Tattoo Mendem: book review

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Book Review - Real-Time Marketing for Business Growth: How to Use Social Media, Measure Marketing, and Create a Culture of Execution

About the Book

Let’s face it the annual planning process doesn’t work. Businesses need a streamlined and flexible approach to marketing planning that enables them to respond quickly to changing market conditions to take advantage of opportunities while avoiding risk.

This book is for CEOs, entrepreneurs and marketing, and sales professionals who are looking for a new, yet proven method to create business growth. This process and framework have been used to develop hundreds of marketing plans for companies in any industry, and any size to increase revenue, profitability, and find new customers.

If you’re tired of the same old marketing and business strategies and ready for growth, read on.

Imagine

A New Way of Marketing…

…in Real-Time

Eliminate the sacred and inefficient annual planning process and replace it with real-time planning that keeps pace with change. Use a process and tools that are flexible, collaborative, and measurable so the plan is a living, breathing operational document shared across the organization to help the entire business execute strategy and continuously improve.

Improves Execution

Research proves that 95 percent of a company’s strategy is not executed. Business planning cannot be disaggregated from execution; businesses need a planning process with execution built in. Learn how to create a culture of execution that is accountable and measurable.

Makes Marketing Measurable, Predictable, and Successful

Introducing the ROI Optimizer, an industry changing process that links and optimizes the entire demand chain so marketing and sales programs achieve increased levels of measurability and success. You will learn how to accurately predict the return on investment of sales and marketing programs by linking them to revenue goals, product and service forecasts, sales channels, and target market segments.

Integrates Proven Concepts and Best Practices with New Tools

Even best practices need updating to reflect today’s market realities. Integrate best in class business tools like the Balanced Scorecard and strategy fundamentals from leading business experts into your plan. Combine proven marketing strategies with innovative new tools and techniques to target elusive buyers.

Improves Customer Experience and Lifetime Value

Learn the easiest, most consistent way to create profitable business growth. Get fresh insight on how to attract new customers, retain them, and grow customer lifetime value. Learn how to create customers who are evangelists for your business and create increased levels of customer loyalty and profitability for your business.

Develops Company Culture into Marketing’s Secret Weapon

As former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner said, “Culture isn’t part of the game. It IS the game.” A thriving culture is woven into the fabric of successful businesses. Throughout this marketing process you will learn how to create happy, engaged employees—who in turn create delighted, engaged customers. Businesses that foster a thriving culture create not only a powerful brand, they are proven to have substantially higher profits—up to 50 percent more—than businesses that don’t.

Innovates Using Social Media and New Media Marketing

New media tactics are rapidly beginning to overshadow, and in some cases replace, more traditional media channels. Build an integrated marketing plan that uses new media like search engine marketing, email marketing, viral marketing, social networking, and blogging. Learn how these tools will help you generate new leads as well as improve customer relationships and your company brand.

Inspires by Producing Fast Results

Entrepreneurs and marketing and sales professionals aren’t looking for “fill in the blank” exercises to help them run their business. Nor do they want to wade through long theoretical explanations of strategy. They need to know howto execute real-time marketing into a business plan that gets results. Learn a six-step process that provides your business with the fastest and most efficient method to create a plan for business growth—and a life-long skill that can be used to continuously improve your business.

In Summary

The P•R•A•I•S•E Marketing Process will introduce you to a new way of planning. It will help you continuously understand and respond to a constantly changing global marketplace and ever-evolving customer needs. Learn to innovate and optimize your go-to-market strategy, link planning to execution, and measure results so your business will continuously grow and improve.

My Take on the Book

I am always looking for new ways to market my blog and now my upcoming e-book and this book was like a course within a course. The book was so complete, I was amazed at the thoroughness of this book and how well the book itself goes into everything from basic marketing principles to social networking and more.

Whether you know a lot or a little about marketing this book will open your eyes to everything that you will need to know to change your organization for the better. What this book helped me better understand was how to better create strategies for me to build a larger follower base for my blogs and hopefully building a buyer base for my upcoming book.

This book has a bit of everything and it was easy to follow. The author has put everything that you would ever need to know about marketing all in one place. If you are looking for the consummate book on marketing, look no further than this book.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Book Review - We Wanted to Be Writers

About the Book

The Iowa Writers' Workshop has produced countless literary legends who have won Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and more. But before they got to Iowa City, they were just aspiring students who wanted to be writers.

