Single-Choice and Restrictive Early Action Programs

Single-Choice and Restrictive Early Action Programs Students who plan to apply through an early admission program will find that the options include more than early action (EA) and early  decision (ED). A few select institutions such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford offer single-choice early action or restrictive  early action. These admission programs incorporate some features of both EA and ED. The result is a policy that is less restrictive than early decision, but more restrictive than early action. Defining Features of Single-Choice Early Action Applicants must have their applications completed early, usually by November 1st.Applicants will receive an admissions decision early, usually in mid-December. The decision date is before application deadlines for regular admission to the great majority of colleges and universities.As with early  decision, applicants can apply to just one school through an early admission program.Applicants can apply to other colleges through their non-binding regular admission programs or rolling admission programs. Also, applicants are typically allowed to apply to any public universities and non-U.S. institutions as long as admission decisions are non-binding.Like early action, single-choice early action applicants have until May 1st to make a decision. This allows applicants to compare offers of admission and financial aid packages from other colleges.Like early action, single-choice early  action admission decisions are non-binding. You do not need to attend the school if admitted. Benefits of Applying Single-Choice Early Action You can be done with your college search by mid-December. This can alleviate months of stress and uncertainty from your senior year.Admit rates are higher (sometimes over twice as high) for the early applicant pool. Keep in mind that colleges will always say that the admission standards are the same for early and regular applicants, and the higher admit rates come about because the early applicant pool tends to include the strongest applicants. Still, the common wisdom is that if you are a competitive applicant, your chances are better in the early applicant pool.You arent required to attend the college youve applied to early. This is a significant advantage over early decision, and it allows you to do overnight visits in the winter or spring before making a final college decision. Drawbacks of Applying Single-Choice Early Action You need to have a polished application ready to go by November 1st. Some applicants rush to meet the early deadline, and as a result put forth an application that doesnt represent their best work.You cant apply to other colleges through an early admission program. With regular early action, you can apply to multiple schools early.You might receive a rejection letter in December, and this can be demoralizing as you continue to work on other college applications and wait for regular admission decisions. As you think about whether or not to apply to a college through single-choice early action, keep in mind why the school is providing this option. When a college gives an offer of admission, it wants the student to accept that offer. An applicant who applies single-choice early action is sending a clear message that the college in question is his or her first-choice school. There is really no clearer way to demonstrate interest than applying early, and colleges can improve their yield significantly if they admit students with clearly demonstrated interest. Even though you are not bound to attend the college, you have sent a strong message that you are highly likely to attend. From the perspective of the admissions office, a high yield is extremely valuable- the college gets the students it wants, the college can better predict the size of the incoming class, and the college can rely less on waitlists. Many of the countrys very top colleges (included most with single-choice early action programs) state that they do not consider demonstrated interest when making admissions decisions. This may be true when it comes to factors such as campus visits and optional interviews. However, such schools are being insincere when the early applicant pool is accepted at a much higher rate than the regular applicant pool. The interest in the school that you demonstrate by applying early does matter. A Final Word About Single-Choice Early Action If you have your heart set on attending Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Boston College, Princeton or some other college with a single-choice or restrictive early action program, applying early is most likely a good choice. Make sure, however, that you have a strong application ready to go by November 1st, and make sure there are no other colleges offering early action or early decision that you would rather attend.

Fluorescent Light Science Experiment

Fluorescent Light Science Experiment Learn how to make a fluorescent light glow without plugging it in! These science experiments show how to generate static electricity, which illuminates the phosphor coating, making the bulb light up. Fluorescent Light Experiment Materials fluorescent bulb (tubes work best. Its okay if the light is burnt out.)Any of the following:Saran wrap (plastic wrap)plastic report folderpiece of woolinflated balloondry newspaperanimal fur or fake fur Procedure The fluorescent light needs to be perfectly dry, so you may wish to clean the bulb with a dry paper towel before starting. You will get brighter light in dry weather than in high humidity.All you need to do is rub the fluorescent bulb with the plastic, fabric, fur, or balloon. Do not apply pressure. You need friction to make the project work; you dont need to press the material into the bulb. Dont expect the light to be as bright as it would be plugged into an outlet. It helps to turn off the lights to see the effect.Repeat the experiment with other items on the list. Try other materials found around the home, classroom, or lab. Which works the best? Which materials dont work? How It Works Rubbing the glass tube generates static electricity. Although there is less static electricity than the amount of electricity supplied by wall current, it is enough to energize the atoms inside the tube, changing them from a ground state to an excited state. The excited atoms release photons when they return to the ground state. This is fluorescence. Usually, these photons are in the ultraviolet range, so fluorescent bulbs have an interior coating that absorbs the UV light and releases energy in the visible light spectrum. Safety Fluorescent bulbs are easily broken, producing sharp shards of glass and releasing toxic mercury vapor into the air. Avoid applying a lot of pressure to the bulb. Accidents happen, so if you snap a bulb or drop one, put on a pair of disposable plastic gloves, carefully use damp paper towels to collect all the pieces and dust, and place the gloves and broken glass in a sealable plastic bag. Some places have special collection sites for broken fluorescent tubes, so see if one is available/required before putting the bulb in the trash. Wash your hands with soap and water after handling a broken fluorescent tube.

