Profit The Books

The tone in which the information in this book is presented is discouraging, pessimistic and sometimes condescending. It is a depressive read for someone considering starting a small press. It portraits the publishing business as an unpredictable and scary place where your chances of survival or even barely scratching a living are infinitely slim. It becomes easy to think "why even try?"

The introduction tells you how tough the business of publishing is, how easily disasters can happen, and how sales channels are practically impossible to access unless you are an established publisher. The part that explains that these risks can be overcome or mitigated, and how, is not included. After this initial backlash, the book is sprinkled with ifs, buts, hopefullys, and maybes. In addition, the constant recommendation of answering the suggested questions is not always accompanied by a good explanation of how to find pertinent answers to those questions.

This book could have been so much better if it had presented the same facts and information in a more positive way in the light of the wonderful opportunities that the changes in technology and the internet present to the very flexible and adaptable small press.

One of the difficulties in publishing is knowing how to ask (then answer) the critical questions. These authors have been there and guide readers through the details of a publishing house.

If you've never seen a profit and loss statement (and most book authors never have), there is one inside this book and the explanation about how it works. This book is ideal for anyone who works on the inside of a publishing house to understand and be more effective in their day-to-day operation.

Woll, who has worked for publishers large and small, is currently the president of Cross River Publishing Consultants. And while there are many books written for the small publisher or self-published author, Woll's work is much less of a cheerleading rah-rah, and much more of a how-to. It's loaded with formulas and charts and business math. He shares both horror and success stories. His advice is much more realistic and often even scary for the little guy, but as G.I. Joe often said, "Knowing is half the battle."

Much of Woll's focus is on cash-flow and budgeting. Planning is also a major focal area, as it should be in any business. In addition, he discusses basic organizational structures, hiring practices, inventory management and distribution, contracts, subsidiary selling, and much more.

For those looking for editorial advice or market trends in the area of content, this book is not for you. Publishing for Profit is all about the business side of publishing. It's about the bottom line. Anybody thinking about self-publishing should think about reading Woll's book. Anybody thinking about starting a publishing company and those who work for or manage a small, independent publishing house or a large, financial giant, need to read Publishing for Profit.

I wish I'd read this book a few years ago!

I bought "Publishing for Profit" on the strength of the reviews. And what a book it is!

Unfortunately, those who don't have the patience or drive to go through loads of information may do good to skip this book. It's not an A-connects-to-B, dummies-and-idiots kind of book for the moonlighting publisher. This is the real deal for serious publishers, who are willing to be bulldozed over by technical and business jargon. I can even call "Publishing for Profit" a textbook, which in this case isn't a bad thing.

Since I'm a newbie to this whole business, I found myself plodding through the pages. I want to learn as much as I can, but it's going to be a slow ride.

I'm glad I got this book.

For many people publishing is a hobby. It's about producing an art object, a labor of love, perhaps an ego trip. But if you don't want to have a lot printed paper hanging around your warehouse, you'd better learn that publishing is a business. Once again, it's a business, and like any other there are rules.

Of course the IRS establishes the underground rules of any business in the United States. But after that there is a set of rules unique to the publishing business. This book can be viewed as three books in one:

First is the basic rules of any kind of business. This includes such mundane things as bank accounts and business licenses.

Second is the part that is directly tied to the publishing business. The common returns policy in the book industry for instance is quite different than in other industries.

Finally there is the sales aspect. Remember that the day you come out with your newest book, there are at least 600 other books published in the US on that same day. How can you possibly hope to compete? Should you hire a sales force? Should you advertise? How do you get book reviewers to look at your titles? (One way not mentioned in the book but which a lot of people do is contact the people who review a lot of books on Amazon - I know, I get contacted a lot.)

This book is a remarkable presentation of material that could easily consume several books. The best part is that he gets EVERYTHING right. The author presents a fairly objective view of US economic policy and the financial markets. He realizes that the nation's free markets have become highly corrupt and are need of major repair. And the #1 problem is lack of universal health care.

Unlike any other book related to this topic, this one not only discusses the current problems and have predicted them with astonding accuracy, but it also makes predictions for several years thereafter. He concludes that the US stock market has been in a bear correction mode since 2001 and will remain there until around 2012, registering average annual returns of around 2-3%. So far he has been absolutely correct. He also discusses what will happen after that period -- a depression.

