Perigee Bookmarks

The Hidden Pay-off in Financial Books

Posted by author Daniel R. Solin

There is certainly no shortage of financial books. I have contributed to the glut by publishing four of them:  Does Your Broker Owe You Money?, The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read, The Smartest 401(k) Book You’ll Ever Read, and The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read.

My background is in law and not in investing or finance.  I learned about the securities industry from representing investors whose portfolios were decimated by the misconduct of stock brokers (who disavow that name and have much fancier titles, like “financial consultants”). 

I was shocked by what I learned about how money is managed.  Brokers are salesmen.  Their goal is to generate profits for their employers.  The brokers I encountered knew less about finance and basic principles of investing than I did.

I did a survey of financial books.  Most of them were so complicated and densely written that I couldn’t understand them.  The point seemed to be that investing is terribly complicated -- far beyond the expertise of the ordinary investor. What was the option?  Retain the author and his firm to handle your investments.  After all, he wrote the book.

My experience with trying to get back money lost due to broker misconduct was not a positive one for many of my clients.  When they opened their brokerage accounts, they agreed to mandatory arbitration run by the very industry they were suing.  The results were predictable.  Many investors who were victimized by their brokers were revictimized by this arbitration process.

I struggled with these issues.  Investing with brokers made no sense to me.  Subjecting yourself to mandatory arbitration seemed to be like giving your broker a gun and asking her to shoot you.

I proposed a solution in The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read.  The title says it all, but it is often misunderstood. It’s not that I was arrogant enough to believe my book was the smartest investment book ever written. I saw a need for a book about investments that everyone could read, understand and implement, without using any broker or adviser.  I didn’t want my readers to become part of a system I believed was fundamentally flawed.  I wrote the book in a different style.  I keep the chapters very short and the advice very simple.  I provided extensive academic support for the recommendations in the book.

The reaction, which has continued with the publication of the other Smartest books, has been very gratifying.  The most common feedback from readers is they wish they had read my books thirty years ago.  Many told me they bought copies for their children.  Tens of thousands changed the way they invest and adopted the simple indexing strategies I recommend in my books.

When I wrote the Smartest Investment Book in early 2006, I did not anticipate the greatest recession in fifty years occurring in 2008.  Readers of my books were not spared losses.  However, their losses were far less than those who ignored the basic principles in my book, and they were prepared to wait out the recovery, which occurred faster than anyone anticipated in 2009.

The positive impact my books have had on so many readers has been -- by far – the most rewarding experience of my life.  I am so grateful I had this opportunity.

Visit Dan’s website at http://smartestinvestmentbook.com/

Follow Dan Solin on Twitter @DanSolin

Books by Dan Solin:

The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read

 

 

 

 

 

The Smartest 401(k) Book You’ll Ever Read

 

 

 

 

 

The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read

 

 

 

 

 

Now available as an eBook: Does Your Broker Owe You Money?

 

Coming to Terms with the 21st Century

Posted by John Duff

 

I am a late adopter.

 

Even as my friends and colleagues were flocking to sign up and post the minutiae of their lives on Facebook, I ignored this phenomenon for a long time before making those first tentative keystrokes. And though I eventually figured out how to open a Twitter account, it sat dormant for six months before I clicked on my first “follow” (an author, of course), and another few months before I wrote my first tweet. (I know that the twenty-one people who ostensibly follow me are immensely grateful that I took the plunge.) And then there are the feeds that I have finally allowed to appear on my screen on a daily basis…

 

All the while I’ve been trying to rationalize why I should  be doing any of this. I don’t really need more distractions and busy-work. But I figured there must be some good in all this social media business and constant information flow—and so I determined to learn to use it as a tool for professional—and personal—self-improvement. I have to admit, however, that at the end of a long day, it is my habit to peruse the day’s Facebook entries, tweets, and other RSS (Really Stupid Stuff) feeds and pick up more eagerly on the less meaningful (some might say useless) bits of mental flotsam and jetsam that tend to litter these sites. But every day I renew my intention to focus on posts that I might find professionally useful. Still I have discovered that it is the curious and seemingly useless entries that often lead to some of the most enlightening moments of the day. (I have followed re-tweets to their source and come across the most remarkable thinkers who have, surprisingly, not written books—yet.)   

