearly knows how it?s done, they?re far more likely to give it a fair reading, and far less squeamish about turning it over to the boss.

So how do you learn the rules? Visit http://cbiclubhouse.com and have a look at the resources available there.

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Step 2: Write to the Publisher?s Needs.

The problem with many aspiring children?s book writers is that they have a specific idea from which they won?t budge. To be frank, it?s usually a pretty dumb idea and, even if it?s halfway decent, chances are it?s been done many times already. Look, I know your dream is to write that book about the talking scrubber brush and his sinkside pals, but put the dream on hold for a bit. The single best way to get published is to figure out what publishers want – and give it to them.

Here?s an example: Schools are in desperate need of fiction and nonfiction books that integrate into curricula. Publishers, thus, are eager to provide said books, as schools are big and dependable customers who are likely to buy directly from the publisher, giving even a better profit margin.

And you?re response to this is..? Hopefully, it?s “Hey, I?m going to write some books that tie in with school curricula!”

This is just one example – publishers have all sorts of often unglamorous niches they need filled. How to find out? Get their guidelines and catalog. Often, they?re quite straightforward about their needs, other times you need to read between the lines of the catalog to figure it out. But the answer is usually there.

And, seriously, let?s see Denzel Washington try to write an exciting thriller about the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.

Step 3: Learn to Write a Great Query Letter.

Your query letter (used if you?re sending a few sample chapters of a longer manuscript) or cover letter (used to accompany and introduce a complete manuscript) is your chance to really make the sale. Almost always, it?s a wasted opportunity filled with irrelevance (I?m the mother of three and I?ve always dreamed of writing a children?s book!), pleading (It would mean so much to me to see this book in print!) and ludicrous assertions (Everyone tells me I?m the next J.K. Rowling!).

A good query letter is basically this: a powerful sales letter meant to convince a publisher that it is in its best interests to publish your book. Essentially, you need to tell them that your manuscript fits their needs and will sell to their current market and will expand into new markets. Tell them, specifically, how you will be able to deliver readers (e.g. I have a weekly blog read by more than 30,000 parents and my website attracts 60,000 visitors a month) and how there is a defined need for your book and how you will reach the target customers (e.g. There are over a half million foster children in America. These children, their foster parents and foster siblings need books like mine to help make sense of their situations. I will promote my book directly to them through organizations, conferences, newsletters and websites.)

To succeed in publishing, you have to strip away the romantic nonsense you?ve been brought up with and see things as they are. Children’s books aren?t published by magical elves. They?re published by business people (albeit, business people who, thankfully, often genuinely love the books they publish). Display to an editor that your book will be an artistic and financial success and you?re taking a big step in the right direction. For much more on writing a great query letter, go to http://www.write4kids.com/query.html To learn about a collection of actual query letters from children?s authors that you can use for models, go to http://www.write4kids.com/a2e.html.

Step 4: Write to an Existing, Underserved Market.

Sometimes the concept of writing to a publisher?s needs can be turned on its head. Perhaps there?s a sizeable, wonderful market that no one is serving and you can convince a publisher that its just the one to serve it. It could be anything – children of interracial marriage, girls who like jazz, boys who play bass guitar, American kids who dig the game of cricket – if there are enough of them out there and are too few books for them to read, you may very well be introducing a publisher to a potentially lucrative market.

Do your research. Talk to trade associations, government experts, owners of websites that serve specific markets or anyone else who can give you some supporting backup on the size of your target group. Search Books in Print for already existing titles that target the group. Speak with librarians and booksellers to get their viewpoint on needs. And include it all in a great query letter.

Step 5: Listen to the Pros.

There?s no need to go it alone. Take the time (and spend a few bucks) to listen to others who have made the journey. Writing conferences, workshops (visit http://wemakewriters.com for an excellent one), books and newsletters (such as Children?s Book Insider — write4kids.com/aboutcbi.html) can dramatically increase your chances of getting published by helping you avoid typical mistakes and pitfalls. An eBook such as I Wish Someone Had Told Me That: 64 Successful Children’s Authors Give You the Advice They Wish Someone Had Given Them (http://write4kids.com/wishbook.html) is a great example of this sort of instruction. Pay heed to the voices of experience!

