Fragment †Changes In Life Free Essays

Incidents occur in one’s life daily. Most of the time people enjoy talking about â€Å"what happened today† because most of the time it’s usually funny and it isn’t really considered anything serious. Some happenings in our lives are very serious and aren’t as easy to talk about with others. We will write a custom essay sample on Fragment – Changes In Life or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even though this is true it does help the person feel better to talk about their problems whether they realize it at first or not. Changes in life like these can change you both physically and mentally for the rest of your life depending on the severity of the situation. In early August of `96 my life at home became a living nightmare. I don’t really know what it was that started this thing between me and my parents but I do remember that they were always doing anything they could to just annoy me. I doubt this was intentional but at the time it seemed that it was. They would find any excuse to yell or blame me for things that didn’t even involve me and they wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say at all. They were right and I was wrong, that’s the long and the short of it. It got so bad that I hated being home. I would do anything and go anywhere just to get away from my parents; even if it meant going somewhere that I had always hated going before. When I couldn’t get out of the house I tried my best to stay in my room and keep the door closed. When they decided that they didn’t want me in my room where they couldn’t fuss at me they came up with this big idea that I was trying to hide something from them. They must have spent a lot of time trying to decide what I was trying to hide because they came up with the only halfway smart thing I had heard from them in almost a month. They had decided that I was smoking. Too bad for them; they were wrong. Until their accusation, I hadn’t touched a cigarette but after that I did. I spent countless hours thinking about the things that were going on with my life. For almost a whole month I thought about ending my life and my problems, I thought about how I could â€Å"fix† my life by getting away from the house legally, and I wondered what their reasoning for doing this to me was. I finally decided that the smart thing to do would be just do something to get away from them legally but my next question was how then I got a tip as I was scanning through the newspaper one evening. I was going to get a job and that would keep me away from home. I applied to the first ad I saw in the paper and strangely enough, I actually got a call from Ramada Inn in less than 3 days after applying. I went to 2 interviews and apparently passed with flying colors because I got the job about a week later. After working there for about 2 or three weeks the things happening at home had came to and end but I had finally gotten my first taste of real life with my job and it wasn’t too sweet. To tell the truth it was terrible. I found out the real reason they hired me. It wasn’t because I was so qualified or whatever, it was because the place couldn’t get anyone to work. The reason for that was the boss was a real pain in the rear. So now, I didn’t have to worry about problems at home; I now had to worry about problems at work but at least I was getting paid for putting up with their crap. I guess that’s the price you have to pay and for me getting a job and getting rid of the problems at home ended up saving my life. In my lifetime I have seen a lot of weird things and have had lots of experiences that have changed my life in one way or another and I’m sure that there are going to be lots more of them to come but these that really stand out in my mind are mainly because they happened quite recently. In my mind, I know that I am lucky that these â€Å"happenings† did only affect me mentally and didn’t go as far as to affect me physically because had they succeeded, I probably wouldn’t be here today. I know now that it would have only been a long term solution to a short term problem but at the time it seemed like suicide was going to be my only way out. I began getting very frustrated with the events going on in my life and just wanted to end them all. Looking back on what I thought at the time, I am glad now that I just kept telling myself subconsciously things would get better with time. The thing is, the resolution of my problems took longer than I wanted them to. I’d say that if these problems both with my family life and my so called â€Å"work life† had continued much longer, I would have disregarded anything my friends had told me and that I had told myself about things getting better and would have ended my life as you and I know it. You know, the more I think about it in writing this, the more I believe that I probably wouldn’t have ended it totally because I seem to have really bad luck. You may ask what this has to do with anything but I figure that if I had tried to kill myself, I would have ended up being found and taken to a doctor and they were able to save my life but I would have ended up being a vegetable but knowing some people, they probably think I’m a vegetable already. How to cite Fragment – Changes In Life, Essay examples

Systems and IT Professional Practice for Acquisition-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theSystems and IT Professional Practice for Data Acquisition. Answer: A SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system is a system of hardware and software elements installed in industries to manage and supervise their systems (Boyer 2014). This is a system that ensures that the industry or factory can control and manage all parts of the larger system as it is being used (Boyer 2014). For example, a SCADA system installed in oil and gas facility can be configured to use electronic sensors installed in the tanks or storage facilities to control different aspects of the oil and gas facility. For instance, temperature and pressure sensors installed in the tanks send data to the SCADA system where processing takes place. It means that this is a system that has inputs, processing, and outputs. The system also has feedback control system where correction takes place (Boyer 2014). In the example of the oil and gas SCADA system noted above, the inputs can include temperature readings, pressure gauge data, humidity, and electrical data. All this data is fed into the SCADA system as the inputs for processing. In the processing stages, the temperature and pressure data can be checked whether it exceeds the set limits. The feedback loop provides corrective action after the acquired data has been processed (Boyer 2014). If it temperature data exceeds the limits, it means that there is excessive heating and the feedback loop needs to correct this since it could lead to accidents or incidents. Corrective action by the SCADA system could include increased cooling to lower temperature or vice versa (Boyer 2014). If pressure is high, the feedback loop in the SCADA system can reduce it by transferring some oil to other tanks (Boyer 2014). The SCADA system has several characteristics. In terms of the inputs, readings from electronic devices are the main inputs. If the SCADA system is installed in the oil and gas factory, inputs may include readings from equipment about, temperature, pressure, tank levels, humidity, wind conditions, and pH levels (Bagri, Richa and Jhaveri 2014). All these inputs are collected by hardware elements or electronic readers and fed into the SCADA software. The SCADA software proceeds with the necessary transformations to ensure that the data can be processed (Bagri, Richa and Jhaveri 2014). For instance, temperature data can be changed to Fahrenheit for processing. Once processing takes place, the outputs can be transformed into formats that are human-readable. The transformations can also involve showing visualizations on the computer screens (Bagri, Richa and Jhaveri 2014). The boundary for the system is the set limits for the readings. For instance, the set limits for temperature and pressure are already in the system and then it compares these to the readings collected in the field (Bagri, Richa and Jhaveri 2014). Once the system completes the comparisons or analysis, corrective action can be provided and implemented. The environment means that settings or surrounding within which the operation takes place. This is a general surrounding where there are outside elements that can affect operations. For example, exposure of the sensors to bad weather can damage them. In this operating environment, chances of outside influences affecting the SCADA system are minimal. Even for tanks and other assets located outdoors, the sensors are safe since they are located inside the facilities. It means that the environment can rarely affect the system except in cases of natural disasters. When the SCADA system for oil and gas has completed processing of inputs, it provides outputs used for corrective action (Boyer 2002). For instance, if the temperature is above the set limits, the output of the system is a warning and the new temperature required for the system. For instance, if temperature was at 88F and the recommended is 60F, the system output is an action for cooling temperature until 60F. This is the output to be used in the feedback loop (Boyer 2002). If is communicated to the heating and cooling system so that they reduce temperature to such a level. The feedback affects the operations of the system by increasing or decreasing the readings in the facility as recommended by the system (Boyer 2002). For example, if the pressure inputs suggested that the tank pressure is too high, the feedback affects the operations since the SCADA outputs reduce the temperature. The feedback may also affect operations by stopping or starting some operations. For instance, if SCA DA system notes a high temperature, it can affect operations by halting all transfer or processing operations for oil and gas products. Workers may be required to stop operations until the pressure and temperature are returned to the required levels. In such a case, the effect on the operations could be positive or negative. For instance, if temperature was too high and operations are halted, it can negatively affect operations. If the readings are good and SCADA system recommends operations to continue, this is a positive impact since it upholds safety in the facility (Boyer 2002). One of the major advantages that can flow into the firm because of outsourcing its information systems is a reduction in costs. Outsourcing ensures that the firm reduces its costs of running an information system (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). The firms that offer outsourced information systems are able to run the systems at a lower cost compared to the client. Since it is there core business, they can lower costs by developing such systems in-house instead of buying the systems. They can also lower their totals costs by offering such a system to many companies. It means that the firm can pay less for the outsourced system compared to buying and installing the system. The costs are also lowered because of reduced maintenance and support needs. Costs are also lowered because of reduced hiring and training costs (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). This is an advantage since it lowers the overall expenses of the firm and this can increase profitability. The other advantage is due to increased efficiency and effectiveness of the system. Since the outsourcing firms are experts in developing and running the information systems, they have expert knowledge and skills with such systems (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). It means that they can make such systems work well and increase productivity. The experts in the outsourcing firms have better experience and skills meaning that they can fix errors and problems quickly leading to increased effectiveness of the system. The third advantage of outsourcing is increased productivity for the firm. Outsourcing IT systems allows the firm to concentrate on their core/main business instead of spending more time on dealing with IT issues. For instance, if the firm manufactures cosmetics, outsourcing IT systems allows the firm to concentrate on the core business of selling more products to collect more revenue (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). If the firm doesnt outsource, employees