Communications Books

One of the best networking books on the market!
This book confirms the fact that when it comes for networking, relationships, social behaviour etc, women are better than men, as studies indicate, and this great book written by the "Queen of Networking" fully prove this.

Not only is this book worth a million dollars to businesses, we use it to coach and interview candidates who come to us seeking jobs in the arts and culture industry. People need to be proactive about their careers, and Neirenberg's networking strategies will become second nature and add to career success. We featured it in our Art Career Newsletter to raving reviews. Geri Thomas, President, artstaffing.com

Author Andrea Nierenberg is president of Nierenberg Group Inc. which trains in customer service, sales, and networking: as such she's been heralded as a whiz at setting up businesses using networking strategies, and now you don't have to visit her to benefit: MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING does it for you, providing her first book packed with networking tips and insider savvy. A set of rules common to any type of business on how to develop effective networking strategies accompanies chapters of steps for establishing these connections. From the etiquette of giving and taking information to creating strategic business alliances, MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING: THE SURE WAY TO FIND, GROW AND KEEP YOUR BUSINESS is essential for any who would profit.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

We are not taught how to network in college, or perhaps anywhere else in our natural path of life. Well, this book teaches you all you wanted to know and much more. Even as a student and an introvert by nature, I have made contacts and developed meaningful friendships and professional relationships by using the tools from this book. Get this book, you will thank yourself!

What is the best way to grow your business, further your name recognition and meet new people all at the same time? Learn to effectively and efficiently network. Many people see networking as a burden but Nierenberg flips the script giving you motivation to get your networking on. MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING is packed full of useful advice, time saving tips, along with all the how to's and what for's. Even though this book is stocked in the business section, it should be read by people looking for employment, business owners, and everyday people wanting more out of life.

MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING is a follow-up to Nierenberg's "Nonstop Networking" but can easily be used as a stand alone and provides new information. The easy to read format, clever stories, and use-it-now ideas will increase your networking skills making you more marketable. Reading this book has provided keys to increasing my networking circle and I'm sure it will do the same for you.

Reviewed by:
Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners

Practical and effective. A balanced book with an understandable writing and depth of analysis.

At the peak of the dot-com bubble, buying Internet stocks was momentum investing at its most pure - get in when a new stock or sector is on its upswing, and get out while the gettin's good. But Peter S. Cohan has created new criteria for Internet investors to apply in the traditional method of fundamental analysis. Instead of looking to old-line gurus like Graham or Buffet for advice, Cohan draws on the business strategies of John D. Rockefeller to come up with fresh e-commerce attributes like economic leverage, closed-loop solutions and adaptive management for investors to measure. We [...] recommend this book to executives, employees and students with equal vigor, although consider yourself forewarned that Cohan's extended barking-dog analogy will grate on your nerves. Nevertheless, anyone who invests in Internet companies or even traffics in Internet commerce for business or pleasure will gain insights from this book, regardless of whether Cohan's investment criteria prove to have staying power.

This is the most lucid, sensible analysis I've read thus far of the likely implications of engaging in e-commerce from different strategic perspectives and business models. Cohan provides a valuable framework and applies it to scores of real cases. I find myself returning to his book time and again to apply his methodology. His only off-base advice: don't invest in companies led by folks over 35. I'll forgive him that one. The rest of the book is a real gem. It should age well.

I enjoyed the book tremendously, and think Peter's done a fabulous job dissecting the Internet investment frenzy, providing the logic to the momentum everyone else seems to have missed.

This book is good for Newbie to the internet but certainly don't worth a look for someone looking for insight.

The framework is nothing new but more or less a simplified business plan.

In Chapter 13, Advice for Internet Management and Investors sounds like a common sense and existing strategy using by most of the dotcom. Common Sense: Strategy 1 of those advices is moving the company into a more profitability region in short. (It dividies the market into 3 levels of profitability. so called Lossware, Brandware and Powerware. Well, no matter if it is New or Old economy, there is always different degrees of profitability.)