This book goes over so many topics and supports everything with a hue reference list at the back that I found it more helpful for understanding how the economy and stock market work than any book I have ever read. The author's analysis is unparalleled. I strongly recommend this book.

Although over 500 pages, I was glued to this book because of its full coverage and detail of the topics. The real estate bubble chapter alone is better than other books I have read devoted solely to this topic. The same can be said of the debt, Social Security, Pension, and Debt chapters. And although the author does not devote a chapter on the global oil situation, he talks about it extensively in many chapters and covers it in more detail with better insight than any other book I have read exclusively devoted to this topic.

The 3 chapters on investments are brilliant and stem from the analysis and data presented in the previous 15 chapters. I am a very experienced and successful investor and the information within this book has opened my eyes and I plan to send a copy to my local Congressmen as well as my financial advisor. In fact, getting this book is like getting 6 books rolled up into one. The author obviously spent a very long time doing his research and analysis and it shows. This book puts all others related to America's economy and future to shame. And unfortunately, I am afraid the conclusions he has made will come to fruition, but now I will be ready.

Thank you for opening my eyes to the realities of America.

This Book Really Delivers

Unlike other books that discuss America's problems, this one does not focus on one or two problems but presents all of the major issues America is facing from economic, social and global political issues, to all of the financial issues. Rather than focusing on America's national debt as a primary issue, the author realizes that no one problem is strong enough to take down the greatest nation on earth. Instead, the book discusses the two biggest problems in America--the healthcare crisis and free trade, which have accelerated America's declining competitiveness. The author also explains the misconceptions of the state of Social Security, the global oil shortage, continued presence in Iraq and growing tensions in the middle east, the real estate bubble, the pension problems and many more topics; all of this in addition to the growing record national debt and trade deficits. And he relates all of this together to the Baby Boomers.

He also makes an excellent case for Alan Greenspan, or the "Great Bubble Maestro" as the author labels him as a primary cause of much of America's stock market and real estate bubbles. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this work is that the author presents exhaustive data to back his points, something I have yet to be seen elsewhere. It is easy for someone to say that healthcare needs to be fixed or that America's living standards are in decline, but the author shows all of the date to support almost everything he mentions.

He also makes very reasonable but adverse predictions for the dollar, long-term interest rates, and explains why America has a major economic correction that is inevitable. He points out well that we never recovered from the recession thought to have ended in 2001-2002, and Americans have been using credit to fuel the economy. The author goes at lengths to prove this and he even illustrates how the most critical economic numbers such as GDP and inflation have been manipulated by the government.

Even if this book did nothing more than to point out these issues, it would be a great achievement. But the author goes further to predict a major depression and he pays out very rational low-risk recommendations for investments.

I could see this book being useful for everyone--working Americans, activists, politicians, economists, and citizens concerned about America's future, as well as investors at all levels. It is truly a critical read.

SYNOPSIS: The illusion of over two decades of economic greatness in America was created in large part by Greenspan's bubble economy. But the author paints a different picture of America and makes chilling predictions for its future. Only those who can see through the smoke signals created by Washington will be able to avert and/or profit from America's next depression. And this book definitely allows one to see through the smoke screen.

CONTENTS
The author begins by briefly summarizing America's history, noting key events. Only later are some of these events revisited (monetary policy, wealth disparity, oil, pre-depression conditions) when appropriate to emphasize their significance within modern day America. Next, he discusses the economic effects of free trade. Finally, he reviews America's declining edge in education and innovation, ending Part 1 of the book with an overview of America's future.

Part 2 discusses the major problems today--with chapters on U.S. debt, healthcare, Social Security, pension plans, and the real estate bubble. Part 3 opens with a tutorial of how the government manipulates economic data such as the GDP and inflation. He then extends earlier discussions on the credit bubble, the economic consequences of the baby boomers, fraud and control by corporate America, and the effects of peak oil. He concludes with 3 chapters devoted to short and long-term forecasts in the stock market and provides a very sound investment strategy to profit both before and during America's Next Great Depression.

