Book Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

The Ultimate Book Launch Party

There is no doubt that the day when you finally hold your book on your hands is one of the happiest days for a writer. After so many months -if not years- of writing, revising, editing, submitting and finally publishing you can see and touch your baby. This occasion calls for a big celebration and what better way to send this book off unto the hands of your readers than with a Book Launch Party.

One of the main considerations for this party is that you probably thought of it way back when you were planning to write the book. The book marketing plan must be prepared before the book itself in order to ensure success. Considering the topic and audience of the book determines the theme of the party along with all the activities. The best days to do a Book Launch Party are either Friday or Saturday, in order to get the most attendance. The time of day has a lot to do with the theme; it could easily be a picnic at the beach as a wine and cheese or masquerade during the evening.

Here are the key ingredients on The Ultimate Book Launch Party:

Theme: Select a theme directly related to your book. Fiction books are excellent in this regard.

Invitations: Create one-of-a-kind invitation for the launch. You can get an inexpensive software program and design and print your own invitations. Request to RSVP.

News & Media: Remember to prepare a news release to mark the event and forward it to your local newspaper at least four to six weeks in advance. Do not forget to send a personal invitation to your local news person.

Party Register: Have everyone register on your party register and include their e-mail and mailing address. Tell them they will be the first to know about your next book sale, book release, contests and giveaways.

Game or Contest: Create a game or contest around your book.

Food & Drinks: Have something simple to offer your guests on elegant serving plates.

Reading: Read portions of your books or better yet, have some of your guests read a short portion of it. If anyone assisting has read your book ask them to tell the others about it. Nothing sells more than a satisfied reader.

Pictures: Take plenty of pictures with your guests while the party is going on. You might want to give the camera to one of them to take pictures as you visit with everyone there. The pictures will be great for promotional materials, websites and blogs.

Note: You might want to have a release form ready for all the attendants to sign in reference to authorization to post their pictures online or any printed materials without compensation.

Sell: Offer special discounts to your guests who buy 2 or more signed copies of your book. Have bookmarks, flyers and mail order forms for everyone and the ones who do not buy, they can take it home and order later. For those who don not buy on the spot you might want to offer them the same special discount if they order in the next 48 hours.

Follow Up: Send the guests a thank you note for coming and include 2-3 business cards with a small discount offer for your book on the back for them to give to family or friends. Make sure your discount has an expiration date in order to keep the book sales going on a regular basis.

That is it. Easy, fun and profitable! Let your imagination roll and create The Ultimate Book Launch Party for you and your friends.

Book Review: Everybody Wants A Hit

Author Derek Bose

Publisher Jaico Books

Price Rs 195/-

Pages 200

ISBN 9798179925583

There was a time where movies used to be running in cinema halls to packed capacity followed by Golden Jubilee or Silver Jubilee celebrations. But, in today’s age of social media where attention span is very less one hardly gets to hear of movies running for several weeks followed by any jubilee celebrations. So, “Is there a secret recipe for a Bollywood hit?” or it’s just a mix and match one does that projects these thespians in a light that appeals the masses.

In the book titled, “Everybody Wants A Hit” published by Jaico Books the author Derek Bose shares with the readers 10 Mantras of Success in Bollywood Cinema. The ten mantras covered in this book touch on all aspects including, “Content is King”, “Honesty is the Best Policy”, Nothing Sells Like Sex”, “What’s in a Name” and much more.

Author, Derek Bose is a senior well-known author and journalist who specializes in Bollywood and other aspects of India’s film industry. An alumnus of St Columba’s, New Delhi, he has held senior editorial positions with India’s premier news organizations, the Press Trust of India and the Indian Express.