We Wanted to Be Writers is a blend of interviews, commentary, advice, gossip, anecdotes, analyses, history, and asides with more than 20 of the authors' classmates and teachers at the now legendary Iowa Writers' Workshop between 1974 and 1978. Among the talents that emerged in those years - writing, passionately jousting, criticizing, drinking, and debating in the classrooms and barrooms of Iowa City - were the young versions of writers who became T.C. Boyle, Allan Gurganus, Sandra Cisneros, Jayne Ann Phillips, Jennie Fields, Joe Haldeman, Joy Harjo, and many others.

No other book presents the thoughts of nearly two dozen writers who, 30 years ago, were exactly where so many young writers are today, and who've now been "in the game" long enough to articulate their own accomplishments, setbacks, and triumphs with the insights that come of experience and distance. Unlike other collections of interviews with literary legends that read as complete, intact chapters, We Wanted to be Writers takes a fascinatingly innovative approach, pulling excerpts from interviews by theme, and arranging them under various categories such as:

How It Starts
Why Iowa
The Creative process
Aftermath
The "lit biz"
And more!

We Wanted to Be Writers provides a "longitudinal" look at a specific cohort of writers through snapshots of time, revealing many interesting patterns and similarities among a group of men and women who are otherwise very different from one another. The insights that this approach provides about writers and writing are profound, and, more importantly, supported by example.

The casual reader looking for a good story will find in We Wanted to Be Writers compelling tales of artistic inspiration and heartbreak, mixed with a bit of cultural analysis, literary history and criticism, and more than a little "behind the scenes" intrigue.

Those who write or dream of writing or who teach the craft will turn to We Wanted to Be Writers for practical advice about the creative process learned sometimes the hard way by writers who have been at it for over three decades including:

How to stay "creative" or "original"
How to start and stick with a writing project
How to manage the blocks and disappointments or - what can sometimes be just as difficult to handle - the infrequent successes
How to make it in the literary business and stay more or less sane

Along the way, We Wanted to be Writers explores questions about success in writing from the various perspectives of some who've been critical and commercial "successes," some who've been one of the other, and some who've been neither.

About the Authors:

Eric Olsen is a journalist and graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Olsen directed the U.S. branch of the International Institute of Modern Letters and created the first American City of Asylum, which provided a safe haven for persecuted writers. He was also an executive editor at Time Inc. Health, a Time Warner company. This is his sixth book.

Glenn Schaeffer was, for twenty years, president of Mandalay Resort Group in Las Vegas. In 2009, Liberty Media rated him as the gaming industry's most influential executive, after Steve Wynn. He's now CEO of Perpetual Gaming. Schaeffer is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and he's finally finishing a novel he started there thirty years ago,Holy Shaker.

My Take on the Book
This book provided readers with an intimate look at a group of writers that you would not normally have the opportunity to look at. As a writer, I always find it interesting to read about the experiences of writers. This book is full of amazing thoughts of a great group of writers. They provide the readers with an unprecedented look at writing and their thoughts on writing itself.

What was great about this book, was that it took a longitudinal look at these writers and their experiences both from the beginning of their career to today.

Any person that is trying to be a writer in any sense will definitely open your eyes to how you can be both a better writer as well as getting a better understanding of what it takes to actually make it in this field. This book was great and was definitely a book that provides all readers an opportunity to learn and grow from the experiences of others.

I highly recommend this book!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Book Review - What the Heart Knows

Women's fiction … like the women who read it … has evolved to include subjects and themes that range far beyond romance. Romance, wisdom and mystery are the topics of What the Heart Knows by award-winning author Mara Purl and resonate with women readers. In the first novel of her Milford-Haven novel series, you will meet Miranda Jones who is a wildlife artist plus a cast of characters that include a television journalist, an environmentalist, a Native American part-time student, a builder and an heir to an oil fortune in the fictional coastal town of Milford-Haven. This contemporary saga is what women want.

“Women’s fiction lets readers taste the subtleties of relationships, romance and mystery,” shared Purl, a former star of Days of Our Lives. “In my novel What the Heart Knows, the reader should let her imagination and her heart be her guides. Don't be afraid of where the story will take you. While the outer journey takes you to California’s gorgeous Central Coast, the inner journey can be even more exciting, a transforming adventure you won’t want to miss. ”

The stories follow the lives of the main characters, each a complete storyline, but their stories also continue as the Milford-Haven novel series progresses.