OPINION & REVIEW
This is by far the most informative investment book I have read this year and the very best on this topic. The author is clearly an expert on investments and economics. The book is as well-organized as a college text book but reads much better, is easier to understand, and you will learn more. If you like to see actual data to back up statements you will love this book, as it has been extremely well researched. The author's command of the subject matter is impressive in both depth and coverage...exactly what I needed to be convinced of a coming depression.

I especially enjoyed the chapters on the real estate bubble, health care, retirement, and the one showing how the government manipulates economic numbers. The investment advice is very valuable and rational and is fully supported by the previous 16 chapters.

When you read this book, it will be nearly impossible to disagree with the author's conclusions and investment advice because of the enormous amount of supporting evidence. It will cause you to rethink dozens of issues and introduce many others you probably weren't aware of.

And if you are like me, the book will motivate (or scare) you to demand politicians address these issues instead of ignoring them. The main reason they don't deal with difficult issues is because (as the author points out) they don't want to risk losing a reelection. Corruption serves as a motivation for other politicians. As long as voters are not fully aware of the problems challenging America's empire, they will continue to avoid engineering effective solutions. If all voters read America's Financial Apocalypse, they would force politicians to confront these difficult issues. That would be the only way to avoid a depression.

To the author: Thank You for this essential, eye-opening book!

The author shows how America has changed economically. It also discusses critical changes to the nation's social and educational fabric. Although first written in 2006, it predicted both the extent and severity of the real estate shakeout including devastation to the banks.

But as the author points out, this is only the beginning. As the baby boomers retire and peak oil is reached, many other problems will surface. Specifically, Medicare and Medicaid threaten to bankrupt the nation. While Social Security can be fix with little pain if the apprpriate changes are made now, the real problem is not so much with solvency as it is with diminished buying power and the reliance on this program as the primary income during retirement.

The author emphasizes the top 2 problems with America - health care and free trade. He discusses why America continues to mortgage off its most critical assets to foreign interests in exchange for non-essential imports. The results of these trends have already registered, with most foreign currencies posting huge gains compared to the dollar. And without a uniform playing field, America can not expect to compete in a global free market system since all other developed nations provide health care and pensions by the government. As a result, jobs have been sent overseas. While some companies have shutdown permanantly, most have benefited from corporate migration to Asia. As a result, corporate profits reached a 60-year high over the past 4 years, accounting for the surge in the stock market in 2007. But as the author points out, the stock market has been in a bearish correction mode since 2001. He predicts that during this 2001-2012 time frame, the market will yield average annual returns of around 3%. Thereafter, things will get worse, as the effects of the baby boomers and peak oil will cause a global slowdown in the economy.

Soaring inflation and interest rates are expected, as well as soaring gold and oil prices. The analysis and predictions contained within this book are supported by an enormous volume of data, unlike anything I have ever seen. This is a very unique book and was well-thought out, unlike most out there. For readers who want to get through the material in a couple of days, I recommend the Condensed Edition, released in early 2007 and updated in certain spots. It is also considerably less expensive I highly recommend either editions. I own both editions, and I expect to refer to them for years to come.

David Swensen has written a commendable book. Perhaps most commendable is his focus on ethical money management with a focus on fiduciary responsibility to the investor--a Birkshirean theme worth reiterating over and over.

The principal value of this book derives from its discussion on the use of alternative investments--such as private equity, market neutral strategies, and venture capital. Indeed, in the first paragraph of the books cover it is noted that "Largely focusing on nonconventional strategies, including a heavy allocation to private equity, Swensen has achieved an annualized return of 17.4%." Ironically, however, within the book Swensen writes in detail how and why private equity investing provides inferior risk adjusted returns vs. investment in plain vanilla marketable securities (e.g. S and P 500 index). This information is especially interesting given the recent investment by the Chinese government (purported disciples of David Swensen) in the Blackstone group IPO!!!!

Swenson's discussion about inferior risk adjusted returns provided by venture capital funds, his discussion about market neutral strategy returns, and his discussion about the importance of long term treasuries vs. other bond alternatives are equally interesting.

Overall, this book is good and differentiated, but somewhat inferior to other classics (e.g. One up on wall street by Peter Lynch, A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel, etc.). I would suggest waiting for the new edition of Pioneering Portfolio Management to come out instead of buying this older edition (2000)

This is an excellent book about the workings of an institutional portfolio and the various influences pulling at investment decisions.

