It’s never too soon to start your child on the path to reading. Simply talking to your infant and toddler helps her develop the vocabulary she will need as she enters school and begins to read. As you point and name objects, she will begin to understand the meaning of words, and will eventually begin to incorporate those words into her vocabulary.

The U.S. Department of Education recommends beginning to read to your baby when she is six months old. According to their 2003 report, “Hearing words over and over helps her become familiar with them. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to help her learn.”

In that same report, the Department of Education also recommends that parents reach out to groups that can:

* Help you find age-appropriate books to use at home with your child;

* Show you creative ways to use books with your child and other tips to help her learn; and

* Provide year-round children’s reading and educational activities.

A child’s love for reading grows when the words on the page come to life through experiences shared as a family. For example, after reading Eric Carle’s Ten Little Rubber Ducks to your toddler, you can learn all about real ducks, make ocean snacks, or go on a family outing and feed the ducks at a nearby pond.

In order to help your child get ready to read, the Department of Education also recommends:

* Using sounds, songs, gestures, and words that rhyme to help your baby learn about language and its many uses.

* Pointing out the printed words in your home and other places you take your child to, such as the grocery store.

* Spending as much time listening to your child as you do talking to her.

* Taking children’s books and writing materials with you whenever you leave home. This gives your child fun activities to entertain and occupy herself while traveling and running errands.

* Creating a quiet, special place in your home for your child to read, write, and draw.

* Keeping books and other reading materials where your child can easily reach them. Having her own bookshelf or small bookcase will not only make her feel special, but will also communicate to her that reading is special.

* Reading books, newspapers and magazines yourself, so that your child can see that reading is important.

* Limiting the amount and type of television you and your child watch.

The best thing for you do to ensure that your child will grow up reading well and loving to read is to read to her every day. The time you spend reading together will create a special bond between the two of you, and will open the doors for a dialogue that will continue throughout the more trying years of adolescence. The Department of Education suggests that, when you’re reading, you discuss new words. As an example, they suggest that you say, “This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?” Likewise, they suggest taking time to ask about the pictures and what your child thinks is happening in the story.

The same report suggests additional strategies for early literacy:

* When reading a book with large print, point at each word as you read it. Your child will understand that the word being spoken is the word she sees.

* Read a favorite book over and over again.

* Read stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat, and have your child join in.

Everyone has heard about some of the great business success stories where individuals such as you have made a ton of money with an online business venture. But, you may have asked yourself , “How did they do it?”, “Where do I start?” , “How do I learn to run my own home-based business?” Are those websites that claim they can make me rich for real?

In this article about how to start your own home-based business and make money online, I will be answering those questions for you and more.

I will answer the last question for you first. Those websites that tell you that you don’t have to work at all and just buy their program and you will get rich are absolutely NOT for real. Do not start out wasting your money on get rich quick schemes. If you are unwilling to work or learn about running your own online or home-based business, then it will not succeed.

If I did not describe you in the last sentence above, then read on because in the rest of this article you will find the answers to the questions you may have about running your own home-based online business.

First of all, it is very seldom just blind luck that someone makes a lot of money in an online or home-based business. There are no magic pills to take, no shortcuts, and certainly no Internet Gurus that are only interested in making you money.

To succeed in an online or home-based business you first need to know that it will take time and effort. If you start a business off-line, like a clothing store, you will have to first get a great location, which costs money. Then you will have to buy inventory, which costs money. Then you will either need to hire employees, which cost money, or you will have to work about 12 hours per day to make your business successful.

Many people when they read about someone with a successful online business somehow think that they did it with no investment and hardly any work at all. My question to you is why do you think running an online or home-based business is some how magically more successful with less work?

Well, you have some good reasons to think so. Here are some of the advantages of starting an online business VS an offline business.

Your “great location” is simply a domain name for less than $20 per year. That pretty much beats a lease on a clothing store. Most online businesses do not require you to buy inventory. Again, that saves you even more money! Most online home-based businesses do not create the need for you to hire employees, at least until you are somewhat successful.

