Book-to-market

Thau provides a good, thorough overview of bonds from beginning to end, including what you need to know about "bond math." I came to this book as someone both interested and invested in the stock market and I wanted to expand my knowledge to include other types of investments. The Bond Book definitely served my purpose. I recommend it to any beginner or novice investor looking to learn more about the nuances and varieties of fixed-income securities.

This book can help you make money. How? It reviews the history of spreads between Treasuries and Municipals, between Treasuries and Junk bonds, and between Treasuries and other types of bonds/securities. By buying the appropriate security when the spread is abnormally large by a wide margin, which admittedly may only occur once every ten years or so, I believe one could make a ton of money. An example would be to buy junk bonds when the spread between junk and treasuries exceeds 1200 basis points. Another example would be to buy municipals if their yield surpasses the treasury benchmark. Patience will be required, though, since, as the author points out, it is tough to make a killing in the bond market all the time (i.e. the market is usually highly efficient).

The author also does a terrific job pointing out the different types of risk (reinvestment, inflation, currency, interest rates, credit, etc.) for all the different types of securities and duration of securities. She then tells you how to select a security appropriate for your needs given the risks. For example, if you don't want to worry about a rise in rates destroying the value of your bond, buy one that you can hold to maturity and collect at par. Better yet, buy one with a short duration.

In conclusion, any well rounded financier needs to know about bonds--even Warren Buffet--the famous "stock picker"--invests a ton in bonds. This book is a great start to earning this skill.

This is a clear, thorough, comprehensive look at the world of bonds, starting with some general explanations and then going through each major category of bond in turn. The only problem is that the book is getting old and some of the examples and explanations are based on market conditions that no longer exist. However, the book is excellent and certainly stands the test of time.

John Kremer hits a home run with this spectacular classic reference on how to market books. Whether you are an author or a publisher, this book is a must! Every useful promotional idea you might think of is included here, from the most traditional methods to guerrilla marketing techniques.

In fact, this book is so packed with creative ideas for marketing books that it's easy to make it part of your marketing campaign. Everything from book cover design and redesign tips, to web site listings in directories and search engines, to getting yourself onto television programs (even news programs sell books) is covered. Simply make a commitment to implement two ideas from this book each week for a few months, and watch your sales soar!

What I love the most about 1001 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BOOKS is the way it inspires me to ask myself, "What am I willing to do to promote my book?" Kremer makes the point that any good book can become successful when it is properly promoted so buyers know what it's about, why they need it, and how they can buy it.

If you are looking for the very best reference on promoting books, look no further. This is it!

Can you imagine a book entitled 1001 Ways to Market Your Books? At first I was doubtful that any author would be able to realistically provide a guide that would contain 1001 ways to help you market your book. However, after reading John Kremer's extensive guidebook, 1001 Ways To Market Your Book-5th Edition, my doubts were tossed aside and in fact I would have to admit that the book would qualify as recommended reading for a college level course.

As the author mentions in the introduction, "this book is not intended to be a textbook on how to market books. Rather, it is designed to be an organized potpourri of useful ideas, examples, tips, and suggestions to stimulate your creativity and encourage you to explore new ways to market your books." In other words, one of the keys is that both the author and the publisher must take a pro-active role in the marketing of the book.

Kremer, who is an acknowledged expert on book publishing, addresses his book to both the publisher and the author. It is partitioned into 21 chapters analyzing such topics as effective marketing, designing your books, sales aids, promotion, publicity and advertising, internet selling of your book, distribution, working with bookstores, school and library selling, subsidiary rights, overseas selling, special opportunities, and leveraging your skills. Within each of these segments the author in straight-talking language explains in detail the basic principles of effective marketing as well as the "nuts and bolts" of the book publishing industry. Although many sections of the book seem to be addressed primarily to the publisher, Kremer does try to include the authors in imparting his vast knowledge. This is accomplished by cleverly placing a little summary box at the end of most sections addressed uniquely to the author.

Moreover, several individuals and companies were invited as sponsors by the author to write one-page articles that provide good marketing tips to book publishers and authors. For example, Marilyn and Tom Ross, the co-authors of the best-selling Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, contributed a very short piece on the four success principles. As an added feature the author has included many reference sources with web site addresses, telephone numbers, addresses and their descriptions.