 

As the publisher of a rather eclectic range of books—aptly described by the tag line of this blog (useful * useless * curious * creative)—I am attracted, like the proverbial magpie, to a wide range of bright and shiny ideas. And so, it seems, are the editors that contribute to our publishing program. It is not unusual for us to be bidding on books about children with special needs or the real cost of living one day and then snapping up a cartoon book featuring Savage Chickens or a memoir about searching for faeries the next. Where once we poured over magazines and newspapers and lunched with literary agents in search of fodder for our publishing program, today we scour the internet, like beach scavengers, looking for ideas, trends, writers, artists, and thinkers, any of which we enlist to meet our needs.  While the internet has certainly challenged the need for many kinds of prescriptive books, which used to be prominent amongst our offerings, we now regularly turn to this medium for editorial inspiration and information as well as knowledge about our potential readers and how to reach them. The mix of the subjects we publish may have changed—with a definite shift to lighter popular reference and interactive books—but our intention is still the same: to educate and entertain. We truly believe that we can still improve our world one book at a time (even if sometimes that improvement is nothing more significant than a good laugh).

 

But, more to the point, we understand that books and the cyberworld can co-exist to the benefit of both. While the majority of the books published are not derived from internet sources, those that are fulfill a unique purpose. They are complements to the respective sites. They provide a means to organize and present the information in a distinctive way and they  provide a tangible object that can be enjoyed and shared. (It is really hard to put an internet site into a Christmas stocking or wrap it up for Mothers or Fathers Day.) Our task is figuring out what will work in book form and what should live (and die) on the internet. It’s not an easy task—but it’s a lot of fun trying to figure it out.

“The Saints” Learn What They Really Value

Posted by Gina Rushing Maguire, President, St. Anthony High School, Long Beach, CA

 

St. Anthony High School is a small Catholic college preparatory high school located in downtown Long Beach, California, with students from all ethnic and economic backgrounds. These students, known as “The Saints” throughout St. Anthony’s 90 year history, represent a microcosm of Southern California’s diversity, yet all of St. Anthony’s students get along with one another and all are provided with opportunities to not only prepare for college, but to grow as ethical servant/leaders.

 

In addition to its rigorous college prep curriculum and balanced program of extra-curricular activities and sports, St. Anthony offers a unique leadership development program designed to nurture ethical leaders - the President’s Ambassador Program. In the 2009-2010 school year, 32 students were trained as President’s Ambassadors with increased opportunity to hone their leadership skills.

 

In the Spring of 2009, when Who Are You? What Do You Want? was first released, I heard co-author Mick Ukleja speak at a Long Beach Rotary Club meeting and was hooked.  Why not apply the principles for self-knowledge that are so beautifully captured in this book to high school students searching for meaning and purpose in their lives as they explore options for their futures? Aren’t all of us, regardless of age, looking for ways to tap into our strengths and passions as we choose a life path?

 

In August 2009 St. Anthony’s adopted the Ukleja/Lorber book as a text for its President’s Ambassador Leadership Development Program.  The book was presented to students in advance of our week-long Ambassador Training Bootcamp.  Students were assigned reading for the first chapters in advance, and with each day at Bootcamp, the exploration continued.  Each morning students wrote in their journals in response to questions at the end of successive chapters and discussion followed.  Each day additional reading was assigned and the process continued the next day. 

 

Many students initially had trouble answering the question, “What do you value?”  Integrity and truth were words that required serious exploration and discussion, especially as these relate to balance and life meaning -- the ultimate indicators of a happy, satisfying life.

