The KellyGram

Wisdom and Wit About the Wonderful and Often Wacky World of Words

Published by Bob Kelly

Resident Wordsmith and Quotemeister

WordCrafters, Inc.

www.wordcrafters.info

Providing the Right Word for Speakers, Writers, Ministry Leaders and Business Executives – since 1979!

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Volume 5 – Number 1 January 2007

In This Issue:

Fun with Words
The Quote Corner (Reading)
Quick Online Dictionary
Working with an Editor
The Ghostwriters Role
Health Tips for the New Year
Odds and Ends
The Last Word

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FUN WITH WORDS

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What do the following words have in common? The answer appears near the end of this issue, but try your hand at it first.

Assess
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo

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THE QUOTE CORNER (Reading)

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The "Are Books in Danger?" headline in the December 25, 2006 issue of Forbes caught my attention. The brief summary which followed invited readers to see the complete "Special Report" on the subject, available on the magazines website at www.forbes.com/books.

We accepted the invitation and found lots of excellent material from various contributors, all of whom agree that the answer to that question is "No," and that e-books are more of a blessing than a curse to the book publishing industry. For example, in an article titled "Giving it Away," best-selling sci-fi author Cory Doctorow reports: "I've been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money."

While admitting theres no scientific way to prove that giving away e-books increases sales, he notes: "What is certain is that every writer who's tried giving away e-books to sell books has come away satisfied and ready to do it some more."

In a separate article, "Stop Worrying About Copyrights," Jonathon Enfield, from the University of Chicago, writes that, "while new technologies are revolutionizing the way we read and making it increasingly likely that we do at least some of our serious reading on screens, the printed book isnt going anywhere soon."

Enfield also quotes Bill McCoy, general manager of e-publishing at Abode. "Its not an either/or," McCoy says. "When we look out ten years from now a lot more reading will be digital, but bookstores wont have gone away."

Theres a lot of other interesting material on the site, including a brief profile of a Donald Mitchell, whos reviewed nearly 3,000 books for Amazon, earning $20,000 in the process. And in the Enfield article cited above, he notes: "The number of titles published in the U.S. dropped in 2005, but grew even more sharply in the United Kingdom that same year. Thats significant because in 2005 the U.K. took over as the nation publishing the most English-language titles (206,000 books to Americas 174,000).

It certainly looks as though we wont be running out of reading material soon, which prompted us to offer the following quotations:

The way a book is readwhich is to say, the qualities a reader brings to a bookcan have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts in it. Anyone who can read can learn to read deeply and thus live more fully. (Norman Cousins)

My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for the treasures of India. (Edward Gibbon)

The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. (Elizabeth Hardwick)

To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. (Victor Hugo)

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting. (Aldous Huxley)

Dont read to be big, read to be down to earth. Dont read to be smart, read to be wise. Dont read to memorize, read to realize. Dont read to just learn, read to sometimes unlearn. Dont read a lot, read just enough to keep yourself curious and hungry, to learn more, to keep getting younger as you grow older. (Charlie "Tremendous" Jones)

Nobody who can read is ever successful at cleaning out the attic. (Franklin P. Jones)

It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction and biography and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time. (Louis LAmour)

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. (W. Somerset Maugham)

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu)

Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in ones hand. (Ezra Pound)

Language is the soul of intellect, and reading is the essential process by which that intellect is cultivated beyond the commonplace experiences of everyday life. (Charles Scribner, Jr.)

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. (Richard Steele)

The fire of reading is still with me. It is my favorite gift to give myself. I cannot imagine a world in which there is not great literature to read. (Oprah Winfrey)

(Note: These quotations are taken from our collection of nearly 400 published volumes of quotations and 1.5 million entries. If youre looking for some quotes on virtually any subject, send us an email at bob@kellygram.com, or call us at 480-895-7617. Or, if you have a quote topic youd like us to feature in an upcoming issue, email it to us and well get it on the schedule.)