“My characters are real people with hopes and dreams that I have found women identify with in today’s world, even though the series is set in the ‘90s,” Purl explains. “Each book stands on its own, as a new story, but also builds as an overall saga. Each time you pick up a Milford-Haven Novel, you’ll feel like you’re visiting with old friends.”

Mara Purl launches her book, What the Heart Knows, in September 2011 with a Hardcover Edition published by BelleKeep Books in association with Midpoint Trade Books.

About the Book:

Miranda Jones, 29-year-old female protagonist wildlife artist, escapes a life of privilege to create her own identity as an artist, and as a woman, in the small coastal town of Milford-Haven.
Chris Christian, a local television journalist, follows a lead to the unfinished Clarke mansion where she’s killed by an unknown man, then buried under the house.
Sally O’Mally has moved to Milford-Haven from Arkansas and created a successful restaurant on Main Street. But her secret affair with Jack Sawyer is shredding as she learns about the secrets he’s been keeping from her.
Samantha Hugo, accomplished middle-aged woman is a leader in the environmental field, but wrestles with having given up her son for adoption years earlier, as revealed in her personal journal entries.
Susan Winslow, Native American part-time student, wrestles with her heritage, her own identity, her relationship with a father just released from prison.
Well-known builder Jack Sawyer tries to ignore his true calling as an architect, cuts corners as a builder, and does his best to undermine Samantha Hugo, his former wife.
Zack Calvin, heir to an oil fortune, takes a brief vacation north from his Santa Barbara home, and finds a painting he must own. When he meets the artist Miranda Jones he begins to pursue her, despite another romantic entangle back home.

About the Series:

Milford-Haven began as an original radio drama Purl created. It was a hit on BBC Radio with 4.5 million listeners in the U.K. and won the Finalist Award for Best Radio Drama, the New York Festivals.
Listeners began requesting books based on the radio drama, which led to the adaptation and development of the novel series. Twelve books are planned for the novel series, with additional short story collections.
The Novels are also being published as audio books performed by the author. The first won the Silver Ben Franklin Award for audio. The second wonthe Gold USA BookNews Award for audio.

About the Author

Mara Purl was a performer on-camera and on-stage, with her regular character on Days Of Our Lives having been her starting point for soap opera.
Purl began her writing career as a journalist for the Associated Press, Rolling Stone, The Financial Times of London, Working Woman Magazine,and The Christian Science Monitor. A prolific fiction author, she also has written a play and several non-fiction books including Act Right: A Manual for theOn-Camera Actor with actress Erin Gray.
Other Awards include: for radio, the New York Festivals Award; for her play Mary Shelley: In Her Own Words, the Peak Award; and for public service, Woman of the Year 2002 by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women.
Mara Purl is also an accomplished musician. Her instrument is the koto and she recorded and has played on the international stage with many noteworthy musicians including the works Sumahama recorded with Mike Love and the Beach Boys, Pathless Path recorded with Charles Lloyd, Koto Keys with Marilyn Harris, and Teiji Ito’s Watermill recorded with Grammy-winning musician Steve Gorn.
The hit song “Jet Laggin’” she co-wrote with Marilyn Harris is in current release on the new CD Orphans.

My Take on the Book

While this book is more geared toward women, I will say that the author has done a great job at building a great mix of characters that you will not forget. Each character is very unique and she is able to pull together a plot pulls the reader in and engages them from the beginning to the end.

As a person who enjoys mysteries, this book was well written and the author did draw me in and kept me on the hook as I read through the book. I also loved the fact that I was kept in the dark about the end of book and where it would end.

If you are looking for a book that will intrigue your senses and engage you from the beginning to the end this book is one you will want to put on your list!

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Book Review - The Darkening Splendor of an Unknown World

About the Book
Everything that mattered to Detective Alan Douglas was suddenly gone – his wife, his career and his self-respect. The brutal and senseless murder of his wife had plunged him into a deep spiral of alcohol-fueled depression and despair, leaving him a bruised and battered shell of his former self. After finally hitting rock bottom and with nothing left to lose, he moves to Hawaii for what he hopes will be a fresh start in paradise.

