Some Advice on Writing Children's Books

Because they tend to focus on simple stories, and are told in clear, easy-to-read prose, a lot of people tend to assume that anybody can write a children's book.That's true, anybody can write a children's book, but you can only write a good children's book if you know what you're doing.Just because it's a fairly simple form of storytelling doesn't mean that it doesn't require a degree of imagination and talent, and some knowledge of what goes into a good children's book.
The first thing any author in any genre will tell you: Read the genre you want to write.
Read everything you can get your hands on.Stephen King has stated time and again that, while you can learn plenty from a great book, you can learn some of the most important lessons from terrible books!In short: know the genre, whether it's children's books, crime novels, or romance.
Second, know who you're writing for.If you're writing children's books, you're probably thinking "Kids, duh".Not quite.Your book should certainly be accessible to any kid with the reading abilities to tackle it, but you're not just talking to the kids with your book, you're also speaking to the parent, to brothers and sisters, to grandparents, the people who are going to read this book to the child, and, probably, the people who are going to be paying for the book.
It's not hard to write a story that's accessible and enjoyable for small children, big kids, and full grown adults, honestly.If you know the basics of story structure, we're all motivated by the same things.We all want to be loved and respected, we all want to accomplish what we set out to do.If you don't have time to go look up the heroic structure, the monomyth, etcetera etcetera, all storytelling structure comes down to this:
Need
Go
Get
Return
Change
The hero needs something, he or she goes to get it, and then returns to where they started, having improved their standing in life in the process.





It could be as simple as a person wanting a glass of water, getting up and getting a glass of water, and returning to where they were sitting.If you can use this structure to tell a story that is funny, or touching, or sad, or happy, or inspiring, you can write a children's book that will be entertaining for all ages.Just know what's important to kids, what's important to big brothers and sisters, parents, and grandparents, and you know what kind of story you'll be telling.
Third, you should know at least a little bit about publishing.Look, it's easy to get ripped off out there if you don't study up on children's book publishing.It's not that there are dozens of fly-by-night con artists waiting to take the money and run, it's that most children's book publishers will only pay you a disproportionate fee to buy all of your rights.They will own your book, straight out.You won't make royalties, you won't be allowed to write a sequel (unless they ask for one), you simply won't own your own book anymore.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways around this.A few big-name expert book publishing offer deals where you can keep the ownership rights, but not many.Your best bet is probably going through a smaller, more focused children's book publisher.There are a lot of services online that will publish your children's book for you, including marketing and distribution through Amazon.com and so on.These services do charge a small fee, but if you have faith in your own work as something that will interest parents, you should see a profit over time.You will retain your ownership rights, and you will have complete freedom to do what you like with them.What's more, anyone can publish a book with these children's book publishers.The big name publishers usually have their plates full, already, and only rarely take on new, unsolicited, first-books from new children's book authors.With a self-publishing service, your foot is already in the door.

About the Author

LifeVest Publishing, Inc.

is a Worldwide Independent Publisher, currently publishing in four countries and in four languages.This book publishing company offers expert book publishing is the areas of children's literature, cookbooks, and business books.As an educational and independent children's book publisher, LifeVest Publishing, Inc.provides quality, affordable book design and publishing.LifeVest also caters to poets as a poetry book publisher.

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Fatties Not Fit For Life Insurance

A worrying fact is that a quarter of children are classed as overweight before they are old enough to start school.That figure is one in three by the time they enter secondary school at the age of 11.

Obesity can be related to a range of health problems including diabetes, heart and liver disease and even cancer.In less than a decade since 1999 the number of doctors' prescriptions for obesity drugs rose from 127,000 to more than a million.And now the insurance companies are going to make the fatties pay.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the tool used to calculate whether a person is of 'normal' proportions, or 'overweight', or 'obese', which is anyone with a BMI of over 30.This is the figure at which many insurance companies start charging up to 50 per cent higher premiums.In the past a BMI nearer 40 was used, but as it became clear how serious Britain's obesity problem was, the figure was lowered to 30.However, they might decide to drop lower still, heading closer to the 25 mark where the 'overweight' category starts.

If you are obese and also have other high-risk factors such as being a smoker or suffering from certain medical conditions, the increase in the cost of your premiums could soar to a staggering 400 per cent!

An example for 150,000 pounds of life cover for a 55-year old man in good health, who is a non-smoker of normal weight, is about 1,000 pounds a year.Let him become obese and his 25-year policy could cost him 500 pounds more.

Not all insurance companies use the same BMI rate.The second largest insurer, Norwich Union, uses 35 as the figure at which to raise the premium costs, and the third largest, Friends Provident, goes from 33.