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QUICK ONLINE DICTIONARY

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Were grateful to Dan Poynter, self-publishing guru, author of 100+ books and much-in-demand speaker, for this great tip which appeared in a recent issue of his newsletter.

To quickly find the definition of a word, go to the Google search engine and type in "define:word" (without spaces or quotation marks). Google will immediately define the word. Depending on which word you enter following the colon, Google will immediately display one or many definitions, each followed by a link to more information about that word.

To subscribe to Dans newsletter, visit his website at www.parapublishing.com.

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WORKING WITH AN EDITOR

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I recently received an inquiry from a KellyGram subscriber about doing some work for him. After answering his questions, it occurred to me that other readers may be interested in knowing how I work. Incidentally, while this inquiry was about my editing/proofreading services and fees, I use a similar process in ghostwriting assignments (please see the following article).

I typically charge on a per project, not-to-exceed total cost of $X, payable 1/3 in advance; 1/3 at the approximate mid-point; and the balance (1/3 or less) on completion to the author's satisfaction. If the job takes less time and effort to complete than I estimate, the final payment is adjusted downward. However, if it takes longer than I estimate, the fee will not exceed the original amount quoted.

Before quoting an actual fee, I like to see the manuscript, so I have some idea of the amount of work which may be involved. I also do a brief evaluation, and will even edit a small portion of the manuscript, without any cost or obligation. I prefer to work with electronic copy in Word format.

As I edit each chapter, I turn on the Track Changes feature. When I complete each chapter, I return it to the author in two versions, one showing the changes I made, and the second a clean version incorporating those changes.

A word of caution: unlike doctors, lawyers, realtors, pharmacists, hairstylists, plumbers, electricians, etc., who must have proper credentials, anyone can claim to be an editor, so do your homework. For a free copy of my article, "Finding a Qualified Editor," email bob@kellygram.com.

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THE GHOSTWRITERS ROLE

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If youre among the thousands, or perhaps millions of people who have long held the desire to write a book, but just havent gotten it done, perhaps a ghostwriter can accomplish that task for you. Maybe you feel you lack the literary skills to write the book yourself, or perhaps youre so busy you simply havent been able to find the time.

Hiring a ghostwriter to do the actual writing for you is a long-established and well-accepted way to get your book done. A ghostwriter differs from a co-author or an "as told to" writer in that the name of the ghostwriter doesnt appear anywhere in the book, nor is there any indication that it was written by anyone other than the named author.

The ghostwriter works closely with the author, maintaining regular contact, whether in person, via telephone or by email (or a combination thereof), shaping the authors notes, thoughts and comments into a complete manuscript. Of the books Ive ghostwritten, several have been done for authors located thousands of miles away, some of whom Ive never even met.

There are lots of well-qualified ghostwriters. Before hiring one, be sure to check that persons experience and reputation, preferably by talking with other authors who have used his or her services.

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SMILE AWHILE

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Health Tips for the New Year

As we begin a new year, we asked the world-renowned dietitian Dr. Lulu Looney for advice on living a healthy lifestyle in 2007:

Q: We've heard cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and thats it. Dont throw them away on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; thats like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should we eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables?

A: What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is simply an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken.

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: Youre not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, theyre soaked in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: What's the secret to healthy eating?

A: Thicker gravy.

Q: How is the body/fat ratio calculated?

A: Well, if you have a body, and you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

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ODDS AND ENDS

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Back Issues:

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Comments/Questions:

Your comments and questions are always welcome. Please contact us at bob@kellygram.com, or call Bob Kelly at (480) 895-7617.

Answer to Fun with Words:

By taking the first letter, moving it to the end of the word, and then spelling the word backwards, you get the original word.

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THE LAST WORD

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"Make your resolutions so clear and firm that nothing can lure you from your chosen path. Substitute doing for dreaming and achievement for apathy."

Grenville Kleiser

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