Humans versus Nature-- which selects better for human survival, from a Essay - 3

Humans versus Nature-- which selects better for human survival, from a biological point of view - Essay Example All through the peoples lives, their genomes cooperate with their surroundings to cause varieties in attributes. Nature of a genome incorporates the atomic science in the cell, different cells, different people, populaces, species, and in addition the abiotic environment. Individuals with specific variations of the attribute may survive and duplicate more than people with other, less fruitful, variations. In this way the populace advances as the components that influence conceptive achievement are additionally imperative, an issue that Charles Darwin grew in his thoughts on sexual choice. Characteristic determination follows up on the phenotype, or the recognizable attributes of an organic entity, yet the hereditary (heritable) premise of any phenotype that gives a regenerative point of interest may get to be more normal in a populace (see allele recurrence). In the long run, this procedure can bring about populaces that practice for specific natural specialties and may in the end bring about the development of new species. At the end of the day, characteristic determination is a vital methodology (however not by any means the only process) by which advancement happens inside a populace of life forms (Wilson). Common determination can be diverged from counterfeit choice, in which people purposefully pick particular characteristics (in spite of the fact that they may not generally get what they need). In natural selection there is no deliberate decision as such, counterfeit determination is teleological and characteristic choice is not teleological. Natural selection is one of the foundations of present day science and the term was presented by Darwin in his persuasive 1859 book On the Origin of Species, in which natural selection was portrayed as comparable to manufactured choice, a procedure by which creatures and plants with qualities

Human errors in aviation maintenance Research Paper

Human errors in aviation maintenance - Research Paper Example It is also a known fact that until the industry of aviation realizes from these happenings, safety breakdowns related to maintenance problems will resume taking place. Human mistakes instead of technical breakdowns have the maximum potential to unfavorably affect existing safety of aviation. The Boeing Commercial Airplane Company lately examined 220 recognized accidents and established the topmost three contributory causes to be: Crews of flight not sticking to procedures, Safeguarding and examination errors and defects in design. US statistics specify that 80% of accidents in aviation are because of errors of human with 50% owing to problems of maintenance human factor. To err is human, that is what the proverb states. It is a truth of existence of human beings. People are not machinery of precision intended for accurateness. Indeed, humans are a distinctive type of device completely. Originality, flexibility, and adaptability are their strong points. Constant attentiveness and accuracy in action or recollection are their weaknesses. Humans are astonishingly mistake tolerant. They are tremendously flexible, vigorous, and imaginative, excellent at discovering clarifications and explanations from incomplete and strident evidence. The same traits that take to such heftiness and originality also generate errors. The natural propensity to understand partial information although regularly their prime asset can instigate operators to misconstrue system activities in such a reasonable fashion that the misunderstanding can be hard to find out. Majority of the fundamental reasons that are a factor to mishaps can be considered as various kinds of human error. One way to define human error is as improper behavior of humans that let down intensity of system efficiency or security, which can or can not result in a calamity or grievance (Wickens, Gordan, Liu, 1998). Theoretically, the phrase human error might