Legal and General, Britain's leading insurer, uses a BMI of 30, and said that 13 per cent of new customers would have to pay the higher premiums.

L and G's director of underwriting and claims, Russ Whitworth said, "Most people understand that poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to health problems but they might not realise that being significantly overweight would also make their life insurance more expensive."

"Although it is not an exact science, we find that BMI is the best indicator of the risk of being overweight, so it pays to stay in shape.

"

The Association of British Insurers backs its members' decision to charge higher premiums for the obese, claiming that it is no different from charging more for a smoker or somebody with a previous medical condition.

Problems could arise for super-fit sportsmen who would have to convince their insurers that their high BMI score is due to building up solid muscle rather than being obese.It's no point being economical with the truth when an application form asks for your height and weight.In the event of a claim, the company won't pay out if it catches you out in a lie.The Financial Ombudsman Service says it constantly throws out cases where a claim has been rejected for this reason.

Recently a man of 37 claimed on his application to be six foot tall and to weigh 16 stone.When he died of a blood clot five months later it turned out he was only 5 foot nine inches tall and five stone heavier.Needless to say there was no pay out.His premiums would have increased by 275 per cent if his true details had been known, but his claim would have been valid.

The Financial Ombudsman ruled that there was such a difference between what he put on the form and what he actually measured that it couldn't have been a mistake.

Matt Morris, a policy adviser at specialist financial advisers Life Search, explained, "In an ideal world, insurers want the healthier clients.There is an element of cherry picking.They don't want the burden of the heavier client."

The Prudential is doing something to help.

It now offers free gym membership, and if you use it at least twice a week you get a 2.25 per cent discount as well.

About the Author

Get great deals on Life insurance from The Life Insurance Protection.

Please visit our site for helpful articles on Life Insurance.Visit Brokers Online to benefit from its extensive article library covering most areas of uk finance.They also offer Life Insurance Quotes, Mortgage Quotes and much much more all online.

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Finding the Best Web Design and Development Services in Arizona

Is your website your best salesperson?This article will provide you with information about finding the best web design and development services in Arizona so you can reach potential customers and convert them!Whether you're a small business just starting out or a large corporation, the following information will be beneficial to you.

As more businesses become online businesses, it's important to create a fresh, unique identity for your company so that you can stand out against your competitors.As you probably already know, websites look very different to a user than they do to search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN.Because of this, web developers must find the balance between building an appealing site that users can navigate easily and building a site that is attractive to search engines.

Website development is more than just code, design and navigation.It's also about making your website your best salesperson.

Did you know that more than 83% of your potential customers will visit your website at least once before they decide to do business with you?Whether or not they stick around is completely up to you.If your website doesn't present a professional, easily navigated experience for customer, they'll go find one that does.

Your website is your 24-hour representative- the marketing employee who is always working.It should be able to provide visitors with the information that they need to learn about your company, develop trust and the convert them into customers.In order to do this effectively, your website needs the expert touch of a team of professional web developers, graphic designers, copy writers and online marketers.They address things like colors, layout, navigation, site content and more.Your site can display beauty, show off technological advancement, integrate with mobile devices, incorporate search engine optimization or all of the above.

And don't forget about the fun stuff!There are so many online tools you can use to create a fun, memorable experience for your site visitors.Incorporating things like blogs, vlogs, forums, RSS feeds, calendars, photo galleries and more will keep people coming back for more.Plus, online technology changes every day and we'll keep your website on the cutting edge as these technologies emerge!

As the internet continues to change and grow into Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and beyond, new ideas for website development are introduced.These new ideas become popular and are often incorporated into the algorithms of search engines, making search engine optimization a crucial part of internet marketing.

Think about this: There are over 80 million websites on the Internet and that number is increasing exponentially.Differentiating your site from other sites seems nearly impossible.But what if you could figure out a way to bring that number down to 10?Not 10 million, just 10.

You're probably wondering how something like that could be possible.How can you get your website to rank in the Top 10 search results for keywords that are relevant to your site?And once you do that, how do you get visitors to convert when they visit your site?

You need a custom web site development strategy based on the resources of your company and a development team to implement that strategy.By utilizing a combination of properly designed web pages, keyword research, prominently placed key search terms, reader-friendly keyword-rich content and a link building program you can help your website gain Top 10 search results.

About the Author

Sheila Kloefkorn is President of KEO Marketing, a marketing firm specializing in innovative online strategies including search engine optimization and marketing, online advertising, and social networking.

For more information about web design and development in Arizona, visit our website.

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