could waste a lot of time fixing IT issues instead of selling more products. By focusing on the main business, the workers in the firm can remain more focused on the right tasks leading to better productivity (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). One main disadvantage of outsourcing is lack of control over the information system. When a firm outsources the information system, the responsibility for implementing the system is in the hands of the outsourcing firm (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). If such a firm fails to act professionally, issues of lateness, inaccuracy, and poor quality could result. It means that since the IT system is in the hands of the other firm, the client could face problems because they do not have direct control of the system. Lack of control can mean inability to meet strict deadlines and other customer requirements. The second disadvantage of outsourcing is knowledge management (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). Once the system has been outsourced, all the work is completed by the service provider. It means that internal workers will gain little knowledge of the system. Where this is the case, it means that workers do not understand the system well. If the outsourcing agreement is cancelled, returnin g to an internally implemented system could be very difficult since workers know little of the system. It means that a change of the strategy to implement the system internally could negatively affect the business. Since workers have little knowledge, the transition could negatively impact the transition leading to negative outcomes. The third disadvantage of outsourcing is because of the risk of exposing confidential data (Gonzalez, Jose and Llopis 2010). For instance, if the organization outsources the human resource and finance systems, there is confidential data that is put at risk. In terms of finance, data about sales, revenues, and profitability can be exposed to third-parties. Human resource data such as salaries, wages, and other important elements of employee contracts can be exposed. If such data is misused by the service provider, it can affect the firm negatively. One information system that can be outsourced by this firm is the accounting and finance information system. In the firm, there are thousands of transactions that our every hour meaning that the information system handles many transactions (Tayauova 2012). The information system handles a lot of data and it takes many employees to run and man this function. For instance, there has to be data entry employees to enter data about offline transactions. IT exerts have to be employed to develop, implement, and maintain the system (Tayauova 2012). It means that there is a dedicated team of workers needed to ensure that the information system is operational. Outsourcing is justifiable to reduce the size of the operation. It is important to reduce the size of the team and the number of activities taking place in this system. If the current situation continues, the size of the operation may become larger as the firm grows. Such an outcome may increase expenses and complexity in running the sys tem. As the operation grows errors, omissions, and other mistakes can increase (Tayauova 2012). This may call for more training and education of workers and this only increases costs. Therefore, it is justifiable to outsource this information system to an expert or firm with the required knowledge and experience in this area. It is justifiable since reducing errors and keeping the operation small can increase productivity (Tayauova 2012). Analytics is a relatively new branch of computer science that deals with generating useful insights or trends from a collection or set of data(Runkler 2016). Learning analytics means that the students may be required to learn all the processes, tools, and concepts that involve gathering data sets and extracting useful insight from data(Cushing and Campbell 2015). Learning analytics could greatly benefit students especially because of improved decision making abilities or approaches(Gandomi and Haider 2015). After learning analytics, the students can learn that they need to use data to make decisions. Instead of making decisions based on unfounded assumptions, students learn that they need to consider available data and analyse it to make decisions(Hwang and Chen 2017). The benefits will accrue to students since they will gain additional skills after leaning analytics. These skills are very useful when they join careers. Since todays firms generate a lot of data, students gain immense ly from this knowledge. The students who start small businesses in future also gain from this knowledge since they will now start to use the science to make smart decisions. The benefits would accrue to the students since they understand the concepts and tools used in analytics(Geng 2017). The benefits also accrue to students since they learn the gain some experience in analytics. They can build on this knowledge and use it as a starting point once they graduate (Rahm 2016). There are several advantages that could arise in a university after learning analytics. First, the decision-making approach can be improved and errors inaccuracies can be eliminated since analytics uses data in decision-making (Guller 2011). It is also advantageous since it improves knowledge in the university and skills as well as experiences. Another benefit of learning analytics is that it allows the university to make use of data that lies within their systems. From learning analytics, many benefits could accrue to the students. If the entire institution learns analytics, the students gain since they now learn a new branch of computer science that they can apply after graduation(Kambatla and Kolias 2014). The benefits accrue to students since they have the opportunity to learn the tools, practices, and approaches used in analytics(LaValle, et al. 2013). These can be learnt in class or through interaction with people using analytics in the university. Publications such as books, journals, and internet articles published in the university can also benefit students so that they can learn more about analytics. Conferences and talks about the topic can also benefit