Fast-food giant McDonald's is set to become a publishing giant as well — at least temporarily. For two weeks next month, McDonald's says it will oust the toys that usually come in its Happy Meals and replace them with books it has published itself.
An estimated 20 million children's books, which will feature nutritional messages, will be distributed in McDonald's kids' meals from Nov. 1 to Nov. 14, the company says. To put it in perspective, AdAge notes, that's more than the 15 million print copies of the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy that were sold in 2012.
But don't expect to find classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar with your burger. The four titles that will come with the meals were all created specifically for McDonald's — by advertising firm Leo Burnett, AdAge reports — and include characters like a voracious goat who struggles to eat right and a diminutive dinosaur who grows tall with good nutrition.
Apparently, this is part of a much bigger books initiative at McD's. It's "part of a broader book strategy that will combine the fun of the Happy Meal, new partners and technology to inspire more family reading time," Ubong Ituen, vice president of marketing for McDonald's USA, said in a statement.
The company says it also plans to roll out a new interactive digital book, in partnership with DK Publishing, each month through the end of 2014 on its website HappyMeals.com. Reading Is Fundamental, a large children's literacy nonprofit, is partnering with McDonald's to distribute the Happy Meal titles to kids without access to books.
Earlier this year, McDonald's launched a similar Happy Meal books promotion in England, which gave birth to the Twitter hashtag #mcbooks — now revived, with a nudge from the folks at FastCompany, with this week's news. Among the tongue-in-cheek McD's titles proposed by the Twitterati:
But not everyone was so amused by McDonald's announcement. Sriram Madhusoodanan, a national organizer with Corporate Accountability International, a watchdog group that has called on McDonald's to stop all marketing to kids, said the new books campaign is "more of the same."
What's more, he argues, the digital side of the books campaign is particularly troubling, because kids tend to interact much longer with a brand in cyberspace than they might do otherwise.
"Even with the books in Happy Meals, this is still fundamentally about marketing to kids," he tells The Salt. "And it's undermining the authority of parents and health professionals."
Got a witty idea for a Mcbook title? Share it with us below or on Twitter @NPRFood.
Does having health insurance make people healthier? It?s widely assumed that it does.
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Obamacare advocates repeatedly said that its expansion of Medicaid would save thousands of lives a year. Obamacare critics seldom challenged the idea that increased insurance coverage would improve at least some people?s health.
Now, out of Oregon, comes a study that casts doubt on the premise that insurance improves health.
In 2008, Oregon state government had enough Medicaid money to extend the program to 10,000 people but many more were eligible. So the state set up a lottery to determine who would get coverage.
That created a randomized control trial (RCT), to compare the health outcomes of about 6,000 people who won the lottery with a similar number who lost.
RCTs are the best way to test the effects of public policies, as Jim Manzi argues in his recent book ?Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial-and-Error for Business, Politics and Society.?
Other studies compare the effect of policies on populations that may differ in significant ways ? apples and oranges. RCTs compare apples and apples.
The only previous RCT on health care policies was conducted by the RAND Corporation between 1971 and 1982. It found no statistically significant difference in health outcomes from having more insurance. But health care has changed a lot since then.
The Oregon Health Study, published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, found much the same thing. Comparing three important measures ? blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels ? It found no significant difference after two years between those on Medicaid and those who were uninsured.
It did find lower levels of reported depression among the group on Medicaid. And it found, unsurprisingly, that they did save significant money. Those findings may not be unrelated.
The findings have serious implications for Obamacare. Half of its predicted increase in insurance coverage comes from expansion of Medicaid.
Obamacare supporters have assumed that those eligible for Medicaid ? poorer, sicker and less steadier in habits than the general population ? would have great difficulty getting health care without insurance.
The Oregon Health Study is evidence that at least in that state Medicaid-eligible people without insurance ? a ?pretty sick? population, one state official said ? nevertheless managed somehow to get care that produced results about as good as those who won the lottery.
It may just be that ordinary people, even those with significant problems, are more capable of navigating the seas of American life than elites, either liberal or conservative, tend to assume. These results run contrary to the predictions of many Obamacare fans, who expected to see more positive effects from Medicaid coverage. It undermines at least a little the case for Obamacare?s vast expansion of Medicaid.
Some Obamacare backers, and others as well, point out that the study did not measure all possible health care outcomes. It couldn?t because it covered only two years; and Oregon, with more Medicaid money, ended the lottery experiment, so there won?t be any more RCT results.
In particular, in a two-year period you aren?t going to have too many cases of catastrophic illness among a population of 12,000. There?s no way you can measure outcomes in those with long-running ailments like cancer, Parkinson?s disease or Alzheimer?s.
Blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels can be treated with relatively inexpensive generic drugs. Medicaid coverage may result in more people getting heart bypass surgery and needing expensive drugs for rare ailments.
But that is another way of saying that health insurance as we know it may not do much to improve the treatment of common health problems.
Most U.S. health insurance today, thanks to the tax preference for employer-provided insurance, is not real insurance at all.
Real insurance pays for rare, expensive and unwelcome events, like your house burning down. It doesn?t make sense to insure for routine expenses, like repainting your living room.
The Oregon Health Study suggests that insurance isn?t necessary for people to get what are now, for people of a certain age, routine measures like blood pressure medicine. Maybe government should help poor people pay for them, but they manage to get them nevertheless.
Americans have come to expect health insurance to pay for routine treatments. Obamacare reinforces that in its requirements for coverage and makes it more difficult for many to insure against catastrophic health care expenses.
That?s not likely to make people healthier.
Michael Barone, senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner (www.washingtonexaminer.com), is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Also see,
A Libertarian Turn on Marijuana Legalization, Same-Sex Marriage and Gun Rights
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) ? A drenched and elated Abby Wambach stood at midfield with her U.S. teammates after a win over South Korea, watching the goal onslaught on the big screen.
They laughed, nudged each other and smiled as one great goal after another by Wambach was shown.
It all was appropriate Thursday night after Wambach surpassed Mia Hamm and became the greatest goal scorer in international soccer.
Wambach scored four times in the first half to break Hamm's record for international career goals with room to spare in a 5-0 victory. The second-best game of her career gave the 33-year-old Wambach 160 goals in 207 games, two more than Hamm had in a storied 275-game career that ended in 2004.
"I don't think about how I sit in history, in the books," Wambach said. "What my legacy is, that is something I do care about, and something that has eluded me is a World Cup championship. I think every great athlete in these moments, you do have to separate yourself and really celebrate. I am going to celebrate tonight with my friends and family, but at the end of the day, tomorrow when the sun comes up, I still have to keep working on my game to get better.
"I think that is what the best athletes do. They don't dwell on their championships or records. As soon as they win one, all you want to do is find something new and move toward that."