Lots of good anecdotal stories of mis-steps by *other* institutions. I would love to hear about some mistakes that DS has made during his tenure.

He deals implicitly w/ agency issues that exist in most money management situations. For a more detailed explication of agency conflicts, read, "Unconventional Success".

He attributes a lot of manager success to luck. However, how much of DS's and Yale's success is due to luck? He does not subject his own performance (that of managing the managers) to any sort of benchmark.

Finally, he gives very short shrift to the back-office and operational issues (1 page at the end of the book). This is the achilles heel of 80% of management firms. They cannot scale, control, and maintain quality as they grow. This is the same, "Its all in the front office" mentality that presages so many other stumbles into mediocrity (not blow ups - just a benign drift downwards in rankings). I hope this same fate does not befall DS and Yale.

I have recommended this book to numerous colleagues at work. We use it as a great summary of our investment philosophy and as a touchstone for investment values and sanity checks. We have purchased mutiple copies which we give to stakeholders to spread the word and bring them up to speed with these investment truths.

I've been a professional f.m. for 25 years and I wish I'd read this book closer to year 1 than year 25.

BTW we got far less incremental value out of Swensen's second book

The marketing/techno-speak of the investment management industry sometimes gets to be overwhelming, this book can be an antidote. Swensen focuses on policy objectives, manager incentives, relative market (in)efficiencies and fundamental asset class characteristics to write a valuable resource for anyone considering the plethora of modern-day investment vehicles. Practically every concept is explained in language that is intelligible to someone with a basic understanding of the current investment markets. Absolutely worth the purchase.

Swensen is certainly one of the brightest minds in institutional money management. In a world where there are ten million books on how to pick stocks, trade options, or some other get rich quick scheme, finally a great investor shows the methodology of how significant wealth should be managed. This book is a must read for anyone who manages or invests significant money, even if it isn't institutional assets.

the book is good, however after reading it, you need the desire to buy the whole course of Mr. Hurst, because you remain with the sense that something is hidden in the book, and that maybe in the full course is not hidden at all.

I can't believe some of the negative reviews I have read here at AMAZON in general. Either the writers are total idiots or they're trying to manipulate the system . Why else would someone write a bad review on a good book ? Surely they must know that it is impossible for ONE book to contain it all about the stock markets.If it did , it would be the dimensions of a 8 x 4 pool table and over twenty telephone books thick !

I first bought this book when the original issue was published by Prentice Hall in the early 1980s. I'm glad to see it has stood the test of time and is still available. This book, among others, was influential on my thinking and research that led to a Ph.D. in economics. The book is highly technical and would be of most use to programmer-types. Even if you are not a programmer, it details concepts that have withstood up and down markets over many many years. Highly recommended.

i'm glad that most who reviewed it here got it! it is a little mathematically beefy. even if you can't grasp the heavy math of the last chapters, the layman can benefit from the graphical buy/sell/hold signals and easy offset moving average methodology. while this book doesn't provide the holy grail, it gives you "willie wonka's golden ticket" into the wall street candy factory...

Reading this book gave me a real understanding of the stock market movement. Now, I look at indicators, patterns, etc. with a different pair of eyes. The book explains convicingly that stock market moves in cycles. I am now using it successfully in my trading. With it, I have the ability to estimate market tops and bottoms frequently. My analysis for Nasdaq is posted in http://www.geocities.com/zentex3/ if you want to see evidence of me putting this into practice. Overall, the book is enjoyable read. The mathematics can be difficult but I do not use Fourier Analysis or any advanced maths to put his method into practice. In fact, I actually used very basic maths and put it in my excel spreadsheet and the envelopes are plotted automatically. I just turned the logic he uses for visual analysis into basic rules.

This book is really a collection of essays offering advice to novice writers. Topics include discipline, the craft of writing, revising, marketing, and more. In most of these essays, the author uses entertaining stories from his own writing life to illustrate his point. While some of the details seem quaintly out of date (for example, the references to rolling a sheet of paper into your typewriter), the book offers tons of advice that is fun to read and relevant to writers of any age.

Lawrence Block is an absolute master of the mystery genre, so much so that he was voted Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America back in 1993. The man has an incredible output of novels and short stories, and along with Elmore Leonard dominated the mystery scene of the `80's and `90's. Until this past year, I'd never read much of Block's work, preferring newer authors and titles. So after reading a title from Block's Matthew Scudder series, I looked forward to reading TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, hoping to discover a little of what makes Block tick as a writer and if any of that could help me in my writing endeavors.