Soon after his arrival, he again encounters the same invisible force that was haunting his steps in New York City. This evil and malevolent presence, stalking and taunting him, inexorably leads him back to working with police to solve a series of mysterious murders, kidnappings and strange events that seem to somehow involve and implicate an innocent man.

Douglas is determined to fight back using his knowledge of occult wisdom, martial arts and ancient lore, aided by his brother-in-law Whip, friend Lt. Ben Kamamoto and a cast of diverse characters, all with important parts to play in his perilous journey of self-discovery. His ancient foe reappears, a powerful being focused only on revenge and the ultimate possession of dark power, eventually leading to an epic showdown of good and evil in a tale both horrifying and sublime.

Part crime novel and part occult thriller, The Darkening Splendor of an Unknown World takes us behind the veil of appearances into a world where nothing is what it seems. Set against the backdrop of the island of Maui, the pacing grips us from the first page and sends us at a gallop on a white-knuckled ride featuring horrific murders, martial artists, reincarnation, ceremonial magic, a black magician and an immortal Tibetan master. For pure surprise and enjoyment this book is guaranteed to remain in your thoughts long after you have finished it.

About the Author

LES VISIBLE is a writer and recording artist. He has had a lifelong love affair with the Hermetic Sciences and the Martial Arts. He is also a seasoned traveler in psychedelic realms and prefers the Devic Kingdom over the suffocating confinements of the Sub-Matrix. Along the way he has matriculated from the military to prisons and the maximum security wards for the criminally insane. He has owned a metaphysical bookstore and some restaurants and worked in construction, as a cook, a club bouncer, a newspaper editor, a resort manager, a radio announcer, a standup comedian, as a lead singer in a rock and roll band and whatever else he had to do to get by. He currently lives in Europe with his consort Susanne, his dogs and his memories. A collection of his works in various media can be found on his website and blogs. Available through bookstores or purchase direct from Les Visible Creations. Visit our website at http://www.lesvisible.com/books.html

My Take on the Book
What I loved most about this book were the characters. The author has pulled together and created characters that you will not forget. I was amazed at how rich the narrative was and how deep into despair one character can fall, and what he must do to dig back from the brink.

Full of mystery and magic this book was more than a story full of suspense, instead it is a story that pulls together the dramatic life of one character and sets the stage for a mysterious ride into a strange world full of strange happenings, magical and occult experiences.

This book was a good one, that held my attention from the beginning to the end.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Book Review - Martian Summer

About the Book
Spend a summer on the Phoenix Mars mission-something that has taken nearly the entirety of human knowledge to achieve

There's never been a better time to be an armchair astronaut. Forget this planet. The economy is terrible, global warming is inevitable, and there are at least eight major wars happening right now. That's why Kessler left home and moved to Mars. Well, not all the way to Mars. The closest spot on earth you can get without a rocket. In the summer of 2008, he lived a space dream, spending three months in mission control of The Phoenix expedition with 130 top NASA scientists and engineers as they explored Mars. This story is a human drama about modern-day Magellans battling NASA politics and the bizarre world of daily life in mission control. Kessler was the first outsider ever granted unfettered access to such an event, giving us a true Martian exclusive.

The Phoenix Mars mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian arctic. They planned to find out how climate change can turn a warm wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold barren desert (read: Mars). That might seem like a trivial pursuit, but it's probably the most impressive feat we humans can achieve. It takes nearly the entirety of human knowledge to do it. This is only the sixth landing on Mars, and it might be the last. During this amazing summer, Phoenix discovered a giant frozen ocean trapped beneath the North Pole of Mars, exotic food for aliens and liquid water. This is not science fiction. It's fact. Not bad for a summer holiday.

Andrew Kessler is a creative director at HUGE, a New York interactive agency. He co-produced Mars: The Quest for Life on the Discovery Channel and holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

My Take on the Book
This book was full of so much rich plot. The author does an amazing job at weaving together a storyline that drew me in and held me from the beginning to the end. I had first heard of the author after seeing part of the above interview on youtube and I was intrigued by his experiences and the mission that he was a part of. This book take you on the journey of the Mars Mission and the author takes material that might be considered dry and makes it exciting.

For anyone who has ever wished to be an astronaut, this book will boggle your mind and encourage you to continue living your dreams. I know that for me this book was a blast and one that made me wonder when the first manned mission to Mars would actually be coming.