Interracial Marriage Essay Example for Free

Interracial Marriage Essay Interracial marriage is used to describe marriages that take place between people who are from different linguistic, religious, or nations or ethnic groups. There are substantial increases in the number of individuals engaging in interracial. Relationships between people from different ethnic and cultural groups are becoming increasingly common because of globalization and improvement of technology. Internet technology has brought together the world in that people can enter into a relationship with anyone from any countries. In some countries, it is against the law to marry someone of a different race. These countries include Germany during the Nazi period, South Africa under apartheid, and some states in the United States before a 1969 ruling. In some Arab countries, it is forbidden for an Arab to marry outside their race because of the law and traditional customs. If an Arab person marries someone out of their race, their civil rights are taken away from them. In 2008, Pakistani senators allowed women to be buried alive if they married someone outside their race. People Most Attracted to Intercultural Relationships/ Marriages To begin the series on intercultural marriage, beginning with a discussion about who exactly tends to be most attracted to intercultural relationships/marriages in the first place seems like a good place to start. It’s certainly not for everyone, as mixed marriages are full of unique challenges that married people from the same culture may never face. In Romano’s book â€Å"Intercultural Marriage,† she lists 5 common types of people who tend to be involved in intercultural relationships. The first type is the Romantic type: those who see people from other cultures as exotic, fascinating, and thrilling. These people may find people from their own culture boring and predictable, and thrive in the mystique of people from far away and foreign lands. The second type is the Compensator. These people often feel like something is missing from their lives and believe they have found it in another person or culture, as they believe elements from that person/culture fulfills what is missing from their own. Romano notes that this type is found even in couples who marry from their own cultures, who are simply looking for someone to fulfill what they lacked growing up. Rebels are slightly different from the compensators in that they dislike much about their own culture and are intent on finding someone from somewhere else. Sometimes they have a specific target culture in mind; other times they simply take whatever fate brings them. Internationals, the next type of people drawn to intercultural marriage, are those who lived outside their native countries for most of their lives, and are typically children of missionaries, diplomats, military personnel, and so on. These people often do not feel as though they completely belong to one particular culture, as they tend to have been influenced by several cultures and therefore have a wide appreciation and love for differences. The final category is comprised of others. These people may not fit into their society and often are ostracized from it. Finding love in a different culture is a way to find a place to fit in and be accepted. Some of them are not considered to be attractive in their native culture, and have better luck in another culture. Others are part of a minority and find acceptance in another culture. Still others live in poverty and marry as a way to improve their quality of life. Barriers Oftentimes, couples in intercultural marriages face barriers that most married couples of the same culture are not exposed to. Intercultural marriages are often influenced by external factors that can create dissonance and disagreement in relationships. Different cultures endure vastly diverse moral, ethical and value foundations that influence their perceptions of individual, family and societal lifestyle. When these foundations are operating alongside the foundation of different cultural roots, as in intercultural marriages, problems and disagreement oftentimes occur. 1. Family and Society The most common external factors influencing intercultural relationships and marriages are the acceptance of the family and the society in which the couple lives. Sometimes, the families of the partners display rejection, resistance, hostility and lack of acceptance for their kin’s partner. Specific issues regarding the family; including generational gaps in ideology, and how the wedding will be held; which ties into how tradition will or will not be practiced. Many intercultural couples report conflict arising over issues of how to carry out child raising and religious worship as well. 2. Language In a mixed marriage where the partners do not share the same mother tongue, the language in which they decide to communicate at home can be symbolic of the extent to which each partner is prepared to forego his or her cultural background and incorporate new elements. There may also be elements of control and dependence in the choice of language when one partner refuses to learn the other’s language. There is a case-study of a so-called bought bride from Asia. The German husband had no knowledge of her language, while she could speak some English, but no German. Communication in such a relationship proved to be extremely difficult, and all decisions and dealings with the outside world where necessarily undertaken by the German husband. The wife could not find any but the most menial jobs where the necessity of understanding was limited, which further increased her economic dependence on him. 3. Communication Style Intercultural couples may possess differing communication styles. Individuals from a high context culture are not verbally explicit in their communication behaviors. These cultures typically consist of eastern world countries where collectivism and relational harmony underlie communication behavior. By contrast, individuals from a low context culture use direct and obvious communication styles to convey information. In situations where marriage occurs between two people from differing communication contextual backgrounds, conflict may arise from relational challenges posed by the underlying assumptions of high/low context cultures. Challenges posed by differing communication styles are common among intercultural marriage couples. The longer the two individuals have existed in the current culture the less likely this is to pose an issue. If one or more partners within the marriage is relatively new to the dominant culture, the likelihood for conflict to unfold o n these bases increases. Solution/ Suggestions 1. Learn How to Appreciate One of the ways to deal with interracial dating issues is acceptance of partner the way he or she is. Most issues arise when one or both partners want to have their way in everything that they do. It is therefore important to ensure that they appreciate their wife or husband with all his or her cultural practices. Since they come different regions, differences in the way of life are bound to happen. They must desist from criticizing each other based on cultural grounds or race. As a matter of fact they must never stereotype or generalize happenings as this can be the cause of interracial conflicts. If they are willing to love, understand and respect each other’s differences, you’re on the right track. 2. Learn More about the Culture Another thing they need to do in order to solve issues with interracial relationships is to study each other well before engaging. Discuss the symbolism or significance of each other’s important cultural traditions. Understanding the significance of these traditions will help to understand them. This will help them to have a more natural, familiar feeling toward the others traditions, accept and embrace the culture of the other. After some time, they will even feel the desire to incorporate culture into their own family traditions. Besides, they need to know what values their partner stands for and to establish whether they can accommodate them. When they understand their partner in advance, it becomes easier for them to solve any interracial dating concerns. One advantage of being married to someone from another country is to get travel from time to time. When they can travel, make sure to visit the spouses family and learn about their culture firsthand. Furthermore this prepares them for the future thus allowing them to solve situations better. 3. Maintain Contact with Family It is essential that foreign spouse keeps in contact with his or her family, especially as they are probably a long way from each other. With time, he or she will feel of longing for their family, homesickness, and even possible loneliness and depression. It is necessary that he or she can keep contact to his or her family. Today, the Internet and sites like Facebook and Twitter make this type of contact much easier, and your spouse happier. Help your spouse to develop friendships with people from his or her country or families that speak their language somehow so that they will know more people and may feel at home