The result? Block definitely hits it out of the park with this book. Lots of great tips on visualization, characterization, creative plagiarism, procrastination, how to submit your work to publishers, framing, distancing--the list goes on at great length, not to mention at a great service to all would-be writers. Block touches on so many aspects of the writer's life--including, infamously, his comments on how many writers don't actually enjoy the process of writing, but are pulled along at the thought of the finished product--that it's hard to think of what Block DIDN'T cover in this book. Sure, some of his advice seems to be cliché by now, and no doubt it can be found in numerous other writing books. But when you consider that Block wrote this book in 1981, you realize that he was ahead of the game just that much.

Very funny, very insightful, and coming from a wizard of the genre, TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT didn't disappoint a bit. And while Block is a mystery writer, TELLING LIES isn't exclusively for those looking to write mysteries; it's good enough for every genre. Pick up this and DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY and see your writing improve.

This is probably a very good text (the title is really funny and inviting), but a very bad book. I couldn't read it. It's printed on the chapest stock out there, overinked from beggining to end. Really awful.

I wish I had not bought it and had donated the money to an institution for the visually impaired that publishers like these are creating.

I bought this book at least 10 years ago (maybe 12), and have found it wonderfully useful for advice and information whenever I'm foolish enough to try & live out my dream of writing a novel. It's a very entertaining read in and of itself, and is useful for anyone trying to write ANYTHING, not just fiction; I certainly found the advice helpful when engaged in academic writing (I've published several articles and a book)! Block's humour and common sense help make _Telling Lies for Fun & Profit_ a real friend in times of difficulty, especially when the (troubling kind of) writer's block hits!

Don't waste your money on this reprint edition. It is printed on poor paper, the type has been reduced in size, the typesetting thus compacts and makes it difficult to read, and the ink has blurred.

I had borrowed an earlier paper edition and thought that was what this is. Not so. Buy an earlier paperback edition if Block is your mentor. I wouldn't buy it again. Perhaps that's why there are so many "used" copies available everywhere. Books are written to be read; this particular printing was printed to be sold. They should have left well enough alone.

By the way, I'm not a beginner. I've been writing and published in numerous venues for 42 years.

This is the finest trading-related book ever published; if you are just starting to learn about trading and investing, please pick up a copy of Trading Chaos before you spend another dime on newsletters, software or 'hot tips.'

It's not about trading a system, it's about trading your mind .......

Bill and Justine are made me aware of what is driving the markets. Before I met them I was caught in a circle of winning and losing money in trading. The first edition opened my eyes, new trading dimensions got me out of the dream. The home study course showed me that It is possible to trade consistently, The personal workshop with Bill taught me more than enough of the inside of the markets to grasp the why and how. Eventually workshops by Justine in the middle of Chicago made me implement it all.

This new edition of Trading Chaos is refreshing. It's not about "the magic system", it's not about how to design the perfect system. No it's about real life and how the markets fit in. The perfection in the chaos, the perfect repetition of the small in to the bigger picture.

Don't buy this book if you want to know which market to trade and make money. Don't buy this book if you are looking for the magical tip.
Do buy the book if you want to learn what the market is driving and how you can profit.

Do buy this book if you are clueless (like I was) about your trading mistakes.
If you are serious go for the book, think of the implications and contact Bill and Justine to do a follow up. I did it 10 years ago and never had a moment of regret.

For large traders and institutional traders who need to move large volume and order flow, this book offers multiple entry and exit strategies and tactics. Out of necessity, these traders have to scale in and out of their positions to dampen the immediate effect of their trading on the markets. Even for private retail traders, this book conveys choice of logical set-ups to incorporate into their trading operations. Overall, I feel that this book deserves your attention.

This book has methods to get buy signals before the lows and sell signals before the highs. This will help one sell into strength and buy into weakness. It has helped me get my positions off. I have recommended this book to all of my trading friends. It will take careful study to fully understand it. This book is original, all mechanical and all objective. The three wise men make up very powerful trading tools.

