Posted by Elena del Valle on May 29, 2009
Celebritize Yourself book cover
Marsha Friedman, a public relations practitioner and self promotion enthusiast, believes that the public gives more credibility to the things celebrities say than to the same comments from a regular person. In her recently published book, Celebritize Yourself The Three Step Method To Increase Your Visibility And Explode Your Business (Warren Publishing, $19.95) she explains why and how readers can develop their reputation for good advantage.
“The term celebrity isn’t just reserved for the stars we read about in the tabloids, but rather, it also refers to experts who are known for being the tops in their chosen fields, many times removed from movie and TV stars,” said Friedman. “Whether you’re a doctor, financial advisor, real estate broker, used car sales person, or even a waiter, you can celebritize yourself in any field.
“Celebrity is a powerful commodity; doors that were once closed can suddenly open. People listen to what they ignored before. New business and money flows to you – not away from you. Most of all, people thank you for sharing your wisdom.”
In the 175-page paperback book Friedman stresses that before becoming famous celebrities were regular people. As examples she cites Julia Child and Erma Bombeck. Child’s background was in publicity and advertising before she followed her passion for French cooking and turned it into a thriving business. Bombeck was a reporter turned homemaker who converted a $3 per column job and into a nationally-syndicated revenue generating idea.
The book is divided into 11 chapters: Everyone Has a Celebrity Within Them! Isn’t It Time You Walked into the Limelight? The Joys of Becoming the Celebrity in Your Field; Why Do You Want to Become a Celebrity? First, Know Thyself; It All Starts with A Book; From Community Celebrity to National Celebrity; How to Be a Great Radio or TV Guest and Quoted in the News! The Celebritize Yourself Quiz; Find Your Media Niche? Now Let’s Get Started! and The Big Payoff.
Marsha Friedman, author, Celebritize Yourself
Friedman, a business woman, publicity expert, radio show host and public speaker, owns Event Management Services, Inc. (EMSI), a national public relations firm she established in 1990. Every week she appears on the nationally syndicated talk radio show “The Family Roundtable” on XM.
Celebritize Yourself book cover
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 8, 2009
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire book cover
Photos: Teresa Castracane
C.M. Mayo, a resident of Mexico for many years, recently published The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books, $26.95) a historical novel set in that country during the reign of Emperor Maximilian von Hapsburg. While the Civil War was tearing the United States apart, Louis Napoleon invaded Mexico and installed Austrian Archduke Maximilian von Hapsburg as emperor. Mayo’s story is set against this post war background. Her debut novel, the result of extensive research, is based in fact.
In the 430-page hardcover book she sets the tale of ambition, heart break, intrigue and politics. A year after becoming emperor the childless monarch took custody of a two-year old half American boy, Prince Agustin Iturbide y Green, making him the Heir Presumptive. The boy was the son of a Mexican diplomat and an American woman; and the grandson of Mexico’s first emperor, who fought for independence from Spain and was executed before a firing squad. Maximilian’s refusal to return the toddler to its saddened parents even while his empire crumbled and the empress toyed with madness catapulted the country into scandal.
Author C.M. Mayo
The author, a part time resident of Washington, D.C., is a translator of contemporary Mexican literature and founding editor of Tameme Chapbooks Cuadernos. Mayo’s other books include Sky Over El Nido, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, a travel memoir and Mexico: A Traveler’s Literary Companion.
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 1, 2009
Capitalizing on Kindness
Kirstin Tillquist, a former attorney turned chief of staff to the mayor of the City of Riverside, California, has experience working with politicians and influential people. She firmly believes one of the most, if not the single most, important attitude in business today is kindness. She explains why in her newly published book, Capitalizing on Kindness Why 21st Century Professionals Need to Be Nice (Career Press, $15,99).
The 255-page softcover book is divided into seven chapters: Kindness Capital, The Power of Reputation, The Power of Reciprocity, The Power of Personality, The Power of Thanks, The Power of Connecting, and From Success to Significance. In it she explains that the type of kindness she refers to is a combination of a caring attitude with a smart and strong business approach. Self sacrificing give til you drop and quiet types will not necessarily reap the benefits she speaks of although they may feel rewarded for their actions in private.