Laura Backes is the publisher of Children’s Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children’s Writers. For more information about how to write children’s books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children’s Book Insider’s home on the web at http://write4kids.com and the CBI Clubhouse at http://cbiclubhouse.com

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When my kid Conor started school 5 years ago I imagined that we would go through the same process that we had done with my older daughter, enthusiasm and excitement of finishing her first book and ready for the next. She built her vocabulary knowledge as she went and with it an understanding of how stories began, developed and came to interesting conclusions and of course alongside this so to did her willingness to write her own imaginative stories which sometimes were very long repetitive ones!! I guess many of you recognise this as perfectly normal behaviour which of course it is. Being a teacher I was pleased with how Shannon was progressing into a confident reader.

Conor on the other hand was, as you say, another kettle of fish! Homereader sessions were torture, he would slump over his book at the mere request of having to open it, cry because he couldn?t blend the sounds together in the words in front of him or just guess wildly, by checking out the pictures. Conor was oh yes what I had experienced many times in my job a ?reluctant reader!? I tried coaxing, bribing, shouting, withdrawing toys, to no avail, we did move on a little each year but I new that he was set for problems later in school with reading and writing; anyway what he did like was listening to me read to him and the whole bedtime routine that you do! As he got older we discovered Audiobooks! What a fantastic invention and the saviour, I believe, to my son?s education.

They helped him to become involved in the books, experience them himself, develop his own ideas and imagination and indeed with this a fantastic range of vocabulary. When his year 3 teacher asked me to come in one evening after school it brought tears to my eyes as she showed me a piece he had composed in class, with her as scribe, the vocabulary was amazing and structure of the plot interesting and exciting. From constant failure in literacy he and I could both see a light at the end of the tunnel.

He is about to go into Year 5 now and yes I am worried a little because the physical task of writing is still a chore but at least he has the knowledge, understanding and vocabulary to develop these skills. Audio books saved my boy from a world without books and adventures and to all those parents out there who recognise the pain and torture of a reluctant child to reading, just give it a go, It?s a great way to get them to sleep on time too as they just drift off, with adventures to discover in dreamland!!

Checkout this website for MP3 Books where you can Download Books for a whole range of adventures

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Mike Filsame just released his new superb eBook “The Death of Internet Marketing Report” which is a definite must for all Internet Marketers. At first I was skeptical and thought this was yet another FREE online eBook that nobody wanted to read, and yes I said FREE. After about two seconds spent reading the introduction and the first few paragraphs I just couldn’t take my eyes off it.

I’ve seen eBooks not even half as good as Mike Filsame’s The Death of Internet Marketing Report being sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars so needled to say that I was rather surprised that something this good was being distributed free. You can read and explanation why Mike Filsame is offering his work for free in his eBook.

Read more… »

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Especially since there are thousands of books on sale all over the internet stating that they know all the secrets necessary for you to rank well on Search Engines “SERP”. So what do I think about SEO books? Well it depends on the book.

A few months ago I decided to read Aaron Wall’s SEO Book to see if the information contained in it was really useful and worthwhile spending the money on. Needless to say that shortly after receiving the book I started reading it only to stop when I had finished it. Never had I thought that there was so much to be learned about SEO. If you have any doubts about how to go about optimizing your site/blog the only SEO book that I can honestly advise anyone to read has to be Aaron Wall’s SEO Book. It’s worth every penny.

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A few months ago I bought a book that completely changed the way I perceived and went about doing business. The book I’m talking about is Think and Grow Rich: The Andrew Carnegie formula for money making by Napoleon Hill.  

What it taught me wasn’t a how to get rich quick formula but rather the necessary steps I needed to take in order to become a successful person.  Unlike other books on the subject this book did not try to teach me strange formulas to make money but rather it tried to tutor me how to overcome the personal barriers that stood in the way of my success. It also taught me that everyone can be successful no matter what their current financial or professional status is. I simply can’t explain it better, you have to read it to understand. The book is for sale on amazon.com for only $7.99, can you afford not to read it?

If you would like to buy this book please use our online book store our click on the image above to be taken to amazon.com.