In one of the chapters titled “What’s in a Name?” the author shares his observation citing examples that names do makes a lot of difference in show business regardless of the fact what Shakespeare had to say about roses. Heroines known with their better names include Sulochana (Ruby Mayers), Meena Kumari (Mehzabeen Begum), Rekha (Bhanurekha Ganesan) to name a few. The author’s observation also suggests that the use of the letter “K” is supposed to be “spiritually most potent” whereas “V” spells not for victory but doom unless it vibrates well. However, there have been people like V. Shantaram, Vinod Khanna, Vivek Oberoi and Vyjanthimala Bali amongst the exception. A name means a lot in Hindi Cinema. What might appear to be a casual allusion could actually serve to be the identity of an actor or would mark to be the new beginning for the director.

Where the chapter “Honesty Is The Best Policy” is concerned the author has given the example of Amitabh Bachchan. Even after he was voted as the Star of the Millennium and had a wax image to his name at Madame Tussauds in London he continued being his humble self, never questioned the judgment of his directors. Whatever role he played Bachchan did it with supreme confidence and complete conviction.

The readers get profited with relevant examples the author has supplemented against each of the 10 mantras covered in his book. To make one’s journey in Bollywood a rewarding experience the author says that success in Bollywood is not a matter of chance or luck but involves methodical approach coupled with analytical reasoning. If one adheres to this the journey would indeed prove to benchmark of success.

New Book Teaches Readers Keys to Network Marketing Success

Ripple Marketing by David Skultety is a concise and up-to-date book on everything that network marketing offers the aspiring entrepreneur who wants to work part-time to earn a few extra dollars, have a home-based business, or go all the way to create a full-time, lifelong, and fulfilling business career.

We’ve all heard bad things about network marketing, but despite those stories, the truth is that it works for many, many people, and it works because people make the effort to make it work. David Skultety himself has led two different network marketing teams, taking them from 1 to 100,000 in membership, so if anyone knows about the benefits and the woes of network marketing, it’s him, and in this new book, he reveals how people can use network marketing to their advantage, avoid its pitfalls, and reap its rewards.

The book begins with a foreword by David Litt, a network marketing corporate executive, who states “There are people in my life who have lots of money and very little time. There are people in my life who have lots of time and very little money. But the only people in my life who have lots of money and lots of time are my friends who are network marketing professionals like David [Skultety].”

David Skultety then takes over and walks readers through the entire process of finding the right network marketing company for them, how to build up their network by finding other people to join them, and how to help the people below them as they build their networks so those people can succeed and still benefit the people above them; after all, network marketing is about far more than sales-it’s about creating residual income based on other people’s efforts. As David Litt says, as a result, “ultimately this book is a blueprint for long-term financial freedom.”

David Skultety impressed me from the first page, and I quickly understood why his friends call him a “networker’s networker.” He has always had an entrepreneurial mindset, as he tells us through stories about how when he was twelve, he had a coffee and lemonade stand at a gas station during the 1979 oil embargo when cars were lined up there. In the sixth grade, he was making $20 a day selling candy to classmates so he could buy a moped. He’s always been involved in some sort of business since then.

Ripple Marketing is far from being like an infomercial of hot air about the benefits of being in network marketing-though those benefits are worth mentioning, such as: the low investment, having a home-based business, tax advantages, ability to sell without borders, working part-time, time-flexibility, and eventual financial freedom. Beyond that, David Skultety gives practical advice and information about how the entire process works and how the reader can become successful.

Various chapter topics include how to find a mentor, accepting that building a business will take time, and how to focus on income-producing activities rather than getting caught up in the minutia of items like building your website and continually improving it or reading up on your products-important activities, but also things that people sometimes focus on in a pretense of working when they should be out selling and networking.

My favorite discussion in the book was about how to overcome fear and develop the three proper mindsets you need to succeed, including the mindset of success. David also gives his top five tips for how to develop the proper mindsets beginning with learning how to feel good about yourself. I appreciated it when he was honest and straightforward about what people have to do to succeed and how it all boils down to motivation. At one point, he states:

“Over the years, I’ve watched countless people talk a good game. They talk about building it big. They claim to possess all the skill sets necessary to succeed. They show up at events and set goals. But they can’t seem to get out of their own way because they have not made one simple decision-the decision that they are going to use the model of network marketing to achieve their dreams, goals, and aspirations.