Richard A. Wasserstroms Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues Es

Richard A. Wasserstrom's article "Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues." Criticisms of lawyers are the topic in Richard A. Wasserstrom's article "Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues." Wasserstrom broke this topic into two main areas of discussion. The first suggests that lawyers operate with essentially no regard for any negative impact of their efforts on the world at large. Analysis of the relationship that exists between the lawyer and their client was the second topic of discussion. "Here the charge is that it is the lawyer-client relationship which is morally objectionable because it is a relationship which the lawyer dominates and in which the lawyer typically, and perhaps inevitably, treats the client in both an impersonal and a paternalistic fashion." Wasserstrom considers a few options with in his discussion concerning a multitude of aspects faced by lawyers. "The lawyer's situation is different from that of other professionals. The lawyer is vulnerable to some moral criticism that does not as readily or as easily attach to any other professional." Thi...

Green culture in Mexico Essay

Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. This means it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year. Mexico City generates more than 12,500 tons per day of solid waste and the % 50 of the waste are from the houses. In Mexico, people don ´t have a green culture to protect the environment because the people don ´t consider their ecological footprint, don ´t know the impact of their activities, and they think that natural resources will last forever. Footprint accounts reveal the ecological demand associated with residential consumption, the production, and the generation of exports. The Ecological Footprint is a resource accounting tool that helps to know what ´s the impact of the activities of the people. In Mexico the ecological footprint calculated in 2003 was 2.6 hectares per person. This means that we use more than the Earth can give us. The second reason for Mexican people don ´t have a green culture is because they don ´t know the impact of their activities. One example is that in Mexico City the main contaminant is carbon monoxide emitted by cars. The persons used every day a car and sometimes for short distances. The consequences of the pollution that people produce are reflected not only in health, also in the disappearance of ecosystems. The Mexican people think that natural resources will last forever. Today, the population growth generates more food production as result; the ecosystems are converted into agricultural, livestock and urban areas. Recently, large-scale industrial developments, including oil development in Mexico and timber and mineral extraction, have increased the threat to forests. Mexico has lost 25% of forest and jungle areas. The consequences of loss of ecosystems are scarcity of natural resources and species loss. People should have environmental awareness for preserving biodiversity and the environment that provides resources. In conclusion, Mexican people don’t have environmental awareness. It is important have a green culture because the Earth gives us all that we need. If we don ´t protect the Earth, the natural resources will be less that we have now. Sources: FAO. The Global Forest Resources Assessment. Roma: FAO, 2005. Print Global Footprint Network. â€Å"Footprint for Nations† Global Footprint Network U, 2011. Web. 17 March, 2012. Semarnat.  ¿Y el medio ambiente? Problemas en Mà ©xico y el mundo. Mà ©xico: Semarnat, 2007. Print

