The Vahoo Info Connector

A low standard online catalog software can break even the most inventive electronic magazine. When you’re determined to produce an online catalog the essential next call is to select the software vendor. And they do so much more than simply give guidance on placing the content into a pleasant format. Being easy to use is the most important thing you want from your software. The software package could be the most amazing you’ve seen - but if you’re unable to actually use it, it’s worth nothing… Make the time to dry run multiple packages before you decide on a provider for your ezine.

Further major considerations you need to make are safeguarding security. You need to worry about hackers. Think about what protection is available for your ebrochure. How about the content? Does the package vendor have security to keep individuals from simply copying and pasting the content?

When you’ve created an interactive catalog it’s time to outline a marketing timetable. Where is the role of non-traditional media in it? Where is ad-handling in the plan? The feeling of your endeavour should be shown throughout. Modern marketing means considering search engine demands as you edit your content. What about mixing free and paid content? Think of offering multiple subscriptions. Will the content be commercialized ? Will you be using summaries and teasers to market your online publication? How available is your catalog? Will it be private in which case you can look into many hosting possibilities or is it public? In which case you will be better hosting directly with your provider. What is the plan about back-issues?

Tech support provided by the software vendor should form the prime consideration. Can you email anyone with questions? How long is the response time? Check whatever FAQs or how-tos are there. These are matters you want to look at before you have problems any trouble, you will be glad you did!

Consider your options before picking out your magazine’s e-publishing software supplier. Also, try googling the terms “create online publication” for further ideas.

To learn more, you are advised to take a gander at this exceptional source for digital magazine software suggestions.

Low standard flash software will spoil even the most creative electronic magazine. Once you’re determined to make an online magazine the essential next call is to select the software vendor. Setting the format for your brochure is merely a little section of their work. The most important part of the package is, naturally, ease of use. After all, no matter how excellent the software is, it’s still rubbish if you yourself can’t do anything with it… Ahead of you selecting a supplier for your electronic magazine, take time to try it out. The next big decision you need to make is about security. Now you should be worrying about hackers. Consider what is protecting your account. What does the digital publishing software provider have in place which stops the general public from just copy-pasting the words?

The commercialization scheme needs to be considered to promote your ezine. One part of this scheme should be what you do with social networking media. Where is ad-handling in this plan? None of these things are completely essential for each publication, but you will certainly need to choose one which matches your particular business model. Modern techniques mean considering search engine demands as you edit content. Is your content just going to be freely available? Think if you can offer single copy subscription choices. Will you be commercializing the content in any way or is this venture not-for-profit? How about providing summaries and teasers to sell your magazine? What’s the availability of your catalog? Is it private — in which case you should be able to look into many hosting options or will it be public? In that case you should probably host directly with the provider. What will you do with back-isues? Some workarounds need to be thought about in advance before you actually need to go for them. Specifically, technical support. Check out their online FAQs. Is there useful guides to fix things which you can actually follow? If the response time isn’t published ask them about it. Is there an accessible email address or a phone number? This is definitely a case of last-not-least consideration. You really don’t want to discover the hard way that they’re actually not up to par…

Your interactive catalog’s profit, after its been produced, is decided by your choice of digital publishing software package provider. Choose carefully, and you’ll be a great success.

A professional biography or overview, showcasing your background, experience and expertise, is a necessity for every business owner. This often overlooked marketing tool is an excellent way to introduce you and your business to potential clients and possible strategic business partners. Potentially, it might open up opportunities for speaking engagements, radio or television interviews, or a feature print article. While any information about you and your business is helpful, information that is presented in a professional, well-polished manner can make all the difference in how others perceive you. Consider these important points as you craft your own professional biography.

1. One page wonder.

Your professional biography should be a few paragraphs and kept to one page or less. One page is perfect for copying on the reverse side of a handout or flyer. Several paragraphs, left justified make it easier to read and skim.

2. First, second, or third person?

Always write your biography in the third person. That is, refer to yourself by your name or she/he as appropriate. It sounds more professional as it appears that a third party wrote the text. For example, “Alexandra has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and Time magazines.”

3. Business in brief.

Not only do readers want to know what you do, but also they want to know who you work with - because they might want to work with you! A professional biography should include a sentence or two about your business niche (or niches) as well as the types of clients you serve. A modified version of your 30-second elevator pitch might be perfect.

4. And the winner is….

Make sure that you include a list of awards that you have received. Readers are interested in knowing about your talents and the organizations that recognize you for them.

5. Organizations.

Include names of the organizations, clubs, or associations to which you belong. A reader’s interest might be highlighted at seeing that you belong to the same alumni association or professional business group. Again, these connections might possibly lead to some interesting and exciting business opportunities.