“In order to make that decision, you may need to overcome your limiting beliefs, you may need to become fearless in talking to people, and you may need to be forever dedicated to working on yourself and helping others do the same.”

David talks a lot about the importance of getting out there and talking to people-you can’t succeed otherwise. He talks about how this can be done numerous ways, including by hosting a series of home launch parties, setting up conference calls, and using social media. In all these cases, you are able to connect with people, and when you understand their needs, find their pain, and put yourself in their situations, you can find out how your product can be a solution to their problems. David also walks the reader through how to make each of these types of connections successful.

Another key point David makes is that when you are selling your products, you can also be introducing people to the idea of entering network marketing themselves so that you can add to your residual income through their efforts. I was impressed by how David pointed out here that we cannot prejudge people, thinking someone will or won’t be interested in our product or business, and then only sticking with the safe people like our family and friends. Instead, we need to go out and sell both our product and our business to the brightest and best people we know if we really want our business to grow and create ripples.

I was also impressed by the information David shares about the importance of learning how to duplicate your products so that you can keep producing them and earning income from them without a lot of extra work.

There is so much more in Ripple Marketing, but I’ll just conclude by mentioning that David believes in servant leadership. He believes in serving the people below him in the network chain so that they can succeed. And, of course, that only benefits him and everyone else in the network.

The back of the book includes additional resources such as “Selecting the Right Company for You,” “The 10 Deadly Sins of Network Marketing,” and recent statistics on network marketing.

Of course, network marketing isn’t for everyone, but if you make the investment to read this book, I think you will be pleasantly surprised that as long as you’re willing to talk to people, it can be a lot more exciting and fulfilling an opportunity than you imagined, and before you know it, the ripple you make can become a wave you can ride for a lifetime.

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky – 6 Elements of a Successful Creative Team-Business Book

Generating ideas is easy. It’s executing them once they’re exposed that’s challenging. For six years, Scott Belsky, creative industry guru and entrepreneur, studied prolific creative professionals. He found that those most successful followed similar procedures; which seems counter-productive for creatives. He details his findings in his new book entitled, “Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming The Obstacles Between Vision & Reality.” Following is the sixth article in a series highlighting Belsky’s message. Here, the focus is building your creative team. Successful team leaders must strike a balance between flexibility and expectations, idea generation and execution and helpful disagreements and consensus.

Engage Initiators in Your Creative Pursuits. Effective managers measure a prospective employee’s ability to take initiative, rather than exclusively focusing on their experience. Productive teams are powered by people who pursue whatever interests them, even if sometimes prematurely. The best indicator of future initiative is past initiative. “Initiators ” attach themselves to an interest and then relentlessly advance it. When assembling creative teams, probe candidates for their true interests. Measure the extent to which the candidate has pursued those interests. Ask for specific examples and seek to understand lapses of time between interests and activity. Nothing will assist your ideas more than a team who possesses real initiative.

Cultivate Complementary Skill Sets. Some designers use the letter “T” as a model. The letter’s top, long, horizontal line represents an individual’s breadth of experience. The tall, vertical line represents a depth of experience in one particular area. Each team member should have both a general breadth of skills that supports collaboration and good chemistry, and a deep expertise in a single area, such as graphic design or business.

Provide Flexibility for Productivity. Realistically, ideas are made to happen in spurts. Rather than measuring work by time spent working, creative teams should embrace transparency; and strive to build trust between colleagues. Create rules and norms for the sake of efficiency, rather than as a result of mistrust. Some companies have implemented programs, including ROWE (Results Only Work Environment).A ROWE environment compensates employees based on their achievement of specified goals, vs. the number of hours worked. The ultimate goal is to empower employees to make their own decisions about when and where they work as long as mutually agreed upon goals are accomplished. People thrive when their judgment and autonomy are respected. ROWE and other attempts at hands-off management require establishment of concrete goals that are constantly revisited.