students and prepare them well to use analytics in future. While learning analytics is important and advantageous for students, there are several negative outcomes that can result. Since this is a complex area of computer science, the students can suffer from increased complexity and lack of comprehension (Guller 2011). Students can also start to complicate decisions by using data and spend more time indulging in analytics. It could also arouse some negative behaviors such as stealing data and unauthorized access to practice analytics. From the discussion of analytics, it appears an interesting yet complex discipline in computer science (Guller 2011). If students are not ready for this subject, they can fail to comprehend it if it is too complex for them. It means that students can take an increasing amount of time to learn analytics. It means that they can spend time dedicated for other subjects just to learn analytics(Nagaraj and Duggirala 2015). The complexity can also arouse the interest of students and make them spend more time on it re ading and experimenting. Since the university has a lot of data stored in the information systems, students with increasing knowledge of analytics can attempt to gain access to data for experimentation. There is also a disadvantage that students who learn analytics and use data to make decision can overcomplicate decisions. It means that students may fail to understand the situations that require analytics and those that do not. The negative behaviors such as stealing data and unauthorized access could change or multiply in future leading to more serious information security offences. Today, many institutions are involved in the collection and analysis of student-related data. I think this is ethical. When institutions collect and analyze student data, they can use the insights developed to improve services within the institution. Normally, when the data is collected, various elements are gathered. For instance, the data can include names, email addresses, postal address, physical address, age, gender, culture, subjects, grades, club affiliations, and co-curricular activities(Nagaraj and Duggirala 2015). There are many elements of student data that can be collected by the institution for various reasons. The collection of this data is ethical since the institution needs to have the details about the students that they admit. Institutions have a legal right to collect data about students and store it as details of the students attending college. The analysis of this data is also ethical since it can allow the institution make better decisions. For instance, the institution can analyze performance data to understand the students who fit in leadership positions or serve other purposes (Guller 2011). As seen in the previous sections, analytics helps one make informed decisions from data collected. Analytics helps one develop trends and insights that are helpful in making decisions. It means that the student-relating data can be ethically used to make good decisions that can help students and the institution(Wong 2016). If the data and insights gathered from it are used for the right reasons, then the collection and analysis of such data is ethical. It would be more difficult to run an institution without the necessary data. Once such data is collected by the institution, it should be stored in a strong and secure system where it cannot be compromised by attackers. As noted in the above sections, some negative behaviors can result from the use of analytics. Stealing data, manipulation, and illegal access can result in extreme circumstances(Qiu and Antonik 2017). It means that the institution needs to guard against these issues to ensure that the data is collected and analyzed in the correct manner. If this is done, the collection and analysis of student data is both ethical and beneficial to the institution. Bibliography Boyer, Stuart A.SCADA: supervisory control and data acquisition. International Society of Automation, 2014. Bagri, Aditya, Richa Netto, and Dhruvil Jhaveri. "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition."International Journal of Computer Applications102, no. 10 (2014). Boyer, Stuart A. "SCADA: supervisory control and data acquisition."Instrument Engineers Handbook, Volume Three: Process Software and Digital Networks(2002): 357. Cushing, David, and MaryAlice Campbell. Big Data Analytics with IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes. IBM Redbooks, 2015. Gandomi, and Haider. "Beyond the hype: Big data concepts, methods, and analytics." International Journal of Information Management, 2015: 137-144. Geng, Hwaiyu. Internet of Things and Data Analytics Handbook. John Wiley Sons, 2017. Gibbs, William. Contemporary Research Methods and Data Analytics in the News Industry. IGI Global, 2015. Gonzalez, Reyes, Jose Gasco, and Juan Llopis. "Information systems outsourcing reasons and risks: a new assessment."Industrial Management Data Systems110, no. 2 (2010): 284-303. Guller, Mohammad. Big Data Analytics with Spark: A Practitioner's Guide to Using Spark for Large Scale Data Analysis. Apress, 2011. Hwang, Kai, and Min Chen. Big-Data Analytics for Cloud, IoT and Cognitive Computing. John Wiley Sons,, 2017. Kambatla, and Kolias. "Trends in big data analytics." Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 2014: 2561-2573. LaValle, Steve, Eric Lesser, Rebecca Shockley, Michael S Hopkins, and Nina Kruschwitz. "Big Data, Analytics and the Path From Insights to Value." MIT Sloan Management Review, 2013: 21-32. Nagaraj, Dhivya, and Siddhartha Duggirala. High-Performance Big-Data Analytics: Computing Systems and Approaches. Springer, 2015. Qiu, Robert C., and Paul Antonik. Smart Grid Using Big Data Analytics: A Random Matrix Theory Approach. John Wiley Sons, 2017. Runkler, Thomas A. Data Analytics: Models and Algorithms for Intelligent Data Analysis. Springe, 2016. Rahm, Erhard. "Big Data Analytics."it-Information Technology58, no. 4 (2016): 155-156. Tayauova, Gulzhanat. "Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing: analysis of outsourcing practices of Kazakhstan banks."Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences41 (2012): 188-195. Wong, Ka-Chun. Big Data Analytics in Genomics. Springer,, 2016.