Kremer emphasizes the principle that you cannot neglect the reality that selling a book is no different than selling any other item and effective business practices are essential if you hope to succeed. One such important principle is to remember the 80/20 rule wherein 80% of your business comes only from 20% of your customers. Consequently, it is necessary to keep yourself focused. Knowing if you have a market for your book and who comprises the market can never be omitted from your plan of action. How often do we encounter someone who tells us that we should write a book about our personal experiences? Frankly we have to ask ourselves, who cares?

Considering the monumental scope of the subject matter, Kremer has written a masterly book that should be required reading for all publishers and authors.

This review first appeared on reviewer's own site:

John Kremer's book on marketing for writers covers a critical subject: what do you do after publication to market your book. Only a handful of available titles address this critical issue. Most publishers do little publicity; instead, they edit (maybe), print, and ship. Marketing is mostly up to the author. But most writers are clueless. This book is a wonderful resource. Use it. Borrow from it. Most publishers refer their writers to this book for a good reason. Highly recommended.

I read this book in about a day and a half. Considering I stay at home with a 4 year old and a 20 month old, that's an acomplishment! It was awsome and incredible to hear what she had to say and how God is using her so very powerfully. I beleive she addressed Congress last year (2000). The book is written very well and is easy to read. I recommend this one to your pro-life library. Would be a good tool to give to someone who is pro-"choice", especially because it's so easy for them to focus on the choice and not the baby. Irene V.

I have been pro life for a while but I learnt so much from this book.Gianna's courage and determination are inspiring and such a blessing. This is a must read. I have read it several times and each time I learnt something new. I have lent it to friends who also love it. One of them was a non Christain friend of mine who was considering aborting her fourth baby. Praise God she didn't. It's good. Do yourself a favour and get this book. You won't be sorry.

I am a 15 year old girl and im not really a normal reader...i found this book and could not put it down..it informed me in all the dangers of having sex before marrage and i think that every teen should read this so they know the risks..it is perfect for a parent with a teen who wants their teen not to have sex or to stop having sex...I cried many times throughout the book and when i was finished i wanted to just keep reading. this book is perfect for a person who is pregnant and thinking about having an abortion....My sister read this book when she got pregnant and now she is about to have a baby girl for herself thanks to Gianna. if you get a chance...READ THIS BOOK!

This book really worked! And it was really hard for me to get over my break-up because I WORK WITH THIS JERK!!!! It's not rocket science, it's more of 'get re-acquainted' with the tools you already have and know about!! I did buy some crystals to help with the bad energy and dreams, and that seemed to help also. I finished the book last night, and I have a date with someone new tonight!

This book is a true gem. The reader is guided through a personal rebirth. Each day the authors dispense sage-like wisdom to let you move past your old, dead relationship and discover what love really should be. You will find that there is no need to grieve for several months over a relationship that most likely was unhealthy. You are forced to make steps toward recovery and self-improvement through various exercises(I found the tips on diet and exercise to be the most important for me). Highly recommended for anyone suffering from heartbreak.

I picked this book up on a whim and thought it very helpful in getting over a past relationship. The authors treat the broken heart as a universal phenomenon, one that every human goes through at least once in their lives. I found this insight very comforting, knowing that there were millions of other people with similar feelings. The authors clearly speak from experience. They are consequently sympathetic towards the broken heart, but that does not stop them from offering a gung-ho program for people finally to start healing themselves and learning to love again. This book also offers helpful advice on how to establish an effective physical platform from which to initiate the psychological healing process: eating right, exercising, etc. Highly recommended!!!!!!!!

The purpose of this book was to document the lives of former slaves, grouping together areas of similar experiences. The full gamut of the horrors of American slavery are described, whether it was being beaten, raped, or having your family split apart for different masters to take away. The living conditions and variety in their treatment also are discussed, making this book, while simple enough to be read by middle schoolers, powerful enough to be read by anyone seeking a true account of slavery prior to the Civil War.

This small collection of slaves memories and stories offers a vivid, heartfelt look into the often horrific lives these people once led. The pain and suffering, the sacrifices and dedication of this amazing race make for an equally amazing book that opens the soul and teaches, without preaching or purpose, to love and respect every race. A perfect collection of facts and stories.

I had to read this book for a college class, and I was really moved by it. It's such a powerful read. This book will give the reader a first hand experience of what it was like to be a slave. What makes this book so good is that it's the words of the slave. It's their stories and their words. The reader will learn how they were beaten and how their families were split up...sometimes for life. If you have a interest in reading about slavery, then you must add this to your collection.

Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series is certainly derivative. A young scullion with dreams of grandeur finds himself embroiled in an epic struggle to save the land of Osten Ard from the dreaded Storm King... Stop me if you've heard this sort of thing before. Even so, "The Dragon Bone Chair" (book one in the so-called four book 'trilogy'), was a compelling return to the undying genre of high fantasy, and fueled my interest in the series that ultimately lead me to the second offering, "The Stone of Farewell" - a book that was slow, ponderous, and anti-climactic. "To Green Angel Tower: Part 1" continued along those lines up until the last hundred or so pages. Fortunately, "To Green Angel Tower: Part 2" offers a less glacially paced read. Despite the size of the bloated second half, things move at a decent clip (finally!). The action is fast and dramatic, and all of it builds up to a suitably ominous confrontation with the Storm King.

In due course, "TGAT: Part 2" redeems the series and lifts it far above its weakest points. The climax feels a little rushed, and somewhat anticlimactic (how could it not when you've turned nearly 3,000 pages to reach it?), but it's ultimately satisfying enough to make the series rather easy to recommend to patient fans of the genre who have not yet discovered it. The "prologue," so to speak, attempts, and mostly succeeds, at tying up all loose ends, but it could be argued that Williams opted to tack on a sort of ultra-happy ending that may or may not seem entirely appropriate in the context of the rest of the story. Without spoiling anything, Simon's secret heritage and secret destiny, when revealed, are enough to warrant a groan. Very predictable.

Despite the faults of the series, Williams' world is an eerie construct, a bittersweet place where joy and sorrow are at perpetual war, and it's a place that will linger in the reader's mind long after that reader has finished... well, reading. If author Tad Williams had cut some of the fat from this monstrosity and offered a meaner, leaner yarn, I would scarcely hesitate to call it a contemporary classic. As it stands, it's exceptionally good.

First of all, I must say that I'm giving this 5 stars to the whole trilogy. "To Green Angel Tower" I would give 4 and a half. Beginning of "Dragonebone chair" was a little slow, but when Morgenes died, everything started to flourish. Action, adventure, horror - the book had everything a fantasy fan can wish. "Stone of Farewell" was even more interesting to read. What I liked best about these books is that some of main characters are being killed. In a fantasy genre, it's pretty hard to find an author who wold kill his heroes. What I don't like about "To Green Angel Tower" is ending. This kind of utter happyend is not in accord to the rest of trilogy. The other thing is this scullion-becomes-king cliche. I suspected that Simon was of noble blood when he collected Thorn and killed the dragon, but I was hoping that in the end he would go away and live with Sithi. Nevertheless, it's a great fantasy series and I hope Tad Williams will write many more like this.

Tad Williams did a great job with this book and with the series as a whole. The series is admirably written with great characterization & vividly described battle scenes. Also, age-old clichés are either given new and subtle twists or discarder altogether in place of fresh ideas. However there were long stretches that I felt could have been condensed. Did we really need to read about Simon stumbling through underground tunnels yet again with next to nothing happening to him except hunger and thirst (until he encounters Inch, of course)? I found this almost excruciating to read, not just of concern for the character but out of sheer impatience with the story. I don't know how else Williams could have charted Simon's journey to the Hayholt but I wish he could have found another way. The climax was tautly paced and this also was excruciating (in a good way), but the ending, i.e. the defeat of the Storm King wasn't explored enough. The reader is left to provide the details on how the Storm King gets vanquished. However, it's not too much of a stretch and it ultimately comes off as believable. There's a lot to be said for leaving things to the reader's imagination and Williams does that. Lastly - Aedon be praised! - there's an ending. After being hopelessly frustrated with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and despairing of ever seeing a resolution (which is why I'm hesitant to start Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series), it's heartening to see a series that has an ending.

As a trader who had read tens of trading books, I still found this one interesting and helpful. I like its variety of content (that the author introduced a lot sentiment indicators like CBOE Put/Call Parity + Volatility Index, RYDEX Mutual Fund Flows, Volume indicators for QQQ and S&P 500 Depository Receipts), plus the author's writing style and integrity (the author did quoted frequently from other writers). Some technical tools like MACD, ADX were discussed, but only briefly. In fact, I like Chapter 12 about trading psychology and money management, Appendix D favorite quotes the most.