Foster an Immune System That Kills Ideas. A cohesive team develops new ideas and helps eliminate bad ones. Ongoing projects face risks when new ideas arise during the process. The ability to extinguish new ideas is critical to productivity and the capacity to scale existing projects. Team skeptics are always questioning ideas first rather than falling in love with them. They keep the group functioning and on track. Differentiate between skeptics and critics. Critics cling to their doubts and are often unwilling to abandon their convictions. Skeptics contrarily, are receptive to new ideas; they’re just initially wary and critical. The challenge is to balance idea generation and relentless focus. It requires allocating time for open idea exchange along with a healthy level of intolerance for idea generation during execution.

Fight Your Way to Breakthroughs. Conflict commonly occurs in any creative process. It’s a good sign and powerful opportunity to refine your ideas and methods. Successful creative team leaders value the friction that results when opinions vary among passionate creative minds. Despite the opportunities that conflict provides, we tend to shy away from it. Conflict is a by-product of different viewpoints, but don’t let it become a source of apathy. Imagine that a problem’s answer lies somewhere on a spectrum between A and B. The more arguing that takes place at both ends of the spectrum, the more likely it is that the complete terrain of adequate possibilities will be explored. The more individuals involved as the team brainstorms the solution, the better. As creative team leader, promote healthy debate between people with different levels of influence and experience. When you sense shortness or impatience, ask, ” How can we keep all options on the table?” or “Since we’re all trying to find the best solution, why are we getting impatient with each other?” Many successful creative teams share the tenet that they’re comfortable fighting out their disagreements and diverse point of view. But they always share conviction after the meeting. Your team is more likely to conceive breakthroughs if its chemistry is strong enough to capitalize on conflict.

Don’t Become Burdened by Consensus. The ultimate challenge in collaborative projects is understanding how to draw on the best input of all without settling on the lowest common denominator. Consensus can often lead to a lackluster outcome. When working with an extended team of stakeholders, listen to their stories, gather knowledge about all their viewpoints and identify the “extremes” that will differentiate the project. Hold these extremes sacred. Incorporating two extremely different viewpoints into a project might signal an “either/or” decision. But, consensus can often be achieved by taking an “and/and” approach. Teams should not strive for complete consensus at a project’s outset. Preserve the extremes and seek common ground on the rest, otherwise, risk mediocre creations. Choose a process that engages all, while preserving the extremes that make an idea extraordinary.

To build a high-performing creative team, look beyond technical skills. Develop a chemistry that will transform ideas into remarkable accomplishments. To learn more about Making Ideas Happen, visit http://the99percent.com/book.

Business Book Summary: Teaming

In Teaming, Amy C. Edmondson explains how the increasingly complex and demanding nature of the business world poses learning challenges to organizations. Those who form flexible and collaborative teams to achieve their goals are more likely to be successful. Such collaboration does not come naturally, however, and Edmondson examines how hierarchical status, cultural differences, and distance often prevent individuals from teaming effectively. Leaders can overcome these barriers by recognizing them and modifying their leadership styles to support and facilitate teaming. Learning is paramount in this process, and much of the most useful learning comes from conflict and failure, which can only occur when leaders foster an atmosphere of psychological safety.

Amy C. Edmondson offers readers the following advice:

• Teaming is a dynamic activity, not a bounded, static entity. It involves coordinating and collaborating without the benefit of stable team structures, because many operations require a level of staffing flexibility that makes stable team composition rare.

• The power of teaming in complex operations is the ability to anticipate, solve, and diagnose problems, and reduce system risks in order to avoid consequential failures.

• In innovation operations, leadership is needed to create a receptive environment for exploration and experimentation. Teaming is essential for coming up with new ideas, reducing them to the most viable options, testing and refining them, and ultimately producing ground-breaking and useful new possibilities.

