Author Brittany Johnson Preparing Children for the World

NEW YORK, Sept. 30 – How much you care for your children? Here is a new way to care for your children using colors they wear. Author Brittany Johnson has created one such facility – Color 4 kids. Color 4 Kids affords families an opportunity to spend time together preparing their children for the world. Through the proper use of color, light and textures, Color 4 Kids enhances children’s’ natural beauty while simultaneously teaching Moms (and even Dads) how to adorn and enhance their children’s lives with color.

All the extra time away from their children will motivate Moms to connect using Color in spite of what the fashionistas say. “Choosing clothes should be more than just picking the latest trend,” says Brittany Johnson, creator of “Color 4 Kids.” Johnson says the colors your children wear can have a direct impact on their self-esteem and how they do in school. Brittany says children can wear any color, but the shade and intensity can make all the difference in making them feel special. She’ll explain how to use your kids’ hair and eye colors along with their skin tones to determine which tones look best on them and make them shine. This easy concept also makes dressing kids easier when mornings are hectic, and it saves money as well, since clothes will be easier to mix and match. Johnson is an image consultant, color-analysis expert and author. She is a color and wardrobe consultant for TV production and catalogs

Color 4 Kids went on sale in bookstores and Amazon.com. Nationally Barnes and Noble Books Chain Corporate web-site carries “Color 4 Kids” in their parenting section. Several national radio and talk shows will be featuring Color 4 Kids.

In “Color 4 Kids” Ms. Johnson describes how colors can be utilized to enhance a child’s life. Brittany explains that each child’s unique coloring is seen as an individual palette, on which colors can be used to help the child further realize their individual potential. By discovering if your child is Spicy, Bold, Delicious or Playful, then implementing the Color 4 Kids plan, children can be helped to understand to accept who they are.

Color 4 Kids celebrates each child’s unique palette and essence.

Web site: www.color4kids.net

CONTACT: Brittany Johnson of Color 4 Kids, +1-518-859-2116

Damn, I Need A Job. Again! (New Book)

Los Angeles, CA - Consultant, Entrepreneur and Author, Dakotta J.K. Alex is releasing his fourth book "Damn, I Need a Job. Again! - Recession Edition". Dakotta shares his expertise on how to find a job during recessionary times.In this economy, it's hard to be optimistic about finding a job. Dakotta's playful approach in navigating the terrain of finding and landing your ideal job will help you build enthusiasm and confidence. He lays out a well-designed plan by giving tools and advice to those in unfulfilled careers, recent college graduates, or the unemployed.

Dakotta's approach to job hunting gives you empowerment in finding a satisfying career during a recession. There are always jobs available for skilled people, and he teaches you how to be one of those people. He leads you through the difficult recruiting process in detail and demonstrates how to build a portfolio of skills that build a lifelong career. Most importantly, he fills you with energy and excitement about opportunities in life, even during a struggling economy.

About the Author:
Dakotta JK Alex is a Global HR Solutions & Ethics Consultant specializing in human capital recruitment, process management, career analysis in the US, Europe and China. With over 10 years of consulting experience, he has worked with many organizations such as The Los Angeles Times, Amgen, Disney, Microsoft, and Compaq. He helps thousands of job seekers find their dream while encouraging others to seek a different occupational experience. Dakotta holds a Bachelors of Science in Organizational Management from St. Joseph's College in New York and is currently a Masters of Divinity student at Claremont School of Theology.

Struggling to Write Through the Recession?

LONDON, September 14

- All Writers Should Check - has ALCS Collected Money for you?

As the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) approaches the second of its bi-annual distributions this September, it continues to hold money for writers whom it is unable to trace, in spite of continued and concerted efforts by the ALCS membership research team.

"Although we're paying out in excess of GBP6 million in September, we're aware that there are writers, from all disciplines, whose work is being copied and who have yet to join ALCS. We continue to trace as many authors as possible", says CEO, Owen Atkinson, "and once a writer becomes a member we can then pay any fees due to them. We ask all writers who are not yet members to use the `search for royalties' function on our new website to see if royalties have been collected on their behalf and encourage all these writers to join ALCS."