However, you will still need to put time and effort called “sweat equity” into your online business just like you would offline. You are also going to have to learn about running an online or home-based business. There is a learning curve.

That brings us back to that first question, “How did they do it?” They read books, or online they are called E-books. Many online business owners have written E-Books on how to run a home-based business online. Each successful Internet Business Owner has written how they achieved success. Many of them took very different paths in their online business.

By reading these E-Books, you will learn numerous methods to make money online and how to start and manage your own home-based business. By reading several of these E-Books before you get started you can avoid a lot of mistakes and find the methods you like best.

Investing in a small library of E-Books about home-based business and making money online is a lot less than any investment you would make to start a business offline. Taking the time to read these E-Books will be the best time investment you will ever make. E-Books are the very first step to any successful Online or Home-Based Business.

Want to talk about fiction but not sure if you can commit to reading a book each month? Especially if it turns out to be a book you don’t like. It’s one thing finding time for a novel you do like, but one that is a struggle just to turn the pages? No thanks.

So what is the answer. Short stories, of course! They can be read in a fraction of the time and then you can talk about them instantly.

So how does a short story club work? Basically the same as a book club but without the 12 hours of homework that it takes to read the novel so that you can join in the discussion.

First up you need to decide if you want to be in an online or offline club. If you are wanting to set up an online club then the best way to do it would be to use either an instant messaging service (Yahoo or MSN are too popular services) or an internet voice service like Skype so that you can chat aloud for free just like you would if you were all meeting in person (go to http://www.skype.com/ for more details).

Whether you decide on an online or offline club, you will need to work out a few other details like how many people you’d like in the club. Too few members and it maybe difficult to get a discussion going, too many and it maybe difficult for everyone to get an opportunity to speak. Eight is probably a good number as it allows for a few people to be away each week but it would probably still work well with six. You could always start off with less and then invite more people in if you feel you need to.

You need to set the guidelines up front so that everyone knows how it will work.
1. How often will you meet? Once a week, once a month, once every two months. You probably wouldn’t want to go any further out than two months or you will lose momentum.
2. When will you meet? Lunchtime, after work, in the evenings, Saturday afternoons, over breakfast. It’s better to be consistent, say every Friday lunchtime or the first Monday evening of the month, so that you save on scheduling time and avoid confusion.
3. Where will you meet? This will probably be determined by when you meet but some possible options are a library, restaurant, someone’s home, a community centre or a café. Wherever you go, make sure that it is not too noisy so that everyone can hear what others are saying.
4. Work out how you will choose what to read. Will you take it in turns to pick? This could work well if people have time to go searching for stories. Will you work from a book of short stories? Bear in mind with this that some people will read ahead. You could subscribe to a short story service like espresso Fiction and receive a new short story every Tuesday which you can discuss. The benefit of this is that the onus to plan ahead doesn’t fall on any one person and saves time.

So you’ve now got the rules organised, how will you get a discussion going? The best way to do this is to structure each meeting along similar lines. A rough outline follows:

. Meet at a set time and allow a few minutes for everyone to catch up with each other
. Spend 15 minutes reading the story
. When everyone is finished, go around in turn and have each person say what they liked or disliked about the story
. Run through a standard list of questions:
– Did the opening grab your attention?
– Was the ending satisfying? Did it derive from the story or did it feel too left field?
– Was it well written?
– How was the pace of the story? Were there any dead spots?
– Was there any padding that didn’t contribute to the telling of the story or development of the characters?
. Finally ask each person to give the story a rating out of ten. One being terrible and ten being outstanding. You can then add the scores together and divide by the number of people attending to give an average score.

E-books have become somewhat of a phenomenon on the Internet because they are so easy to create, and yet they sell like hotcakes on the Web. Many online business owners are earning a six-figure income selling e-books about almost any subject you can imagine. You too can make money fast with this lucrative home business opportunity.

What are E-books?

