This is a helpful guide for those who are going to school and training to work in the Social Work field, and attracted my attention because I have a sister-in-law in the field.  With the many changes that are affecting our economy, this is a field that will be seeing more activity, I’m sure.  If you are preparing to take the social work test as part of your education, this is a guide that will be helpful to you in passing the licensing exam. The titles include the following, and can be purchased individually, or in combination with each other as described on the socialworkguide.com website:

• The Complete Guide to Social Work - Bachelors
• The Complete Guide to Social Work - Masters
• The Complete Guide to Social Work - Clinical/Adv. Generalist
• The Strategic Guide to the ASWB Exam: Mastering Multiple Choice

The refund policy is excellent, if you aren’t satisfied, you can return your purchase within 30 days for refund…please read all details carefully at the site.

Have you written a book, and is it available on Amazon?  Are you hoping someone will take the time to write a review for your book after they’ve read it?  Many authors have people review their books in advance who are willing to to a review for them on Amazon.  Others may still be waiting for those reviews to show up.  Here’s a tip that I found in a newsletter that I receive occasionally that might help you:

If your Amazon page looks a little empty, then perhaps you need to add a review or two to your profile page? Here’s a quick and easy way to get reviews on Amazon:

First, check out other books listed on Amazon.com that are in your genre, then read all of the reviews they’ve gotten. Pick some reviewers that offered good reviews, not just those who said “Great book!” This will help you to weed out friends and family of the author.

Generally, professional reviewers will spend a bit more time going over the book in detail, whereas friends will keep their reviews short and sweet. Next, click on the review and go to their About Me section on Amazon and see if you can contact them. If there’s no contact information on the About Me section, try Googling the reviewer to get more info.

Most of them will have a web site and you can contact them there. Then send them a short note offering a copy of your book for review; be sure to tell them what your book is about in a paragraph or less.

Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

I am really excited about sharing this information because it’s something I need myself and have been thinking about getting for some time, but price has been an obstacle.

We all need a way to save whatever we have in our computers on a regular basis just in case something happens to our computer…laptop in my case. I have not yet purchased anything to backup my system, and all of my files.

Today, I learned about idrive.com’s portable drive, and saw the price, and decided that after our income tax return comes in, I’m going to buy one since the price runs around $69 and it holds much more than I need….320 GB. Actually, at a price like that, I don’t know if I’ll have to wait…the portable drive is very thin and small, as you can see from the picture, and works through USB connection.

Most of you visiting this site are authors, and you know how devastating it would be to lose all the writing that you’ve been doing with your favorite word processing program…and I’m sure that there is a LOT more than just your writing on your computer. Maybe this is something that will be helpful to you.

I often spend time surfing on craigslist, both my husband AND my son have found jobs through the site, and I have sold a few things.  The format is so simple and basic, yet it works!

Craigslist is divided in geographical areas, you’ll see that right away on the main page when you click on craigslist. You can promote your book or a book event that you might be having…often people who are looking for information to put in local publications will surf craigslist.org to find ideas, and you never know that a publication that you didn’t think of contacting may publish your information.

When you post your ad, you should not overdo the promoting, keep it low key, not too “salesy sounding”, yet provide the information necessary.  Look about a bit and see what I mean.  You may want to check in and repost every few days as the posts move down the page and “get lost” rather quickly.

The service is free!  If you’ve used Craigslist before, and it’s helped, feel free to comment!

I have the pleasure of introducing you to a very special book written by a very special woman.  Pam Archer has written a book that is so timely, as many are planning their Spring and Summer weddings, or if you are an advance planner, fall or winter weddings!   I was planning my daughter’s wedding 5 years ago at this time, and know that anything that you can get your hands on to help is a blessing, and this book would have been on the top of my list.

The book is “99 Things You Wish You Knew Before You Planned Your Wedding“, part of the all new “99 Series”, many future books are in the works. The “99 Series” is a brain-child of Michael Wells and Helen Georgakalis.  But the focus of this post is on Pam’s wonderful book…it is available for download in eBook form for under $8.00 at the link provided, and will soon be available in book form through the author and on Amazon

Pam Archer’s sites include:

http://www.pamelaseventdesign.com and http://www.idoweddings.wordpress.com

With the great advances in technology has come great advances in the way that companies manage their businesses. Very often, my husband who does CAD (Computer Drafting), shares how the company location he works at is networked with another part of the company that is located hours away, so that he can access and send files from his computer.  In fact, anyone who needs to, here or there, can access these files.  Since he has been doing CAD for over 30 years, he has watched the changes and advances technology has brought to business over the years. And this is only a small example of how a businesses can work together over the miles.

In order to accomplish something like this, whether it be within a single company, or over the miles, you should consider team foundation server hosting, an outside service that can maintain everything for you, which is so beneficial since many may not understand the technology themselves. And with the economy making every business owner consider carefully how they spend their dollars, team foundation server pricing that is reasonable, as well as an easy-to-use service is essential.

The team foundation server price for the service at one site I visited was very reasonable for all that it offered, and to think that you can access anything you need wherever you are as long as you have internet access is amazing.  If you are a business in need of upgrading your technology, and want someone to figure it out for you, then take time to educate you on how to use the service, take a look at the links in this post.

I never missed the opportunity to watch this adventurous French diver when one of his many documentaries would be on television.  He enjoyed his life and his work to the fullest.  Cousteau spent enough time in the oceans to be well aware, back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, of the damage being done to our ecosystem and made each of us watching aware of the damage that we were doing to our oceans.  But he also let us see into a spectacular and beautiful world that most of us never would have seen without his help.  Today is the anniversary of the publication of one of his classic books, “Silent World“, published in 1953, which later was made into a film.

All businesses are feeling the affects of the economy, unless you are in a company where what you offer is an absolute necessity, and even then you are paying more to service your customers because you are affected by what is happening to the companies that are servicing you…the “trickle down” affect.  So, when I discover a tool that might be helpful to my readers I like to share it.

Video conferencing is just one way that a company, large or small, can save money…and this can be done easily and quickly with new advances in the technology. If you are using a service like this, consider whether it provides you with the following:

•  An Interactive Whiteboard
• Internet Audio
• Desktop, Application & Region Sharing
• Cross-Platform Remote Control
• Annotation Tools (Sharing, Content, etc.)
• Auto-Reconnect Users with Poor Bandwidth
• Monitor Audience Participation at a Glance
• Recording and Editing Tools
• Chat, either public or private

The above features and more are available with the basic program, and the features just get better with more advanced programs.
As if the service itself isn’t enough to help financially by saving you and your company’s employees, customers, and clients transportation costs, the web conferencing affiliate program they offer can help you pay for the service while you are enjoying it’s benefits.