I've been looking for a book like this for a while. I first came across Bill Williams through the Metastock indicators and the Expert System. After loading an expert called "PS Fractal Trading System 2" I was amazed at the signals.
Having read through the book - I have the following quibble. There is a huge difference in the parameters of the alligator in what comes with Metastock (v9 and v10) and what the book gives. The book says the green line is 13 bar smoothed average offset 8 bars into future. Likewise the red is 8 bar offset 5, and the green is 5 bar offset 3. However this does not correspond to the Metastock indicator he provides. For the curious, the Metastock ones referred to in page 206 of book have the following values: Green: 9 period EMA of Median offset 3. Red: 15 period offset 5, and Blue 25 period offset 8

Townsend was president of Avis and wrote some great books based on his experience. His best was the out of print and very rare 'The A to Z guide for the Get Ahead Manager'. His books are second only to the 'One inute Manager' series and should be required reading for every business student, and even every current business leader.

This is a reprint of a classic best-selling book on business that has been widely copied but never duplicated. Yes, other successful collections of short, clever aphorisms have appeared and faded, but Robert Townsend had the ability to pierce the heart of the matter with stiletto sharpness. Just gloss over the small out-of-date references (like salary levels) and enjoy his ABCs of management. While some of Townsend's recommendations still seem radical, he lived by these principles, and was a very successful, popular executive with Avis and American Express. getAbstract cautions that this is a book of epigrams, not a narrative, so it might be a little choppy. Still, Townsend manages to balance a savvy, fun attitude with serious, strategic advice.

Even though ti is somewhat outdated now, this book provides excellent advice for leaders and managers

Initial reviews and raves about this work of "iconoclasm" and "rebellion" turned me off initially to a book that is hardly those things at all.

Anything but; modern business is in contrast to what should be. They are the rebels, not Townsend. Townsend represents the Good Guys here.

This book is absolutely incredible. Reminiscent of Confessions of an Advertising Man in tone, but newer and more geared toward business and upper management than advertising, it is PACKED with similar fun, wit, and timeless principles that ring uncannily true.

Probably more current than most books written in 2007, let alone thirty years before, Townsend was both ahead of his time and unquestionably perceptive of the eternal realities that govern people and business. While it shows itself to be dated (steno pools?) it is never obsolete or ignorant. Attitudes toward things like race are visibly dated but inarguably progressive.

This is a reprint edition of the classic business text by Robert Townsend. While it is largely like the original 1970 edition, it also includes material from the 1971 paperback version. Townsend made his biggest mark as CEO of Avis Rent-a-Car and the famous "We Try Harder" slogan. He became an early business media star and his sharp observations and criticisms of fat-cat management resonated with the times.

This is not a sustained treatise on management. It's wide-ranging alphabetically-listed paragraphs and short articles on management topics delighted its readers because they could flip around and find just the sharp pointed thoughts they were looking for. In this edition the extra paragraphs that were included in Further "Up the Organization" are also provided as are Townsend's acknowledgements and an appendix that has an address he delivered to the Conference Board that was printed as an article in the late 1970s. It is called "Townsend's Third Degree in Leadership" and summarizes his views on what it takes to be a leader. The second appendix is a biographical article called "No Reserved Parking".

Obviously, I can't cover all the points he makes in the book, but the kind of radical thinking you will find (and it remains radical) are the notions that leaders have to care for the followers first. He also states that people making more than $40k (or thereabouts in today's dollars) should set their own office hours and vacations. CEO compensation should be a much smaller multiple of average company salary than it is and most of the perks of executive management should be eliminated.

Townsend was a foe of corporate bureaucracy and says that the purchasing, personnel, and marketing departments should all be eliminated and says why. Your receptionist is a more important position than you realize and should be compensated and cared for much better than she (or he) usually is. Townsend is a foe of meetings and only those that result in direct action should be held. He hates executive assistants, nepotism, company planes, and thinks that stockholders worry too much about taking good care of the Board and top management. His cure for this is broad employee ownership of company stock. He also says that CEOs should leave after five or six years or be shown the door.

There is much more in this interesting book. Oh, and he clearly comes down in the camp of personal initiative, free enterprise, and is even less fan of government regulation and handouts than he is of fat cat executives. However, Townsend emphasizes excellence, profit, and fun. Lacking those things he asks why you would want to be in business.

