Until very recently, directing wisdom was passed on in the form of "tips". Continuing this tradition, you will find them ranging from the way set a scene to directing the actor on the way to laugh. The tips are clear, concise, evocative, and constructed to give you a better day in rehearsal and performance. A buffet of ways to improve immediately that you'll refer to over and over again!

Are you new to the acting industry and unsure where to start? Are you graduating from a high school or college acting program and seeking guidance as you enter the professional industry? Are you looking to learn the business essentials for yourself or your child without getting overwhelmed? Then "Crash Course: Preparing for the Business of Professional Acting" is the source for you. The information in this volume covers everything you will need to know in a condensed, easy-to-navigate fashion. The book covers such topics as: Acting Training, Areas of Work for Actors, Unions, Advice for Parents of Child Actors, Things to Beware of, Resumes (step-by-step guide & samples0, Headshots & Comp Cards (with samples), Reels & Voice-over demos, Websites & Business Cards, Talent Agents & Managers, Casting Directors, Finding the Work & Submitting, Recommended Casting Sites & Books for Actors. And more.

Love mystery? Then you'll love this book. Hate mystery? Then YOU'LL love this book. Pronzini is a fount of information about the "best" (read: hilariously inept) in mystery fiction. He's read every book ever written in the genre, it seems, and shows genuine affection for the form. The fun he pokes at the authors and their works is gentle and doesn't distract at all from your wonderment at the fact that these books ever even existed. It might, however, make you want to seek them out and try for yourself. Or maybe it'll help prevent a misstep in purchasing a book you wouldn't end up enjoying. Either way, this book is worth a read (or three). These mystery authors have gone unsung for too long.

This second - totally revised, expanded and updated - edition of the popular book marketing guide showswriters and publishers how to market books for free. Confused about how to build an author platform? Frustrated with slow marketing progress? Discover how to create a viable online author presence in this valuable and informative book, "e;111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free"e; - Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book's Success..Creating an online presence can be a daunting task for the author. Promoting yourself and a book can quickly lead to becoming overwhelmed. Strategize your writing career by planning how to publish, publicize, and launch your book. Learn how to get your books in bookstores and libraries, and successfully contact television and radio stations, and bloggers. Develop a solid plan to market your book and watch your sales grow. Are you ready to elevate your book promotion?For newcomers and seasoned authors, "e;111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free "e;delves deeply into the mechanics of taking your writing career to the next level. With more links and resources, this book can easily become invaluable to the writer. Although it may be dense with information, the content is much more detailed.Reviewer: "e;I liked the author's tips on how to build online relationships. As someone who avoids social media, (it has been the bane of my author's existence). I really appreciated how the author breaks down how to work on social media. Short, to the point, succinct. Finally, I get it! I am so excited to implement so many of these ideas. I was also thrilled to read the section on how to pitch to television and radio. Another superb writer's resource book from an excellent author."e;

A PLEA FOR HELP Martha Reed begged Lawman Joshua Creed to help her recover a fortune in gold left hidden by her dead outlaw husband. He readily agreed to help, since the gold had been stolen from the railroad. She told him that she wanted to return the gold to its rightful owner, but was she telling the truth? To find the answer to that question, Creed would first have to brave dangerous Apache Territory, closely followed by an enraged band of marauding Indians!

Remembrance of Flings Past ... At first P.I. Patricia Delaney is tempted to turn down Gigi Lafferty's odd request to investigate her own past. She doesn't recognize the expensive Cincinnati matron as her old pal Loretta King, once a stripper at Poppy's Parrot, a club on the wrong side of the Ohio River. And by the time she makes the connection, Gigi has vanished, and the police are questioning Patricia about a body she found floating in the Lafferty swimming pool -- the body of yet another Poppy's Parrot alumna. It's a deeply disturbing assignment for Patricia, but she sticks with it because Gigi/Loretta once did her the greatest of favors. With luck -- and the help of her wonderful computer -- she may be able to reciprocate. Only an amoral killer and her own painful past stand in the way.