WHAT ALCS DOES FOR WRITERS

As with all collecting societies, ALCS' primary role is to collect fees that are difficult, time-consuming or legally impossible for writers and their representatives to claim on an individual basis. Fees collected are distributed bi-annually to the full spectrum of writers including:


- novelists;
- film & tv script writers;
- professional & academic writers (inc. nurses, lawyers, teachers,
scientists & academics);
- literary prize winners;
- poets & playwrights;
- freelance journalists; and
- translators & adaptors.

Membership of ALCS and Public Lending Right (PLR) is essential to make sure writers are paid for the secondary uses of their work, e.g. photocopying, rebroadcasting as well as for the lending of their books in libraries (via PLR).

AT ALCS ALL TYPES OF WRITER ARE ELIGIBLE

Many people do not consider themselves to be a `writer' in the traditional sense as they only write part-time or occasionally. Many ALCS members who write have a primary professional occupation such as lawyer, doctor, scientist, academic or teacher, however they are still eligible to receive funds if their writing is copied and re-used. Writers can find out more by contact the ALCS membership department on +44(0)20-7264-5700 or checking on the website http://www.alcs.co.uk

Joining an organisation like the Society of Authors or the Writers' Guild of Great Britain will also give writers the advice they need regarding their contracts which is so important in both a recession and with the plethora of changes taking place in the digital world.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR WORKS

The other issue for writers at a time of economic pressure, is to ensure they take good care of their rights. Reverting rights back to the author is an important step; it will be tied in to the rate of sale. When that rate of sale has not been reached, the book will be regarded as being `out of print' and it is then that notice can be given to the publisher. Rights are becoming ever more important in this digital era.

ALCS - Protecting and Promoting Authors' Rights

ALCS protects and promotes authors' rights concerning their intellectual property and moral rights to ensure they are fully respected and fairly rewarded. ALCS is committed to fostering an awareness of the value of copyright issues amongst writers as well as the wider public who use, enjoy and benefit from the written word in all its forms.

Set up in the wake of the campaign to establish Public Lending Right in 1977, ALCS is a not-for-profit company that has distributed a total of GBP200 million to writers since its inception.

In its role promoting and protecting authors' rights, ALCS consults regularly with policy makers in the UK and Europe over copyright, digital rights management and intellectual property matters.

ALCS - Sources of Income

ALCS has developed highly specialised knowledge and sophisticated systems which track writers and their work (both print and audiovisual) against various secondary uses for which they are due payment. The main sources of fees due are secondary royalties from: photocopying (through the Copyright Licensing Agency which is jointly owned by the ALCS and the Publishers Licensing Society); international Public Lending Right; cable retransmission; fees from the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) and sources such as blank tape and machine levies for private copying and small miscellaneous literary rights.

The All Party Parliamentary Writers Group (APWG)

ALCS has also supported the setting up of the All Party Writers Group (APWG) chaired by Janet Anderson MP. APWG is a forum for elected Parliamentarians in Westminster to consider and discuss matters of importance to writers. As a focal point for authors' interests, with its links to UK writer organisations, APWG is well placed to draw attention to the current issues facing writers amongst an audience of decision-makers at Westminster and beyond.

ALCS - The International Picture

The Society is recognised internationally as a leading authority on copyright matters and authors' interests. It maintains a close watching brief on all matters affecting copyright both in the UK and around the world and makes regular representations to the UK government and to the European Commission. ALCS pays royalties to Member writers based in 137 countries around the globe. ALCS has reciprocal arrangements with over 50 collecting societies around the world.


ALCS contact information

ALCS, The Writers' House, 13 Haydon Street, London EC3N 1DB Tel: +44(0)20-7264-5700; email: alcs@alcs.co.uk Website: http://www.alcs.co.uk

Richest Short-Story Prize

London, Sept 13 - The Sunday Times today announced support to a new literary prize worth 25,000 pounds - the biggest prize money for a short story in Britain and Ireland.