Wambach came into the friendly at Red Bull Arena needing two goals to tie Hamm.
The chase for Hamm's record of 158 was over with three goals in the opening 29 minutes. She added another in injury time to give her a nice round number.
Ali Daie of Iran holds the men's record with 109.
"I can't say how much I look up to Mia and how amazing the record she set was," said Wambach, who was doused with a bucket of water after the game.
The historic 159th came on a line-drive header that ripped into the twine in the back of the net off a corner kick by Megan Rapinoe.
"I'm just so proud of her," Hamm said. "Just watching those four goals, that's what she is all about. She fights for the ball, she's courageous and she never gives up. Her strength and perseverance is what makes her so great and it's what defenders and opposing teams fear.
"From being her teammate early in her career, I know all she ever wanted to do was win, and she continues to do that. I'm just glad I got to share 158 with her. It was short, but it was fun."
After the record-setting goal, Wambach turned and ran a couple of steps in the direction of the U.S. bench, then stopped as Rapinoe jumped into her arms. The Rochester, N.Y., native was then mobbed by teammates on the field and those who streamed off the bench as the crowd of 18,961 at Red Bull Arena cheered wildly.
After the hugs, Wambach turned to the stands and blew a kiss toward her parents, Judy and Peter.
"My teammates know me super well, and at halftime they said: 'You're such an extremist. You are all or nothing. When you want to do something, you just go do it,'" Wambach said of getting the record. "I am very much like my father in that way."
Other than "perfect ball," Rapinoe quipped, the only thing she said after the goal was, "YESSSS!"
"I'm just so happy for her," Rapinoe said. "This was an amazing, amazing accomplishment in way less games, the way she has done it. It's incredible to be a part of it."
Chants of "Ab-bee, Ab-bee, Ab-bee," cascaded through the stadium as officials got the ball and brought it to the U.S. bench.
The four goals in the friendly were the second-most by Wambach in an international game, and will allow the spotlight that has followed her in her chase of Hamm's record to finally dissolve.
Her first goal Thursday came on a shot in the box past South Korean goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi in the 10th minute. The second came nine minutes later on a flicking header.
Lauren Cheney set up the first two goals on crossing passes on plays in which Wambach eluded Korean defender Shim Seo-yeon.
Wambach's fourth goal was an easy tap-in after Alex Morgan made a run down the right side and centered the ball to the on-rushing 2012 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.
Wambach, who was stopped on a first-half breakaway shortly after her first goal, had a chance for a fifth, which would have tied her single-game record, but she could not get her head on a cross early in the second half.
"She had her mind set," U.S. captain Christie Rampone said. "She wanted to do it tonight and you could see it. Three goals in less than 30 minutes, an amazing performance by her. It was the best of both worlds, she got to score four goals and then watch the rest of the game and enjoy the day."
Wambach was given a standing ovation by many in the crowd when she was replaced in the 58th minute by Christen Press. Before leaving the field, she exchanged hugs with long-time teammates Rapinoe, Heather O'Reilly and Carli Lloyd and a few others.
As she got to the sideline she applauded the crowd and then hugged her coaches and teammates. The crowd chanted "Abby Wambach" in return.
"It's fantastic, a fairy-tale night," US coach Tom Sermanni said. "She could not have done it any better, just fantastic. She is a great professional. She is in great shape and she was really determined tonight to go out there and break that record, and she did it in great style."
BOSTON (Reuters) - "What the hell is cloud computing?" Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison said during a diatribe against the whole concept at an investor Q&A in 2008.
Asked to describe his strategy for expanding into a then-small but rapidly expanding sphere, the software giant's head said he had no idea what people were talking about when they referred to cloud computing, describing it as "nonsensical" and those writing about it as "insane".
Five years after Ellison's rant went viral on YouTube, the billionaire is struggling to fit his ageing IT giant into a newly cloud-centric world - a hard scramble spotlighted by what analysts said was Oracle's first fourth-quarter miss on new software sales in a decade.
Its rivals have grown, winning business from corporate and government customers seeking cloud-based software that is cheaper and faster-to-deploy than traditional offerings housed in massive inhouse datacenters.
Oracle is now striving to catch up with its own line of cloud software, built up partly through acquisitions. Ellison has forged alliances with long-time bitter rivals Microsoft Corp and Salesforce.com Inc to drum up new business. On Thursday, Ellison said he will announce those partnerships next week, but provided few details.
Oracle stuck for years to building high-end multi-million dollar "engineered systems" that bundle hardware and software in one package. It started selling them with Hewlett-Packard Co in 2008 and then partnered with ailing computer maker Sun Microsystems, which it agreed to buy in 2009.
Oracle says the engineered systems strategy has been a big success, helping woo business from rivals IBM and SAP
"They spent the last four years focusing on engineered systems when the bigger industry trend was the cloud," JMP Securities analyst Pat Walravens said. "They now have a structural problem."
Oracle's shares plummeted 9.3 percent on Friday, their biggest one-day drop since releasing another weak set of results in March.
Investors took the disappointing results hard because it was the first time in more than a decade that Oracle missed software sales estimates in its traditionally strongest fiscal fourth-quarter, according to analysts. That's when sales representatives hustle to close deals to qualify for year-end bonuses.
And it was the third miss in the past seven quarters for Oracle, Walravens said.
Cloud companies such as Salesforce price their products below the levels at which Oracle can make a decent return, analysts say. Some rivals even sell their products at a loss. Salesforce, for example, posted a net loss of $270 million last year.
Less quantifiably, industry executives have said that emergent business software providers such as Workday started from scratch by focusing on ease of use and simpler interfaces, while old-school IT giants like Oracle have been hampered by legacy systems and software products that they were slow to re-tool.
"This is causing a real disruption in Oracle's business," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer with Solaris Group, which manages about $1.5 billion. "It is going to pressure their business for a while."
SAILING ALONG?
Ellison, a renowned sailing enthusiast who is now devoting time and energy to his company's entry in this summer's Americas Cup, built Oracle from a scrappy operation building a database for the Central Intelligence Agency into one of Silicon Valley's foremost corporate icons.
In past months, he has championed Oracle's resurgent foray into cloud software, at his annual Oracle OpenWorld conference for clients and developers, even while continuing to buy up assets in Hawaii, such as commuter airline Island Air. He bought almost all of the island of Lanai last year.
He and Oracle executives dispute the view that the company is failing in the cloud. They blamed their quarterly miss on the economy, particularly in Asia and Latin America, during a conference call on Thursday.
In the previous quarter, executives blamed disappointing software revenue on poor execution by its salesforce.
"Our success in the cloud is significant and undeniable," Oracle President Mark Hurd said on a Thursday conference call with analysts. He said Oracle had added 500 new customers during the quarter including eBay Inc , Intuit Inc and Yahoo Inc.