 

At the end of Ambassador Bootcamp Week, each student left with a list of ideas about areas for future study in college, as well as career options that were in alignment with their strengths, interests, passions and obligations. Students reported an increase in self-understanding and a clearer vision of how they might create a future that is true to who they are and what they value. In the coming months, several parents shared some amazing stories about conversations at home in an area that is often difficult to discuss with teens.  Throughout the year, these students have evolved their thinking, asked questions and dialoguing with others about what excites them, what they value, and what they want most in life.    

St. Anthony High School is now exploring ways to implement Who Are You? What Do You Want throughout the school for all our students, as a result of these successes.  We believe this text, used as a part of integrated curriculum, will enhance our college prep learning environment, helping students understand the connection between values and true success. Because, after all, “If you don’t define success in you life, others will define it for you.”

 

Who Are You? What Do You Want? is on sale now.

Supplements: An Evolutionary Perspective

Posted by author William Meller, MD (www.evolution-rx.com)

In the last decade Wall Street convinced us that by hiring mathematicians and physicists they had designed products that took the risk out of investing in highly risky assets. We know where that ended. In the same way, some in the health-food and nutraceuticals industry have borrowed a lot of scientific-sounding terms, slapped them onto bottles of cheap ingredients, and marketed them to the unsuspecting public for many multiples of their real cost. Supplements are the Credit Default Swaps of the health food business. Just as Wall Street massaged the mathematics and reformulated the risk formulas to sell junk products, so the health-food industry sells supplements to a trusting public. We have yet to reckon the full cost of this boondoggle.

How many of us take supplements? You know, those colorful pills, tablets and capsules that, we are told, are going to Boost our Immune Systems, Prevent Us from Ever Getting Cancer and make us Live Wrinkle-Free Until We are 100.  Echinacea, agave, resveratrol, acai berry,  hoodia, chromium picolinate, creatine, omega 3’s, fish oil, CoQ10, carnitine, algae, amino acids, DHEA, glucosamine, chondroitin, …the list is ever-growing. How could we ever have lived without these products? How can we know which ones, if any, will really help us?

The answer to these and a lot of other questions can be found in our evolutionary history. It doesn’t take a lot of study or a deep knowledge of human history to realize that during the millions of years of the Stone Age our ancestors survived and thrived without taking any pills or supplements of any kind. Their diet consisted of plants and animals  and that was it.

Despite widespread belief, cave men and women didn’t all die young. It is true that their lives were hard and that many children died  from infections and accidents. But those hard lives are what made our bodies and particularly our immune systems so strong. We evolved to live in tough times.

Those who didn’t die as infants stood a very good chance of living to a ripe old age. They were the wise and wily ones with the experience and knowledge it took to survive in the beautiful and hostile world of the Stone Age.  The average age of death may have been around 35, but there were always enough oldsters around to pass on the skills of hunting, making fire and fashioning stone tools.  And it wasn’t because they were taking supplements.

Since the discovery of vitamins around 100 years ago, we have been pumped full of fear that there are microscopic nutrients that we somehow lack in our diets.  The health food industry preys on that fear, concocting products with technical sounding names.  We are led to believe they are the fruits of the very latest research, are essential to good health, and are manufactured in the most hygienic of facilities.

Sadly, I am certain that more time and money are spent on the bottle design and marketing materials than on the ingredients inside.

As an example, the original research that identified antioxidants as useful and necessary in our bodies was done by cautious scientists over many years in laboratories, mostly on bacteria and rats. By carefully teasing apart the workings of a cell, we came to learn that these chemicals help decrease damage to our DNA and prevent harm to our cells. Sounds essential, and it is. The fortunate thing for us is that our bodies are very good at making all the antioxidants we need ON THEIR OWN. This is what we are evolved to do. There are no diseases known to be caused by a deficiency of antioxidants. 

