It’s definitely that frightful season out there.  It’s also getting colder and fairly fast too.  What better way to warm up with a good book, a good SCARY book.  There are so many out there though, which one do you want to read?  I’ve scanned several websites and tallied up several scary books and I’m going to give you the top five.
 
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Goodreads says, “First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill Househas been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. “
 
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Amazon.com says, “The deceptively simple story focuses on Regan, the 11-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C.; the child apparently is possessed by an ancient demon. It's up to a small group of overwhelmed yet determined humans to somehow rescue Regan from this unspeakable fate. Purposefully raw and profane, this novel still has the extraordinary ability to literally shock us into forgetting that it is "just a story."
 
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Goodreads describes this one, “There's a killer on the loose who knows that beauty is only skin deep, and a trainee investigator who's trying to save her own hide. The only man that can help is locked in an asylum. But he's willing to put a brave face on - if it will help him escape.”
 
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Part of Goodreads’ description states, “ There's a killer on the loose who knows that beauty is only skin deep, and a trainee investigator who's trying to save her own hide. The only man that can help is locked in an asylum. But he's willing to put a brave face on - if it will help him escape.”
 
The Amityville Horror (A True Story) by Jay Anson
A portion of the description on Goodreads says, “On December 18, 1975, a young family of five moved into their new home, complete with finished basement, swimming pool, and boathouse. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror, leaving most of their belongings behind. — The fantastic story of their experiences was widely publicized on network television, newspapers, and national magazines. But the Lutz family never disclosed the full details to the media. Now, their own carefully-reconstructed memories -- and independent interviews with local clergy and police -- reveal their entire harrowing story.”
 
I’ve seen portions of a few of the movies, but now I’m going to be ordering these books to cuddle up with my kitties and some hot cocoa and a good scary book.  Nothing better to get that blood flowing when you are cold and achy.  Which one do you plan on reading first?

​While the media uproar is so often about the debate over the second amendment, I’m more concerned with the first—after all, words are my business.  And this week, Banned Books Week, is the platform that brings the issue to light.  It is our opportunity to open a dialog about free speech and how the suppression of words and ideas is perhaps one of the most insidious acts that can be perpetrated on a society.

As the Assryian teacher, Ahiqar, said more than 2,000 years ago,” The word is mightier than the sword.”  Indeed, words have shaped the world, for better and worse, more than any weapon ever has.  We fight wars over religious writings; revolutions have begun with clandestine publications; coups have succeeded through words.  Ray Bradbury said in his seminal book-burning novel, Fahrenheit 451, “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door...Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?”  (GoodReads). 

But unlike weapons, words, books, are used to teach, sooth, create, and delight.  They expand our understanding of the world, people, and nature.  At a moment’s notice, they have the ability to transport us to fantastic worlds, to the past, and to the center of the heart and soul. 

Because words are such dangerous weapons, because they have the distinction of changing us so deeply, they are the target of government, schools, and religious suppression.  While the transgressions worldwide can’t be ignored, book banning in the United States, the country that values freedom more than anything else, is alive and thriving.

Although books that we now consider pretty tame (Canterbury Tales, Moll Flanders, Arabian Nights, and more) were banned under the Comstock (obscenity) Law of 1873, the list of current banned and challenged books is growing and the reasons are increasingly personal and restrictive (Library Research Service).  The most recent list includes Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (anti-family), Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, for political viewpoint, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (“promotes the homosexual agenda”), and Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye for containing controversial issues (Banned Books Week).

So who is doing the banning and where?  According the American Library Association (ALA), the majority of challenges come from parents of school-age children who would like to see books taken from library shelves.  Other initiators include clergy, board members, and schools—see more statistics at http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/statistics. The ALA stands by their doctrine of supporting free speech, and “condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information” (ALA).