Quasi-experimental research designs Essay

Introduction             A quasi experiment is the kind of experiment that seeks to evaluate conditions in non-profit making organizations. Examples of non-profit making organizations include the Red Cross, YMCA, and The Hospice, among many others (Thyer, 2012).  A hospice is a special hospital, mostly sponsored by the government of a country, where the practical, emotional, and medical needs of dying patients are met. A hospice is the kind of organization where emergency is the norm and is the least among other non-profit making organizations. A number of questions would be viable in this case. For instance, what are the working conditions? Does the station operate 24 hours in a day? But the kind of question that would give more and better information according to research would be; how many (dying) people are ministered to in a month? Such a question would give the research party broader perspective in the whole process compared to the others. The kind of data that I would gather would most likely dwell on such factors as, employee number, whether all the employees are professionally trained and the budget range. The three nuggets would be the primary areas of data collection considering the depth and width of information they would gather (Thyer, 2012). In the data collection process, it would be prudent to employ the services offered by employees. Therefore, I would use an employee of high proficiency in getting down to the process. This would, most likely promote the quality and quantity of the final findings, having in mind the experience of the employee. According to Thyer (2012), limitation would be inevitable, especially in this kind of process. Some of the limitations likely to be faced by employees in the field would involve: the time of emergency (uncertainty on when to send an employee), lack of total co-operation from the management and inadequate capital. There are a number of challenges but the above mentioned would be the most likely. Reference Thyer, B. A. (2012).  Quasi-experimental research designs. New York: Oxford University Press. Source document

French Adjectives in Front of a Vowel or Mute H

French Adjectives in Front of a Vowel or Mute H Since French adjectives usually have to agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number, most of them have up to four forms (masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural). But there are several French adjectives that have an additional variation: a special form that is used when the adjective precedes a word that begins with a vowel or mute H.The reason for this special adjective form is to avoid hiatus (the pause between a word that ends in a vowel sound and another that begins with a vowel sound). The French language likes words that flow one into the next, so when an adjective that ends in a vowel sound would otherwise be followed by a word that begins with a vowel sound, French uses a special form of the adjective to avoid the undesirable hiatus. These special forms end in consonants so that an enchaà ®nement is created between the two words, and the fluidity of the language is maintained.There are nine French adjectives in three categories which have one of these special pre-vowel forms. Descriptive Adjectives The following descriptive adjectives have a special form that is used only in front of a masculine noun that begins with a vowel or mute H. beau belun beau garà §on un bel hommefou folun fou rire un fol espoirmou molun mou refus un mol abandonnouveau nouvelun nouveau livre un nouvel articlevieux vieilun vieux bà ¢timent un vieil immeuble Demonstrative Adjectives When the demonstrative adjective is used with a masculine noun that begins with a vowel or mute H, it changes from ce to cet: ce garà §on cet homme Possessive Adjectives When a singular possessive adjective is used with a feminine noun that begins with a vowel or mute H, it changes from the feminine form (ma, ta, sa) to the masculine form (mon, ton, son): ma mà ¨re mon amieta femme ton amantesa profession son à ©ducation Note The special adjective forms are used only when followed immediately by a word that begins with a vowel or mute H. If a word which begins with a consonant is placed between the changeable adjective and the noun, the special form is not used.Compare: cet homme vs ce grand hommemon amie vs ma meilleure amie When theres an adjective, the special form is not used because the word that immediately follows the changeable adjective begins with a consonant.