H. J. Mavity, painter of paperback romance covers, has a perplexing riddle to solve when her ex-boyfriend, Rick Dell, collapses at her feet after telling her that the words "ninety-nine clop clop" hold the clue to a lot of money. Although Dell has clearly been murdered, H. J.'s avarice gets the better of her and she determines to risk the ire of whoever has killed Dell to go after the money. First, however, she must understand the riddle and who better to help her than her ex-husband, Ben Spanner, a gifted mimic whose voice is known to millions through TV and radio commercials. Ben knows just about every show business joke around and will surely be familiar with the routine of a hack stand-up comic like Dell. Ben is somewhat aggrieved to see H. J. again for he knows better than anyone else that she spells trouble. He comes through with the riddle to which "ninety-nine clop clop" is the solution but H. J.'s lingering attraction for him overcomes his common sense and he, too, is soon in pursuit of the stash Dell's clue points to—though more to protect H. J. than to feather his own nest. Little does Ben suspect that H. J. has plans that don't include him. When a new job takes him to New York City to play the voice of an English muffin, H. J. takes the opportunity to slip away from his Connecticut home with the contents of Dell's hideaway. Ben, who thought he had convinced H. J. that their and should be turned over to the police, must now use all his ingenuity to save her from a desperate killer.

For many of us, the drive to affect positive change--however vague or idiosyncratic our sense of this might be--has guided our work in higher education. We champion the pursuit of a college degree because few endeavors can match it in terms of advancing a person's economic mobility (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner, and Yagan; 2017). Despite recent debates about the value of a college degree (Pew Research Center, 2017), the opportunities and financial stability awarded to those with college degrees remain apparent when they are compared to peers who have only graduated high school (Pew Research Center, 2014). And while more Americans have a college degree than ever before (Ryan and Bauman, 2016), access to a formal, post-secondary education continues to be elusive for some. Indeed, over the last ten years, analysts have projected that the cost of attending college would keep 2.4 million low-to-moderate income, college-qualified high school graduates from completing a college degree (Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2006). During that same period, college students in the United States saw expenses related to tuition and fees increase by 63 percent, school housing costs (excluding board) increase by 51 percent, textbook prices increase by 88 percent (Bureau of Labor, 2016). Because few students can afford a college education by salary alone, 44.2 million Americans have sought financial aid via student loans. As a result, total student loan debt is now topping $1.45 trillion in the United States (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2017), and student loan delinquency rates are averaging 11.2 percent (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2017). The burden of a student's financial decisions extends beyond the mere individual: society will inevitably carry the weight of this debt for years to come.

“A comprehensive, entertaining, and compelling argument for how rebuilding social infrastructure can help heal divisions in our society and move us forward.”—Jon Stewart NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • “Engaging.”—Mayor Pete Buttigieg, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) We are living in a time of deep divisions. Americans are sorting themselves along racial, religious, and cultural lines, leading to a level of polarization that the country hasn’t seen since the Civil War. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together and find common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done? In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how “social infrastructure” is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges. Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION “Just brilliant!”—Roman Mars, 99% Invisible “The aim of this sweeping work is to popularize the notion of ‘social infrastructure'—the ‘physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact'. . . . Here, drawing on research in urban planning, behavioral economics, and environmental psychology, as well as on his own fieldwork from around the world, [Eric Klinenberg] posits that a community’s resilience correlates strongly with the robustness of its social infrastructure. The numerous case studies add up to a plea for more investment in the spaces and institutions (parks, libraries, childcare centers) that foster mutual support in civic life.”—The New Yorker “Palaces for the People—the title is taken from the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie’s description of the hundreds of libraries he funded—is essentially a calm, lucid exposition of a centuries-old idea, which is really a furious call to action.”—New Statesman “Clear-eyed . . . fascinating.”—Psychology Today