Fred Hickey, editor of The High-Tech Strategist, a newsletter widely read by investors, said he does believe a bad economy was behind Oracle's rough quarter, pointing to problems in Brazil, China, India and Mexico and similar comments from other old-guard tech giants including EMC Corp , IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co .
Even up-and-coming cloud software provider Workday had mentioned "economic pressures" in its earnings conference call.
Other analysts said Oracle's installed user base - forged over decades in the business on a reputation of reliability - will be hard to displace in the short term.
"Does Oracle have pressure from the cloud over time? Yes," said Hickey. "Is it imminent? No. They are too big and entrenched."
Cowen & Co analyst Peter Goldmacher, who describes 68-year-old Ellison as "the most brilliant enterprise software person ever," also said that Oracle's problems are structural. He believes there is little Ellison could have done to avoid the slowdown the company is now seeing.
Ellison has grown profits at a healthy clip over the past decade by acquiring other makers of software that customers run in their own data centers, selling customers software up front and then cajoling them into buying long-term maintenance contracts that are highly profitable for Oracle.
That business model does not work with cloud computing because companies like WorkDay and Salesforce do not charge extra for maintenance. The cost of the software and support is combined into a single subscription fee, which generates far lower margins than the products Oracle has traditionally sold.
"The inevitable is the inevitable," Goldmacher said. "You can get as many tummy tucks and face lifts as you as want, but it doesn't make your heart and liver and kidneys any younger."
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Edwin Chan, Patricia Kranz, Martin Howell and Tim Dobbyn)
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Paula Deen made three apology videos after admitting to using using racial slurs (and not showing up for a TODAY appearance to discuss it) but her many mea culpas weren't enough to save her job -- Food Network announced Friday her contract won't be renewed.
NBC / Getty Images Contributor
Charlie Sheen, Kristen Stewart and Kanye West all were sorry for something.
Deen's not the only celebrity who's had to publicly admit an error after a less-than-stellar act. Here are eight eating-crow moments.
Kristen Stewart: Sorry for cheating In 2012, Kristen Stewart had a fling with Rupert Sanders, the married director of her film, "Snow White and the Huntsman." The "Twilight" star apologized not only to her boyfriend Robert Pattinson, but to her fans, saying "I apologize to everyone for making them so angry. It was not my intention." That didn't stop the terribly tacky T-shirts braying, "Kristen Stewart is a Trampire."
Lance Armstrong: I'm sorry, but everybody did it Cyclist Lance Armstrong had the right venue for a public celebrity apology for his doping -- he went on TV with Oprah Winfrey, the queen of the celebrity confessional. But he wanted to apologize about as much as he wanted someone to pass him in his numerous Tour de France races. "I made my decisions, they are my mistakes, and I am sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I?m sorry for that," he said. But he also went on to say using banned substances for a cyclist was like having "air in our tires." Cycling fans viewed the whole apology as a lot of hot air.
Tiger Woods: 'I had affairs' Thanksgiving 2009 wasn't a nice family occasion for golfer Tiger Woods. His well-publicized one-car crash revealed that he was cheating on his wife, the mother of his two young children. "For all that I have done, I am so sorry," Woods would say in his apology months later. "I had affairs, I cheated. What I did was not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame." He piled praise on wife Elin, but there wasn't enough praise in the world for what she'd found out. They divorced that August.
Mel Gibson: Where did those slurs come from? Actor Mel Gibson bragged that he "owned Malibu" when he was arrested there for DUI in 2006, but he only got worse when he started bellowing anti-Semitic remarks to the Jewish police officer arresting him. "I said horrible things to him," Gibson later admitted. Later at the station, he called a female officer "sugar (expletive)." In his televised apology, Gibson laughed uncomfortably and claimed he didn't know where the slurs came from. The apology didn't convince everyone, but in 2011, Robert Downey Jr. begged his fellow actors to forgive Gibson, saying he'd helped him through his own struggles and deserved compassion.
David Letterman: Funny man gets serious Talk-show host David Letterman couldn't apologize without a little humor. When a 2009 extortion plot revealed that Letterman had a relationship with his former show assistant, the comic joked that even "the navigation lady (in my car) wasn't speaking to me." Then he got serious, apologizing to his wife and his staff. But the jokes were everpresent. He also said, "This is only phase one of the scandal. Phase two, next week I go on 'Oprah' and sob."
Hugh Grant: What the hell WAS he thinking? Jay Leno got right to the point when actor Hugh Grant went on "The Tonight Show" after being caught with a prostitute in 1995. "What the hell were you thinking?" Leno asked. Grant ran down the excuses he could have used and then discarded them all, admitting, "I did a bad thing and there you have it." His willingness to face up to his "bad thing" makes his apology one of the best-received in a crowded field of star "I'm sorrys."
Charlie Sheen: I'm sorry, kind of, but not really Google "Charlie Sheen apology" and you fall down a rabbit hole of options. "Sheen apologizes for party comments," "Sheen apologies for gay slur," "Sheen apologizes to Ashton Kutcher." But one of our favorites was when Sheen apologized to "Two and a Half Men" co-star Jon Cryer, whom he'd called a "turncoat, a traitor and a troll," apparently for not going to bat for Sheen when he was fired from their hit sitcom. Sheen apologized, then took half of it back because he was apparently still mad. "It's a little bit a half apology," he said. "An apol."
Kanye West: Mom wouldn't be happy Like Hugh Grant, rapper Kanye West took to "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to apologize for his infamous 2009 interruption of Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards. "It was rude, period," he said of his behavior. Then Leno asked him what his late mother Donda would've thought of the incident. West, who was very close to his mom, paused for a long break before admitting she wouldn't have been happy. Mother knows best.
June 20, 2013 ? Men in relationships prefer women with more feminine faces for a fling.
This is one of the findings of Anthony Little from the University of Stirling and Benedict Jones from the University of Glasgow that will be published in the British Journal of Psychology today, Friday 21 June 2013.
The study investigated whether considering partners for long-term or short-term relationships would affect men's preference for different women's faces.
One of the experiments was conducted online with 393 heterosexual men. From this group 207 stated they had a current partner. Participants were shown 10 paired images of pictures of women and in each pair of composite images one had been further transformed to possess masculine traits and the other feminine traits.
The men were asked to rate which of each pair they found most attractive indicating the most attractive for short term relationships and long term relationships.
The results showed that men in relationships were more likely to find women with feminine faces most attractive when they were looking for a short-term relationship.
Anthony explained: "It's interesting that these findings are comparable to previous research that indicates women's preference for masculine male faces are higher if they were judging for short-term relationships. Our findings point to a similar preference in men. When they already have a partner, men find more feminine women more attractive for short-term relationships.