Existing strategies: Selling out of a porfolio builder, deep pockets and restructuring. We are seeing consolidation in the market a long long time ago and a lot of big or small players already know it is the way.

This book is more like a news reporting and a lot of newly invented words cannot make this book a standard of new economy rules but disappoint me only.

This is the definite cluetrain (doc searls et al)for broadcasTV news. Much the same way cluetrain sparked a marketing revolution, this does the same for broadcast journalism.
I first meet the author when she was interning for Florida Today in Cocca Beach.
Every point she makes in this book is vaild. The take on "fox fair and balanced" tells me she won't be on the O'Reilly factor anytime soon.
I found only one sort of error. FYI> Matt Lauer does have a broadcast journalism background on the local level. He came out of the same environment that former NBC correspondent and current talk show host (WBUR Boston) Robin Young did, PM Magazine at WJAR TV 10 in Providence Rhode Island. That's the only small flaw I could find in the book.
The suits at CNN don't want you to read the book. They are not happy campers and with good reason. The hollywood suits trashed the network big time, and with than came the opening for Fox news to fill. Rick Kaplan is currently doing the same thing for MSNBC that he did for CNN take it down the pike.
It's a fast read but once you start you wont' want to stop.

Finally---an insider with enough intestinal fortitude to call a sham a sham!!! One can just imagine the 6 o'clock news being primmed, powdered and perfumed with just enough tear (or smile) to make it palatibly entertaining. Ms. Anderson, with her years of experience and credibility, still believes that the American citizenry is due the news, the whole news, and nothing but the news. Reserve the spin and "holy cows" for the baseball commentators! If the media execs remain stoically entrenched in the annals of the entertainment world, then let them be reminded of the old radio classic, Dragnet, where the byline was...."the facts, Ma'am, just the facts".

Bonnie Anderson's book has brought to the light of day what I have felt has been a problem with the media for some time. Many of the newscasts are more concerned with form, not substance; how they look and not what they say. Her book is a very good read and pulls no punches in pointing out the way many in the media are more concerned with entertainment than hard news coverage. Her description of this type of coverage as "Infotainment" is right on point.

News Flash brings to the reader another big problem influencing news coverage which is how mega mergers are affecting the coverage that is being presented to the viewing public. Unfortunately the impact is not good and these large conglomerates are proving the old adage "bigger is not always better" to be very true.

From her experience at CNN as a reporter, managing director of a news division and Vice President of Recruitment and Training, Anderson offers the reader a unique perspective as to what goes on inside a large news organization. She provides an in depth look at what takes place behind closed doors when it comes to hiring, firing and staffing in today's media corporations and much of what she reveals should be quite disturbing to the viewing public. This book provides some very interesting statistics about the media and its management which I am sure most of us were never aware of.

While Anderson points out numerous things that are wrong with today's TV media and its management, she also brings out the good that the true journalist can and should do. At the end of the book she offers her thoughts on what the media can do to provide the viewing public with quality news coverage. She should be commended for taking a stand and bringing to our attention the problems and proposing solutions to get TV journalism back to the quality we need and deserve.

In light of Anderson's criticism of the TV networks and cable news channels, it will be interesting to see if any of the media will afford her the same opportunity to present her views as they did when Bernard Goldberg published his book on bias in the media. If they do not, shame on the media, again.

News Flash appears as a rising meteor against a field of weakening stars. Ms. Anderson's book takes the reader through the shenanigans of the TV news broadcasters in their unadulterated striving for place and profits while leaving behind journalistic investigation and integrity. Her words turn out to be an exciting journey of personal experience and incisive exposure.
As a long time news journalist Ms. Anderson sets a fair bar for news organization to reach. Her experiences and reporting often show just how good news organization can function. The same intimacy exposes the petty, inexcusable machinations of networks in journalistic decline.
Ms. Anderson's news flashes exposes the perfidy of CNN's executive wing in its Tailwind scandal, the staging of news as presented by NBC's Dateline story on General Motors in 1992 and the apparent homophobia of Roger Mudd given his attitude toward AIDS victims. But indeed, Ms Anderson is not a muckraker. On the contrary, hers is to excite the industry to better, to reset the standard of TV journalism. She gives as examples her own series on drought and famine in Africa bringing a change in American policy on humanitarian aid, or of CNN's initiative in covering the return of twenty-four U.S. Navy spy plane crewmen held in China. While these could be considered scoops, her admiration for her industry is best held by her words on the, "spectacular breaking news coverage of the 9/11 attacks."
Ms. Anderson words border on the requirement for broadcast journalism to return to its traditional values and to assure the public a clear and unbiased presentation of the news. Ms. Anderson carries the fight to those in the industry already sullying news broadcasts as entertainment and who have diluted their own professionalism for money, position, or simply hubris.