This book deserves its classic status and this is a fine reprint edition. You should have this on your shelf of business classics and refer to it with some regularity just to clear up the bad mental habits that we all let into our heads.

Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

This book is REALLY easy to read! I'm new to the market, but have learned quite a bit before reading this book. In retrospect, I wish I had read this book when I was first starting out in investing. It offers a great foundation for a new investor to build upon. It covers the basics as and it also delves into other topics for a more experienced trader. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in begining to invest as well as an experienced investor to gain some other ideas on how to trade. I don't think I would recommend this book to a seasoned investor, though. The book is perfect for somebody looking for a high level take on investing, but if you want to disect investing concepts (a low level approach) I'd suggest looking for a book geared toward technical analysis only. In other words, this book discusses technical analysis, but pleanty other books discuss technical analysis in much greater detail. Over all, this is a great book!

The major take away for me was discussion of various risk management strategies such as "Active Trading Rule #1", to maintain no more than 5 positions. As a swing trader, I frequently found myself positioned broadly across the market trading penny's, tech and blue chips and ended up using my margin account much too frequently. By trading no more than 5 stocks I leverage my cash much more effectively ultimately strengthening my position for a strong break out or market correction. Combining this strategy with capital preservation is very helpful.

I found the content of the book to be at an intermediate level. An understanding of trading terms such as PE, beta, stop loss and liquidity would be helpful. This is not a technical analysis or a book of theory but insight and tools to practical trading strategies. If you're looking to better understand MACD, Bollinger Bands or RSI this is not the book for you. However, if you need some insight to risk management strategies to survive a market correction, this is a wonderful book and I find myself recommending it to friends, family and even coworkers.

The other hidden value is the cdrom which has an ebook in .pdf and an audio book. I travel a lot and the option to either read the content on my laptop or listen to it on my iPod is very cutting edge.

I have been trading for a couple years and I finally found a book with a strategy I can use.

the foundation of "The Active Trader" is to optimize your portfolio using the "5 Rules of Trading" which made a lot of sense to me. the author explains in detail each of the steps and provides insight to managing cash, commissions and equity ratings...stuff you won't hear on CNBC's Morning Call. i liked the final chapter "the art of selling", how buying stock is easy, the hard part is selling because of emotions like greed!

the book (and CDROM) is definitely worth the money and i highly recommend it!

The crux of the book is the bonus CD-Rom, which contains a spreadsheet template for managing your portfolio. The template is mildly useful (thus the 1 star), but could be created in an hour, as it is just not that complex a spreadsheet.

The book I read in about an hour. It is so simplistic as to defy description, and yet the author claims the approach to be useful for beginning, intermediate, and advanced stock traders.

A brief example: Chapter 9 is devoted to a topic called Volume Cost Averaging. It is all of 4 pages long. Basically, it advocates buying more shares (in round lots) instead of selling when the stop loss trigger is hit. No advice on when to do this and when to go ahead with the planned stop loss, only a vague reference to increased volatility and risk tolerance. The decision to sell is a critical element of any trading strategy, and this approach just throws more confusion, rather than discipline, into the mix.

Suggest books by Guppy as alternatives to The Active Trader.

the book is a quick read with a straight forward style. my problem is that I didn't know what to do in a market correction taking losses or how long to keep my profits. this book is refreshing bc it actually discusses a specific strategy which other books shy away from. the premise of the book is that it is impossible to time the market perfectly, thus a strategy is required. the author does a good job discussing key areas including the use of stop loss boundaries (10-20%). I wish the author touched on short term and long term tax advantages but I guess that's an entire subject in itself.

Excellent source for getting started.. The web-links resource lists start an avalanche of available resources. Very practical suggestions on how to organize and establish a grant writing process.

In the process of learning how to do something new - grant writing. It always help me to have something to refer back to after leaving a class. This book is helping me tremendously.

The best book to use if you have NEVER written a grant. Takes you through step by step and does not feel like a DUMMY but a possible grant WINNER!

