Publish your own book

Ok, today I got a book in the mail that I had ordered from Blurb. It looks really nice and I think my uncle will like it. It is the autobiography that my aunt wrote this past year before she passed away.

Interesting tidbit that I found out while asking if they wanted me to include anything else in the book - she has over 40 journals! However, this past year she read them and condensed them into this one 100 page book. Wow! Like Abraham Lincoln said, it takes more time to write a shorter letter.

Anyway, since I know that many other friends also order books, I'm hoping that I can share some information and it will trigger others to share some more back to me.

I have no problem "wasting" money on testing a product if it helps me spend my money wisely going forward on the right product.

But, here's what I've learned so far:

• Winkflash - good for photography books, reasonably priced, but don't think they have the professional paper cover jacket. The software is online (unless it has changed and I couldn't find that it has)
• MyPublisher - a little more professional, great for photographs and minimal text. It provides some basic nice templates. Downloadable book creator software. It can be pricey if you don't use the online coupons they provide you every few weeks. Allows you to share a link to your complete book for others to view.
• Blurb - looks a little like MyPublisher as a final product, but cheaper. Works well for text heavy books, but allows for graphics. Allows you to share a link to others to view. But, it doesn't look like they can view the complete book. Also, it allows you to set a price to sell your book and even allow people to order their own style (softcover, hardcover, small, large, etc.)
• Shutterfly - haven't ordered from them yet and would be interested to see what they do.
• Lulu - haven't ordered yet, but definitely will. This site is great if you actually want to publish a book. You can buy the ISBN number and editing services if you so choose AND sell your book right on the site.
• Others that work?

All of these sites allow you to order posters, calendars, cards, etc. I was just focusing on the book publishing services here.

Please share if you have had good luck elsewhere. I will be publishing a few books in the future (ok, mostly journals and photos that are personal) and would really like to get high quality with the most reasonable company.

No offense to scrapbookers, but these are great AND I've actually scanned in an old scrapbook or two and have them in one of these books now. It's great and ...takes about 1/5th the space. Let's not forget the fact that you can order multiple copies too.

I love technology!

The Necklace

So, I had a three day weekend and instead of getting much done, I laid in bed half the time. Yep, some headaches and some sinus stuff has me sitting here in bed.

Never fear, when I can't sleep I read more from the Reader's Digest.

I came across a wonderful little story called "Diamonds are for Sharing" taken from a book called "The Necklace" by Cheryl Jarvis. Oh, and it's a true story.

A woman sees a beautiful $35,000 diamond necklace when she is walking through the mall one day. She thought it was beautiful, but didn't have enough money to buy it and wondered who would ever be able to purchase it. Either way she remembered it and wondered how it would feel to own it. (I would probably just go try to find the fake version on QVC or something. This lady was more creative) Her mother gave her the idea that perhaps if she could share it with some friends they could go in on it together.

Well, long story short, the necklace came down in price over a few months and she ended up getting about 12-13 women to go in on it with her. They would get it for a few weeks a year and they would get together in between and share the experiences they had while wearing it. Soon they all became even better friends as a result of this necklace.

What a creative idea! Sometimes we don't think we deserve some things, or we perhaps have other priorities. But, that doesn't mean there isn't a way to enjoy something. Who needs a diamond necklace everyday anyway? Sometimes we just want to have the taste of luxury for a little while. Perhaps with the economy the way it is, more of us will be buying homes, cars and other stuff in this shared manner. Hmm. My head is starting to roll with ideas already. I think there is a luxury purse site out there already where you can rent a nice purse for a week.

Anyway, the diamond necklace wasn't a necessity. However, the elegance, the value, the beauty - it all did provide some kind of happiness for these women. Even when they weren't wearing the necklace themselves, they were brought together because of the meaning associated with the necklace. Talking about it and sharing it brought a few women from different walks of life together.

So, in the end, it really wasn't about the necklace. It was about the friendship and support that came as a result.

The great underlying story was the fact that the jewelry owner wanted to give a good deal to the women once he found out what they were doing. His wife, the bookkeeper, didn't want to lower the price because they wouldn't profit. He made the deal with the women on the condition that they would let his wife be a part owner and become part of their group. She had some life difficulties that had gotten her down, but being in the group brought her an entire new group of friends in her time of need.