From her insiders view of the whole industry, Bonnie
Anderson delivers a searing indictment of our corrupt,
sensationalistic television news. She lays out fact
by fact, and name by name, just how, why, and most
importantly who is to blame for this once esteemed
institution's downward slide into the very muck it
used to deplore. For years, Noam Chomsky's theories
about the corruption of the news media have grown less
alarmist and eerily more prescient as the
infotainment age reaches its belligerent maturity.
But while Chomsky was lecturing about it, Ms. Anderson
was out in the field living it. She recounts, with a
journalist's eye for detail, all that went astray
within our large media conglomerates. The cast of
characters are all to familiar, Browkaw, Jennings,
Schwarzenegger, Striesand, O.J., Clinton, Leo,
Lewinsky, and Lettermen, as Ms. Anderson makes a
compelling case for the media's distortion from a
revered source of accurate information to an
increasingly grotesque and obvious fountain of
entertainment. "If it bleeds it leads" is the mantra
of newsrooms of our day, and may truth and rational
perspective be damned. Everything of value is
jettisoned in light of shocking and sensational video
footage about any subject, no matter how irrelevant
and trivial. No one will hear about the latest civil war in
Africa when every second of news time is dedicated to
footage of a shark attack in Florida, human interest
stories, a surfing cat, or another excessive
Hollywood wedding.

This is an informative and creative handbook aimed at the occasional to frequent presenter who may be nervous, unpolished, or just looking to improve. Kevin and Cyndi write colorfully, keeping your attention by using stories and short chapters devoted only to a narrow topic, intentionally making it easy to flip to what you need to know right now. The simple fact that they make the best of what could be dry material is enough to convince me that their suggestions have merit.

If your job includes speaking to audiences for the purpose of departing meaningful information, then you must add this book to your list. Every once in a while it is a great idea to polish your skills with the latest and greatest information. "Present like a Pro" is a well structured book that departs from clichés and goes into detail around the art of public speaking - from conquering the butterflies, to really impacting messages that stick!

I had the pleasure to meet Kevin a corporate training day a few week sbefore purchasing the book. I found him to be one of the most relevant, grounded and effective speakers I had ever attended. Once I found he had co-authored this book, I bought it within days.

This book is one of the finer books on public speaking I've ever reviewed. The beauty of it is in it's ability to be used in many ways. For instance, if you just want to hit key chapters relevent to your particular engagement it even offers which ones to read. It also offers a end-to-end approach which I think flows well for those who need a complete point of view in their speaking.

I would take issue with a previous review noting the lack of A\V embesshiments to speaking such as powerpoint... This is a book on building successfull tactics to speaking. It offers key strategies to prepare, connect and flow with your audience.

I have always dreaded speaking myself, not out of phobia, but out of a lack of confidance to think on my feet. This book really identifies why a good presenter has made themselves good and how we can use those same techniques.

I have attended a few "be a better speaker" workshops which focus on a few of the ideas presented here. The difference in this book is in it's completeness and relevence. I will bring it with me to every speach I make from now on.

Maxey and O'Conner's experience with public speaking provides the reader with useful tips and concrete examples without being "gimmicky". Their book is easy to read and allows you to pick and choose what applies to your particular 'speaking' circumstance. The authors give you lots to think about as you prepare your own speeches, presentations, or lectures. As a university professor, I really got a lot out of the book.