She argues that many business people believe falsely that there is a choice between being kind and being successful. Instead, kind people become successful. She sets out to explain to her readers how to be kind in business and develop “kindness capital,” a concept she defines loosely as “what is built up when you consciously set out to be kinder and develop your skills at applying kindness.”
According to Tillquist, kindness results in higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and lower likelihood of being sued. The author emphasizes the benefits of the five Powers of Kindness: Reputation, Reciprocity, Personality, Thanks and Connecting. She is a business consultant, speaker, columnist, and trainer on business kindness.
Capitalizing on Kindness
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 17, 2009
Business War Games book cover
For 25 years Benjamin Gilad, Ph.D. has helped large companies design and run competitive games to make determinations about product and service launches and strategy. This year, the former associate professor published a 223-page hardcover book, Business War Games How Large, Small and New Companies Can Vastly Improve Their Strategies and Outmaneuver the Competition (Career Press, $19.99), designed to make this concept accessible to everyday business people and small companies.
What are war games? An increasingly popular approach to making decisions at the highest echelons of corporate America. These games provide executives a simulation, often relying on sophisticated computer modeling, expert consultants and extensive exercises, to anticipate results, and how customers and the competition will respond to a proposed project launch. The basic concept is to explore ideas that can later, if successful in the games, be implemented in the business and survive in the market.
Gilad believes war games need not be costly or rely on expensive consulting services. In the first chapter of the book, he proposes that the every business person facing a decision involving competitors should have access to the games experience. According to him, they provide a way for decision makers to asses and estimate market changes; test applicable strategies; create and test plans to target the markets of competitors or anticipate threats from competitors; and protect new products and services when they are introduced into the market.
To explain the concept and how to take advantage of it, he divided the book into four sections: From Sand Table to Boardroom, Competitors as Characters, Step-by-Step, and Running a Business War Game. Although he concedes that the term “business war games” may be deceptive since they are not really about wars, he argues that in lieu of a better term or acronym (he mentions IRS for Iterations of Rival Strategies among less desirable options) he prefers war games because it sounds like fun and having fun is one of the most important characteristics of these exercises.
Gilad, who ran war games for Fortune 500 companies for 25 years, has a Ph.D. in economics. A former associate professor of strategy at Rutgers University, he is the founder and president of the Academy of Competitive Intelligence.
Business War Games
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Posted by Elena del Valle on April 10, 2009
The Facebook Era book cover
Photos: Prentice Hall Professional
For people interested in reaching prospects online social networking, especially websites like Facebook with 150 million members, may offer a desirable target. That forum is so large 400,000 developers have created 24,000 applications for the system. The same characteristic that makes Facebook desirable, its many members, makes tapping it daunting. Social networking advocates believe that because university graduates are accustomed to social networking from their college days and may continue their use as they enter the workforce making social networking sites indispensable as a future business tool. At the same time, eager new users question the tangible long term business benefits of social networking and wonder how they should get started.
This year, a new expert joined the many fans of social networking with a “how to” guide. Clara Shih wrote The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff (Prentice Hall Professional, $24.99) to share suggestions about how business people can leverage social networking to change the way they do business and profit from it.
The 236-page paperback book includes a 60-day action plan to help readers benefit from using social networks. It is divided into 12 chapters in three main parts: A Brief History of Social Media, Transforming the Way We Do Business, and Your Step By Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business. In the first section she examines the current state of social networking; she then explores ways in which specific company areas can benefit from social forums; and in the last four chapters she provides suggestions to implement the ideas she presented in the previous section.
Author Clara Shih
Shih created Faceconnector (formerly Faceforce), one of the first business applications on Facebook. She is also product line director of AppExchange, salesforce.com’s online marketplace for business software-as-a-service applications built by third-party developers. Previously, the author worked in strategy and business operations at Google, and before that as a software developer at Microsoft.