6. Certifications and designations.

Include any professional certifications or designations you hold. Make sure you write out their names in full, rather than use abbreviations. Not everyone might know that CMA stands for Certified Management Accountant. And, perhaps, in a different discipline, it might represent something else - like a Certified Materials Analyst. If you no longer hold a particular designation, but it has played a major role in who you are and what you do, don’t hesitate to make a reference to it. For example, “Ann is a former Certified Data Processor and spent the last decade as an adjunct faculty member teaching higher mathematics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.” Don’t include abbreviations of college degrees, like MBAs as it looks unprofessional. The only exception to this would be for a Ph.D. designation.

7. Published?

Have you written any articles, books, e-courses or e-books? Self-published or not, your works add to your level of professionalism and credibility. Showcase them in your biography and you might earn additional royalties in terms of new clients or other opportunities.

8. Did I mention the media?

Have you been a guest on talk radio or television? Were you or your business featured or even mentioned in a newspaper article? If so, readers want to know. Again, these types of “mentions” add to your credibility and presence.

9. Call me any time.

People who want to know about you will read your biography for just that reason. And, if its compelling, rich, and includes the information they’re interested, in, they’ll want to contact you. Include complete contact information like your title (if any), name, address, telephone, fax, email, and website address. Make it easy to find this information by including it in the last paragraph of your professional overview.

10. Write, rewrite, and do it again.

After you have written your biography, edit, edit, and edit again. You may need to do a dozen or so revisions before you get it just right. Eliminate extra words, use descriptive words, keep the sentences short but varied in length, and write in the third person. Ask some friends to provide input as well. Make sure to revise your biography regularly to keep it up-to-date and refreshed.

Copyright 2004 by Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff.

Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff is an executive coach, trainer, consultant and professional speaker with over 15 years of corporate experience. She coaches executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs on leadership, business and lifestyle issues and has been featured in radio, print, and television. She is the owner of CoachPoint(tm), www.virtualleverage.com and www.relationshipplanning.com.

Far too many inexperienced writers create flat, stereotypical characters: the brave fireman, the damsel in distress, the strict schoolmistress. The best characters are those who evoke emotions within the reader - fear, admiration, affection, laughter, horror… If the writer fails to make us care about the characters, no matter how ingenious the plot, we will toss the story aside without a second thought.

Every character should be unique. There are no two people in this world exactly the same. Each of us has an individual personality; everything we do derives from the governing aspects of that personality. The following factors contribute to our uniqueness:

• Names
• Appearance
• Possessions / props
• Speech
• Body language
• Habits
• Behaviour
• Background
• Major traits

These factors are best used in combination. For example, Charlie’s broken spectacles combine with his habit of tripping over things. Natasha’s boasting photographs of her new house combine with her loud voice that demands to be heard. A character who displays only one of these factors is nothing short of mundane.

Let’s look at these issues more closely.

1) Names

Everyone needs a name. Names identify who we are; they can be associated with status, be notorious, unusual, or nondescript. Some beginning writers struggle over naming their characters. Names often hold symbolic association. Pip in Great Expectations is like a seed growing through childhood to adulthood. Lemuel Gulliver is ‘gullible’ in his travels through Lillput, Laputa and beyond. A character should not be given the first name that pops into your head. It requires more thought than that.

2) Appearance

We do not remember every detail of someone’s appearance, but hone in to something that differentiates them from others. In Harry Potter, Ron Weesley’s distinguishable feature is his red hair. In Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac, the title character has a large nose. Appearance can be used to reveal personality moreover. For example, someone with dirty fingernails, besides being unclean, is far from a perfectionist; they are neither fussy nor obsessive. The relationship between appearance and reality has always fascinated authors. Appearances can be used to deceive after all. Frankenstein’s monster is inhumanly ugly and yet his natural impulses are benevolent. Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray is stunningly beautiful in everything but his soul, his reality, which is as foul as the rotting canvas hidden out of sight.

3) Possessions and props

Appearance ties in closely with personal possessions (or props). Everyone has possessions, including their homes, clothes, books, and cars. Even a homeless beggar views the street corner on which he sleeps as his own. Let’s look at more examples. Margaret never leaves the house without her bulging handbag. Charlie wears a pair of broken spectacles fastened together with sticky tape. Natasha goes nowhere without a photograph album containing pictures of her new five-bedroom house. Such concrete objects reveal aspects of character. Margaret carries her handbag, stuffed with everything she could ever need, because she feels insecure without it. Charlie is so clumsy that he doesn’t bother to buy a new pair of spectacles for he will only sit on them again. Natasha’s photographs scream out, “I am a shameless show-off!”