To conclude, if you want to read an intermediate to advanced level trading book, and that you are appreciative of logical and contrarian trading, this one is for you.

p.s. I like Mark Douglas, Bernard Baruch and Jesse Livermore very much. As the author does appreciate these "gurus", I admit that my positive comment may be a little bit biased.

Big Trends in Trading really helps you understand what makes the markets tick. Headley gets right to the bottom line, which is helping investors make more money with a better understanding of the best ways to put your money to work. Headley highlights some key indicators that look beyond the news headlines to gauges of investor sentiment and key sentiment indicators that help you see where the markets are heading over different time frames. And in my experience, that can make a big, big difference in your portfolio. What's more, he also offers some very specific ways to spot the best stock opportunities, as well as stock and option strategies designed to help make money in different market conditions. He definitely doesn't "dumb it down" - the material is detailed, with complete information on results from the various trading strategies spelled out.

Price Headley successfully combines his obviously well-tested market analysis and trading theory with practical step-by-step guidelines in this compact, yet amazingly complete trading treatise. There are so many real gems contained in this small book I can only urge beginning and advanced traders alike to grab a copy and read it...several times over.

Headley introduces a few unique and intuitively appealing indicators for determining market trends, stock selection and entry-exit techniques, as well as his considerable insights on working with more well-known indcators like the VIX, Rydex and put/call ratios.

I was particularly impressed with his work on directional options trading and his superb treatment of the type of money management and psychology that is absolutely critical if one is to develop consistent success at trading. I suspect that even long-term professional traders will find much that is new, or at least refreshing and useful, in these pages and I certainly won't be surprised to see "Big Trends in Trading" join the short list of must read classics in the years to come.

I must say that the book is interesting and well written. Even better, it is not very long. My major problem with it, however, is that it is overly simplistic. In many ways it is similar to Elliot Wave Theory, for whatever value that may still have.

The author takes a basic truism and extends it to illogical conclusions. As anyone who has ever looked at a chart will know, market trends are always marked by countertrend moves. For example, a stock may go up for two weeks, then suddenly go down for 3 days then go back up again. The auther calls this three day swing a reaction swing. So far so good.

He then espouses that, if you count back from the start of the reaction swing to the beginning of the trend, you will learn the exact number of days that the trend will continue after the swing ends, the "reversal date." Further, you can also learn the price where the trend will end or the next reaction swing will occur by subtracting the price at the start of the trend from the price at the start of the reaction swing. Adding that number to the price at the end of the swing will tell you the price where the trend will end or the next reaction swing will begin, and you already know the day on which it will occur.

Sorry, life is just not that simple. The diffieulty is demonstrated by the fact that even in the author's carefully selected examples, his "reverse count," the count back from the beginning of the reaction swing, often goes back to a differing places. Sometimes it goes back to the beginning of the previous reaction swing, other times to the beginning of the trend and still others to the beginning of a reaction swing in a previous trend.

As I read this book, I was often asking myself, without any apparant answers, "Why is he counting back to there?"

I've got to say that if this really works, I am extremely jealous because everyone except me is getting outrageously rich without doing any work. One can easily spot a "reaction swing" or countertrend movement. Image how great it would really be if all one had to do was wait a day or two into the main trend's resumption, and know with confidence that the new trend will last 11 days and will rise or fall respectively, esactly 10 points.

Anyway, if it works for you "Congratulations."

I would like compliment Mr. Crane on the clarity with which he explains the "Action/Reactiion" phenomena in commodities and stocks. I have found this book to be most illuminating and it has greatly improved my understanding of the manner in which one should identify segments of a market move. I have studied the Delta system and learned from Joe DiNapoli and both are extremely good, but I can honestly say neither gives me the confidence and or the trigger points as well as this method. I find his unique method of combining Time, Price and Pattern can strengthen the predictability of future market moves. In my opinion this is probably the single best trading book I have ever read on technical analysis. It's a real "where the rubber meets the road" type book that I think most traders will find credible.

Something I read, in the first part of this boo, really made me think. Mr. Crane said "If 80% of traders lose money, I don't want to look at the markets in the same way they do." All these years I have been studying and using the same indicators as everyone else, but I never really understood the market behavior...until I read Advanced Swing Trading. I found Elliott Wave to be confusing and Gann too subjective. While techincal indicators served me well, I was always entering the market late and exiting early. "Advanced Swing Trading" opened my eyes to a whole new understanding of how to trade the market. John Crane's method of projecting Time and Price, is precise and very easy to understand. And then he adds the confirming patterns to tie it all together. While I am primarly a short-term trader, I was amazed by the accuracy of the long-term projections as well. I have been trying to master the art of swing trading for the past two years and have had marginal success...until now. Since I learned to use John Crane's Reaction swing technique, the results have been stunning. I highly recommend this book to any trader, whether you look for long-term moves or short-term swing trades, this book has it all!