Maybe you’re new to the Net, and aren’t sure what an e-book is. E-books are electronic books created in a downloadable file that can be read or printed from your computer. The popular download file extensions you’ll see are .PDF (Adobe file) and .EXE (executable file that works in a browser window). These two are the most popular, but there are several others.

You can basically create one downloadable file of your written work using HTML and a basic e-book software, and then provide that one file to thousands of customers, without ever printing a page! The wonderful thing about e-books is you can sell unlimited numbers of them without extra overhead costs, and you can even promote through links inside the e-books to sell your own products and services or affiliate products. E-books provide one of the least costly and most profitable methods to make fast money online.

Make Money with Your Computer with High Earning E-books

E-books can be about any subject, but there are some that seem to outsell others. Probably the most popular types of e-books are instructional. These teach certain skills or reveal secrets about different types of businesses. Some e-books might teach how to become an accountant or paralegal, or how to sew a quilt. Some teach how to cook, how to build a house, how to repair bikes… the list goes on. The e-books you offer should be informative, creative, and simple to use and read.

Other popular e-books are those that teach how to start a home based business online. These include techniques for SEO marketing, network marketing, web development, selling products and services online, and more. Web business owners enjoy reading these for personal goal setting and to learn how to build their business online to make money fast.

2 Ways to Start an E-book Home Business

There are two ways to make money fast selling e-books. One, you can create your own e-books based on your skills and knowledge. This requires some writing and HTML capabilities, or you can hire a ghostwriter and e-book creation company to do the work for you.

Another way is to sell e-books that were created by others. You can sign on with some companies and receive many e-book titles to resell as a bonus. There are also companies that offer resell rights alone. Either way can be beneficial and save you time so you can make money at home right away.

How to Sell the E-books

Finally, you’ll need to know how and where to sell the e-books to make money online. You can sell them through your own website or through online auctions – or both. When you create a website, you’ll be able to control your promotional efforts and receive orders without paying out a commission. Auctions, however, can be a great place to get started and attract additional visitors to your site. Many people use both methods and are able to make money on the Net with multiple streams of income. Whichever method you use, you’ll need to target your audience through search engine marketing and keywords to reach those who might be interested in your e-books.

You can also sell e-books by listing them in e-book directories. There are many directories set up similar to bookstores that will list the title and description of your e-book for free or for a small fee. You’d be surprised at how many people use these as a resource to find helpful books.

E-books give you an amazing opportunity to make money on the Net without spending a fortune in start-up costs. Find the e-book system that works for you today and make money now like never before!

Unlike eBooks or white papers or other digital information products, designing, publishing and promoting printed books can be a “stuffy” and time-consuming process. Thanks to centuries of publishing practice and establish standards, printed books have a set, defined structure, which you’ll need to follow, if you want to be taken seriously as an author and a publisher.

Yes, preparing your information for the print world can be a real pain, at times. It takes days, even weeks, longer than cranking out digital products, and you may not make as much money on the finished product, thanks to competitive pricing that sets the cost of a print book dramatically lower than what is really cost-effective. In a way, the publishing industry maintains its monopoly based on unfair and unrealistic pricing structures, and it traditionally excludes authors and independent publishers who cannot afford to offer deep discounts for their works.

To some infopreneurs, the hassle and the lower profit margins may not seem worth it. But if you want your ideas to reach a wider audience, and you want your ideas to be taken seriously by the book readers of the world, all that effort is necessary, and it can really pay off. Indeed, how well you follow the conventions of print book publishing can mean the difference between being taken seriously by reviewers, interviewers, and your reading public, and being dismissed as just another wanna-be writer who got their hands on some advanced technology and a credit card. Well-structured sections in the front and back (called “front matter” and “back matter”, respectively) like title pages, copyright statements, a table of contents, introductions… bibliographies, endnotes, and about-the-author information, can go a long way towards establishing a visual authenticity with readers, that you just can’t get in eBook format.