Good story.

See, Reader's Digest is a great little inspirational magazine.

Memory Lane - Library Treks

I wish I had a picture of us sitting at the big tree between our road and the library on Eastman road in Midland, Michigan. But, I don't and I haven't been back to Midland since 1990.

However, that tree holds lots of memories because we would often bike or walk to the library (around 1-1.5 miles from our home) to get books during the summer months. We would spend time looking at books or at those little film strips in the children's area and then select those that we actually wanted to check out and bring home.

By the time we started walking home we were a little tired and anxious to read the books we had checked out. Often we would stop and sit under that tree. My sisters and I would often start reading a book while we sat there and then the discussion would turn into decision making time. Do we keep walking home or do we return to the library to return the book (or books) we just read while sitting under the tree. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. Most of the time we just kept going home, but I think there were a few times where we went back anxious to return the so-so choices and gather more options to take home.

Even if we didn't read any books it was still fun to stop and sit at that tree. I think we felt like we were on a little trek or something.

Either way, it was good times and I still remember it. Still wish I had a picture.

Memorial Day Personality Tests

Seven of the eight children were home at my parents this weekend. Most of the spouses weren't there and 1/2 of the nieces and nephews weren't there, but I think it still qualified as a mini reunion. We were sending Brett off on his mission in style.

Since there is usually quite a bit of unplanned time wrapped up into these types of family visits, I decided to share the http://www.mypersonality.info site with everyone. Most everyone present took the test (Scot, you will have to take it now since you are the only sibling that hasn't participated) and here are the results:

• Dad - ENTP
• Mom - INFJ
• Rebecca - INTJ
• John - ISTJ
• RaeLyn - ISFJ
• Renaye - ENFJ
• RaeAnna - INFJ
• Chris - ENFP
• Jessica - ENFJ
• Craig - ISTJ
• Amber - ENFJ
• Scot -
• Brett - ENFP

Even one of the nephews (10 years old) wanted to take the test. I guess my grandfather had often talked about how young children should take personality tests and get them started in areas of interest at a young age. It sounds like an interesting idea - as long as it was combined with the freedom to switch to something else if the pursuit ended up in less interest. When you think about it, the education system is very successful at implementing the learning methods of an outdated society. Books like the World is Flat, Microtrends and Wikinomics have continued to interest me because they talk about this change from the industrial to the knowledge worker era, but I haven't figured out a good solution to help this change take place. I guess it's not all on me, but it would be a meaningful contribution to society.

As a side note, it's also good to have a background activity (like the personality test activity) going on while in the company of family members. It provides meaningful topics of conversation to turn to when hot topics arise, advice starts to run rampant and when an uncomfortable moment occurs.

Take yours at http://www.mypersonality.info

8 out of 11

8 of my 11 books have now sold on Amazon. Slower than usual, but selling none the less.

6 out of 11

So, I sold 6 out of 11 of my posted books in two days. Isn't the internet great?

Books - buying, reading and selling

It's always great when you can take a pile of books that were good for one round of eye contact and put them on Amazon for someone else to peruse. That's what I'm doing right now. It's 11 books to be exact. All of them were purchased in the bookstore or already used on Amazon. I could go to libraries, but I find a certain joy in actually purchasing books. Part of it is the ambiance of the bookstore and I don't know what the other part is, but I'm allowing myself to keep this habit.

Some of them are:

• Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell - interesting
• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki - interesting
• Crucial Confrontations by a lot of people - good for dealing with people at work
• Crucial Conversations by a lot of people - good for dealing with people at work
• Guide to Investing by Robert T. Kiyosaki (the Rich Dad, Poor Dad author) - it was a bit much information for me. He makes investing too difficult.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - excellent, but sad book.
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - excellent book to read on Thanksgiving Eve. I stayed up most the night reading it and became very grateful for my life and very sad for many others.

I am not selling the "Microtrends" book. It's by Mark J. Penn. It has over 50 little chapters about microtrends taking hold in the United States/World like how there will be more left handers since it's no longer negative (I'm a lefty so this is what I remember), soccer mom votes swinging elections, immigrant religions swaying votes as well as economics, more really young online millionaires, pets gaining importance in society, etc. Very interesting to see the impact of little trends on politics and economics.

Hey, while I'm typing my first book was purchased!