She is the founder and serves on the board of directors of Camp Amelia Technology Literacy Group, an East Palo Alto, California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that develops and distributes technology education software and curriculum. Clara holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics and computer science from Stanford, and has a Master’s Degree in Internet studies from Oxford, where she was as a United States Marshall Scholar.
Her first book, Using New Media, was commissioned by UNESCO to help teachers, parents, and school administrators in developing countries use digital media to adopt best practices and distribute high-quality content and curriculum. Shih is an immigrant to the United States from Hong Kong and learned English as a second language.
Facebook Era book cover
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Posted by Elena del Valle on March 27, 2009
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba book cover
In Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause (Viking, $27.95) Tom Gjelten, a correspondent for international issues for National Public Radio (NPR), uses a literary magnifying glass to examine the history of five generations of the Bacardi family, world famous rum makers exiled from Cuba. The 413-page hardcover book, published in 2008, is divided into 23 chapters tracing 150 years of the family from the 1860s to the post-Castro era.
The idea for the book was born in 1999 as a way to tell the modern story of Cuba with a new twist, and Gjelten began writing it in 2003. He believes the Bacardis had the type of forward thinking community oriented mentality the island needed and failed to produce.
In the process of researching and writing the book he interviewed 100 people and conducted extensive archival research in Santiago and Havana, Cuba as well as Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida. He traveled to Cuba 15 times and dedicated many weeks to the project in South Florida.
Gjelten believes the salient aspect of his findings is that although the Bacardi family business remains almost 100 percent family owned the company has survived through five generations of the family, and is thriving as a modern multinational company. The book has two sections of black and white photos of the Bacardi family, factories, buildings and people, including Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
Gjeltenis, a resident of Arlington, Virginia, is a regular panelist on Washington Week, a PBS radio program. He received George Polk, Robert F. Kennedy and Overseas Press Club awards for his journalistic work from the former Yugoslavia. Prior to Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba, he wrote Sarajavo Daily: A City and its Newspaper Under Siege.
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba book cover
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Posted by Elena del Valle on March 20, 2009
Born Digital Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives book cover
John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, law professors and researchers, set out to outline the characteristics of the first group of people born and raised in a digital world, those born after 1980. In their recently published book, Born Digital Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (Basic Books, $25.95), they explore identity, privacy, safety, addition, violence, creativity, learning, and future prospects issues for this digitally oriented population.
The 375-page hardcover book begins with an introduction followed by 13 chapters: Identities, Dossiers, Privacy, Creators, Pirates, Quality, Overload, Aggressors, Innovators, Learners, Activists and Synthesis. Digital Natives, as the authors call them, live much of their lives connected. Unlike the rest of the population which distinguishes between their online and offline lives, these individuals born in the digital have one single identity with a presence or representation in varied locations.
Digital Natives have common attitudes and behaviors that sometimes contrast with those of Digital Immigrants, those individuals born before the online boom. Digital Natives rely on digital technologies and spend a great deal of time on them; they are likely to multitask; they relate to themselves, their friends and colleagues depending on their interaction with their technology; and they depend on technological tools to use, find and create information and art.
The authors clarify that only one billion of six billion people worldwide have access to digital technologies, and that this gap is widening and creating a divide between the haves and the have nots. At the same time, they point out that even the population that has access to technology may lack the skills necessary to take full advantage of it.
Palfrey, professor of law and vice dean at Harvard University, is also faculty director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. He chairs the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Gasser, associate professor of law, St. Gallen, is also faculty director of the Research Center for Information Law and a faculty fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. He has written or edited six books and more thank 60 articles.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on March 13, 2009
Clutter, Chaos and the Cure book cover
In her 98-page paperback book, Clutter, Chaos and the Cure or Why You Never Misplace Your Toothbrush (Kiwi Publishing, 9.95) Rosemary Chieppo, a professional organizer, explains why we have clutter in our lives and how to deal with it. The easy-to-read book is divided into 27 short sections addressing related topics.