Keep Going - An Interview With Two #1 Amazon Bestsellers

Keep Going - An Interview With Two #1 Amazon Bestsellers "Keep Going" - An Interview with #1 Amazon Bestsellers Mark Edwards and Louise Voss Success doesn’t happen overnight. It is often the result of hard work put in over the years. And Mark Edwards and Louise Voss’ success story tells us as much. They are known for being the first indie authors to ever reach #1 on Amazon.co.uk back in 2011. Now with Amazon Publishing, their latest book is From The Cradle (and the best one, they tell me). Their story begins much sooner, though. They have been through the ups and downs that characterize a writer’s life, but they have been through them together and always determined to keep going.Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing both of them. They share their whole story (not only the success part) and their advice for starting indie authors. They also debunk a metadata-myth, analyze why Amazon Publishing is so powerful and explain how to co-write a book using Dropbox.So sit down with a nice cup of tea/coffee, and hit play. Or alternatively, read through the whole transcript below (courtesy of the Reedsy team). REEDSY: Hi Mark and Louise, I’m really pleased to have you here. You are known for being the first indie authors to have reached the top of the charts on Amazon.co.uk, a few years ago, with two books that you had co-written. But your collaboration started long before that, right Louise?LOUISE: Sure, it’s a good story, though it can make me sound a bit like a stalker. It started years ago, around 1998-99, and Mark was on this TV documentary about â€Å"wannabe writers†. I was in the exact same situation as him: I had an agent but she wasn’t very enthusiastic. We were both getting lots of rejections but they were really positive rejections. So I just sent him a little email via his agent, basically saying â€Å"I really liked your interview†.He wrote back, and we started corresponding via email about books and writing for around 18 months before we finally met in person. And then we thought: rather than just critiquing each other’s stuff, why d on’t we write something together? That’s when we started writing Killing Cupid. We did it all by email, because at that time Mark was in Japan.MARK: Yes, I was in Tokyo, and Louise was in London. We wrote an entire novel without even speaking to each other, literally. This was back in 2001, and Killing Cupid was optioned by the BBC but we didn’t manage to get a publishing deal for it.Then, a few years after, I came back from Japan and we decided to write another one together: Catch Your Death. Back then, however, we didn’t have an agent, we still couldn’t get a publisher, we were really back to square one, so we pretty much gave up at that point, didn’t we?LOUISE: Yes, I think the problem with Killing Cupid was a genre one. When we sent it to publishers, they said â€Å"well, it’s not really enough of a thriller to be a thriller; and it’s a comedy as well, we don’t know what to do with it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And that’s why we decided to write Catch Your Death, because that was unquestionably a thriller.MARK: Yes, so we both more or less gave up. I came back to the UK, got a good job, and thought: it’s really not worth the pain of trying to find a publishing deal.Then, 2010 when was I first heard about KDP. And I got a Kindle for my 40th birthday. So I said to Louise: why don’t we take our two old novels, spruce them up a bit, self-publish them and see what happens? And she was very reluctant.LOUISE: Yes, I thought â€Å"oh, no, it will be humiliating, we’ll sell 4 copies†¦Ã¢â‚¬ MARK: So we spent a few months rewriting and reworking them, because they were really out of date. There were no mobile phones, social media, etc.We put Killing Cupid out in February 2011, and as Louise predicted we sold around 4 copies on our first day, to people that we knew†¦ But then I became completely obsessed about trying to sell it. I had a full-time job, my girlfriend was pregnant, and she still talks about how I neglected her during that time! And Louise did promotion stuff too.LOUISE: Yes, we had a list of all the bloggers that accepted unpublished books - there weren’t that many of them but we put together this list and divided it up. Mark started at A and I started at Z and we worked our way to the middle, contacting all of them. It was a lot of work.REEDSY: And Mark, you did a very good job on the metadata too, right? I read about it on Joanna Penn’s blog, but maybe you can tell us what in your metadata helped make your book successful?MARK: Yes, we used subtitles. On Killing Cupid, I think it was pretty simple: â€Å"Killing Cupid, a psychological thriller†: nothing fancy, really. But we kept rewriting the blurb (book description). Back then, you used to be able to see what percentage of people who viewed your book had bought it, which was fantastic, you could see your conversion rate from browser to reader. So I kept looking at th e books in the top 10, especially the self-published thrillers and the ones that had the highest conversion rates, and tried to figure out what it was about those books that incited more people to buy them after they looked at them.So I was continually tweaking the description and I think that at one point I got it right, because it suddenly doubled our sales in just an hour. I had made the description shorter, more straightforward about the book while also making it sound more intriguing.We did something much more interesting for the second book, Catch Your Death. We called it: â€Å"Catch Your Death (For fans of Dan Brown Stieg Larsson)†. This quickly became a controversial point, with people starting to talk about it in The Bookseller magazine.But I actually believe, to this day, that it didn’t make any difference to the sales, because I think we put off as many people as we attracted. If you searched for Dan Brown at the time (and I did it quite a few times), our book didn’t come up, not even on page 30. It didn’t make any difference to the search results.What really made a difference, and this is a lesson for all indie authors, is that we were patient and hardworking in building a readership. We hand-sold every copy of Killing Cupid in the first 3-4 months: every single sale was hard work. And as we did that, we built a momentum and started climbing up the charts, which made our book more visible. And because it was good, word-of-mouth really worked in our advantage and more people started to buy it.We released Catch Your Death around 3-4 months after Killing Cupid, as Killing Cupid was climbing into the top 100. And Amazon then sent out an email advertising Catch Your Death to all the people who had previously purchased Killing Cupid.And it was the day that this email went out - even though we only realized this quite a long time afterwards - that more and more readers started buying both books and we shot up into the top 1 0. A couple of days later, Amazon removed the Dan Brown subtitle, and it didn’t make any difference at all.So there was a lot of hype about our metadata at that time, but I really don’t think it made any difference in the end. It was all about slowly building that readership.REEDSY: I think that’s a great lesson indeed for indie authors. But if we go back to the writing process, Louise, how does that technically work? What tools do you use: Google Drive, Dropbox, †¦?LOUISE: Dropbox, we have everything in Dropbox. It works really well for us, you can see the last things people have worked on and when. Though sometimes it happened that we were both working on the same document at the same time, so when we saved it created conflicted copies, which are a nightmare to sort out. But we don’t do that so much now, we’ve got better at it.We also email a lot, and text, when it’s particularly urgent, but we don’t actually talk that much, un less there is a problem, or in the beginning and the end, when there are things to figure out.MARK: For Dropbox, we have a â€Å"master document† - we do it all in Word - and we write separate chapters in separate Word documents, save them into Dropbox for the other person to make comments. The original author then goes back to that chapter to amend it and when we’re both happy with it we add it to the master document!We also have other Word