The Human Interfaces

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview â€Å"The distance between me and my readers is the internet† An interview with Bob Mayer How can indie authors use eBooks to their full advantage, creatively exploiting their potential to be adapted over time and linked to an author’s whole output?Bob Mayer is a New York Times Bestselling Author who is not afraid to explore the incredible new opportunities available to authors. With 60 books published - both traditionally published and indie-published - Bob has sold over four million books. He and is also a leadership speaker and consultant, coaching authors on many aspects of writing and publishing. He is also CEO of Cool Gus Publishing and his latest book Time Patrol has just come out. On top of all that, he is the only West Point Graduate and Former Green Beret we’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing! We talk about his work as a hybrid author, his marketing techniques, and Italian book covers†¦ It’s really great to be interviewing Bob this afternoon - a New York Times bestselling author, writing coach, who also writes a lot about publishing and self-publishing. Firstly Bob, it’d be great to start with your writing course Write on the River, how is it going?I’ve been doing writing workshops for a number of years - I used to hold small intimate workshops and various bed and breakfasts. After my wife and I moved to the Tennessee River, we got a nice big house, so a couple of times a year we bring four writers into the weekend, working with them on their books. The weekend after this  I’ve got four people coming down.So you work with them on all sorts of things, structure and character development, that type of thing?I change it for every group because every group is a little different. I’ve had number one New York Times bestsellers here - usually it’s published authors with some experience, but occasionally I’ve had a new auth or. We usually spend a lot of time on the ‘idea and conflict lock’ and a lot of time talking about the business, because so many things are up in flux right now.Many authors - even established authors - are wondering right now, â€Å"should I become a hybrid author?†, â€Å"should I keep traditionally publishing?†, â€Å"should I self-publish?† One of our authors came down here for the weekend and she’s publishing with Cool Gus, so she’s become a hybrid author.You are a hybrid author who has published a number of different ways, could you tell us a bit more about that?I was published in New York for 42 books - Random House, St Martins - many big houses. Then I went self-publishing as I had a huge backlist to which I owned the rights and formed my own publishing company Cool Gus.I knew from the very beginning what I wanted was to sign with 47 North, Amazon’s Science Fiction imprint. The main reason I did that was because of their marketing capabilities. They have tremendous power to market you on their site. So I’ve got a book we’re going to publish May 5th. I’ve got a book coming back from 47 North that’s due out in August, so I alternate writing science-fiction for amazon and thrillers for my own company.What is it specifically about their marketing that interested you?They have reach: they call it ‘merchandising’. They really know who the readers are and have huge databases. They know everyone who has bought one of their previous books and send them an email. They also do pricing - in the UK they have a ‘book for a pound’ - they pick a number of titles and promote those. There is a huge difference sales-wise when you use any of these platforms - whether Amazon, Apple or Audible ACX - they give you some ‘merchandising’ and your sales can skyrocket.Yes, we’ve found with many authors that email lists are really helpful, because you ar e talking to an engaged audience, and that it’s worth slowly building them upYes, we don’t send many newsletters out because we feel many people are bombarded by them, but we are focusing on building our list this year. The other thing we have is a private Facebook group called ‘The A-team’: we’ve got about 30 people in there. These are people who really like my books. It’s a small intimate group where we chat about what I’m writing. If you can get a core of about 40-50 readers who talk about you and promote you, that’s huge. The book - Time Patrol (Area 51: The Nightstalkers Book 4) - just came out yesterday and I’ve already got a handful of reviews, mainly because of those types of people.I like the idea of nurturing a small but dedicated small fan group. They are the one’s you can have a personal connection to.The most important thing is readers. I’ve got a huge Twitter following, but I don’t reall y think it sells books; I don’t think a huge Facebook following sells books - although these things aren’t bad of course. The distance between me and my readers is the internet. I can communicate with them and respond to every email I get or every mention on Twitter. I think that’s key.There’s lot of resistance in the publishing industry to change - I think that’s because so much of it doesn’t change: it’s always going to be about great content and writing. But, of course, things are changing: are there any new developments that are interesting to you?Subscription is big. A