Fighting the battle against book banning is easy: simply read.  Read books that you love; read books that make you angry; read books that challenge you.  Read to your children, buy books, check out books, go to libraries and bookstores.  But most of all, read banned books.  As the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky said, “There are worse crimes than burning books.  One of them is not reading them.” 


American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/about 
Banned Books Week: http://bannedbooksweek.org/about 
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1272463-fahrenheit-451 
Library Research Service: http://www.lrs.org/2007/10/08/who_knew____banned_books_and_book_burning_fun_facts/

​

You've poured yourself into writing a book. You've spent hours, days, weeks, months, maybe even years working on it, so you decide to send a query to a publisher. You hope to have your book published. Then you receive the crushing blow that they aren't interested for one reason or another. Where do you go from there?

So your submission has been turned down by a publisher. Your first response is probably going to be disappointment, probably followed by anger. Your emotions are going to be all over the map in the first hours, days, or weeks after receiving a rejection. Keep in mind that this is not a personal rejection of your writing. There are several reasons that your manuscript may have been rejected. Think of this as a chance to tidy up your writing, work on your manuscript a bit more, polish it and make it shine. A book is never truly finished. A writer is never truly done with their work, they will go back to it time and time again and fine tune it like a machine. This doesn't mean to sit down as soon as you get it and fix everything they tell you needs "fixed". In fact, you shouldn't act right away at all. Give yourself time to think it through, a few days at least, then go back to it. You won't be as emotionally high strung as when you first receive the rejection. This also does not mean you should use every suggestion given to you or maybe you don't want to use any at all. This is your book, your work of art, so it's completely up to you.

Follow professional etiquette after you receive your rejection. Don't show up at the publisher's office demanding to see the person who rejected your manuscript. That really won't get you anywhere in publishing. In fact, you can pretty much guarantee that they are going to share that kind of experience with other publishers and they won't want to work with you either. If you decide to resubmit to the same publisher, wait at least a year to do so.

Use this experience as a learning tool. What did you learn? Did you learn that your book has structural problems, plot issues, slow points, moves too fast, has too many characters? Really think about it and use that to your benefit.

Whatever you do, do not give up because of a rejection. Whether it's one or several, it doesn't matter. Keep working at it. You never know if the next submission is going to be the one that accepts your manuscript.

Shauna Lynn, a talented writer, founder of Pickles and Peppers, and chronic illness advocate covers a wide variety of topics that she is passionate about. In her free time, she loves creating crafts with her family or creating a new and delicious recipe that she shares throughout the blogosphere. She loves animals and curling up with a good book too. Contact her at shauna@pickles-n-peppers.com to see what unique and engaging content she can create for you. Be sure to stop by her blog Pickles and Peppers for food, family, and fun with a side of reviews and giveaways.

Pickles & Peppers: www.pickles-n-peppers.com

Writing Your Company’s History

While creating a website, it is very important to write about the company’s history. It will play a huge role in building up the respect and trust, and in winning the customers. Almost each and every company goes through stages of inspirations, perseverance, hard work, and sometimes, luck. So, the company’s history should be one of the key elements on the website, and it should also include some significant achievements.

Importance of Company’s History

When the businesses post their history on the website or publication, it becomes an interesting read for the customers, and they will know that the company has a strong foundation. In fact, some of the companies also convert their corporate story in the form of a book publication, and present them to the employees and others. The corporate milestones, presented in ‘About Us’ page, can become the basis for the brand. The company’s history should include information such as, why the company was started, major turning points, inspirations, brief profile of the people behind the company, etc.

Give a Professional Touch

All this information should be presented in a delightful manner, which will make it appealing to the customers. And, for that, one should check out the professional service providers, who can help in writing the history. When you go for the professional writing services, they will study the background of the company, and weave out the magical words, and write in an amazingly professional manner. In fact, you can also check out the various websites, and find out how they have presented their company’s history.