"There are several possible explanations; perhaps some men are inclined to take a long-term partner whilst still attempting to cheat with other, more feminine, women. Or maybe once a long-term partner is secured, the potential cost of being discovered may increase a man's choosiness regarding short-term partners relative to unpartnered men."
"In another part of the study we also showed that men who think themselves attractive have stronger preferences for femininity than those who think themselves less attractive. Again, this effect appears similar to an effect seen in women, whereby attractive women are choosier in their preferences for men. Across the two studies attractive men were found to be more discriminating in their preferences for a woman's facial femininity."
Frances Beinecke is the president of NRDC, served on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, and holds a leadership role in several environmental organizations. She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
The fires burning around Colorado Springs, Colo., in the past week have been called the worst in the state's history. Nearly 40,000 people were forced to evacuate their houses and two people lost their lives in the flames.
Resident Tim MacDonald told the Los Angeles Times that his wife had just 10 minutes to flee their home when she saw a curtain of black smoke swing toward them. She grabbed her son and her dogs and left as fast as she could. The MacDonalds later learned their house was one of 485 burned to the ground. In some areas, Sheriff Terry Maketa said it "looks like a nuclear bomb went off."
The West is no stranger to wildfires, but in recent years, climate change has packed many fires with greater intensity. Warmer temperatures and drier conditions are contributing to longer fire seasons and bigger blazes. Those trends mean more evacuations, more destroyed homes, and more deadly risks for residents and firefighters.
[The 7 Hottest Climate Change Stories of 2012 ]
What does climate change mean in your community?
You may have witnessed strange weather in recent years, but aren't sure how it is tied to larger patterns or record-breaking events. NRDC has released a new mapping tool that allows you to enter your ZIP code and learn what climate disruption is doing to your hometown.
Maybe you live in the Northeast like I do, and have see homes and businesses flooded by severe downpours in 2010, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Maybe you live in one of the more than 2,500 counties declared a disaster area in 2012 because of the worst drought since the Dust Bowl.
Maybe you live in one of the cities stretching between Brownsville and Baltimore that wilted in last summer's heat wave. July was the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States and more than 120 deaths were directly tied to high temperatures.
No matter where we live, climate change is making its presence known. For even if your community hasn't been hit by a severe storm or drought yet, you still pay a price: The government spent nearly $100 billion to respond to last year's extreme weather events. That's more than $1,100 per average U.S. taxpayer.
Our communities ? and our budgets ? cannot continue to bear the burden of unchecked climate change.
We must become more resilient in the face of climate disruption. Tracking new weather patterns can help residents, businesses, and government officials better prepare. I recently spoke at a conference hosted by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), where we discussed how some Rhode Island towns are already buying out buildings in floodplains and assessing what sea-level rise will mean for public infrastructure such as ferry terminals. Local officials around the country are taking similar steps.
But, even as we plan for extreme events, we must also tackle the root causes of climate change. President Barack Obama got us moving down this road when he issued new fuel economy standards that will cut carbon emissions from new cars in half by 2025. Now it's time for a national push to curb global warming pollution.
Six months ago, Obama said at his second Inauguration, "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations." He echoed those words in his State of the Union address in February. Public reports are now indicating that the president will make an announcement on climate change sometime in the next few weeks. The NRDC is looking forward to hearing his plan, which needs to include cutting carbon pollution from new and existing power plants.
Americans are looking to Obama for leadership. Last week, five senators from the states most affected by Superstorm Sandy called on the president to reduce carbon pollution from new and existing power plants. Those senators represent people who felt the destructive power of extreme weather firsthand. They want to ensure the United States is using the weapons they have to fight the threat of climate change.
Research has shown that cutting carbon pollution from power plants and reducing our society's dependence on dirty fuels can help shield our communities from the worst of this kind of destruction. Waiting to put these solutions in place is like waiting to flee a fire. The time to act is now.
NRDC has set up a site for the public to send a message to President Obama to issue a clear and effective climate action plan.
Read Beinecke's most recent Op-Ed: Why the Bering Strait Is Under Siege.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This article was originally published on LiveScience.com .
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and other local officials officially opened the state-of-the-art Roger Carter Community Center on June 15, which was the 17-year anniversary of the original recreation center that the new community center replaces. The $15 million facility serves the new Burgess Mill community and all of Ellicott City. Its 46,000 square feet houses swimming and diving pools with a rain-sensing, retractable roof, basketball and volleyball courts, classroom and community rooms, fitness and exercise rooms with cardio and Precor strength training equipment, a 28-foot climbing wall and much more.
Six-year-old IT company moves into new office space in Hanover
Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman and other county leaders and business owners on Monday welcomed Enlighten IT Consulting to its new headquarters in Hanover. Enlighten IT Consulting provides Department of Defense organizations, federal, state and local institutions, and commercial companies with specialized Cloud/Cyber IT services, including software development, integration and engineering for new and pre-existing technology. The company started in 2007 and has grown and been profitable each year of operations, and has already doubled its size in 2013. The company now has 23 employees and, after years of being a home-based business, has moved into their first executive office space, in the Secure Offices LLC space in Hanover.
Cassidy Turley picked to lease Route 100 Distribution Center
Cassidy Turley, a full-service commercial real estate services provider in the U.S., announced that San Francisco-based Terreno Realty Corp. has selected Cassidy Turley as exclusive leasing agent and property manager for Terreno?s newly acquired Route 100 Distribution Center. The center is located at 6660 Santa Barbara Road and 6675 Amberton Drive in Elkridge, and is comprised of two industrial distribution buildings totaling 348,610 square feet. Jarred Testa and Tilghman Herring, of Cassidy Turley?s Baltimore Core Industrial Leasing Team, will act as leasing agents. Said Testa, senior vice president/principal at Cassidy Turley, ?We?re thrilled to work with Terreno on this assignment, and look forward to creating value for our client through the successful lease up of this 37 percent vacant project.?
C&W picked to market and sell Multi-Properties? multifamily portfolio
Cushman & Wakefield Inc. announced that it has been retained as the exclusive sales agent for a five-property multifamily portfolio totaling almost 700 garden and townhouse units, currently owned and operated by Multi-Properties Inc. Dispersed throughout the Baltimore metro region, the portfolio is comprised of Beacon Pointe (201 units) in the Edgemere section of southeast Baltimore County, Edgewood Park (132 units) in Harford County, along with Fox Crossing (117 units), Hillsdale Manor (180 units) and Forest Glen Rental Townhomes (64 units), a grouping located in various parts of Baltimore city. Purchase offers for the portfolio will be considered on a comprehensive, mini-portfolio of individual basis. Cushman & Wakefield?s Multifamily Advisory Group of Jorge Rosa, Jeffrey Pacy and Anthony ?TJ? Liberto will market the property for sale on behalf of the seller.