The contest is open to authors who have already had their
work published in Britain and Ireland, and is intended to
attract well-published as well as relatively unknown stories.
Entrants to the contest will have to write a story of
maximum 7,000 words.Besides the winning prize of 25,000
pounds, there will be five other prizes of 500 pounds each for
the runners-up.

The first winner of the award will be announced next
March at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.
The award follows the success of a regular short-story
slot in The Sunday Times Magazine in which authors like Julian
Barnes, Zoe Heller and Hilary Mantel, who is favourite to win
this year's Man Booker prize with her novel 'Wolf Hall',
contributed. Writers like Alexei Sayle and Julie Burchill too
penned stories for the magazine.

Our weekly short story has been a great success,
attracting some of the most talented names, said John
Witherow, editor of The Sunday Times.

Authors who have recently penned volumes of short stories
include India's Arvind Adiga, who won the Man Booker prize
last year for his novel 'The White Tiger'.Other well-known
writers such as Alice Munro and Helen Simpson also have an
expertise in the genre.

John Updike's last book, published just after his death
earlier this year, was also a volume of short stories.

Book says rigged party vote for French Socialists

Paris, Sep 10- A new book alleges that a vote last year to elect the leader of France's Socialist Party was rigged, sparking further disarray among the once-mighty champions of the left.

The fallout has given conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy a lot of political breathing room and means the squabbling Socialists will have to figure out how to unite before they can mount any credible challenge to him.
The book by journalists Antonin Andre and Karim Rissouli, whose title translates as Hold-Ups, Swindles and Treasons, hit store shelves today after the weekly Le Point published excerpts online a day earlier.

It examines the Socialists' runoff vote in November between former Labour Minister Martine Aubry and Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate who lost to Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential race.

Aubry won the 2008 party balloting by just 102 votes - out of nearly 135,000 cast.
The book quotes an Aubry political director, Guillaume Blanc, as telling a secretary in the party's office in the northern city of Lille - where Aubry is mayor - to tinker with the vote.

Off with the gloves, stuff the ballot boxes, he was quoted as saying twice to the unidentified secretary.

2009 Brooklyn Book Festival

NEW YORK - Over 220 Authors on Sunday, September 13, 10 am - 6 pm will gather at Borough Hall Plaza, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Major free public event featuring: Russell Banks, Jonathan Lethem, Anne Carson, Paul Auster, Edwidge Danticat, Claire Messud, Colson Whitehead, A.M. Homes, David Cross, Mary Gaitskill, Nicholson Baker, Oliver Sacks, Staceyann Chin, Gary Shteyngart, Amy Sohn, Nelson George, Melvin Van Peebles, Siri Hustvedt, Lupe Fiasco, Heidi Julavits, Sloane Crosley, Tao Lin, Jeffrey Rotter, Michael Thomas, Keith Gessen, Naomi Klein, Thurston Moore, DJ Spooky, Greg Milner, Francine Prose, Jonathan Ames, Kate DiCamillo, Mo Willems, T. Cooper, Tom Tomorrow, Judi Barrett ... and more!


On Sunday, September 13, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Literary Council and Brooklyn Tourism will host the fourth annual free Brooklyn Book Festival, presenting over 220 authors and a literary marketplace of more than 150 booksellers and literary organizations.


"To New York City and the world, Brooklyn is now Booklyn," said Borough President Markowitz, who will present the Festival's BoBi award to renowned author Edwidge Danticat.