lot of people are complaining about Kindle Unlimited for sales dropping, but Kindle Unlimited occurred at the same time as the content flood hit the eBook market - there’s just so much content out there and that’s not going away.We don’t fight those things. Yesterday we got a cheque from Draft2Digital and the Scribd subscription service. We use those things; we use Kindle Unlimited. I broke one of my non-fiction books into 15 shorts, dedicated totally to Kindle Unlimited. I think writers waste a lot of time tilting at windmills they can’t change. They need to look at the publishing landscape and use everything out there to the best of their abilities.Yes, and I think they could anticipate change a lot more than they actually do.Ha! Yea, although I don’t think anyone could tell you where we’re going to be a year from now. It does always come back to good content though. The good thing is that I think if you write a good book, that’s a big part of it and then you do have to get out there and reach the readers. The readers have to know the book exists.You’ve said in the past that this is the moment in publishing you are most excited to be a part of because the author has control.Absolutely! What I’m doing right now didn’t exist ten years ago. Ten years ago I would hold the rig ht to 50 books and be able to do absolutely nothing with them. I wouldn’t be able to sell them to anybody - I couldn’t get them in the bookstore. Now, they are in virtual bookstores, I can sell them to readers. One of our saying is â€Å"If you haven’t read it, it’s not backlist†. I was reading my first book from 1991 and I realised to someone reading it now, it’s a brand new book.One of the interesting things right now is how publishing is relating to other media. People talk about how it is conflicting of complementing other media - cable TV, movies, games, etc - but do you think also that a lot of writers could learn about how they market these media?I see writers say â€Å"go kill your TV†, but my wife and I watch a lot of TV and the writing is fantastic. Marketing-wise, if you look at what Netflix did with the Kevin Spacey show, where they released it all on the same day, I think that’s something to think about.People want instant gratification now. It used to be that in traditional publishing, I have to give a book a year, but I had to write under three pen names because they would not allow me to publish more than a book a year. Now, you cannot publish fast enough, or write fast enough to keep up with demand from readers!Yes, maybe you could experiment publishing lots at once, gaining a core reader group, then change your strategy, slow down or create anticipation.Yes one thing we’re doing is we’re putting out a book every three months this year and what I’m doing personally is I’m racking my books together. I just had a book come out yesterday that loops back to my early Atlantic series, so what I’m doing is connecting the dots over 25 years of books.At the end of the book, I say â€Å"if you want to know more about this character, go to this series†, â€Å"if you want to know more about this world, go to this series†. I think that gives readers mor e options to go through the back story.Now your books are always out there - they don’t grow old, so you can create these links in ways which weren’t previously possible.One thing I often talk about in my business is that an eBook is not like a print book: it’s very, very different. It’s organic. It’s changing. We have so many titles that when we bring out a new one, we have to go into the back and change all the links in it, we have to change the metadata.Yesterday my new book came out and is called Time Patrol and I asked my business partner, â€Å"by the way, do these books have another subgenre on Amazon of ‘time travel’, because this is actually another best seller list!† and she’d already taken care of that. So it’s just constant change, and I think it’s caught traditional publishers a little by surprise, because they are used to the ‘fire and forget’ method. They published a book and itâ €™s out there, it’s never going to change. An eBook changes constantly. I’m not talking the content - although you can do that - I’m talking all the things around it: the cover the endman, the metadata, so it’s a constant churning of things.Have you experimented with changing covers?Oh yea! We’ve changed covers. Actually, you often have to change covers, like on Amazon, where there are certain promotional things you can’t get into if you have things like a gun on the cover. I totally understand, because people complain, but you have to change the image and remove the gun, simply to get in these marketing programs!I think it’s endlessly fascinating how in different countries, different covers just work and different ones just don’t work. I think you can learn a lot about individual countries by the book covers they like!I was in a book store in Italy where it was always a scantily-clad woman on the cover with an atomic blast in the background and there was no woman in a bikini in the book! They just stick it there because that’s what sells.So much of indie publishing seems to require a certain kind of author: entrepreneurial and someone who can effectively manage their own business. Do you think that may change? Do you think it could incorporate other types of writers who are perhaps not entrepreneurial, but who still want control and the best of indie-publishing?Well, that’s a little what we do at Cool Gus. A handful of authors we work with just want to write, yet they want the freedom, so we take care of all the things for them, but we give them final say. So they don’t have to get caught up in the actual doing of it, but we’ll say, â€Å"What do you want on your cover?