Dundalk shopping center changes hands
Continental Realty Corp., a Baltimore-based commercial real estate development and management company, said it has acquired Merritt Manor, a 91,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Dundalk. The shopping center is presently 83 percent leased and is anchored by Gold?s Gym, a national fitness center franchise. CRC paid $8.6 million, or approximately $94 per square foot, for the property, acquired from Koninklijke Ahold N.V., a Netherlands-based international supermarket owner. H&R Retail represented the seller in the transaction. CRC officials said the price they paid was well-below replacement cost, and they are confident they can attract new retailers to fill the available vacancies.
Raffle of Middletown home postponed
Slow ticket sales have forced a group in Middletown to postpone a raffle drawing for a four-bedroom home valued at $475,000. The Frederick News-Post reported Friday that the Middletown High School Sports Club has sold just over 3,000 tickets at $100 each. The group said it had to sell at least 6,000 to hold a drawing that had been scheduled for Thursday. Club Vice President Keith Powell said the drawing will now be held in September. He said this is a one-time extension. Proceeds from the raffle were to be used to help fund the renovation of the school?s football field and athletic facilities.
Marriott Hotels revises image, brand
Marriott Hotels, the signature brand of Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc., the largest publicly traded hotel chain in the U.S. announced the launch of a new, multiyear global marketing campaign. The campaign, called ?Travel Brilliantly,? includes TV, digital and mobile advertising, a new brand look and logo, and enhanced social media platforms. In addition, Marriott is launching a new website ? www.travelbrilliantly.com ? revealing innovations under development, as well as a co-creation platform to solicit user-generated ideas. Grey NY, an advertising and communications agency headquartered in New York City, developed the integrated campaign and the new brand voice. Marriott hotels has more than 500 hotels and resorts in nearly 60 countries around the world.
2 Tower Cos. buildings rated by BOMA
The Tower Cos., a Rockville-based real estate development company, announced that two of its office buildings in Washington, 1909 K St., known as the Millennium Building, and 1828 L St., have been designated as BOMA 360 Performance Buildings. This puts them in an elite group of properties that have demonstrated they are managed to the highest standards of excellence of the Building Owners and Managers Association, a national trade group representing building owners, managers, developers and leasing personnel. Both buildings are among the first green buildings in the Washington area, according to Tower Cos. partner Jeffrey S. Abramson.
SNAE to hold ribbon-cutting at new HQ
Station North Arts & Entertainment Inc. will hold a ribbon-cutting Wednesday at its new headquarters at 1 North Ave. The headquarters occupies a renovated former fried chicken restaurant at North Avenue and Charles Street. Dubbed the Station North Chicken Box, it includes gallery space and a flexible theater. Ziger/Snead Architects, of Baltimore, designed the renovation, which was carried out by C&H Construction. The latter firm is located within the district and made up of individual artists, eight of whose artwork will be exhibited in the gallery space. SNAE, a nonprofit organization, promotes and supports artists and cultural organizations in the arts and entertainment district.
NW Hospital opens eye institute office
The LifeBridge Health Krieger Eye Institute has opened a new office and optical shop at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown. The full-service office offers patients a complete range of ophthalmic subspecialties, as well as general eye care and vision screenings. The location complements the other Krieger Eye Institute offices at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and the Quarry Lake development in Pikesville. The office is staffed by several ophthalmic subspecialists, an optometrist and certified ophthalmic assistants and technicians. The onsite optical shop provides a complete range of eyeglass frames and lens selections for every age, including young children.
Open house set at Owings Mills building
The Baltimore County Public Library and the Community College of Baltimore County are hosting an open house on Saturday to introduce the public to their facilities at the County Campus Metro Centre at Owings Mills. The library and the CCBC branch share space in the new, six-story, 120,000-square-foot building at 10300 Grand Central Ave. There will be public tours of the facilities and mini-presentations and demonstrations throughout the day, plus entertainment for children, and food and drink for sale. The library branch ? the largest in the county public library system ? opened its doors to the public in March; CCBC will begin holding classes at the new branch on July 8.
Accenture to take over Marriott unit
Marriott International Inc., of Bethesda, the largest publicly traded hotel chain in the U.S., announced it will transfer its Louisville, Tenn.-based Marriott Business Services finance and accounting unit to New York-based Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Accenture will provide F&A services to Marriott and its franchisees, starting in August, with full completion envisioned by early September. In conjunction with the transition, Accenture will create a new business service, Accenture Hospitality Services, built in part around the operations and capabilities coming from Marriott?s MBS unit. Accenture Hospitality Services will provide management consulting, technology and business process outsourcing services to companies in the hospitality industry. Financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed.
Silver Spring to get affordable housing
Construction has begun on The Residences at Thayer Avenue, an $18 million affordable housing development in downtown Silver Spring. Eighty percent of the development?s 52 units will be rented to households earning 60 percent or less of Montgomery County?s median household income, or around $57,000 a year. Landex Development LLC, of Linthicum, is the developer. According to Landex, funding for the complicated project came from 10 different sources, including revenue bonds, the Rental Housing Works initiative, the Rental Housing Production program, low income housing tax credits and private equity. Construction is expected to take about 13 months.
REIT completes industrial buildings? sale
First Potomac Realty Trust, a Bethesda-based real estate investment trust, said it completed the previously announced sale of 24 industrial properties, comprising approximately 4.3 million square feet, for a total of $259 million. Twenty-three buildings containing approximately 4 million square feet ? 16 in southern Virginia, seven in the Baltimore-Washington corridor ? were acquired by an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII for $241.5 million. The 24th property, a 236,000-square-foot industrial building in Haymarket, Va., was sold to Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust for $17.5 million. First Potomac had announced the sale of the properties in May.
LEASES
Cushman & Wakefield of Maryland Inc. announced it has leased 38,433 square feet of industrial space at 4517 North Point Blvd. in Edgemere to the Nelson Co., a manufacturer and distributor of industrial packaging products. Founded in 1921, Nelson supplied wood packaging to the Bethlehem Steel Co. tin mill in Baltimore. Today, it is the oldest active supplier to the tin mill industry and provides full-service transport packaging management including manufacturing, warehousing and recycling. C&W?s David Baird represented the landlord, F2 LLC. Chris Wright, also of C&W, represented the tenant. Currently, 28,500 square feet is available for lease at 4517 North Point Blvd. The industrial manufacturing facility features up to a 34-foot ceiling height and a fenced 24-acre lot. It is located in the Baltimore County East Industrial Submarket.