What a great book!!!!!! This book covers every tip anyone needs to know to be successful in speaking infront of a group. The way the book is designed, you can take whatever chapters you need and use it as a resource or reference everytime you speak. Great to read when you don't have much time but need a lot of infomation. It doesn't get any better than this!!!

To be sure, this book is a compelling and engaging story and you feel tremendous admiration for Savarese and his wife, in their attempts to connect with their adopted son, DJ, who is profoundly autistic. However, there is so much more in the book than just that story, and I thought much of it was distracting. The poetry quotations, the interjections about Savarese's terrible relationship with his pompous and autocratic father, the recaps of the back-and-forth exchanges with DJ's biological father and his new wife (who Savarese despises), etc. etc. I enjoyed reading this book but all in all, I felt there was just too MUCH here. It read more like a stream-of-consciousness emotional outpouring by the author than a story with an organized and compact narrative. Savarese is a brilliant man and a talented author, no doubt, but a deft editing hand was needed here, and that didn't happen. Quite a bit of the extraneous information was marginally relevant to the story, but the narrative would have been stronger without all the other "stuff" thrown in. There are amazing, poignant moments in this book - the subplot about baby Charlie just broke my heart, as a mother - but I think DJ's story would have been better served by tighter storytelling and less interjection of Saverese's own editorial opinion and personal history. Still very much worth reading, and ultimately an amazing story. I did appreciate Savarese's discussions of the frustrations and exasperations of living with DJ, alongside the discussions of the triumphs. Savarese and his wife are truly amazing individuals who could teach us all a few lessons about love and acceptance.

This is a very interesting read. I am a mother of 5 children 2 of whome have autism and I have read many books on the subject. This story was like none that I have ever read before. I would have to say that the author and his wife have done the most amazing job of parenting this little boy and they must be truly wonderful people. Emily, DJ's mother must be so knowledgeable and so kind and patient. She is such an inspiration. DJ's father also impressed me, with his determination to give DJ the life he is entitled to. It is a wonderful story which touches on so many interesting and rarely spoken about topics in regard to disabilites. I was delighted to reach the end of the book and see just how much DJ had improved, and to know that the outcome of a little boy's life has been changed so dramatically for the better thanks to the kindness of two very special people.

I did how ever find some of this book very hard to read, the shocking abuse that DJ suffered in foster care, before his wonderful parents adopted him - I found this very disturbing and distressing. I also felt that the author goes off on a few tangents about his theories and quotes several other authors in great detail which I found a bit boring and hard to read.

Overall it was an amazing book.

Savarese's book on autism is a paradigm-altering read. In this memoir he recalls all that went through the transition of his young adopted boy as a noncumunicative "thing" (as seen by society), to a poetic activist. This book is more than a history of one family, it is also a commentary on our foster care system, how we treat those with disabilities and our education system. It also discusses the difficulty in changing scientific paradigms.

Although Savarese's prose and simile often get in the way - making the reading more difficult as you try to decipher some of the esoteric analogies - they are often very humorous, in a story filled with the tragedy of a boy tossed into society's dumpster. It is a story of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. It is the story of a child abandoned and mistreated that is then rescued by his loving, adoptive parents. What I found very interesting about Savarese's far left agenda, is that he recognizes the problems that we have had in addressing how to care for orphaned children and that neither the left nor the right have any really good solutions. The solutions are found in the path that the Savarese's took - personal involvement and dedication to the weakest in our society.

Unfortunately, after reading of the untold sacrifices made by the Savarese's, I would come to question whether any of us have the charity and strength to do what they have done.

This book was difficult to put down and hard to pick up to read. The pain suffered by DJ (their autistic boy) made it difficult to pick up while the odyssey of DJ from a "non-person" to a powerful and strong advocate-kid via facilitated communication is amazing. I often felt like I was reading about an alien that had visited the earth.