We have even learned in the past few years that too much antioxidant will do us harm. This was shown most clearly in a large study designed to prove that taking large doses of Vitamin A, an antioxidant, prevents cancer. The astonishing and clear result was that vitamin A supplementation INCREASED the risk of cancer in those who took it. Too much antioxidant is bad for us. Free radicals, which are what antioxidants suppress, are used in the body to destroy bacteria and cancer cells. If we overdo it, we get sick.

A more recent example is the suspected link between resveratrol, a chemical found in wine, and longevity in mice. Even now, long before the careful and necessary work has been done, it is being packed into pills by the bucket load and packaged with the promise that if you buy and swallow enough of it you will live an extra decade or two. Don’t believe it.

The whole argument that our modern diet is deficient in trace elements, minerals, cofactors or other micronutrients doesn’t hold up either. In fact, for most of us, our diets have far too many of all the nutrients we need, which is why being fat is a lot bigger problem today than any vitamin deficiency. (Except for vitamin D, but that is a story for another blog post.)

And who says you’re getting what you pay for? As Consumer Reports has repeatedly noted, this is a completely unregulated industry.

Overdesigned, overpromising, and unregulated.

This is not how we were designed to live.

 

Evolution Rx is now available in paperback.

Quiz Show

Posted by author James Walton

At the risk of being stereotyped as a quizmaster, I recently wrote and hosted a special quiz at the Oxford Literary Festival, which takes place in the university’s grandest college of Christchurch. The college was founded by Henry VIII, once had Lewis Carroll as its mathematics lecturer (the real Alice of Alice in Wonderland fame was the daughter of the dean) and is where Sebastian Flyte is educated in Brideshead Revisited.

 

I’m not sure if you have the same thing in America, but the traditional British pub quiz features teams of between four and six people who each sit around a table and have to write down their team’s answers to questions asked by the man at the front — in this case, me. The festival quiz followed this same pattern, except that all the questions were about books, and instead of a pub, we were in the astonishingly splendid Christchurch dining hall, whose walls are adorned with portraits of the great men (and occasional woman) who went there, including thirteen British prime ministers.

 

The teams, too, were pretty high-powered, academic types — although this did mean they were much better at the solidly literary questions than the more populist ones. In a round where each of the correct answers had to begin and end with the same letter, for example, most teams had little trouble with “Who speaks the opening words of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night?”1 (Answers appear at the end of this post.) and “Who’s the housekeeper in Wuthering Heights who partly narrates the novel?”2. Yet in a round on bestsellers, nobody got “Which bestselling book of the past decade was a first novel by Lauren Weisberger?”3  and very few answered “Which bestselling book of the 1950s was a first novel by Grace Metalious?”4.

 

On the whole, in fact, the teams weren’t very good at questions that I’m sure would be quite easy in America. In a round where all the answers were names of rivers, for instance, nobody correctly identified which state Mark Twain was born in5. In the round about Oxford in literature I also managed to fool most of the teams with the question, “Which writer, born in Oxford, set many of his novels in the fictional town of Jefferson and won the Nobel Prize in 1949?”6 (Sadly, these little moments of deception are a great joy to any quizmaster.)

 

Of course, if you want to see how you’d get on in the world of literary quizzing — and whether you’d be stumped by the literary or the populist or, ideally, neither — my unbiased suggestion would be that you pick up a copy of Who Killed Iago? Come to think of it, while I’ve also given the book a distinct American feel, you could even use it for a home version of a British pub quiz. Happy quizzing!

 

Who Killed Iago? is on sale now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

1 - Orsino

2 - Nelly Dean

3 - The Devil Wears Prada

4 - Peyton Place

5 - Missouri (but everybody put Mississippi)

6 - William Faulkner, of course, although in the teams' defense this was the only question in the round where "Oxford" didn't refer to the British town we were in at the time.

Artists in the Office…and Everywhere Else

posted by Jeanette Shaw

 

This past week the debut episode of our new Web series Get Creative with Penguin was released. You can find it on the Penguin website or watch it in Friday's blog post.