• Learning from failure is a crucial teaming skill. Unfortunately, most people see failure as unacceptable and therefore go to great lengths to avoid any association with it. This attitude is regrettable, as many failures provide useful information about improvement techniques or enhancing efficiency.

• To advance useful experimentation, leaders must reward both experimentation and failure, use verbiage that overcomes intellectual barriers to learning from failure, and devise insightful experiments that generate more smart failures.

• Essential learning in organizations occurs not through individuals working alone to sort through and solve important problems, but rather through people working and learning collaboratively in flexible teams.

Teaming by Amy C. Edmondson is written for executives, managers, project leaders, and supervisors who wish to study or promote the concept of teaming in order to improve organizational performance. The book provides guidelines to establish frameworks for comprehending and responding to the fluidities of collective learning. It is written in a scholarly, well-researched style and contains numerous tables and exhibits. Most chapters conclude with sections titled “Leadership Summary” and “Lessons and Actions,” which highlight key points and essential performance considerations. It was written to enable readers to navigate between chapters to locate specific information as needed, but it can also be read sequentially. Readers will find the book a useful aid in leading colleagues and organizations to overcome increasingly complex problems and challenges.

For more information, please visit http://www.bizsum.com.

How to Write a Book FAST – Steps to Write a TIPS Book

Have you ever dreamed of writing a book that would establish you as an expert worthy of attention? Have you seen authors get attention at seminars or on TV and thought, “I wish that was ME”? Writing a book is easier than you think when you know a few insider secrets. One kind of book above all others is the easiest to write, and you’re about to discover how to write it–a TIPS book.

You probably already know that authors get all the attention. It’s because people innately trust authors. So if you are an expert in your niche, or if you are a business owner (which still makes you an expert) without a book, it’s time to write one. In fact, becoming an author is essential, and it should be moved off the “someday I’ll” list and onto the “Do it now” list.

Anything is easier when you have a system, so that is what I am about to share with you. I’m giving you the “easy button” steps to write a book. And remember, you don’t have to write 300 or even 200 pages to be the author of a “real book.”

You are an expert in something (probably several “somethings”), and no doubt you know some of the insider strategies or shortcuts that people crave. Everyone wants the easy way, right? If you have ways to save someone time, make something simple, or improve results, you have the makings of a tips book.

The easy path is to write a “tips book.” This is simply a whole list of tips with a few paragraphs about each one. I’ll show you how, step by step, right now.

I am going to give you a step by step trail of breadcrumbs to follow, but first, I know you have this question, because just about everybody does…

“How long does my book have to be?”

The answer is, “It’s up to you.” There is no Law written somewhere on stone tablets saying “this many pages maketh a book.” One of my books is 152 pages. Another is 32. They’re both books and they both make me officially “an author.”

If you go to an online bookseller and put “tips” into the search box, you will discover there are no rules. Whether you have 101, 369, 365 or 88, it’s still a book.

Example: A gifted cook could write a book sharing 65 simple baking techniques your grandma never taught you. Each page would have the tip and a few paragraphs of explanation. Why is this method for how to write a book so powerful?

Because – You have all the information you need already. There is no research. – It doesn’t take much time. You can write a tips book in a weekend if you wish. – When your book is done (which will happen in a very short amount of time), you will prove to yourself that you can write a book.

How to write your tips book, step by step:

1. Write the tips.

You may decide to use your word processor or use more “old timey” methods like a pad of paper or a stack of index cards. Just write each tip, in full or in your own shorthand.

2. Assemble the tips book.

Write each tip at the top of a page. Leave a few blank spaces and then write the explanation. You decide the length, but tips are by nature quick. So don’t get carried away.

Insider writing secrets – Write to one person not to “you guys.” Only one person is reading the book. – Make sure you give your reader a reason to visit your website, such as a free downloadable gift. – The end of the book is the beginning of a relationship, so make an irresistible offer to your reader at the end of the book.

Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming an author and being perceived as an Instant VIP.

As You Write Your Children’s Book, Consider "The Slow Reveal"

Eighteen months ago, I took up karate. It’s a great workout, but the biggest reason I train is I want to be a formidable senior citizen. If someone tries to nab my purse or deny my senior discount at Denny’s, I’ll be able to answer with a quick roundhouse kick to the solar plexus. By laying the foundation now, I’ll be a badass when I’m 65.

But the coolest thing about taking up karate when you’re a woman in her mid-40’s is that people don’t automatically expect it. If you’re just a casual acquaintance, you won’t know I’m working toward my black belt. And by the time I’m collecting Social Security, the possibility won’t even cross your mind. Unless you try to steal my purse.

In life most people become more complex as we get to know them. This should also be true for characters in children’s books. At a conference recently, Lyron Bennett, editor for Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, called it “the slow reveal”. It means giving your characters enough varied qualities that some can be withheld until called for in the plot.

The slow reveal is especially important when writing a series. If J.K. Rowling had allowed Harry Potter to reach his full power as a wizard in Book 1, would fans have waited nine years and six more books to learn if he finally defeated you-know-who? But equally important is planting the seeds early on for who you want your character to become. From the start, readers saw Harry’s potential, and Rowling allowed greatness to surface in Harry when it was least expected. Those qualities grew along with Harry as the series unfolded.

You don’t want to give away everything at once in stand-alone books either. Picture books and easy readers, with their lower word counts and straightforward plots, do best with characters who have one or two surprises up their sleeve. In Peggy Parish’s classic easy reader Amelia Bedelia, the child sees that Amelia is doing a bad job on her first day as a housekeeper because she doesn’t understand the list her employer left her. But even before Amelia starts on the list, she whips up a lemon merengue pie. What the reader doesn’t know is that Amelia makes the best pies anywhere, which eventually saves her job at the end of the book.

Parceling out your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses keeps the tension taut in a novel. In Gary Paulsen’s beloved Hatchet (ages 11-14), Brian, a city kid, is stranded in the Canadian wilderness after the his bush plane crashes, killing the pilot. Neither Brian nor the reader know if he’s got what it takes to survive on his own. Can he figure out how to start a fire? Yes, quite by accident. Can he fish? Eventually. Kill and cook a bird? How about survive a moose attack or weather a tornado? Brian evolves from reacting to his predicament and stumbling upon solutions to carefully taking control of his situation. But nothing Brian does is out of character. Though he must teach himself to live in the wild, he draws upon bits of information he learned from watching television or at school, and reserves of strength that were in him all along.

Even if you’re writing a single title, make your children’s book characters complex enough to live for several books, just in case. Fans loved Brian so much that Paulsen was persuaded to use the character in several other wilderness adventures. Picture book series (such as Mo Willem’s Pigeon books) or easy reader series like Amelia Bedelia generally grow because the protagonist’s quirks are open-ended and funny enough that readers don’t mind exploring them over and over in different circumstances.

The slow reveal works particularly well in mysteries. In this genre, the readers gradually get to know the victim (perhaps an honor student who is discovered to be running an Internet business selling test answers), and the villain (who may seem like a good guy at the beginning of the book). Or, how about a first person narrator in any genre who appears normal and likable early on, but becomes more unreliable as the story unfolds? Read Robert Cormier’s timeless young adult I Am the Cheese for a masterful example of a shifting first person reality. If you prefer a broader perspective, try Avi’s Nothing But the Truth: A Documentary Novel for ages 11-14, which looks at one incident from several viewpoints, gradually separating fact from fiction. So when you first breath life into your characters, don’t stop too soon. Add layers that can be exposed later on. These surprises will keep readers enthralled, whether you’re writing about a boy wizard, a demanding pigeon, or a ninja grandma.