This is a brilliant, moving memoir that I would recommend to any reader. Despite the seriousness of its topics, this is a page-turner that you will not be able to put down (I read it non-stop in two days, as did my mother!). As someone with no experience or knowledge of autism, I found Savarese's book to be incredibly informative on many levels and lucidly written. But more than that, Reasonable People asks provocative questions about how we define family, community, and inclusion.

A must read!

This book will bring tears of acknowledgement and smiles of joy for those families who grapple with some of the these same issues. I truly believe the universe brings certain people together......Ralph, Emily, and DJ are three of those. It is time the world changes the perception of competence and what can be accomplished in believing that, right from the beginning. Ralph is a talented, thoughtful writer, and our family thanks him, and all the Savarese family for opening their lives up for this incredible story.

While this book covers all the significant technology in the area, it is a much better read for all those things you wondered about in Sci Fi Could they really do that? Also the policy issues are critical to our privacy rights and conversly national security.

Anyone who uses a mobile phone, relies upon oversees Internet connectivity, or worries about personal security should get acquainted with this book. Mr. Vacca has once again produced a very accessible yet easily readable tome on the dangers and promise of satellite encryption. Pick it up and you'll learn about or government policies regarding satellite communications management and security. By the time you put it down, you'll understand everything from pagers to the electronic battlefield. It's a must-read!

Great book - detailed and technical, but still a good read

As always, John Vacca provides an incredible level of detail in a readable manner. The Internet implications are particularly applicable to almost any reader. In our case, where the line-of-sight constraints of radio transmission in our wireless WANs are forcing us to look at satellite options, this book is an invaluable resource. And the tales told herein about encryption break-ins and techniques make fascinating reading in their own right.

Technical from orbit to chip, and immensely readable as well!

I think that the tittle of this book is a bit misleading. If one reads through all the enthusiastic reviews of the book one can actually get a clear picture of what it is about. It is a general overview of politics of encryption with some technical information included in between. I cannot understand the reason for more than one hundred pages of information about different types of military equipment. Yes, this book is interesting but it is not about cryptography and encryption. These subjects are only a small part of the book. I returned Satellite Encryption after very thorough consideration.

It has the most up to date material about science and he puts it in a funny way.

This book may be advertised as a polemic, but it actually provides straight common sense where it's most needed. In a political era where ideology often takes second place to facts, Stebbins lays the science bare on a host of controversial issues--from stem cells to genetic testing. You might not always agree with him, but he'll definitely get you thinking.

Doctor Mike Rocks! I urge you to read this book. The Dr. lays it out there, whether you know anything about science or not it doesn't matter - you will after reading this book. It's funny and really terrifying at the same time. A tell all, hard-and-slamming-clash between the myths, truths and politics behind the world of science. I couldn't put it down, bought three copies for friends. Brilliant piece of work!!

Being able to explain scientific concepts to nonscientist is an art. Michael Stebbins has accomplished the goal of explaining several areas of scientific research that sometimes gets drawn into politics (embryonic stem cell research). He takes every subject and explains it in language that the lay person can understand. He does a great job of showing how special interest groups can take some segment of the subject, distort it and promote opposition to the research and make it look legitimate to the unknowing public. We need more books like this and more scientist like Michael Stebbins!!!

Sex, Drugs and DNA is a fantastic literary find. Michael Stebbins shares a voice seldom heard in today's news and politics, that of an independent and experienced scientist. Most of what you hear on the news about science these days seems to consist of "expert" journalists with no more information on the subject they are discussing than a brief overview of a watered-down scientific abstract. This is a man who has devoted his life to science and is not afraid to give his opinions on what is wrong with today's society, and, more importantly, how these problems might be solved.

I was personally very impressed with his first chapter. It is something that I would highly recommend to most young and developing scientists. I feel it gives an honest and needed look at what they will be dealing with in the near future.

Michael Stebbins makes this foray into the world of a science an entertaining and informative journey. I highly recommend it.