 

The show highlights all the exciting ways our books can foster creativity, whether in the kitchen, the garden, the classroom, the crafting room, the office...anywhere, really. Each episode, our authors and editors will demonstrate fun, interactive projects from our array of titles. In the first episode alone, we learn how to create adorable stuffed owls, delicious and cute sandwiches kids will love, and a worm composting bin -- a crucial first step in cultivating a healthy and prosperous home garden. And it only gets better from there. In future episodes we’ll be unlocking your creativity in the workplace, at the bar, during the holidays, with your makeup, on a date, and much, much more.

 

Producing this show is time consuming and can lead to unexpected challenges, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. Our authors are so excited to share their ideas with a wider audience in this new format, and the production staff works tirelessly to film and edit each segment into a lively, engaging episode. As someone whose artistic talent is limited to an Honorable Mention at a sixth grade countywide poster contest, I’m truly in awe of the skill it takes to develop the finished product.

 

As a producer I have a front row seat for each step of the process, and it reminds me just how many different avenues there are for everyone to express their creativity. As John Cage said, “Anything can be art, all you have to do is change your mind.” (And thanks to Summer Pierre, author of The Artist in the Office—soon to be featured on Episode 2!—for that quote.) Everyone who works on this show is an artist in their own way, and their enthusiasm and talent is what will make this series thrive—along with you, the audience!

 

Feedback is always appreciated; let us know what you like, what you don’t, and what you’d like to see in future episodes by commenting here or emailing us at PerigeeBooks@us.penguingroup.com. And remember that every day is a new opportunity for you to express yourself to the world, through whatever avenue you choose. So, what are you going to create today?

Get Creative with Penguin

In the debut episode of Get Creative with Penguin—Perigee's new online series—learn to sew an adorable stuffed owl from More Softies Only a Mother Could Love, how to create a cute and delicious sandwich with La Carmina, author of Cute Yummy Time, and how to build a compost bin to help cultivate your garden with Annie Spiegelman, author of Talking Dirt.  For more information about these projects and more, visit the Penguin Screening Room.

Spring into Summer Beers

Posted by authors Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune (www.thebeerchicks.com)      

 It's easy to be out of touch with the seasons these days.  Between global warming and modern farming techniques, we can easily ignore the idea of time-sensitive, seasonal foods.  Hell, we live in Los Angeles, where most things grow year round, and many months feel like a continuous summer.  But organic farming and local produce are back in style, and everyone seems to be craving a return to following seasonal foods.  Restaurants are proudly presenting seasonal menus and boast local ingredients.  We are collectively craving a reminder of what nature intended at different times of year.

Thank God for beer!  Beer is all about seasons.  There are different styles that historically came about due to seasonal weather and available ingredients, and many specialty beers that are only available for three to four months out of the year.  This is part of what makes dining and drinking an experience; the window of time when a particular ale is released, or a restaurant offers their seasonal shortcake.  Let's be honest, everything tastes that much better when you know its time is limited.  It gives meaning to the seasons, reminds us of where and when we are, and allows us to celebrate time and place. 

The time and place is Spring sending us into Summer.  We're moving our wool coats to the back of the closet again, and dusting off our sandals.  Our allergies remind us that this is the season of blooming flowers and burgeoning buds - and this is a great season for beer.  As we Beer Chicks see it, there are three categories of seasonal beer:  1) Beer styles that are released by season 2) Specific specialty beers released by a brewery at a certain time of year 3) Beers that just taste damn good with the weather and/or food of a certain season.  These three categories give us a lot of choices when we're planning Spring seasonal dinners or having friends over for the first al fresco barbecue on the deck.