4) Speech

Speech evokes personality, both what is said, the content, and the way in which it is said, the manner. Nick is arrogant; his speech is long, loud, and self-interested. Emma’s occasional social shyness, on the other hand, is mirrored in her short speeches. Sometimes she only utters a monosyllable in reply to a prying question. Content and manner, moreover, reflect social class. A university lecturer will use different language than a pub barmaid (even if talking about the same subject.) Also note that people have their own set of speech idioms: Nick waffles, “etc, etc” at the end of each sentence; Emma utters, “don’t you think” to engage her listener’s approval.

5) Body language

Body language falls into two categories: voluntary and involuntary. We shake our head when we mean to say “no,” for example; we smile when we mean to be friendly. Voluntary body language, conversely, may be used to deceive. Sophie laughs loudly at her boss’s jokes even though they bore her to tears. Involuntary gestures are difficult to feign, however, as we tend not to realise we are making them. Sally rubs her left earlobe when she is nervous. Daniel folds his arms across his chest when he feels defensive.

6) Habits

No one is perfect; we all have habits (sometimes very irritating habits!) Mike blinks his eyes excessively. Anne clears her throat every five minutes. Adam picks invisible bits of fluff off his jacket sleeves obsessively. Aunt Hettie pushes her 50 year old false teeth in place, each time they slip from her gums, with a tongue as red as a slab of raw liver. Yuk! Habits can be revolting, irritating, amusing or endearing. Whatever they are, they make characters memorable.

7) Behaviour

Most of us have behavioural patterns such as working long hours, over-eating, spending too much money, heavy drinking, or taking an evening walk at 8:30 precisely. Behaviour under stress reveals a great deal about a character’s personality. Alan’s wife dies unexpectedly, and yet he continues his usual daily routines - he is pretending that nothing has changed, that she will be home for dinner as usual. Even under extreme stress, however, behaviour should remain consistent. For example, Sue never drinks alcohol. It would be out of character for her to turn to alcohol when she loses her job. Instead she turns to something that is consistent with her previous behaviour - her voluntary work at the local hospital perhaps. Even the most spontaneous of individuals is consistent in his/her spontaneity.

Background

No one just ‘exists’ as they are. We become what we are because of our background and past experiences. Our history shapes our thoughts, actions and motivations. Sam’s mother died when she was eleven years old. As an adult she is far more independent than her friend Jane who was mollycoddled by a protective mother. Luke is scared of animals because, as a small child, a stray dog viciously attacked him. Daniel is overly ambitious because his older brother ridiculed him. Background is especially important when creating believable ‘villains’. Very few people are innately evil. Serial killers crave power over another person’s life; it makes them feel important to dictate who can and cannot live. Why do they seek this perverse power? Maybe they were abused and beaten as helpless children. That does not justify their crimes in our minds, but it justifies them in their minds. But how do we explain why not all abused children grow up to be abusers? Some grow up to be excellent parents. Clearly, background alone doesn’t make a person what they are. It is their major psychological trait, because it dictates how they interpret their background, which makes them what they are.

9) Major trait

All characters have a major trait that dictates their personality and motivates their actions. Greed. Fear. Kindness. Guilt. Envy. Ambition. Worry. Creativity. Obsession. Kate is ruled by kindness and always puts others first. Steve is ruled by arrogance and always puts himself first. A ruling trait reveals itself in action and speech. How would arrogant Steve act in a crowded street? He would forge ahead single-mindedly, pushing everyone out of his way. How would Kate act in the same situation? She would allow herself to be pushed aside by the likes of Steve. Major trait affects every aspect of a person’s life. Kate never moved away to university with her friends, although she was bright enough to, because she felt it her duty to stay at home with her widowed mother. No one is all-perfect however. Kate worries excessively, despite her kind-heartedness, about anything and everything. No one is all-imperfect either. Steve has a wonderful sense of humour when he is not being arrogant. Even your most beloved heroes and heroines have faults and weaknesses.

Copyright © 2004 Aspire2write.com

http://www.aspire2write.com

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“If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If
he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed.
If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of
it, he has gloriously succeeded and has a satisfaction and
a triumph few men ever know.”
- Thomas Wolfe

“Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to
follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.”
- Erica Jong

Funnily enough, I don’t believe there are any magic ’secrets’
to writing success. If so, I’m still trying to discover them.
So I’ll cover this subject very briefly, because I don’t know
the answers. It’s really all common sense, following your
basic instincts and having a bit of fun at the same time.
Just BE YOU and write what your heart, your imagination
tells you to write. The writer or author is a puppeteer,
moulding the clay through the words that you choose.
You weave the strands of the article or story together,
through use of your creative imagination.