Print publishing opens a whole new market for your ideas — the millions of individuals who love to read books, and who prefer them to digital media. Not everyone has a laptop computer they can take with them everywhere, and not everyone likes to read 8-1/2 x 11 printouts. When your ideas are in print, they become instantly accessible to readers the world over, regardless of their technical skill or the availability of a computer. There are no batteries or power cords required, and when someone opens a book, they don’t need to wait for it to start up, before they can begin reading.

Now, to many infopreneurs who are adept at creating eBooks and white papers, print book publishing may be something of a mystery. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re a fiercely independent person, and you prefer to do things yourself, rather than turn them over to others who may (or may not) be competent and as detail-oriented as you, learning how to publish a print book could be just the thing to take your writing and publishing efforts to the next level. You can extend the reach of your information product line, you can approach mainstream traditional media outlets for publicity, you can do live book readings at real-live bookstores, and you can take your book with you wherever you go, to show the world what you’ve got.

Writing and publishing isn’t just about selling product. Yes, having a printed book opens you up to a whole new audience, but commercial profit isn’t the only point of publishing. For you as an independent thinker — a thought leader — publishing is really about getting your ideas out there and making your mark. With the proper tools, an eye for detail, and the right information, you, too, can turn your digital information products into high-quality printed books that widen the reach of your ideas and speak to a larger audience in a whole new way.

Is your book manuscript as professional and compelling as it could be? Tell the truth; could it use some work to make it crisp and compelling? Yes. Keep reading if you need some tips to make your book writing pull readers in by the collar. Also, you’ll discover how to write a book that keeps them reading to the end.

Use the tips below to help you write your book like a pro and finish stronger to sell longer:

1. Write your book title to capture your reader’s attention.

Professional writers know the power wielded through a hot title. They realize a dud title versus a sizzler title can cause their book to plummet or soar in sales. Knowing this, you owe it to yourself and book’s success to develop your best title. After all, the better your title the more people will reach out and grab your book to read. Develop your book title to have top seller status.

2. Develop your opening paragraph with a hook.

Many unseasoned writers don’t realize the importance of starting with a hook (something to capture your reader’s attention and entice them to read further.) Create a sizzling start. Hook your readers through emotion. Slant your book or introduction with a question or an amazing statistic. Share the top benefits of your book early. Target the ‘You’ in every reader.

3. Write a 1-2 sentence thesis for your book.

Following your short introduction including your hook (opening statement), write your thesis. Make it simple; let your readers know what benefits await them if they keep reading. For example, one author friend uses sizzling bullet points to entice the reader into the chapter.

4. Write each chapter to support your thesis.

Experts know a book centered around one central become top sellers. Write a thesis for your book as a whole and each chapter. Book writing with a thesis will help you create a more compelling, organized and easy to read book.

5. Write your book with the self-editor off.

Don’t try to write your book and self-edit as you go. It slows you down and may even make you lose momentum. Get it out on paper then self-edit for re-writing. Get feedback from your friends and associates. A writer’s group is a good place to get feedback. Then invest in a professional editor.

6. Shorten your book introduction.

Entice your reader with the main benefit (main central thought) early to keep them reading. Write the rest of your piece to support your main central thought. Sprinkle the rest of the benefits throughout your copy in descending priority.

7. Slash passive structures.

Use emotional, power verbs to show instead of tell. Passive sentences slow and dull your writing. Get rid of the passive voice sentences. Give your sentences a clear subject and a verb to avoid the passive voice. “The writer found fame and fortune through marketing her books online.” instead of “The writer’s books were instrumental in leading her to fame and fortune.” Avoid connecting verbs like ‘was’, ‘is’, ‘had’, and ‘seemed’.

If you don’t put these How to Write a Book tips into practice you could end up this time next year still writing dull, boring copy for your book. Instead, you could take my advice and attract a host of ezine publishers, other web sites and book readers searching for more of your material?

The best part is they’ll come prepared to pull out their card and buy because your writing caught their attention and kept it. Now go; write your book like a pro to finish stronger and sell longer.