This is a good intro, without much information on actual grants for specific purposes. If you are an educator, non-profit, or individual interested in grants related to technology, for innovation, curriculum, development, emerging technologies, I recommend Technology Grant News: Everything Technology: Awards-Contests-Grants-Scholarships. Technology Grant News: Everything Technology [2007]:Awards ¿ Contests ¿ Grants -Scholarships ¿ Fellowships

This is a good starter book, but it does not provide quality resources for you to practice the skills gained. You should build your skills with quality templates, references, wording techniques. I would caution readers to move on to a good intermediate work like Government Funding and You. This book will provide you with the skills to put together a quality grant with the potential LAND that grant. This book is an excellent start, but Government Funding and You is a crucial next step.

If you believe your book is your baby, if it really comes from within you, then you'll resonate with Bettie Tucker's approach and how she, as an expert, can relate to your goals deeply in "How To Self-Publish Your Book With Little Or No Money."

And that's only the beginning.

"How To Self-Publish Your Book With little Or No Money" begins with an understanding of the prospective book author's own sentiments and beliefs. The belief a writer has in his or her own message. This book is not for the casual writer or established professional with years of contacts; this book is for the individual new author who has no contacts, but who has something to say.

Toward this overall objective of making a book come to life, Bettie does an interesting thing: she compels some self-examination of the new writer and their material. I'm big on that. Every writer should really understand why we want to write, what we'll write and how to begin the process. Some think this is the easy part - self-expression - but it is vital to get down and get down early.

Because self-publishing is not a mechanical journey - it's much more than business, more than expression, more than mere perseverence; it's understood to be more of a personal growth experience with some real personal difficulties and change to challenge the new author as a neccesary part of their personal publishing success.

This is the secret of Bettie's content: it isn't easy. It's written to be direct, succinct and useful, but much is expected of the serious-minded self-publishing author. How the industry works is critical to understand in order to avoid that protracted, discouraging learning curve of when no one outside seems to cooperate. It's not how to get past the secretary kind of information - it's more of understanding; how to optimize the quality of your book; how to avoid pitfalls and frustrating delays; and how to bring your book to life at a profit.

Was it hard for me? No, it wasn't, but it did demand of me a new way of thinking. And that's the challenge if you want to take your writing to publication. We all write; how many take it to the next level and publish a book?

For your new book to succeed is at the heart of Self-Publish Your Book With Little Or No Money, hence the importance of the self-examination, the brief grammar review and the real-life case history inside. The book has a great index, too, current leads and filled with juicy contacts.

I respect this book, because it doesn't serve up how to make it easy, necessarily; it hands over the secrets to make it work.

I probably sound like a former student, but the new author-publisher probably will, too. That's the relationship between Bettie Tucker and her readers. Isn't that what you might expect once your book is published? I'm searching for a word here... How about gratitude?

For being well written, of course, an A. For being personable and effective, an A+.

Ever have a teacher you really liked? The ones who got results? For helping me get results, five stars.

John Longenecker, Author

This is a wonderful teaching book. Details and gives explicit examples of what a writer needs to know to self-publish. Can't go wrong if you follow instructions. Pass the test and begin your publishing adventure.

This book had some useful advice, but I found its presentation to be very juvenile. I would hope that this book's audience, made up of those people who are seriously contemplating careers as writers, would be intelligent/insightful/deep-thinking/analytical enough to put 2 and 2 together. If readers cannot understand a maturely-written book, then they probably shouldn't get their hopes set on making a career out of writing. This book makes it seem like anyone, no matter how dense or shortsighted their writing, can make it in this business, a simply erroneous assumption!

A great resource that will guide you step-by-step through the process of self-publishing. Comprehensive and thorough, covering all aspects of marketing, promoting and selling your self-published work. I lacked confidence in the profitability of self-publishing until I read this book. Then, I took a chance of contacting a printing agency recommended in her book and have been thoroughly satisfied. A must-read if you want to know how to protect your work while exposing it to many marketable opportunities. I would highly recommend you read this book before endeavoring into the fast-growing world of self-publishing.

My home is full of self-publishing books but this is by far the best one. It has everything a writer needs to self publish. This is definitely an all-star book. Why? Because it guides the reader through the process one step at a time, leaving nothing to chance. The large print makes it easy on the eyes, something many people will appreciate. It has a sample layout and, believe it or not, a short grammar course included. Who couldn't use this? Want to know if you learned the subject matter? Take the test at the end of each chapter and the final at the end of the book. This book is realistic and the authors know what they are talking about. You can't go wrong on this one. Begin your self-publishing venture today!