Archive for the ‘Services’ Category

The bytten word

Monday, August 17th, 2009
A Kindle book on iPhone

A Kindle book on iPhone

Thanks to JR, a fellow cyber author and publisher, I’ve come across another article about publishing and reading via Kindle, Sony, Blackberry, PC, and other electronic readers. Peter Svensson’s August 15 article Phones, PC’s put e-books within reach of Kindle-less focuses on the popularity of reading from paperless media and the technology that’s responsible for it. Only a few years ago, publishing for portable electronic readers and PC’s was a road less traveled. According to Svensson’s article, it’s hard to keep new  e-books down; sales are beginning to climb. Intrepid entrepreneurs turn paper manuscripts into cybertext as quickly as the new software appears and just as importantly, readers are logging on in ever increasing numbers.

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Laurel resident hopes online book sales soar

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

I was recently interviewed for a profile article about me and my novel, Flying Wires. Click here for a JPEG of Timmy Gelles’ article in the 11 June 2009 issue of The Gazette or here for a link to the online version. Only recently, have I had the time to do some marketing of Flying Wires and I’m quite pleased that this opportunity came along.

In the meantime, my Examiner.com articles and my work for NAMI Howard County are keeping me quite busy. Now that the first phase of the NAMI contract is complete, I will soon be working about 10 hours per week for the next twelve months on the second phase.

To purchase the PDF version of Flying Wires, click here. To purchase the Kindle version – which is also downloadable to an iPhone and iPod Touch – click here.

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It’s been a week

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
National Alliance on Mental Illness

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Not much time to catch my breath and post this week. Last Sunday, we got a call from family and immediately began making plans to drive south Monday afternoon. Mike had to work and I had a meeting in the NAMI Howard County offices at 12:30 p.m. The half-hour meeting gave me the opportunity to sign my contract with NAMI, meet the other contractor that I’ll be working with and discuss the “game plan” for the next few weeks. While I work on the redesign of their information brochure for individuals with mental illness and their families, my team mate will be putting together a database of health care providers in Howard County, Maryland. By the time we meet again in a couple weeks, we should be through phase I of the project.

Monday afternoon, I let local friends know we were leaving town. When Mike got off work, we loaded up the car, had dinner and left town. We spent most of Tuesday with family and although a short trip, we’re glad we went. Fortunately, things have improved some during the week. The rest of the week was catch up on my Examiner.com column and work on a handout for a women’s retreat I’ll be attending next weekend. Today, Mike and I spent the morning on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland. We walked in the NAMIWalk for the Mind of America – the culmination of an annual fundraising effort to support the wonderful NAMI programs for individuals with mental illness and their families. Now it’s time to hit the hay. After church tomorrow, it’s back to work on the NAMI brochure.

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Carol is on Facebook and Twitter

Monday, April 6th, 2009

For additional company and personal posts and links to information, please visit Carol Plotnick at Facebook and Twitter.

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The Kindle story

Sunday, April 5th, 2009
A Kindle book on iPhone

A Kindle book on iPhone

I’ve been asked to write an article for the Maryland Writers’ Association blog and newsletter “Pen in Hand” about my publishing experience with Amazon.com’s Kindle format. Apparently, I may be the first Association member who’s gone the Kindle route and my outline of the process would be helpful to other members. Once the article is posted, I’ll include a link to it in a post from this blog.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

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Words on the Wire

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Interest in my column at Examiner.com has started growing. I’m receiving information from a couple volunteer organizations and I am now more aware than ever of how many people and organizations are volunteering in the Laurel, Maryland area. It’s heartwarming! Please visit – and subscribe – to the Laurel Community Volunteer Examiner. A lot of what is happening here is happening across our country. In addition to the articles, there is a growing list of local, regional and national organizations supported by volunteers.

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Examiner.com

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Have you ever wanted to combine work with something you really like to do? Some folks manage that easily, some struggle and others come upon it later in life. I fall into the latter category. I’m a free-lance writer for Examiner.com. The best way I can describe Examiner.com is that it’s a really BIG e-newspaper. Because the organization involves a lot of writers [Examiners], Examiner.com is an e-newspaper that goes far beyond what most newspapers cover in a daily paper. For example, have you ever heard of a Baby Boomer Examiner or a D.C. Technology Examiner? A Cleveland Sports Examiner or a SF Travel Tips Examiner? Writers from all over the country cover something that interests them. As you’ve already seen at this blog, I’m a very active volunteer in my community. Ta Da! I’m Examiner.com’s Laurel [Maryland] Community Volunteer Examiner! I found a way to not only write about the various volunteer opportunities that exist in Laurel, MD, but hopefully, I can encourage more people to become involved in helping their friends, neighbors, and other members of their community. If you’re in the neighborhood and you want to volunteer, check out my web site!

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Spreading the Word

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

My novel, Flying Wires, is mentioned in this week’s issue of the Howard County Times and Laurel Leader newspapers. In his column, John Hayes highlights the books published by four members of the Savage Writers’ Circle. The writers meet at the Savage, Maryland library on the second Monday of each month. John – also an accomplished writer – has had poems published and a couple of his plays performed. Read about these five writers’ accomplishments here.

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Document Conversion

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Thanks to open source software, affiliate marketing, and paid advertising, document conversion is literally, free and easy. Open source software like Open Office allows you to open a Microsoft Word document, for example, edit it and then save it in a variety of document formats. Most useful is the option to save the document as a PDF [portable document format]. The Open Office Suite software [word processor, presentation, drawing, database and spreadsheet programs] is free. I use the word processor and spreadsheet functions almost exclusively; rarely venturing to the Windows side of the fence.

In the realm of paid advertising and affiliate marketing, there are a number of online document conversion software companies that will let you convert electronic files for free. The advertisers help to defray the cost of using the bandwidth and web servers. These web sites offer a broader spectrum of file conversion. For example, audio, video and archive file options are available. One such company is Media-Convert. The only caveat I’ll mention is, check the company’s limitations on file size. You’ll probably find the file conversion format you want, but – using the example of Media-Convert – you’re limited to a file no larger than 150 Mb.

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Angie’s List

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Yesterday, Chrysalis Publications, LLC registered with both the Washington and Baltimore chapters of Angie’s List. One of their slogans, “Get reliable feedback before you hire.” accurately describes this professional online resource for matching contractors, medical professionals, mechanics and secretarial services – to name only a few – with customers.

With more and more people flipping through web pages, like they used to flip through the pages in a telephone book, an Angie’s List contractor’s current information and detailed profile is paired up with favorable [or not] reviews of Angie’s List members. Members subscribe to the list on a monthly, yearly or longer basis. The staff at Angie’s List read all of the reports submitted by members before the reports and the businesses are posted online. Companies do not pay to be listed on Angie’s List.

In fact, although the Chrysalis listings won’t actually appear in a current vendor search at the Angie’s List web site, when a customer submits a report and it’s posted on the List, it will give future and repeat customers a report card and additional information about Chrysalis Publications, LLC. We will post an update as our customers post their reviews.

As manager of Chrysalis Publications, LLC, and a potential customer, I also paid for a subscription. I now have the opportunity to look up and review local computer repair or phone services, for example, via Angie’s List before I contact someone for service.

For more information about Angie’s List, click here. For stories in the news, here.

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