People never change. Nor do their basic desires. They’ve existed for thousands of years and will continue to exist for thousands more.

Names of people will change. Technology will change. People’s desires won’t – their desires are hard-wired into our DNA.

That’s good for you – as an author. By knowing what people want, you can profit from their desires. And since their desires are predictable, your ability to make money from your book ideas just got a lot more profitable, as well.

So, you must be wondering what do people want to read.

The top three general desires revolve around: Food, Love, and Money.

There will ALWAYS be a market for new cookbooks, new books on love, and new books on ways to make money. Guaranteed!

This will never change. Ever.

So if you have an idea that fits in one of those categories – you are well on your way to celebrity status. It doesn’t have to be an original thought on the subject. It can just be a new spin on an existing topic.

NOTE: People do not buy books because they are bargains. They buy them because they have some hope that they will find something – not matter how small – that will positively add value to their lives.

What else are people interested in reading about…

* Security
* Sex
* Power
* Immortality
* Happiness
* Safety
* Health
* Recognition

Some more generalized topics would be things like:

To attract the opposite sex.
To keep their possessions.
To have more fun.
To satisfy curiosity.
To protect their family.
To be in style.
To have beautiful possessions.
To quench their appetite.
To emulate others.
To avoid trouble.
To avoid criticism.
To be an individual.
To protect their reputation.
To grab opportunities.
To make work easier.

When you brainstorm ideas for your book, keep these customer desires in mind.

NOTE: Although it is good to focus your topic, you should try to keep it in a general category that will be wanted by a larger section of the population.

For example: You don’t want to write a book just about “Love” because it’s far TOO general of a topic. But you also don’t want to focus your topic so much it becomes something like “Love between 20 – 24 year olds in Northwest California.”

Yes, I know that was an exaggerated example and you’d never go that targeted but you get my meaning.

Maybe you could write something like “How to be a 20-something in Love.” More targeted than just LOVE but still part of a large group of people who would be interested.

NOTE: Go with a subject you’re already passionate about.

Don’t make this process harder than it has to be. If you’re already passionate about gardening, cooking, investing, pet health, etc. then look in that area for the subject of your book.

#1) You will WANT to become a recognized expert in the field. Nothing worse than finding a topic that will make you money but you’re embarrassed to be associate with.

I did some research and found a hot topic that could have made me thousands literally overnight… but then I realized I didn’t really want my name associated with that topic. Money is important but if you write your book about a topic you’re excited about and you become a recognized expert – achieving celebrity status – you will have SO much more than just money in the bank.

#2) Working on your project will seem like anything but work. When I chose a subject specifically because I think it will make money – I’m less than happy to do the writing. When it’s about something I enjoy then I can’t wait to write and don’t want to stop. I’ve worked until the early hours of the morning because I just lost track of time.

Find something that really gets you excited!

Promote reading in your community, reduce clutter around your home and your contribution of waste to the landfill, save a buck and benefit a charity while you are at it. Just how are you supposed to do all this? Well, it is actually quite simple. Go through your closets and bookshelves and look for all the used books and magazines that you no longer read.

Families that have moved repeatedly know the curse of hoarding is best avoided if at all possible. Moving literally hundreds of pounds of them certainly prompted us to systematically read our books once each and then decide whether it was a “keeper” or not.

Management of used books and magazines is a very environmental and community conscious thing for people to participate in. Extending the life of books and magazines is easily accomplished by taping the binding and edges of the covers. This repairs any damages, prevents wear and tear, and increases the value because it is nicer looking.

There are many options for you to consider for used books and magazines:

* Donating to any library is a good idea. Even well read publications are appreciated. If they do not make it to the library bookshelf, they will be sold in their annual fundraising book sale. There are many kinds of libraries to consider aside from public ones – including church libraries, retirement home libraries, coffee shops and mobile libraries.