Just wanted to take a moment to say I have all of Mr. Smiley's books. I have yet to say thanks to Mr. Smiley. These books are written in a manner that relaxes on while reading. He has a program (the China shop) that you follow along with throughout his series. This book (Examples) is the exception to that series. Mr. Smiley does a dialog as if he is on a TV show where he will answer caller's questions. I am working on several programs for my college and I can not tell you how many time I have used this book as a reference. It answers many common sense questions. If you are a beginner, get this book. Thanks, for your effort John.

I will again add mine to another list of great reviews for one of John Smiley's books. As I mentioned in my review of his initial work "Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6", I was not familiar with John's writing until I read that first volume of the LTP series. But I am now hooked on "Learn To Program". "LTP Visual Basic 6 EXAMPLES" is another gem by this author. He is the first, in my opinion, to put great effort into anticipating all the questions novice programmers will ask as they write their earliest programs. As a result, the reader finds himself asking "Why can't other authors and their distributors be this thorough? I can actually learn this all on my own."

So many programming writers and their publishers seem interested in only "Rapid Publication Development" with their titles. Guess it says something about how interested they really are in helping the average person flatten the programming learning curve. Gee! $$Wonder$$ what their real motivation is. Well wake up and smell the coffee all of you. Take a page from John Smiley's book/books and truly learn how to write a self-help guide. He is the best author in this sector of the technical books market - by far.

This text book is laid out in a very relaxing format, unlike so many text books that leave you tense after studying them.
The book is a "talk show", question and answer format. John Smiley answers each "callers'" question with detailed examples and references to topics already learned or covered if they relate. I would highly recommend this textbook.

It is a mark of the quality of this book that it has never been out of print since it was published several decades ago. This is the book that started the genre of alternative history. He throws his hero, Martin Padway, into dark ages Rome with only the contents of his pockets and his wits. Can a modern man make a comfortable life for himself in the ancient world?

It is a short read, but very well written. Le Camp builds us a time travel theory and a whole world in the past without needing to engage in in-depth world building. And for students of Byzantine history, it covers an interesting era when Justinian tried to reel the Ostrogothic run Italy back into the Eastern Roman Empire. Apart from the alternative elements the book is very historically correct.

As a bonus you get the David Drake novella "To bring the light" another alternative history about the founding of Rome.

Well written and entertaining, Lest Darkness Fall is well worth the cover price. Travelling to a period of time that most time travel novels ignore, the idea of a modern day man in Roman times is a wonderful twist on the "done to death" time traveller genre.

I think the only complaint I have about this book is that it is too short. Many of the novel ideas found in the story aren't explored to their potential.

After you read this book, check out, The Cross-Time Engineer by Leo Frankowski. This five part series got five star ratings for four of the five books at Amazon.com! (The fourth book got a 4.5!)

Frankowski's books take this type of time travel book to its logical conclusion and fully explore many of the wonderful ideas found in this book.

Martin Padway, mild-mannered archaeologist, is visiting Rome when he is thrust backwards in time... all the way back to the sixth century A.D. The Roman Empire is fading fast... facing foes on all sides... with the thousand-year blight we now know as the Dark Ages fast approaching. Can a single man -- Padway --change history and prevent the fall of Rome? Nothing less than the 'Age of Enlightenment' hangs in the balance.

The literary descendent of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', de Camp lets Padway grapple with raw issues. I found these areas the story's most interesting sections: how to make a living, having arrived with only modern currency in hand... how to avoid the authorities, given their proclivity to brand any new technology 'witchcraft'... how to assemble allies, fend off enemies and stay healthy in an environment not conducive to outsiders.

Because it was written in 1939, there is a level of 'political incorrectness' that is entertainingly fresh. Italian women, Muslims, the French and others are insulted with broad brush-strokes. Nonetheless, it is historically informative, important from a literary standpoint and makes for interesting reading. Despite its age, it is a fluid, fast read. de Camp had a lot of interesting things to say... and said them well.