The first category refers to style, and Spring brings forth two of our favorites: Saisons and Bocks.  Briefly, a Saison is a Belgian-style of beer that was traditionally brewed in the winter, stored, and drunk in the Spring and Summer months.  A Saison is often referred to as a 'farmhouse ale', and tends to be earthy, with notes of citrus, pepper, grass and earth, and some even have a nice funky sour touch.  Bocks are a German style of Lager brewed with darker malts, creating a nutty, biscuity, beer with dark fruit and spice.  Bocks were originally brewed for Easter and Lent, and seem to bridge the gap between the cold months and warmer, by offering rich flavors while keeping a fairly light body on the tongue.  Bocks contain a wide variety, including Dopplebocks, or Double Bocks, which are stronger bocks with more intense flavors, and Maibocks or May Bocks which offer paler, lighter notes.

Our second category is perhaps the most exciting to beer lovers, these are specialty seasonal releases from breweries around the world.  We wait with baited breath for our favorites to arrive, often stockpiling bottles in our beer cellar, or drinking the kegs dry at our local craft beer bar.  These beers vary greatly in style, flavor notes, and ingredients.  These can be anything from a bitter dark Russian Imperial Stout infused with vanilla beans to a crisp, fresh pale ale, to a smoked porter.  The beers may be influenced by seasonal herbs and fruit like rosemary and strawberries, but may just be released at the whim of the brewer. 

Thirdly are beers that just taste great with the Spring/Summer days and nights.  These are beers that delight with seasonal dishes and make us feel like emerging from our winter shelter.  Witbiers, a Belgian wheat beer brewed with spices are perfect for these warmer months.  Notes of curacao orange and coriander are typical of the style.  We also love Rauchbiers, or 'smoked beers', which are those made with malt that has been smoked over an open fire.  These do particularly well with summer barbecue.  This category of seasonal beers is a subjective one, however, and Spring/Summer might find your taste buds craving the bitterness of an India Pale Ale, or the sweetness of a Coconut Porter.  Whatever calls to you....the possibilities are endless.

Here are a few of our seasonal favorites, and a food pairing suggestion for your Spring and Summer fêtes:

Saison Forêt- Brasserie Dupont, Belgium - A totally Organic Belgian Saison with notes of lemon peel, pepper and an earthy dry finish. 7.5% ABV.
Pair it with a seasonal salad of Radishes, Mint, Peas and Ricotta Salata.

Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock- Privatbrauerei Franz Inselkammer KG / Brauerei Aying, Germany - A classic Bock with notes of molasses, biscuit, and dark fruit.  6.7% ABV.
Pair it with Rosemary-rubbed Spring Lamb chops.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen- Brauereiausschank Schlenkerla, Bamberg, Germany - A beer made with wood-smoked malt.  Surprisingly light on the palate, but rich with smoky, bacony flavor. 5% ABV.
Pair it with Smoked Tri-tip.

Allagash White, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland Maine - A Belgian-style Witbier with big notes of coriander, clove and subtle orange peel. 5.2% ABV.
Pair it with Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake.

(recipes from NYTimes.com and Epicurious.com)

 

The Naked Pint is available now.

A Million Little Steps to Literary Fame

Posted by Penny C. Sansevieri. This originally appeared in Publishers Weeklyon March 29, 2010.

Unless you’re the offspring of Michael Jackson the likelihood that you sprang from the womb with a star on the Walk of Fame is unlikely. So why do so many writers behave as though they are already part of the elite groups of authors?--  the elite being the ones who actually make a living writing.  Only about 3% of authors actually make a living on their writing alone.

I have my own theories on why this number is so low. Many of us get into this industry without realizing how tough it is. We think that we write the book and the rest will happen. I once said in a presentation that publishing isn’t the Field of Dreams, just because you wrote it doesn’t mean people will beat a path to your door. You have to tell them, and tell them again, and then tell them some more. You have to love your book so much that even if no doors are opening for you, you still knock. Or, if needed, you climb through a window. You accept every opportunity that comes your way and make the most out of each interview. You say “thank you” for even the smallest opportunity because the savvy author knows that today’s “nobody” could be tomorrow’s “somebody.“