* Consider participating in Book Crossing (www.bookcrossing.com) – a charming way to encourage reading and create a connection with the community. This program requests that people register their used book, place an informative label on it and leave it at a common destination place (i.e. bus stop). Individuals that pick up the book visit the website and describe where they found it and where they decided to leave it for the next person to read. It can be quite interesting to see how far the book travels!

* Operation Paperback (www.operationpaperback.org) accepts donated reading material for the military.

* Trading in at the used bookstore is one of our favorite past-times. It feels good to support a local store that focuses on ‘reuse’. The trouble is our shelf is filled once again when we return with bundles of ‘new’ books to read!

* Get involved in exchange loops with friends, family or co-workers. By doing this, we have found ourselves exposed to all sorts of subjects and writing styles that we may not have picked up ourselves.

* Using the Key Words “Book Swap” in a search engine reveals many places online where one can trade used books, including:
- www.paperbackswap.com
- www.titletrader.com
- www.frugalreader.com
- www.bookswap.com

* Leave a box of books near your door for guests to riffle through and have their pick. This way you don’t have to remember to trot out the box when people are visiting.

* Donate to any fund raising event held by schools, churches or non-profit groups.

* Sell, or give away in a garage sale. We always offer free stuff when we have a garage sale. One day we set out a box of magazines, thinking we would be lucky to see half of them off. One of the first bargain hunters happily scooped up the entire box. She couldn’t believe her luck.

* Many waiting rooms (doctor, lawyer, accountant and banking offices) and staff lunchrooms accept donated reading materials.

* Consider hospitals – their patients have to do something healthier than staring at a TV.

* A Local Literacy program.

* Coffee shops are another great place to try.

* Shelters for the poor or disadvantaged, Women’s shelters and missions are other places to consider for your donations. There are a number of less-privileged areas (i.e. Africa) that are hungry for our used school and university books in particular. In keeping with this topic, using the key words ‘book donation’ in a search engine turns up pages of places to donate to. Here are a few of the sites:
- www.asiahousinternational.org
- www.sabre.org/books/bookorg/bkdn_toc.htm
- www.loc.gov/rrr/amed/afs/alc/bkdncte.html
- www.ala.org – lists contact information for organizations that distribute used books.
- www.nationalbook.org/bookdonations.html – lists places that accept book donations

Book clubs have been quite a rage over the last few years. Fueled in part by Oprah and others, the concept of reading a book then gathering with others who have read the same book has become “cool” again.

The reasons people have found them valuable include:

- a great way to have meaningful conversation.

- a way to support your own reading habit (I need to have the book read before the meeting!).

- a way to form a community – to have a great reason to gather with other people to bond.

- A way to learn something in a fun way.

It is for all of those same reasons and more that I suggest and encourage business book clubs. Maybe you would like to start one within your organization or maybe you would prefer to build one among colleagues from outside of work. Either way this article will outline the keys to help you build a successful single event or long-term club.

1. Market the idea. Once you are excited about this concept, use your influence and knowledge of your target group to market the concept to them. Even if your goal is to build a long-term “club.” Don’t market it that way – that requires too big of a commitment for many people. You are trying to encourage people to try something new that will requires their time both to read and participate. Rather than inviting them to make a long-term commitment, encourage them to read one book, then once they see the fun and the value, you will have them hooked.

2. Gain commitment. Once you have sold people on the idea make sure you gain a commitment to participate. People are really committing to two things: reading the book, and coming to the “meeting.” After all, if no one comes to the meeting, (or comes without having read much of the book) you won’t have much of a conversation!

3. Start small. Identify the number of people you will feel good about having involved. Experience shows that if you have 4-5 highly committed people you will have a successful experience. More is fine too, but you don’t have to have everyone in the organization or every person at a certain level participating for it to be successful.

4. Start easy. Not everyone is an avid reader. So pick a book that will be an easy sell in terms of topic and length. Picking the new 450-page book you are interested in might not be the best place to start. Remember that the value of the book club experience is more than just the book you read, but the conversations and ideas they stimulate.