This is probably one of the most life changing books I have ever read. I would highly recommend this book for any Christian and for any minister of the Word. It will change your life! Paul Tripp presents himself as vulnerable by revealing his own faults and failures and constant need of grace in Christ. He stands alongside of you as you see your own heart revealed and your ongoing need of change. I am a pastor and my ministry has changed drastically for the better because of this book. It is Christ centered and spiritual gold for the layman's book shelf. Anything from CCEF is gold. I thank God for these dear brothers. They have advanced the Biblical teaching of sanctification to great levels, literally getting to "the heart" of the matter.

This is a wonderful book. It explains clearly how our words are meant to honor God. A great resource book and a must read!

Paul Tripp gets right to the heart of the matter. With great skill he is able to reveal to the reader the ugly truth about the condition of their heart. Fortunately, he doesn't leave you there but shows how the power of the Gospel properly applied is the only real solution.

This is one the most helpful books I have ever read and I highly recommend it.

This book is scripturally based and is very helpful to everyone. The subtitle "Getting to the Heart of Your Comminication Struggles" should be "Getting the Heart of Your Struggles". So much of our sin comes from our words and attitudes and this book just drives that home consistently. I can't think of anyone who could not benefit from this book, believer or non-believer. I got on line actually to order four more books for friends of mine.

This is the best book I've ever read on how Christians should behave in terms of communicating with one other. Tripp points out the (not always so) obvious that Scripture clearly teaches that anger is a sin, and if we use anger in our communication, it means we are not trusting God who is sovereign over our lives and circumstances. He asks the pointed question: Are you willing to sin in order to get what you want, or, if you don't get what you want, do you then sin (out of anger, frustration, disappointment, etc.)? He also provides some excellence guidance on anger management. It is both biblical in its teaching and practical in its application.

I thought I was reading a book on how to write together
with a group but the author spends too much time with
too many mundane details. She talks about setting rules
for a group and kicking out members that don't come
on a regular basis. I was teaching a vulnerable group
and reading her book at the same time. I wasn't in a position
to just kick out sensitive and vulnerable people. I thought
it was incredibly ELITIST for the author to say that if
the group doesn't like a member, then the group should ask
that person to leave. (I mean, the author talks about the
high turnover rate for her writing groups but doesn't take
responsibility for her behavior.)

Another problem I had is that she spends way too much time talking
about what MIGHT happen (and what happened to her) over the course
of several pages. By the time I got closer to the end, Reeves
finally delves into how to set up the group, writing exercises,
craft, etc. I thought the first half of the book could have
been summed up in one long chapter. I also thought that the
checklists were helpful, though but she doesn't spend enough
time talking about what kinds of writing exercises to do.

The book was really helpful after page 75 but considering it
only has 175 pages, that really only leaves 100 pages of
actual useful material and 75 pages of the author's nightmare
experiences with other would-be writers. Overall, this book
was disappointing. For a better book on writing, I recommend
Victoria Nelson's On Writer's Block and for groups, Writing
Alone and with Others, a book while being a little too dense,
actually prepares you for teaching a writing group and not
just a certain kind.

With this book, Judy Reeves secures her place as the best "writer about writing" we have. In this finely crafted work, as well as in her "A Writer's Book of Days," Ms. Reeves has single-handedly rescued thousands of writers from the fears and insecurities that can cripple even the most talented scribes. If you are serious about writing, wait no longer--BUY THIS BOOK, and write, write, write!

This is a great resource, whether you are trying to piece together your own writing group, deciding how to choose a group to join, or hoping to reinvigorate your current group. Ms. Reeves offers plenty of practical advice, with true-to-life examples. This is a great follow-up to her collection of writing prompts, A Writer's Book of Days, which I have used almost daily for the past four years!

As a lifetime lone writer, I owe Judy Reeves for pulling me-and other fellow writers-out of our caves. This review is not to undermine other books on the subject, for they all have contributed much. What is different about her book, is that words come from the heart with such a direct and deep understanding, they have no other way but to settle in the reader's heart. It sometimes soundss like she knows-and it matters to her-that we benefit from it. As someone who has worked with many writer's groups, she knows their doubts and confusions. Not only does she address the problems of writing in a group, but reveals solutions to help us deal with what we so affectionately call the "block". Although her second book does talk of "writing alone", it succeeds to open a new door to the pleasures and benefits of "writing together". Not only is the book a master's guide for the lost writer, but she connects with the reader and shows how to stop the distraction before it stops the artist. To me, this is a constant guide to fall back on time and again. It is a pleasure to share it with friends and I'll continue to make a gift of it to other fellow writers.