You start your article, short story or novel with an idea.
You decide HOW you will start: “Once upon a time”. (This
could be the little child emerging from the depths of your
soul). Sounds very “airy-fairy” that, like many “arty farty
writer types”!

You perhaps got the plot from a television programme
or a newspaper article. The plots of some of my novels
came from newspaper articles.

Then you make choices as you go along: to base your
story upon fact or fiction, or faction (a mixture of fact and
fiction - I like that genre (impressive word that - must use
it more often!). You choose the track. You are the director,
producer and actor: YOU set the scene, decide whether it
is to be local or foreign. It’s up to you HOW you describe
the landscape or surrounding environment.

You decide on the characters and how you will describe
them. To let them live or die? What immense power you
have to determine destinies! Whether to have a happy or
sad ending?
“And they all lived happily ever after….”

A few short words of advice to end off this lesson…
Make your writing FUN and get readers (and the editor)
“hooked” with a good opening paragraph and an even
better opening line.

What do you think of this example by Charles Dickens from
“A Tale of Two Cities”?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the
epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were
all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other
way - in short, the period was so far like the present period,
that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being
received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of
comparison only.”

I find it excellent and powerful writing; but quite “heavy
reading”. What did you think of that style of writing?

How’s this for an opening line for a novel?

“James walked into the hotel and it was as if he was struck
by a bolt of lightning. He instantly went into a state of shock,
as the past ten years of his life flashed through his mind, as
in an instant replay. It was too much to all take in in a
second. His legs began to tremble, as if they had turned
into instant jelly. They could barely hold his slight frame,
as he struggled with all his might to hold his body upright.
Out of his numbness he could see seated at the end of the
bar the face of the man that was indelibly printed on the
deepest recesses of his subconscious mind, the striking
features that had haunted him all those years. It was
the same mysterious man, who in an instant had turned
his entire world upside down and consumed James’s
every waking thought for the past decade.”

Was that “a bit over-the-top” writing?
“Did I need to say “mysterious man”? Do you want to read on?

Perhaps that could be the first paragraph of my next book?
Would you be interested in reading a book with a beginning, like that?

Or this one from my novel “Angolan Dawn”

“It was just getting light with that certain freshness in
the air of early morning. Albertina Kangombe saw the
figure of her husband Marcelino receding in the distance
down the sandy track, walking slowly down the gentle hill.
She saw him turn around once to look at her but he could
not see the tears of sadness running down her face. She
wondered when she would see her dear, strong husband
again. He was a tall man but he became smaller and
smaller as she saw him gradually receding into the distance
on that early January morning. And then he was gone…

Time to end off (I’ve done enough “work” re-writing this
lesson) already….

Stimulate your imagination to the fullest. then go with the
flow. Observe life and jot down notes about your thoughts
and feelings . Then “make the words dance to your tune”.

“Don’t spend your days, stringing your instrument - start
making your own brand of music right NOW. “

See you next week, when we’ll talk more about style and
grammar. Oh no, not another boring lesson!

I hope this information may be helpful to you in your creative writing.

Happy writing

About the Author

Craig Lock
“Information and Inspiration distributor”
http://www.craiglock.com
http://www.craiglockbooks.com
http://www.novelty-gift.com/ebooks.html

Many professional web developers including myself use the Fortune3 shopping cart software to create online stores for our clients. Despite the fact that prices of broadband and web servers have dropped dramatically, the software can only be used in their web servers.

As some of our clients want to host in their own servers, we have been asking for the stand-alone version. I am constantly bringing to their attention the inconvenience of the hosting dependency and the recurrent monthly fees.

Although Fortune3 software popularity at Download.com, Zdnet, and Tucows.com goes beyond all other shopping carts, beware: Some of the carts can be installed in any web server.

Fortune3 says that it will not be possible to release a stand-alone version that will provide all the functionality of its actual database-driven shopping cart engine, because it is too complex and requires many resources. A stand-alone version should be a HTML code generator instead of a database-driven Ecommerce engine.

We must wait and see. Fortune3 never announces their upcoming releases, but they listen. Since they are constantly releasing new versions of their software, I wouldn’t be surprised one of these days we’ll have it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark is the development director of CommerceTree, an E-Commerce development firm based in south Florida. Mark has a degree in computer sciences from FIU and 8 years of expertise in developing online stores for small and medium size companies.