documents and spreadsheets for our chapter plans. I think that, ideally, we’d use Scrivener, because that’s what we both write on for our solo novels, but you can’t really use it for collaborative work, as far as I’ve been able to work out.REEDSY: Now, with the success of Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death, you were prompted to partner with an agent, who got you into traditional publishing. How was that experience?LOUISE: It’s quite ironic, because we spent years trying to get a publishing deal for both books. But we didn’t have an agent at all until we were #1 on Amazon. I was talking with an author friend of mine and he suggested me to contact his agent. I said â€Å"well, he turned us down a few years ago so I don’t think he’ll be interested†. He answered â€Å"oh, it’s different now, you’re #1†. So we contacted his agent and he quickly got us a deal with HarperCollins, which was fantastic! I don’t regret it, really, because it was just so lovely to finally have this public validation through a traditional publishing deal, and the idea to have our books in shops, the advance, etc.I often wonder, with the benefit of hindsight, whether we would do it differently if we had to do it again, and I don’t think we would change much, other than to get more involved in the marketing and publicity of these traditionally published books. We were thinking that the publisher would do most of the marketing and promotion, a nd it didn’t happen. So I think our mistake wasn’t taking the deal, it was not pushing the books as much as we had when we were self-publishing.MARK: Louise literally just took the words out of my mouth. I definitely don’t regret it either, it was â€Å"a dream come true†. Louise had already had a traditional publishing deal in the past, but for me it was something I’d wanted for years.LOUISE: Yes, I guess I was a bit more cynical about it, because I already had had an experience with a publisher who dropped me after not promoting the books - and that was back in the day when you could do little yourself. But I still don’t regret it, we had a lovely editor, who did an excellent editorial work, really improving the books. It’s just that not many people got to see them.MARK: Yes, that was the frustrating thing. What happened is that after the first and second books didn’t do as well as they hoped, the third and fourth ones were pretty much dead in the water.LOUISE: It basically took the exact same trajectory as my first publishing deal: sales got smaller and smaller and the publisher’s interest got smaller and smaller. Also, one thing to take into account is that two of the four books had already been self-published before and picked up by a lot of people. So I think that didn’t help us as much as we thought it would.MARK: That was the problem, really. Catch Your Death and Killing Cupid came out a year after we first self-published them, which means the sequel to Catch Your Death came a year and a half after the first book, and by then, everyone had lost interest. And it wasn’t pushed at all, it wasn’t in any shops, it had no visibility.I actually think that we were a little bit like guinea pigs, because we were the first â€Å"indies† to go through that process over here in the UK. The publishers learned from what happened with us for some of the following indie success stories that they picked up.REEDSY: So you were with a publisher that didn’t do as much as you hoped on the marketing side of things. But now you’re with Amazon, right? Which is almost the opposite.MARK: Yes, but there is a stage in between. In January 2013, we were in a dark place. We’d had a very disappointing 2012 with the two paperbacks, and when the third one came out in January it just disappeared without a trace. Literally without trace, it left nothing.I had gambled by quitting my job to be a full-time writer, and I was in a very difficult financial position, with massive tax and credit card bills, plus my wife and I had another baby on the way. So I really was in a state of constant panic, thinking â€Å"what am I going to do?† I can laugh about it now, but it was terrible at that time. Every now and again I think â€Å"I can’t believe I managed to get myself out of that dark pit that I was in†.I remember Louise and I had this meeti ng with our agent in London and he - now, he would probably deny it - but he had lost a bit of interest in us as well. But we were determined to make it work so we decided we would not give up, and start a new series of books instead.Now, I had this book â€Å"The Magpies† that I had had sitting in my bottom drawer for years, and I’d been tinkering with it, on and off. Louise said: â€Å"why don’t you just do it, just self-publish it?† So I went home that day, read through it, and thought â€Å"actually, this is quite good†. So I self-published The Magpies via my agent (it’s called â€Å"agent-assisted self-publishing†) and it basically completely transformed everything, because The Magpies ended up selling (in its self-published version) 170,000 copies. It simply changed my life, and it’s what led to the deal with Amazon.Amazon Publishing bought the rights for it and for another solo novel from me. And when Louise and I fini shed our new co-written one, it did go out in submission to various publishers, but Amazon pre-empted it and our commissioning editor there read it in a few days. They made an offer, and because I’d had such a great experience with them already, Louise thought: â€Å"why not?†Everything so far with Amazon Publishing has been fantastic. I mean, I’d like to sell more books in the US, but in the UK it couldn’t have gone any better I think.REEDSY: Yes, and we actually interviewed another Amazon-published author, Bob Mayer, a few weeks ago who highlighted the â€Å"marketing reach† of Amazon publishing imprints. What does that mean exactly? What do these imprints do in terms of marketing that makes it worth it signing away royalties to them?MARK: Well, they’ve got the most amazing database in the world. They’ve got anyone who has ever bought anything, including anyone who has ever read a psychological thriller! That’s what sets them apart from all the other publishers. Plus, they’ve got the platform of their website, and they also do a lot of on-device marketing. So if you’ve got a Kindle Fire, you’ll see that whenever you turn it on, an advert will appear on the home screen, and they rotate, but they’re often books.That visibility that you get with Amazon publishing is just fantastic. The restriction of being with them is that you’re pretty much only on the Amazon platform, although they do print books and they are making efforts to get them into the shops. But they’re not on any of the other digital stores, so you’re in kind of a walled garden, like a luxury gated development!When somebody from a big publisher said to us: â€Å"well, wouldn’t you rather be with a traditional publisher and have your books in the shops?†, my answer was that that all sounds great, but when we did have that opportunity, our books were barely in the shops anyway†¦REEDSY: So, do you now still produce some marketing effort yourselves or is it all Amazon?LOUISE: We’ve worked very hard on building up our Facebook page. It’s not like we have tens of thousands of followers, but the ones we do have are so loyal that it’s really helping us get the word of mouth thing going, which is the holy grail of marketing anyway. But we still do work very hard, especially when we do online launches.REEDSY: To finish on an encouraging note for other authors out there: you’ve been through everything, both of you, in a writer’s career; the ups, the downs, so what would be your advice for an author who’d be in a â€Å"dark year† like you had in 2012?MARK: I think it’s certainly nurturing your existing fans and readers. That is what goes through in our Facebook group, where we have really loyal readers as Louise pointed out. They were really really helpful and acting as cheerleaders to keep us going. And then when we did start selling well, they were there and helped spread the word.REEDSY: And Louise, what would be your advice?LOUISE: Keep going!We lost the rest of Louise’s advice due to recording problems, but feel free to ask her (or Mark) anything in the comments below!Sharing is caring, so here are our Twitter handles: @ReedsyHQ, @mredwards and @LouiseVoss1