5. Make it fun. This is a part of your marketing effort. Have food. Decorate the room, reminder invitations, etc. in a theme suggested by the book. Make the event itself something that will both encourage people to attend and create a buzz so other people want to attend the next one.

6. Have a facilitator. Someone needs to be responsible for facilitating the conversation. Beyond the normal facilitator roles of keeping others participating that person needs to have a few questions prepared that are designed to stimulate conversation.

7. Facilitate lightly. The facilitator should facilitate but not lead. Remember that you are after input, participation and having people involved in the conversation. Don’t let it become a lecture.

8. Keep the group involved. Beyond the group’s involvement in the conversation itself, get everyone’s input into future meeting times, setups, facilitators, and perhaps most of all, books. When people feel involved, they will be more invested in the success of the next event, and beyond.

I have helped organizations think through how to start these groups and have facilitated these discussions. While we have talked about the benefits that can be gained by individuals who participate in these groups, the organizational benefits can be huge as well. For the investment in a book for each person, organizations can create powerful conversation, deep professional development and better relationships.

Did you ever wonder if some of those age old sayings about marketing are true? For instance, we’ve all heard “It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain a current customer.” But does anyone have any proof of that? That is exactly what a group of authors set out to do in Loyalty Myths: Hyped Strategies That Will Put You Out of Business – and Proven Tactics That Really Work. The authors, Timothy L. Keiningham, Terry G. Varva, Lerzan Aksoy, and Henri Wallard are all experts in consumer loyalty and use their wealth of knowledge to dispel common myths and offer insight into what really works.

The book chooses and interesting format – the first six chapters are devoted to dismiss over fifty common ‘loyalty myths’ and the final two chapters are used to learning about why customers are loyal and how a loyalty program should be managed. Each of the ‘loyalty myths’ chapters contains several ‘myths’ grouped together by common themes, such as Loyalty Myths That Subvert Company Goals and Loyalty Myths Regarding Employees. The chapters both begin and end with an example pulled from industry that encompasses all of the myths mentioned in the chapter, with the actual myths discussed in the middle.

The authors spend a couple of pages banishing each of the fifty three myths. Some of the myths are things that we tend to take for granted, such as “Companies tend to know their customers,” while others like “share-of-wallet increases as customer lifetimes increase” would seem intuitively true. For each and every one, the authors use solid historical data to dispel the myth and show the negative business effects of believing it.

The final two chapters focus on seven ‘loyalty truths’ such as “Don’t manage for customer retention before you manage for customer selection” and “Customer loyalty and brand imagery are far from independent; you must manage them hand-in-hand.” The authors do a good job of going through how to build and measure a loyalty program around these ‘truths.’

The book is an extremely fast paced, entertaining read. Anyone reading the book with an open mind will agree with the authors’ solid reasoning. In particular, business owners, CEO’s, and anyone in marketing or consumer affairs will directly benefit by eliminating these ‘myths’ from their business and implementing the ‘truths.’ This book can have a very real impact on your company’s bottom line. Many businesses mindlessly pour money into customer loyalty programs without taking the steps outlined in this book. For some companies, a loyalty program doesn’t even make sense. For others, their program needs a significant overhaul. This book will help you identify where your business is and give you the tools to make improvements.

The only downside with the book is the shear number of myths. Many of the ‘myths’ blend together and readers would probably be more likely to retain the ‘myths’ if there were ten as opposed to fifty-three (similar to the seven ‘truths’). The amount of myths also doesn’t allow for the authors to go into quite as much detail as one would like for each ‘myth.’ There are several myths that aren’t so much dispelled in the paragraph or two devoted to it, but within the context of the entire chapter. It just seems like it would have made more sense to combine many of the myths.

Overall, Loyalty Myths: Hyped Strategies That Will Put You Out of Business – and Proven Tactics That Really Work is a tremendously entertaining and enlightening read. Anyone that has an interest in consumer loyalty will learn a great deal of directly applicable information that can save their company money and help differentiate them from the competition.