Cassidy Turley announced three leases, totaling 79,362 square feet of industrial space, at Candlewood Commerce Center, a three-building complex at 7462-7468 Candlewood Road in Hanover. Those signing leases were Atlantic Emergency Solutions, which leased 27,788 square feet at 7462 Candlewood Road; National Parcel Logistics, which agreed to lease 46,583 square feet at 7466 Candlewood Road; and Tower Resource Management, which signed for 4,991 square feet at 7468 Candlewood Road. The buildings total 357,706 square feet and are owned by TIAA-CREF, a financial services company. Atlantic Emergency Solutions was represented by Michael Elardo and Michael Kimmel of Cushman & Wakefield. National Parcel Logistics was represented by Tommy Hughes of Hughes Commercial Real Estate. Tower Resource Management was represented by Dave Sciamarelli of MacKenzie. Jarred Testa and Tilghman Herring of Cassidy Turley?s Core Industrial Leasing Team represented the landlord.
H&R Retail Inc., a Baltimore-Washington region retail brokerage company, announced it negotiated four retail lease transactions recently:
* ASAP Cleaners leased 1,967 square feet of space for a dry cleaning establishment at 670 Old Mill Road in Millersville. Brian Mitchell of H&R Retail represented the landlord in the transaction.
* Aaron?s Inc. leased 8,386 square feet for a new furniture store at 4578 Edmondson Road in Baltimore. Brian Mitchell of H&R Retail represented the landlord.
* ATI Physical Therapy leased 1,955 square feet for a doctor?s office at 8511 Liberty Road in Randallstown. Brad Buslik of H&R Retail represented the tenant in the lease transaction.
* Jersey Mike?s leased 1,790 square feet for a restaurant at Rhode Island Avenue NE in Washington. Brad Buslik of H&R Retail represented the landlord in this transaction.
SALES
1820 Portal Street
Cassidy Turley announced the sale to Belt Logistics Services of a 171,000-square-foot warehouse at 1820 Portal Street in the Holabird Business Park, near the Port of Baltimore. The building was formerly occupied by a printing company, Cenveo, which vacated it in July 2011. Belt Logistics Services purchased the property from its owner, Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust, for $7,181,000, and will occupy the building, The Cassidy Turley team of Jonathan M. Carpenter, James S. Wellschlager, Craig S. Lewis, J. Richard Latini and Jarred M. Testa represented First Industrial Realty Trust.
4001 North Point Blvd.
St. John Properties Inc., in partnership with N.P. Investment LLC, sold an 11-acre parcel of land at 4001 North Point Boulevard in the Dundalk section of Baltimore County to K. Hovnanian Homes for $2 million. The national homebuilder intends to develop The Townes at North Point, a 108-unit upscale townhome community on the former North Point drive-in theater site that most recently functioned as an outdoor flea market. St. John Properties and N.P. Investment will retain two pad sites, and plan to construct a 10,000-square-foot retail building on one of these parcels. Burger King currently operates a fast food restaurant and drive-thru at the location. K. Hovnanian Homes, a national home builder based in Red Bank, N.J., plans to break ground on its new townhome development later this year.
Dwane Casey will be back as the Raptors coach for 2013-14.(USATSI)
With the Toronto Raptors reassigning Bryan Colangelo to the business side of things and hiring 2013 Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri to reshape the franchise, there have been a lot of quick changes within the organization. Ujiri got rid of Ed Stefanski as the vice president of the basketball side of things and let go of head scout Maury Hanks as well.
Many wondered if coach Dwane Casey and the assistant staff would be the next to go as Ujiri tries to put his own imprint on the team. The Raptors announced on Wednesday that Casey would, in fact, come back for the final year of his contract and coach the team this coming season. An announcement on the assistant coaches has yet to be made but will be in the future.
Toronto Raptors President and General Manager, Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri announced Wednesday that Head Coach Dwane Casey will return for the 2013-14 season.
?I'm excited about moving forward and growing this team with Coach Casey,? said Ujiri.
Casey is in the final year of a contract extension signed following the 2011-12 campaign.
An announcement will be made in the future regarding the club's assistant coaching staff.
Casey has coached the team to record of 57-91 over his two seasons with the club. The Raptors were thought to be a potential sleeper for challenging for the final playoff spot in the East this past season, but injuries and poor defense plagued them for much of the year.
In his first season with the Raptors, Casey helped improve the team's defense from 30th in the NBA in 2010-11 to 12th in the league. The team gave up 8.5 fewer points per 100 possessions under the former defensive wizard on Rick Carlisle's coaching staff with the 2011 Dallas Mavericks that won the NBA title. However, last season we saw a regression in the Raptors' defense. Their defensive efficiency dropped 3.2 points per 100 possessions and they found themselves 22nd in the NBA.
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Microsoft just revealed?their new weapon in what will be the newest next gen console wars, the?Xbox One. Already, discussion threads asking "will you buy Xbox One or PS4?" are popping up in gaming forums around the internet.?
This is an old debate that goes back as long as competing gaming consoles have released together. Nintendo versus Sega Genesis. PlayStation versus Nintendo versus Sega. Xbox versus PlayStation 2. Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3. Evolution versus Creationism. It gets that heated.?
Each console cycle the debate rages anew, illogical fanboyism reaches feverish heights, and new trolls are born and slain in equal measure.?
Today's Xbox One reveal will set in motion a new generation of arguments about frame rates, graphics comparison, first party exclusive game titles and the ever popular computing horsepower fights.?
The prices for each system are likely to be about the same -- around $350 dollars give or take -- making purchasing both at the same time unlikely for most people.?
Xbox One is angling to be more of the "everything" console with Skype chat, Snap, TV integration, and even exclusive shows like a?Steven Spielberg produced Halo series.
Sony is betting on less of an all encompassing entertainment approach and focusing ?on a "games for gamers" appeal.?
Both will be nasty, nasty machines in their own ways.
Read up on what's known about each so far:
So, which console will you be buying come November, and why?
Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmosPublic release date: 22-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janet Wilson janet.wilson@uci.edu 949-824-3969 University of California - Irvine
UC Irvine discovery is confirmed by observatories around the world
Irvine, Calif. Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to UC Irvine-led research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Capturing the creation of this type of large, short-lived star body is extremely rare the equivalent of discovering a missing link between winged dinosaurs and early birds, said the scientists, who relied on the once-powerful Herschel space telescope and observatories around the world. The new mega-galaxy, dubbed HXMM01, "is the brightest, most luminous and most gas-rich submillimeter-bright galaxy merger known," the authors write.
HXMM01 is fading away as fast as it forms, a victim of its own cataclysmic birth. As the two parent galaxies smashed together, they gobbled up huge amounts of hydrogen, emptying that corner of the universe of the star-making gas.
"These galaxies entered a feeding frenzy that would quickly exhaust the food supply in the following hundreds of million years and lead to the new galaxy's slow starvation for the rest of its life," said lead author Hai Fu, a UC Irvine postdoctoral scholar.