White Collar criminals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

White Collar criminals - Essay Example The problem is that cognitive biases existing in the community prevent people from realizing that white collar criminals are potential threats to the society. Popular perceptions about what constitutes crime can be illustrated if one examines two instances of offenses, one that falls in the stereotypical notion and the other in the white collar crime category, as under: Scenario-1: A mugger waylays a person on a dark, desolated street and demands he parts away with his possessions. The man hands over his wallet and the thug empties it of its contents of 50 dollars and throws the wallet back at the man. He mutters some threats to him, stuffs the bills into his pocket, and sneaks into a murky alley. Terrified but grateful that he is unhurt, the man summons the police, files a report and goes his way, wondering how widespread crimes have become. Scenario 2: An employee of a heating and air conditioning firm attends a complaint at a home which has been damaged in a recent storm. The HVAC unit outside has been battered and the inspection reveals that it requires some minor repairs. However, the employee reports to the homeowner’s insurance company that the entire system needs replacement as it is completely damaged. Thus, his company gains a hefty profit, by fraudulent means. When one considers both these events, it becomes apparent that in the first episode, a thug waylays a person, robs him of 50 dollars. The victim recognizes this act as a crime, and the police register a case against the perpetrator. In the second instance, though the company has gained an undue benefit of a larger sum, the incident has neither been acknowledged as a crime nor has anybody taken cognizance of it. Thus, it transpires that white collar crimes do occur in the society, which is of much greater magnitude than normal crimes, but people hardly recognize this fact. As can be evidenced from the above