Programs include readings by Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Francine Prose, Tao Lin, Nicholson Baker, Ben Marcus, David Cross and Rakesh Satyal, and poets Anne Carson, Sonia Sanchez, Philip Schultz and Arthur Sze, and panels like Jonathan Lethem and Mary Gaitskill in Conversation; Satire and Comic Relief in 2009 with Jeffrey Rotter, Gary Shteyngart, Sloane Crosley, moderator Ben Greenman; The Great Recession with Justin Fox, Naomi Klein, Kai Wright, moderator Errol Louis; Independent Media Voices with Amy Goodman and Pamela Newkirk; Editor as Author with Heidi Julavits, Hannah Tinti, Sarah Rainone and Donald Breckenridge; Poetry, Pop and Hip-Hop with rapper Lupe Fiasco, musician Thurston Moore, poets Tracie Morris and Matthew Zapruder, moderator Toure; A Tribute to Norman Mailer with Pete Hamill and Norris Church Mailer; Legacies of John Updike and David Foster Wallace, moderator David Ulin; New Fiction From a New Russia and Africa in the Age of Obama. The Festival's new partner, New York Comic Con, will also have a powerful presence.


The Target Children's Area features Judi Barrett, Mo Willems, Victoria Kann, Tom Tomorrow, Ayun Halliday, Peter and Randall de Seve, Christopher Myers and more. The Youth Stoop boasts bestselling authors like Kate DiCamillo, Laurie Halse Anderson, Coe Booth and M.T. Anderson.

Google Book Settlement and its implications for authors

SAN FRANCISCO - Members of the Open Book Alliance and several other organizations today joined together in submitting a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, urging it to carefully review and scrutinize the proposed Google Book Settlement and its implications for authors, copyright holders, schools, libraries and the public.


The letter, which was organized by the Open Book Alliance, was delivered to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. John Conyers and Committee member Rep. Lamar Smith in advance of that committee's hearing on Thursday, September 10 concerning the proposed settlement.


The letter was signed by more than 20 organizations, including all 11 members of the Open Book Alliance, showing the breadth and depth of opposition to the proposed settlement. Among the signatories are several library organizations, including the New York Library Association, Illinois Library Association, New York Alliance of Library Systems, Ohio Library Council, and Special Libraries Association.

The Open Book Alliance is a coalition of librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers, and technology companies created to counter the proposed Google Book Settlement in its current form.

Text of Letter to House Judiciary Committee:

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Committee on the Judiciary
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Lamar Smith
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Conyers and Rep. Smith:


We understand that, on September 10, the House Judiciary Committee, under your leadership, will hold a hearing on the proposed settlement of a copyright infringement class action lawsuit brought against Google. We urge you to give careful scrutiny to the important copyright and competition policy issues the proposed settlement raises and to consider legislative or regulatory measures that could address the fundamental unfairness of this attempt to make public policy through litigation.


The undersigned organizations and companies - representing authors, libraries, non-profits and corporate interests -- believe the proposed settlement threatens to monopolize the access to and distribution and pricing of the largest, private digital database of books in the world. It would do so by using the class action mechanism to not only redress past harm, but to prospectively shape the future of digital book distribution, display and search.


Each of our organizations and companies strongly supports the effort to expand the availability of knowledge through promoting access to digitized books. But we do not believe this proposed settlement represents a fair, appropriate or desirable way to achieve that end. The proposed settlement, undertaken to redress a single legal claim, threatens to raise prices and restrict the public's access to digital books, disproportionately impact small libraries and academic institutions, including those serving rural, economically disadvantaged and minority communities, and threaten the rights of authors and small publishers.


-- The proposed settlement harms consumers by thwarting competition and
ignoring privacy concerns. It creates a digital book monopoly that
will inevitably lead to fewer choices and higher prices for consumers
of digital books. The settlement would allow a group of competing
publishers and rights owners to collectively set prices and would
leave Google as the only company with a the right to copy, display or
sell digital versions of millions of so-called "orphan" works (books
for which authors or rights holders cannot be identified or located).
The settlement does nothing to ensure that Google does not use
information about what books people are reading to make unfair profit
or that it does not inappropriately share this knowledge with
commercial interests or governments. Finally, the settlement is
carefully structured to ensure that all of the covered digital content
will be uniquely available to Google's search engine, for refinement
of their search algorithm as well as actual displayed results.
-- The settlement is bad for libraries and schools. While a handful of
large and well-funded university libraries participated in the Google
book-scanning effort, many other educational institutions and
libraries will be forced to pay monopoly prices for access to the
millions of books in the private Google database, straining
already-stretched budgets and perpetuating a system of haves and
have-nots in our nation's education system.
-- The settlement is bad for authors and small publishers. Unless they
act to opt out by the deadline, authors and other writers lose both
rights and remedies enacted by Congress related to the fruits of their
labor--a future in which they have no negotiating rights for the value
of their work.