She promises to help readers develop habits to find what they need when they need it; gain time to do other things (instead of searching for misplaced items); eliminate time wasters; control interruptions; develop a system to determine what to keep and what to discard; reduce clutter; and prevent a clutter relapse.
“Organizing just means having a place for everything and making sure everything is in its place,” said Chieppo, a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. According to her, many people think of organizing in terms of physical space but they should remember that there is an emotional and mental side. “They don’t own their stuff. Their stuff owns them. Bringing themselves to donate or discard an item of sentimental value takes a certain amount of self-reflection.”
The book includes illustrations by Ernie Conte, a 30-year veteran illustrator and graphic designer. He was formerly staff artist and art director at Lender’s Bagels. Since 1999, Chieppo, of Born to Organize, has made a living helping people get organized.
Clutter, Chaos and the Cure
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Posted by Elena del Valle on March 6, 2009
Chronicles of a Nomad book cover
Photos: A.A. Alvarez
In his first novel, Chronicles of a Nomad: Memoirs of an Immigrant (A.A. Alvarez Publishing, $15), Venezuelan born A.A. Alvarez shares a tale of life following immigration based in part on his personal experiences as an immigrant from his native country to Greece. He began writing the 279-page paperback novel in May 2008 and the book was published January 2009.
Told in first person by the fictional character Carlos Rodriguez, the book shares the story of a young man searching for his future beyond his country of birth, where he no longer feels safe or welcome. He first travels to the United States but an expired visa forces his return to his native country.
Eventually, he immigrates to an unexpected place, Greece. Along the way, he shares his tale with readers as well as his thoughts about immigration, love, family, culture, politics, and religion.
“When I wrote Chronicles of a Nomad: Memoirs of an Immigrant, I imagined a readership composed of international students who wanted to enjoy an easy read in which they could feel a special connection with the main character. Leaving one’s country, one’s culture, and one’s language behind is an experience that only us immigrants can truly understand. It is a bond that unites us all regardless of origin and I believe that every migrant has a story worth sharing with the world. It would be wonderful if this could encourage them to publish their stories as well,” said Alvarez.
“As I got close to finishing my book, I began to also imagine immigrant parents sharing the story with their kids. After all, it’s the story of a young man who deals with plenty of the issues that many young immigrants also have to deal with, not only as foreigners in a new country, but as teenagers in their homeland and as human beings of planet Earth. My book serves as a medium for me to share some of the teachings I’ve learned in my path to becoming a citizen of the world, and it’s my greatest honor that it can be enjoyed by a multicultural audience.”
A.A. Alvarez, author, Chronicles of a Nomad
Alvarez left his native country after witnessing a major economic disaster, several bloody revolts, and two failed coup attempts. He lives in Greece where he works in marketing and copy writing.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on February 27, 2009
Who’s Buying by Race and Hispanic Origin (New Strategist, $59.95) is part of the Who’s Buying series and features 123 pages of spending information about Asian, black and Hispanic consumers in 2005. The paperback book is divided into 12 sections and four appendices.
Following a Household Spending Trends discussion for 2000 to 2005, there is an overview followed by information on spending apparel, entertainment, financial products and services, food and alcoholic beverages, gifts, healthcare, housing, and transportation shelter and utilities. There is also a section on personal care, reading, education and tobacco. The appendices address the Consumer Expenditure Survey, Mortgage Principal and Capital Improvements and Spending by Product and Service Ranked by Amount Spent.
New Strategist is a New York publishing company. Other titles published by the company include Household Spending, Who’s Buying for Travel, Who’s Buying Apparel, Who’s Buying Health Care, Who’s Buying Household Furnishings, Services and Supplies, Who’s Buying for Pets, Who’s Buying by Race and Hispanic Origin, Who’s Buying at Restaurants and Carry-Outs, Who’s Buying Transportation, Who’s Buying Groceries, Who’s Buying Entertainment, Who’s Buying by Age and Who We are Hispanic.
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