The discovery solves a riddle in understanding how giant elliptical galaxies developed quickly in the early universe and why they stopped producing stars soon after. Other astronomers have theorized that giant black holes in the heart of the galaxies blew strong winds that expelled the gas. But cosmologist Asantha Cooray, the UC Irvine team's leader, said that they and colleagues across the globe found definitive proof that cosmic mergers and the resulting highly efficient consumption of gas for stars are causing the quick burnout.
"Finding this type of galaxy is as important as the discovery of the archaeopteryx was in understanding dinosaurs' evolution into birds, because they were both caught at a critical transitional phase," Fu said.
The new galaxy was initially spotted by UC Irvine postdoctoral scholar Julie Wardlow, also with Cooray's group. She noticed "an amazing, bright blob" in images of the so-called cold cosmos areas where gas and dust come together to form stars recorded by the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope with important contributions from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "Herschel captured carpets of galaxies, and this one really stood out."
Follow-up views at a variety of wavelengths were obtained at more than a dozen ground-based observatories, particularly the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
###
UC Irvine graduate student Jae Calanog is co-author of the paper, as are scientists at 27 other institutions in the U.S., Canada, Spain, France, England and South Africa. Funding was provided by NASA.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,400 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu.
News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.
Contact:
Janet Wilson
949-824-3969
janet.wilson@uci.edu
UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit http://www.today.uci.edu/experts.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmosPublic release date: 22-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janet Wilson janet.wilson@uci.edu 949-824-3969 University of California - Irvine
UC Irvine discovery is confirmed by observatories around the world
Irvine, Calif. Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to UC Irvine-led research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Capturing the creation of this type of large, short-lived star body is extremely rare the equivalent of discovering a missing link between winged dinosaurs and early birds, said the scientists, who relied on the once-powerful Herschel space telescope and observatories around the world. The new mega-galaxy, dubbed HXMM01, "is the brightest, most luminous and most gas-rich submillimeter-bright galaxy merger known," the authors write.
HXMM01 is fading away as fast as it forms, a victim of its own cataclysmic birth. As the two parent galaxies smashed together, they gobbled up huge amounts of hydrogen, emptying that corner of the universe of the star-making gas.
"These galaxies entered a feeding frenzy that would quickly exhaust the food supply in the following hundreds of million years and lead to the new galaxy's slow starvation for the rest of its life," said lead author Hai Fu, a UC Irvine postdoctoral scholar.
The discovery solves a riddle in understanding how giant elliptical galaxies developed quickly in the early universe and why they stopped producing stars soon after. Other astronomers have theorized that giant black holes in the heart of the galaxies blew strong winds that expelled the gas. But cosmologist Asantha Cooray, the UC Irvine team's leader, said that they and colleagues across the globe found definitive proof that cosmic mergers and the resulting highly efficient consumption of gas for stars are causing the quick burnout.
"Finding this type of galaxy is as important as the discovery of the archaeopteryx was in understanding dinosaurs' evolution into birds, because they were both caught at a critical transitional phase," Fu said.
The new galaxy was initially spotted by UC Irvine postdoctoral scholar Julie Wardlow, also with Cooray's group. She noticed "an amazing, bright blob" in images of the so-called cold cosmos areas where gas and dust come together to form stars recorded by the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope with important contributions from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "Herschel captured carpets of galaxies, and this one really stood out."
Follow-up views at a variety of wavelengths were obtained at more than a dozen ground-based observatories, particularly the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
###
UC Irvine graduate student Jae Calanog is co-author of the paper, as are scientists at 27 other institutions in the U.S., Canada, Spain, France, England and South Africa. Funding was provided by NASA.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,400 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu.
News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.
Contact:
Janet Wilson
949-824-3969
janet.wilson@uci.edu
UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit http://www.today.uci.edu/experts.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Once in a while I like to reach into the Mailbag and answer some of the many self-publishing questions I get every day.
Here?s a representative sampling from the last few months. If this inspires you to ask your own question, go ahead and leave it in the comments where everyone will be able to profit from the exchange.
Q: When typing my manuscript I have it double spaced, but when it?s in print or on Kindle, what?s the spacing? The reason I ask is I?m trying to decided on the size, so as not to make it too bulky. It appears to me that it looks like 1.5? A: We don?t use line spacing when typesetting books, we use ?leading? which is an exact measurement between lines, and it really depends on the design, the font, and the kind of book you?re doing, but you could start with 1.5 and see how it looks.
Q: Joel, can you do a print on demand or offset run of 50 to 100 in hardcover with library stitched (not side-stitched, and definitely not a paperback with hardcover glued on like some of them)? A: You can do a sewn book?either paperback or hardcover?with an offset printer who has a proper bindery. There may even be digital printers that I offer this service, but keep in mind that to produce 100 copies of a sewn casebound would be quite expensive on a per book basis.
Q: I am publishing by CreateSpace, I have 2 questions: I am selling digital version of a new and unpublished book to one company, for free distribution, the paper version could be for sale by Amazon and CreateSpace. Must I wait or can I have it on Amazon while I sell the digital version? Should I have a different ISBN? A: You need a different ISBN for each different version (print, ebook, etc). You should not put a version of the book up for free if it?s for sale elsewhere. You can sell on Amazon and other locations, and you can sell print at the same time as digital.
Q: I?ve read many articles about formatting novels, the different options in regards to using a traditional word processing program like Word, hybrid choices, specific programs, etc. What I don?t understand is why a double-spaced page of a novel using Times New Roman 12 point font looks so huge when independently printed from a Word file, compared to a traditional big publisher. Is it in the layout design? Am I missing something? A: I understand that this can be confusing. From Word you are probably printing an 8.5? x 11? page, which is much larger than most trade books. And most books are not typeset in Times, a font that?s not commonly used for books. Your double-spaced page also has a lot of space between the lines compared to a typeset book. And finally, most books in my experience are typeset in 10 or 11 point type, 10-20% smaller than the 12 point you are using.
Q: I have a question in regards to ISBN numbers and was wondering if you could help me. AuthorHouse published my book in print then produced a electronic copy. However I now want to publish it myself. I understand I will need a new ISBN? Can I do this? I own copyright. Can I stop AuthorHouse from providing my book on Amazon and replace it with mine? A: You will need to have a close look at the contract you signed with AuthorHouse to discover exactly how to get the rights to your book back. You may own the copyright, but your agreement with the publisher most likely grants them exclusive right to print and sell the book, that?s the rights you licensed to them. If you have trouble with the contract language I urge you to consult with an intellectual property attorney. Be assured that you will be better off in the long run if you take control of the book yourself.
