You made it! Thanks for visiting.
I remember reading or hearing something a few years ago that said only 10 percent of all books published ever sell 1,000 copies or more. I cannot seem to find exact numbers anywhere, however, I found a boatload of other statistics on the Para Publishing website. The self-publishing numbers are pretty low ... only 3.4 percent of Xlibris copies have sold more than 500 copies, for example.
Traveling to new countries is a great opportunity to see customs and cultures that you may not find in your own backyard. While it can be an exhilarating experience, it can also turn into a problem when not properly prepared for the journey. To make sure you have everything you need, I would suggest reading "Healthy Travel: Don't Travel Without It!" by Michael P.
I have a subscription to Harper's Magazine, and I try to read it as regularly as possible (although that's tough when we're all in similar boats with a million things going on). In this year's February edition, I came across a pretty good article titled "Sick in the head: Why America won't get the health-care system it needs" by Luke Mitchell.
I agree with Erin that the Faber College discussion has been interesting, to say the least. In a lot of ways, it reminds of how some things get "accomplished" at work. With so many individuals attempting to offer opinions on things, it's extremely difficult to put a reasonable plan in motion. I understand this is an open forum, and the talking heads for each group will come up with a more organized game plan. Students, faculty, and administrators are all making insightful comments.
Taking a quick glance at your inbox and/or junk mailbox, I suspect you'll see plenty of email messages that you'll be deleting immediately. According to computer security company McAfee, there are about 62 trillion of those messages sent each year, and they consume enough electricity (33 billion kilowatt hours of electricity) to power 2.4 million homes.
After a couple of weeks of breaks, I will be back on the book tour 12:30 p.m. March 11 at A Reader's Corner Bookstore, 138 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville, Ky. There's a children's book reading that starts at 11 a.m., and I may show up and read to the kids, depending on the schedule. The theme for the reading is St. Patrick's Day.
To find out more about A Reader's Corner Bookstore, click here to visit the website.
I am big fan of toys, and "Star Wars," and "Star Wars" toys, but it appears Hasbro has stepped over the boundary with the release of Darth Tater. The toy is a Mr. Potato Head that somewhat resembles the evil villain Darth Vader. See for yourself on Hasbro's website.
I'll admit that although I consider myself a technophile, I'm not really into cell phone text messaging.
There are a few reasons for this. First, I'm at my computer roughly 46 hours each day (at least, that's what our time management system says I should be doing). So if I want to send a message, I can easily do it via a keyboard. Second, I'm not that fast in typing the letters and words on a phone. Third, I'd prefer to not touch my phone anyway. I have a Bluetooth headset, so I can hit the button to pick up calls fairly easily.
I will begin what I hope will be a somewhat lengthy book tour when I visit the Brandenburg Library 12-2 p.m. Jan. 28 to discuss book publishing and my new book, "The Developers." The book is currently available at many regional Borders and independent bookstores, as well as the book's website, thedevelopersbook.com, and Amazon.com. It is also now available through Baker & Taylor, a national distributor.
You might as well face it, the U.S. is addicted to email.
In a recent study compiled by Opinion Research Corp., the chasm between casual and nonstop emailers appears to have grown. Here are some of the important numbers from the study:
- Forty-one percent of those polled check email immediately upon rising in the morning.
- Roughly 25 percent cannot go more than a day or two without checking email.