I found this book very helpful with the nitty gritty stuff about organizing my writing and working with a critique group and classes. It was also quite inspiring and full of ideas about how to write, where to write, who to write with, how to critique, how to revise, etc.

It helped enormously when three other writers and I formed an online critique group. Any questions we had, the book answered. It also gave invaluable suggestions for improving our group and our writing.

The author, Judy Reeves, has lead all kinds of writing groups and classes and gives concrete examples of what works best. Her book is well-organized, and an enjoyable read to boot.

Easy to read and easy to apply. I have a whole new thought process for copy on our website and brochures. This is a can't miss book for rookies!

This book is for a non-writer who needs to write advertising or marketing for his company.

The material is comprehensive and includes many good tips. A couple things to note--

1. The focus is on style and construction of materials (e.g., how to put together a direct mail piece), not on grammar, style, and construction of words.

2. Most of the book covers B2C marketing, not B2B.

All the advice is tried-and-true. If you follow it, you can't go wrong.

I bought this book for a good friend of mine, a skilled creative writer, but with little experience in writing professional copy. Like most creative types, he was looking for a job to support his writing and other artistic habits. With the help of Kranz's book, he was able to land a well-paying job that makes use of his talents, suitably focused by the advice in Writing Copy for Dummies. If proof of the pudding is in the paycheck, I can vouch for the effectiveness of this author's approach and suggestions for aspiring professional writers.

Kranz opens with a brief and witty definition of copywriting: "[it] attempts to persuade you to do or believe something-usually in regard to the surrender of your cash," then he launches into an explanation of the different things copy can do-everything from direct mail to branding to sales support; an explanation of "the basics" that is exactly that; and a truly step-by-step guide to writing sales letters and brochures.

Sidebars chip in along the way, occasionally offering a true gem, like the real difference between website headlines and their printed counterparts. And Kranz tells you why you should never waste your time and effort on a MISSION STATEMENT.

Based on the number of notes in the margins of my copy, I've found the chapters on websites, collateral, problem solving and "looking for ideas" the most helpful. Kranz also gives a detailed breakdown of what goes into a direct mail package, that should be enough to get any beginning mailer off to a promising start.

There are many books written about copywriting, that are aimed at business owners or the unfortunate folks who get stuck writing copy for their company because they once correctly used "presume" in an email. The nice thing about this one-and "nice" is a good word, because Jonathan Kranz is nothing if not a nice guy-is that it's a book about copywriting that doesn't assume non-copywriters know all the copywriting jargon and secrets. It takes its "For Dummies" title seriously, and that's a good thing.

I've been a copywriter for 14 years, most of the time as a freelancer. I've also been a senior copywriter for an advertising agency and worked in the creative department for a major newspaper.

This is the first book on copywriting I've bought in several years, and I'm now the newest fan of Jonathan Kranz's "Writing Copy for Dummies." Mr. Kranz has written an excellent book for the novice or pro, providing a complete, common-sense guide that covers the full range of marketing communications (including PR). Whether business-to-consumer or business-to-business, direct-response or branding, print or online, for-profit or non-profit, it's all there in an engaging writing style and easy-to-digest format.

After being in the freelance trenches for many years, I know how far-flung assignments can be. It's invaluable to have an all-encompassing reference to reach for when I need knowledge in non-specialty areas. In fact, just last Friday I reviewed parts of Chapter 17 in preparation for a fundraising project with a major university.

Some of the material might be a refresher for veteran marketers. As for me, I'm glad to benefit from a fellow pro's perspective on marketing and copywriting topics. As I told Jonathan via email, "I'm glad you took the time to write this book."