This is a great read that I would encourage of all!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

Book Review - Southern Gold

About the Book
The seeds of James Campbell’s Southern Gold were planted 150 years prior to the end of the Civil War. Before surrendering, General Johnston of the Confederate army hides two billion dollars’ worth of gold in Atlanta. A century and a half later, General Johnston’s descendant and partners are on a hunt for the gold, equipped with a detailed map of the gold’s location—under Zone 3 of a police precinct in Atlanta.

When precinct commander Major James Butler finds out about the hidden gold, he devises a five-year plan to get the gold out and vanish into thin air. Butler’s plan knows no bounds as he murders his own half-brother’s family and plants a bomb in the precinct, instantly wiping out thirteen members of his police force.

Butler and others on the force have established an environment of corruption and greed within the Atlanta Police Department. Perhaps the lone “good cop” is Butler’s half brother, Lieutenant Calvin Gates. However, he and his family perish in an ambush allegedly orchestrated by members of his own force.

Enter John Sinclair, who helps readers realize that Gates is not really dead, but rather has lost his memory and has undergone plastic surgery after the blast. Sinclair, along with the beautiful Sevilla, are mere puppets of Major Butler, as is just about everyone else.

Southern Gold is full of bizarre events, such as dead people coming to life, and rogue cops who end up dying as they try to eliminate Butler. Major James Butler’s self-proclaimed “perfect crime” is working flawlessly—transporting readers from Atlanta to Cuba. Throughout the book, Campbell explores modern themes of greed, value of gold over the dollar, and others to help readers relate to the text.

Ultimately, Southern Gold is like an Indiana Jones adventure with one major exception: the protagonist is rooted in evil, and will do whatever is necessary to get the gold. Will Butler and his partners succeed in pulling the gold out of the police precinct? Can John Sinclair, formerly Lieutenant Calvin Gates (Butler’s half brother), and Gates’ love interest, Sevilla, put an end to Butler’s heinous ways? Truly a must-read for anyone who loves adventure and mystery!

My Take on the BookThis book was a fun and engaging book. Full of a little bit of everything this book take you on a suspenseful ride that makes you work on solving the crime from the beginning to the end. The book intertwines modern themes to connect the reader to the story and introduces characters that will not soon be forgotten.

The book itself is full of adventure and for most of the book you are taken on an adrenaline rushed thrill ride that will keep you engaged and will make it so that you do not want to put the book down. The book also acts as a mystery as I mentioned and the author does a great job at getting the reader to make guesses on who will get caught and what will happen in the end as any great story will.

Overall, this book was great and one that I would highly recommend to all!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Book Review - The Boomer's Guide to Story

About the Book
Roemer McPhee’s The Boomer’s Guide to Story delves into the ideas and insights that are shaping the future of modern storytelling—and cinema as well. Readers of The Boomer’s Guide will enjoy an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane and celebrate the most visionary stories ever put to paper. Stories, suggests McPhee, are imbued with timeless themes that dissect the human element and reflect the philosophy of life, a major reason that certain texts transition seamlessly into society.

Though The Boomer’s Guide to Story consists of roughly three hundred classic novels, it should not be mistaken for a basic review of each text. On the contrary, the audience is in for a pleasant surprise as McPhee digs deep into the most profound novels of the modern era—with few exceptions—and finds an entertaining way to deliver the information via a behind-the-scenes, snapshot approach that will aid readers in remembering the innovative and timeless nature of storytelling—and show readers how to look at literature and cinema from a different angle. In the process, writers will be given the prolonged, but well deserved, recognition for the ideas that turned their stories into some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster films.

Get ready to come face-to-face with the terrifying story, Alien, in outer space and grapple with Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. What makes The Boomer’s Guide to Story special is not that it can present a plot summary of the films that put Hollywood on the map; conversely, McPhee’s text is unique because it takes a story a step further, exploring how it’s ideas provide insights into humanity and life as a whole.

My Take on the Book
This book was an amazing resource. The book is both well written and informative and provides the reader with insights into so many movies! All you have to do is open the book to any page and I am sure that you will gain a new appreciation for any movie listed within this book.

What I loved most about this book was that the author has taken well known movies and has made them again unknown to readers. He has placed the spark back into the movie and is opening eyes left and right. I shared this book with my wife and even she was amazed at the in-depth nature of the book and clear insights that the author provides.

If you are a movie-lover, this book is a must read, as you will leave it with a better understanding and love for the movies around you!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.