† - and they get the final say on that, cover copy, everything! So I think that’s a different business model.And so that they have a team to help themYes, I think it’s really hard to do it all well. There are people that do it, but it’s much easier to send someone an email and say â€Å"Please take care of this†.Where do you think agents may fit in the future?I think agents are evolving. Kristen Nelson who works with Hugh Howey is an example of an agent that’s really changed the way she looks at things. And I actually think traditional publishing is not going to die: it’s evolving and they are learning, changing and adapting. I’m querying agents right now because I need help with foreign rights. I can’t really travel to the London Book Fair, for example, so I need an agent to take care of those things for me.I think the reason publishing is so interesting is because it is a very complex industry and there are so many different things to be doing. What are you thinking about experimenting with in the next couple of years?It’s more about the creative part. I’ve been doing it so long, that what I realise is that I can produce better books faster and the market is there for it. I have so many series going, and at the same time I put a few experimental things out there. And I don’t have to sit there and worry, will my agent like it, will my editor like it, will my publisher like it, will the sales force think they can sell it? All I’ve got to care about is ‘will the readers like it?’ I don’t think that’s going to change: that I like. I can directly reach my readers and either they can hit that buy button or not, and that tells me if it’s working or not.That’s a really great message to send to our readers. Thanks so much for your time Bob!Follow @Bob_Mayer and @ReedsyHQ on TwitterDo you think too many authors waste time fighting things they can’t change? Where do you see agents fitting in in the future? Leave us your thoughts, or any question you have for Bob, in the comments below!

Case Study Yorkshire Radio Station Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Yorkshire Radio Station - Case Study Example Strategy has two key dimensions - the resource allocation decision and the development of sustainable competitive advantage. We will confine our dissertation on development of sustainable competitive advantage leaving the resource allocation decisions. 1. Fit to market environment - the primary requirement is the perceived notion of customer for the need of the product or services. The customer looks for competitive advantage, superior value from a product. 3. Efficiency versus effectiveness: Efficiency is internal to the organization whereas effectiveness identifies opportunities to create market. As Peter Drucker says 'Efficiency is doing things right, Effectiveness is doing right things'. Primary focus of the organization should be on effectiveness rather efficiency.... Diversification strategies - Diversification are of four types 1) Forward integration, Backward Integration, concentric diversification and conglometric diversification. Criteria for Strategic success: The following five factors determine the success of a strategy: 1. Fit to market environment - the primary requirement is the perceived notion of customer for the need of the product or services. The customer looks for competitive advantage, superior value from a product. 2. Timing: nothing fails like success - A product or service, which is in vogue today, becomes obsolete tomorrow, hence timing is very important for success of a strategy. 3. Efficiency versus effectiveness: Efficiency is internal to the organization whereas effectiveness identifies opportunities to create market. As Peter Drucker says 'Efficiency is doing things right, Effectiveness is doing right things'. Primary focus of the organization should be on effectiveness rather efficiency. 4. Speed versus decisiveness: Speed is important, companies that are fast to innovate, manufacture and distribute and quick to respond to customer requirements are more successful. But with speed the decisive commitment of resources also is very important. 5. Organizational effectiveness: The organizational effectiveness in its manpower, their commitment to deploy their skills effectively contributes to the organizational effectiveness. Let us analyze the Current situation: Presently Yorkshire Radios station's activities are as follows: 1. Broadcasting Yorkshire sports like Football Rugby, Racing, Cricket 2. Broadcasting music. 3. Main focus is on coverage of Leeds United with exclusive access to the manager, Players and chairman plus full match