An author who had attended a session I taught, Social Media 101 for Authors, wrote “I listen to you because you walk the walk, you’re an author yourself and you do what you tell us to do: grab every chance you can to get your name out there.” Sure, I’m in publicity and yes, yes, I have the emails of Oprah’s producers (even a cell phone number or two, ooooh), but truth is, there are a million steps between you and your proverbial pot of gold and you have to traverse those steps every day.  Success is a journey, not a final destination. I love and appreciate every chance I get to promote my work. I’ll get emails from people who say, “I’m sure my blog is too small for you to consider appearing on, but I thought I’d ask you anyway.” You know what? Nothing is too small. And for such a humble pitch, I’ll clear my schedule.

I work with a variety of author-related sites and I get interview requests for our authors and  the other day I was scrolling through a list of authors who got requests from these sites. Out of ten on the list only one had turned in the completed interview. The others blew off the request, said they weren’t interested, or just forgot. I guarantee you ten years from now, that one author will likely have a career and the others will be wondering why the world never read their book.

I love this business and I’d never want to be anywhere else. For all of its challenges and obstacles there’s nothing like being in publishing. But being an author requires dedication and a daily dose of humility. Never believe the bio they read about you before you get on stage; never let a stunning review go to your head (though it’s ok to call your mother); and never, ever assume that because you managed to put pen to paper that you deserve fame.

A few weeks ago I was at Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. I had just headed into the store to do my presentation when I heard a voice call out from across the store: “It’s really you!!” A man rushed up to me, holding my book in his hand, “I’ve been following your work for years, you are such an inspiration,” He said breathlessly. I was floored. He went on to thank me for my work, my website, my radio show, and our Book Marketing Expert Newsletter. Finally he asked if I would sign a copy of my book: Red Hot Internet Publicity (I still find this incredibly thrilling, by the way). I just smiled and said:” Thank you, because you remind me why I do this, each and every day.

Always be amazed and appreciative of every chance that comes your way, the industry doesn’t owe you anything but a book. You got that. Now what will you do?

 

Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts Inc. and author of Red Hot Internet Publicity, specializes in social media and online marketing/publicity. (www.amarketingexpert.com)

Penny is working with author Chris St. Hilaire on the publicity campaign for 27 Powers of Persuasion, forthcoming from Prentice Hall Press in September 2010.

Spring into April

Posted by author Paul Yeager

 

As we head into April, the weather adage that most of us immediately think of is “April showers bring May flowers,” which is a fairly light, happy thought—too light if you ask me.

 

April is certainly not an innocent, spring month.

 

From 1950 through 2004, nearly 6,000 tornadoes occurred in the United States in April—about twice the number in March. Only May and June have had more tornadoes. In terms of deaths caused by tornadoes, April is the leader, with an average of 27 tornado deaths per month.  

 

One of the worst tornado outbreaks in history occurred in early April 1974. Warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico was pulled northward in advance of a strong spring cold front, one that was accompanied by much cooler, less humid air. The result was 148 tornadoes in a 24-hour span, including many large tornadoes that remained on the ground for a long time. The bulk of the tornadoes occurred from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio southward to Alabama and Georgia, but a few tornadoes occurred in areas outside of this region.

 

It’s estimated that 330 people were killed, over 5,000 people were injured, damage reached $600 million, and over 28,000 families were affected by the tornadoes.

 

Fortunately, such devastating tornado outbreaks are rare, and that’s part of our reason for a lighter, happier perception of April. In most years, April weather is an improvement over March. We might have to deal with some leftover cold, rain (snow in the Rockies), or thunderstorms, but after a long winter (especially this winter!), it’s a step in the right direction. March, on the other hand, is often one step forward and two steps back, frustrating winter-weary residents.

 

So my advice is to enjoy April weather, but be aware of the potential danger.

 

Paul Yeager is the author of Weather Whys and Literally, the Best Language Book Ever.

 

 

Weather Whys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literally, the Best Language Book Ever