-- The settlement sets public policy through class action litigation. The
proposed settlement far exceeds the bounds of a typical class action
settlement by prospectively creating a digital book monopoly and
effectively privatizing important copyright and other public policy
decisions.


As the Committee's past consideration of orphan works legislation and statutory mechanisms for encouraging the availability of works has demonstrated, there are fair ways, grounded in sound public policy, to ensure the protection of copyright, promote competition, and advance knowledge. We urge you, through careful review of the proposed settlement and its implications for all authors and rights holders, for the public, for schools and libraries, and for innovators, to begin the process toward shaping a more sound and equitable outcome.


Sincerely,

Amazon.com
American Consumer Institute
American Independent Writers
American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)
American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
Bear Star Press
Council of Literary and Magazine Presses
Illinois Library Association
Internet Archive
McPherson & Company, Publishers
Microsoft Corporation
National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981
New York Alliance of Library Systems
New York Library Association
Ohio Library Council
Open Book Alliance
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
Silverfish Review Press
Small Press Distribution
Special Libraries Association
Starcherone Books
Yahoo!

Don't be Emotional about Business Relationships

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.,- Professionals work to make a living, and it's a mistake to get emotional about business relationships, says Lenann McGookey Gardner, international expert on sales success. In sales, where friendly relationships are often key to successful selling, businesspeople can stumble by bringing their emotions to the workplace.

"This is really an issue of professionalism. You can like what you do and the people that you work with, but beware of crossing the line emotionally," says Gardner. "We go to work to get our financial needs met, so we can enjoy the rest of our lives, where we get our emotional needs met. Don't expect business contacts to meet your emotional needs, and don't get hurt or get even - they're both success-killers."

Gardner, the author of Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today's Proven Methods for Selling Services, offers these tips to focus work/selling efforts away from emotions.

Recognize prospects' fear

"Otherwise kindhearted people are afraid of being backed into corners by aggressive salespeople. They may not want to have a substantive conversation that looks squarely at their Pain - what's going wrong for them - and makes it clear that they need to take action," explains Gardner. "When selling, you help people bring their Pain to the surface, understand its implications, and decide whether to deal with it or ignore it. If you are uncomfortable dealing with negative, painful stuff, you'll avoid the things that have the greatest power to encourage someone to hire or buy from you!"

Rejection is not personal

"Most rejection you experience when trying to grow sales is not personal. People reject the interruption of your call, the potential expense of your service or product, or just the idea that they need more help. But it isn't possible they're rejecting you personally when they don't even know you," says Gardner. "Rejection is just something that happens, and will undoubtedly happen to us many times in life. We'll live through it. Keep going!"

Minimize workplace drama

"Human beings seem to like drama, and change - even buying a new service or product - is drama. To do a job as a professional, minimize the drama," says Gardner. "We each decide what we want for ourselves, and how we want to conduct ourselves, whether we want to complain and moan or just make things work."

Lenann McGookey Gardner, a Harvard MBA and a past #1 worldwide sales rep at Xerox, offers keynote speeches on state-of-the-art selling and closing skills, executive and sales coaching for business success, and workshops. Her book Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today's Proven Methods for Selling Services is the one guidebook highlighting all the recent research and data on what's working now in contemporary selling. She was named Professional Services "Marketer of the Year" by her state's chapter of the American Marketing Association. More information is available at www.YouCanSell.com.