Global marketing 1 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global marketing 1 - Article Example ike enterprise control rights are egalitarian, enterprise income rights are also democratic in nature which is distributed to all the members of the market socialist community. An apt example of a market socialist economy is China where most of the employment and foreign funds are provided by state-owned firms. However, under market capitalism, less of government intervention is called for as compared to market socialism and thus it is more of privately held management community. Thus, both the control and income rights are conferred on members as per their ownership and shares held. The United States of America is a market capitalist economy and in fact, every developing nation adopts capitalist model. In layman terms, a centrally planned economy is one where decisions are taken by state or government and businesses have little or no say in this matter. However, major difference between market and centrally planned economies is that while the former is more economic focused the latter is largely political with socialist or communist viewpoints. Soviet Union is one of the centrally planned economies (Knes n.d). High and low context applies in cross cultural business management and negotiation styles. Theoretically, low context cultures are characterized by more explicit and literal meaning cues. On the contrary, high context cultures are implicit and focus more on non-verbal signs. High context cultures believe that people know what has to be done and thought of because high context cultures have long periods of associations and relations. They believe in less of formal writing or speaking of words. Thus, informal activities like social gatherings, partying, congregations and personal relationships are the essence of high context culture (Culture at Work n.d). China and France exhibit features of high context culture where people share very specific information with others members and most of the people understand what the speaker tends to convey. In low

Competitive Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Competitive Strategy - Assignment Example Most Waitrose stores are located in the upmarket areas of London, enjoying relatively prime areas compared to its competitors; a 1995 survey by Which? Magazine rated Waitrose as the most expensive supermarket chain based on its prime location. The price differences were influenced by its locations, with most of the chains being located at the Home Counties, Southern England, London and South-East England, which are among areas largely populated by middle to high-class customers (Williamson et al 2008, p.190). The business operates with the mission of making all its employees happy and a vision of dealing honestly with a customer to secure their trust in provision of high value services and a wide choice of products. John Lewis partnership largely deals in a wide range of products in addition to food products. The partnership has a good market command in dealing with a variety of merchandise that include household products, electrical gadgets , furnishing products, home based applianc es and devices, a wide range of fruits, beef and chicken products among other daily products, fashion ornaments and raiment, mushrooms among other numerous products (Bloomberg Business Week, 2011). Essentially, John Lewis partnership has something for everyone and strategizes to suit the needs of every customer, a strategy that has worked wonderfully in attracting and retaining its customers and as a critical strategy to the partnership. In addition to the above merchandise, John Lewis Partnership offers a relatively wide range of auxiliary services in insurance packages that range from pet insurance, wedding based insurance packages, travel insurance and life insurance covers to its employees (Rendall & Seth 2011, p.91). According to Finch, John Lewis partnership to achieve this end has elaborate plans to open more stores within and outside the UK market. This would be achieved by taking products as close to the customer as possible, and employing creative approaches that would hav e the partnership identify specific consumer needs and target them as precisely as possible. For instance, one of the strategies undertaken by John Lewis was to have consumers buy term insurance products directly over the internet and phone, with Greenbee, a direct services company being unveiled to undertake this innovation. This is aimed at ensuring customers have the same level of trust and confidence in their level of services as they have in consumer goods and foodstuffs (Money Marketing 2006, p.3). Waitrose, one of the major businesses under John Lewis was not affected by the recent recessions that greatly affected most businesses, but realised more than 11% growth at the same period (Finch, 2011). The impressive record as Finch observed beats John Lewis up market rivals such as Marks and Spencer, with high expectations of growth being projected in the future as the partnership lays its expansion plans to other markets. According to John Lewis Plc (2012, pp.4-5) the Partnershi p’s financial statement shows that its profitability reduced significantly in 2012 compared to 2011. In 2012, the company had an impressive performance with the partnership’s turnover increasing by 6.45% to ?8.73 billion, though the group’s operating profits fell by 8.9% to ?391.0 million. This led to a