Presentation

Whatever be the content, the presentation is also quite important. So, even though, you might have the entire company’s history in your mind, if you don’t present it well, the customer might not even read it. While presenting the content, one should try to dig out the company’s highlights, and present it with zeal. When you explain the company’s achievements, it should look like the best thing to have ever happened. In fact, one can also take interviews of employees and the satisfied users, who can give an insight into the company’s growth. Another way of presentation is by creating a timeline. All the events should be recorded in the timeline. You can also post photographs, illustrating the company’s history.

The company’s history can act as a marketing tool, and should be presented in the right manner. Take professional help so that your company’s history looks magnificent, and great.

The Three Most Important Elements of Book Design

What do you think is the most important aspect of book publishing? While most of us would say that it is “writing good content”, there are also other important things, which make a book sell. And, this includes the designing of the books, and marketing them. Even though, some books have great content, if their book designing is not good, it might be tough to sell them in the market.

Due to this, more and more importance is given to the designing, after writing. Book designing incorporates the style, content, design and format of all the components into a book. And, time and efforts need to be put on all these aspects.

So, what are the three most important elements of book design?

1.       Book Structure: This includes the front matter, back matter and the body. The front matter is the smallest section of the book, and the pages are usually numbered in Roman numerals. Most of the books are divided into different chapters, while some of them have chapters with sections, as well. The first page of the book, contains initials and special design features. The back matter contains epilogue, in the narrators’ voice, afterword, and a conclusion.

2.       The Printed Page: The layout of the book is carefully designed, with the font style and size, and with single or double spacing. The quality of the page is also important, and the gum is to be carefully considered. Another aspect of the printed page is the gutter, which is bound at the spine. There should be enough space, in the book’s spine, so that the text is visible.

3.       The Cover: The front cover of the book has some images or graphics, along with the title and the author’s name. It is the first thing, which makes an impression on the reader’s mind, and makes him pick up a book. So, the front cover designing should be carefully done. The back cover contains the biographical content of the author. It also contains some quotes and news sources, who have appreciated the book. The book cover can also contain a brief summary of the book.

These were the three most important elements of book design. Once the content writing is done, and designing is complete, the book publishing will take place. The publisher should not adopt any shortcuts, when it comes to designing of books, as it will have a direct impact on the sales.

What to Expect from a Book Editor?

Every writer’s dream is to get his book published by the best publisher. Even though, there are many publishers around, a good publisher would take a good amount of time in checking out the content, re-design it, if necessary, and will only then publish it. When, the book goes through a fool-proof process of editing, proofreading, and copy-editing, the finished product would be a bestseller, don’t you agree?

Publishing houses recruit some experienced and skilled editors, who are made responsible for the books. An editor will have a team of researchers, proof-readers and copy-editors, who would go through the book minutely, and give some suggestions for improvement. These suggestions could include inputs on the content, layout, designing, and other things. So, it is one of the most important process, and requires a very good editor at the helm. He helps in giving a shape to the book.

So, what can you expect from the book editor?

·         A personal rapport and a sense of mutual trust: This is one of the most important attributes. If the editor is professional, and also shares a personal rapport, the author will feel comfortable in interacting with him. And, a sense of mutual trust will automatically develop, which will help the writer to come out with his best.

·         Helpful Suggestions and corrections: An editor is not supposed to blindly accept the book. He has to delve deep, and give some useful suggestions and corrections to the authors. A good book will always be free of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, and would have undergone a thorough research, and would be relevant to the subject.

·         Quick Responses: While some editors simply sit on the book, and concentrate on various other books at the same time, it would be a good thing to give out quick responses. This would be helpful for the author to take the corrective actions immediately. There is no point in delaying a book, as it would impact the market. If a technical book comes out late, it will lose all its value.

Well, these are some of the attributes, which one can expect from the book editor. So, if you are a new talented writer, and are looking out for a good Publishing company, then, Word Branch Publishing can give you the best solution. The company believes in giving a chance to the emerging authors, and help them in making their voices heard. The company does the editing, writing and publishing for companies, as well as for individual writers.