Q: My book is an autobiography of my life. I had been to prison many times. And when I got out of prison I checked into a University and from there my life just skyrocketed. The fact is that I am 6 foot nothing, 100 and nothing skinny white kid in a jungle (prison) where I survived. Lions, tigers and bears (gang members, big guys, thugs) were being killed and clipped off. But here was I, this rabbit surviving in this jungle. It also can mean corporate america. Where corporate america is the jungle and the rabbit is the person who cant get a job because he is a felon. So what genre would I go after? I?m thinking people that have struggled. Former prisoners. But those people don?t read. A: Thanks for your note. I agree that one of the important things you need to do is identify likely audiences for your book, and with memoirs that can be challenging. It sounds like there?s a strong self-help element embodied in the book and, if that?s true and you can offer specific help, tips, step by step actions people can take to emulate your success, you should probably go after the self-help market. A person who overcomes obstacles to find success, then puts them into a form that others can use and offers the result can work well, and it?s a story we are familiar with and we react to.
Q: What do you mean by ?link bait?? A: I?m using the phrase ?link bait? for articles specifically designed to attract links from other sites, and resource posts (articles with links to lots of resources) are a good example. ?Trackbacks? is a WordPress term that simply means another site has linked to one of your articles, in which case a link will appear under the Comments section on your blog.
Q: I am self-publishing my third book. It is comedy and poetry. My concern is space. After a comedy writing, if there is some space left on the page, does it look unprofessional to leave it empty? Or should I try to fill in the extra space on the page with another smaller writing? Some of my writings are just a 1/4 page long. Would this be okay to leave the rest of the page empty? A: For books with only one entry (of whatever kind) on a page, it?s perfectly acceptable to leave the rest of the page blank, and I would encourage you to not just ?find copy? to fill the space, since it?s likely to dilute the overall effect of the book.
Q: If I had seed money, I could perhaps hire someone like you. I have what I believe to be a great niche market. Wish me luck on getting the word out to them! A: It doesn?t take much to get started blogging in your niche market, and I would suggest if you haven?t done so you start on that now because you?ll be glad to have the support once you get to the point of publishing your book.
Q: I am wondering how the copyright page inside a book works when you write under a pseudonym. Do I have to put my name, or can I put the pseudonym and not run into any problems? A: Yes, you can use the pseudonym on the copyright page, and list both names on your copyright registration form.
Q: I have a simple question that is holding me up in my final stages of self-publishing. Regarding barcodes ? Do I NEED to purchase them via Bowker (like an ISBN number) or is there some way around their absurd (to me) $25.00 fee? I have seen some ?free barcode generator? stuff online but I am not sure if there is some negative aspect to going the ?free? route (???). Also, regarding the ISBN number/Bowker registration, is there, perhaps, some advantage to registering under a company name rather than under my own personal name? A: You don?t need to buy your Bookland ean barcode from Bowker, although I would avoid the ?free barcode generator? software since it?s difficult to determine how reliable the barcodes are. If you publish at LightningSource, you?ll find that they have a free cover template generator on their site that will produce a barcode along with the cover template. Alternately, check out barcodegraphics.com who sells barcodes for (last time I checked) $10. And yes, I would suggest using a publisher name instead of your own name when you register with Bowker.
Q: I am assisting my Pastor with reprinting his book. It was originally published with AuthorHouse and when we left and purchased the art cover files and the galley they removed all of the information on the copyright page. This included all the information, copyright, artist, editors, and more. We are adding three pictures to the book and the only text changes that will be done will be small corrections to errors in spelling or removal on a typo not caught with first release. So what are we required to print on the copyright page based on our situation? The ISBN was through AuthorHouse. Do we need to buy another now? Will the additions and corrections make this a second edition? And does AuthorHouse hold the ISBN we previously had? A: It?s good that you got the rights and materials back. They own the ISBN so you will have to get your own ISBN. If you take your book to CreateSpace for printing and distribution, they will give you one for free or at a very low cost depending on your needs. The usual guideline is that changing 10% of the book will make it a new edition. You can copy the old copyright page, or you?ll find a guide to everything you need to know about the copyright page here.
Q: While one cannot use lyrics of songs in novels without running into some kind of problem, is it permissible to describe lyrics in your own words? How does that work? A: You can use lyrics, but you have to get permission first. If you don?t use the actual lyrics, you don?t need any permission.
Q: Can you have the identical book published by 3 different publisher outfits, like All about Cats ? published by ABC All about Cats ? published by DEF All about Cats ? published by GHI all the exact same book, only each book would have a different ISBN? A: That?s not the best way to proceed. If the books are identical, I would suggest buying your own ISBN and using the same one on all identical printings.
Q: Having a tough time scheduling book signings. Any tips???!! Also, have been trying to get involved with a local bookstore chain in San Antonio. Having problems getting callbacks. Any suggestions? A: The best bet is to emphasize to bookstores first, the value your book will bring to their customers and, second how you plan to get people to come into their store for your event. Those are the things the bookstores are concerned with. Also, find out who is responsible for bookings or who is the book buyer and address everything only to them.
Q: I am so screwed! Excuse the vulgarity, but there?s no other word. I published in 2012 with Abbott Press. I wanted the best I could get for my book, so bought the best package. At their discount, I still paid them $5,800. I am more than thrilled with the book! It looks good and is exactly what I wanted. I have been promoting myself at book signings and I?m so busy marketing my book, there hasn?t been time to write book #2. I?m just not sure I can ever find the time to do all that actual self-publishing requires. With a regular day job that happens to be at night, I?m burning the candle way too low. What?s a person to do? I?m overwhelmed! A: Don?t despair. Book marketing is a marathon, not a sprint, and you don?t have to do everything at once, or even this year. You?ll do better building a platform and a base of fans, and that takes time. Try to develop a long-range plan that allows you time to write, and stick to it. You?re probably making more progress than you know, it?s just hard to measure on a week to week basis.
Q: If I had a real life experience that happened to me and the perp was not ever convicted or arrested am I allowed to write a book on my life story of sexual child abuse? I want to write a book about my life story, it happened to me so I thought I am right about writing about what happened to me. My reason is I want to shed light on the subject of Church and abuse. Our church does not let scandals get out. They hide it very well. A: Of course you don?t have to ask anyone permission to write about your own life. Be aware though that if you name real people and attribute criminal acts to them, it would be best to consult a lawyer before you publish the book.
Q: I did it the wrong way round. At the request of someone else, I wrote a book about her mother?s experiences in France during World War II. Mainstream publishers said war heroes had to be male for a wartime book to sell. I said ?fiddlesticks,? but now can?t figure out who my target market is. Who is interested in female heroes, war, France, escape? How do I go about it since the book is already written? A: Memoirs are often written exactly as you have, so that won?t hold you back. The best advice I can give you is to search out other books with similar content that have been successful, and from that try to find out how they appealed to readers, what the authors do to promote their books, and anything else you can glean from them, because they have already solved the problem that you are facing.
So what?s your question?
Photo: bigstockphoto.com
Tagged as: blogging, book distribution, book marketing, copyright, eBooks, ISBN, print on demand, Q&A, self publishing
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Public release date: 22-May-2013
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