Joe Kraynak

iGoogle & Onscreen Post-It Notes

I love Google, but I think I love Post-It notes even more. I’m constantly writing lists and sticking them on my desk, the bottom of my monitor, and the walls on either side of me. Unfortunately, the notes sometimes peel off, and I end up losing track of what I’m doing (or should be doing).

I checked out iGoogle the other day and discovered what I believe could be the perfect solution - an iGoogle “gadget” that displays a tiny notebook right on my Internet Explorer Home Page. Here’s what it looks like:

As you can see, iGoogle has all sorts of interesting and useful gadgets you can add to your home page. Check it out:

1. Open a Google account.
2. Sign in to your account.
3. Click the iGoogle link in the upper right corner of Google’s home page.
4. Start customizing your home page!

You’ll be amazed at what Google has to offer. (And no, I don’t own Google stock.)

Tip: For more cool gadgets, check out LabPixies.

Make Your Own Tasty Pizza

Ever since I moved from Chicago to Indiana, I can’t seem to get a good pizza, so I started making my own. It’s a blast! My pizzas still don’t stack up to some of the better pizzas you can get in most hole-in-the-wall pizza joints in Chicago, but for my tastes, they certainly beat what chains like Pizza Hut and Domino’s have to offer. Here’s a quick and easy dough recipe I picked up at About.com with a couple tips followed by a sauce recipe (or two):

Dough Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Put warm water in a cup; sprinkle yeast over water and stir in sugar. Let yeast stand for about 10 minutes, or until it begins to bubble.

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl; pour in yeast mixture and beat until a stiff dough is formed.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Add extra flour as necessary to keep from sticking to hands and board.

Place in a large bowl (glass, ceramic, or metal) greased with olive oil; turn dough over to coat the other side with olive oil. Cover with towel; let rise in a warm place, away from drafts, for about 30 minutes. Dough will be double in bulk. Punch dough down and divide in half. Grease two 14-inch pizza pans and grease hands lightly. Place half the dough in each pan and stretch to fit bottom and up sides of pan. Keep dough slightly thick around the edges. Fill with favorite filling and toppings and bake according to pizza recipe directions, or about 15 to 20 minutes at 425°.

Tips

Before I begin, I fill my bowls (yeast bowl and mixing bowl) with hot water and let them sit for awhile, so they’ll be warm when I start. This helps the dough rise. (Not too hot, or you’ll kill the yeast.)

If you don’t have a warm spot to let the dough rise, turn the oven on and let it warm up to 170 degrees. Then turn it off and leave the door shut. After you’re done mixing the dough, you can then set your mixing bowl in the oven (covered with a towel). I doubt a plastic bowl would melt at such a low temperature, but to be safe, use a glass, metal, or ceramic bowl.

My brother Greg recommends adding honey to make the crust a little crispy. I tried it (replacing the sugar with honey), but it didn’t work for me. It did seem to make the dough a little more stretchy, though.

Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• dash red pepper (optional)

Preparation

Combine all ingredients. Makes about 1 1/2 cups, enough for two pizzas.

Tips

Try using crushed tomatoes rather than tomato sauce, but add a tablespoon or so of sugar or your sauce will taste acidic.

Add a can of diced tomatoes to make the sauce a little chunky and stretch it out.

Toppings

This is entirely up to you. I like using fresh Italian sausage (uncooked) - you can fry it and drain off the grease, but I think that’s the best part.

Sometimes, I’ll make a barbecue chicken pizza. Instead of pizza sauce, use barbecue sauce. Dice chicken breasts into small pieces and fry them up beforehand to use as a topping. I also add diced onions.

Which Costs More: Public University or Private College?

When my son announced that he wanted to attend Wabash College, a small private college in Crawfordsville, Indiana, my initial thought was: “We’ll never be able to afford that!” At the time, room, board, and tuition cost a little over $30,000 per year. I suggested that maybe he apply to a couple state universities as backups – Purdue or Indiana University, for example. He insisted that he was going to Wabash.

If your kid wants to go to a private college, don’t automatically assume that you can’t afford it. It may end up costing you less money!

He applied, marked the early decision option, and was accepted. While he celebrated his accomplishment, my wife and I were in shock – sticker shock – $30K?!

We took the next step in the application process, filing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid ) – the financial aid form required by most colleges and universities. We then had to submit some financial records, including tax returns, and we scheduled a meeting with the financial aid director.

When we met with the financial aid director, he handed us a single sheet of paper that broke down the numbers for us. What a relief! Although attendance was still priced at over $30,000, we would be expected to pay only a little over $15,000! Our son would borrow about $5,000 per year, so we, his parents, were only going to have to pay a little over $10,000 annually. This was very comparable to what we would have had to pay for him to attend a state university.

Now, four years later, our daughter is going through the same process. Now, the situation is reversed: She is leaning heavily toward attending a state college, and we’re trying to convince her to consider smaller, private colleges, which are actually going to cost us less!

She was accepted into five schools – Purdue, Indiana University, DePauw, Manchester, and Hanover. So far, she has received four of her five financial aid statements. Here’s how they break down from most to least CtP (Cost to Parents – an unofficial designation I made up):

(The total financial aid offered by each school listed includes a $3,500 Stafford loan that our daughter would be responsible for paying.)

DePauw University

Purdue University

Indiana University

Manchester College

Hanover College

The take home message here is this: If your kid wants to go to a private college, don’t automatically assume that you can’t afford it. If your “child” does relatively well in school and is willing to take on a moderate amount of debt, he or she may well be able to attend the college of his or her choice. Not only that, but it may end up costing you less money!

Publishing a Bestseller

I have never been what I consider a bestselling author. I’m no Stephen King or J.K. Rowling (although my initials are JK). I have written and co-authored several books that have been moderate successes, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to PCs and Flipping Houses For Dummies. I’ve also written and co-authored several flops—Deconstructing Golden Tee Live, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Oceans, and Psychology Today Here to Help: The Secrets of Sexual Ecstasy.

Over the years, I’ve developed a list of the key components that contribute to making a book a market success. Each component may not need to super strong. For example, a popular celebrity can pen a bestseller without making a huge investment in marketing. The stronger each component is, however, the more successful the book.

Popular Topic

Ideally, you want to spot a hot topic several months before it becomes a hot topic, especially if you’re working on time-sensitive projects, such as computer books. In some categories, the first book that hits the shelves has a huge advantage, even if it’s not that good.

If you can’t find a wide open opportunity—a popular topic on which little or nothing of merit has been published—the next best thing is to find a topic that’s hugely popular already and try to take your slice of the pie. When we wrote Flipping Houses For Dummies, for example, several house flipping books were already on the market. We knew our book would be a success, because we believed we could write something better and that the For Dummies® brand would drive sales.

Although you can certainly write on less popular topics with some success by hitting the right niche, I think it is much more difficult. The potential market is just too small.

Strong Author Platform

Many professional writers can research and write on a variety of topics. Over the years, I have done this myself. However, nobody knows me as an expert in anything… except perhaps beginning-level computer topics, where being an expert isn’t all that important. (What’s important when you’re writing beginning-level computer books is your ability to communicate a complex topic in easy to understand language.) In other words, I don’t have a strong author platform. I don’t have a hugely popular website or blog. I don’t appear on TV. I’m not interviewed by newspaper and magazine reporters. In fact, I prefer to sort of avoid the spotlight.

Authors who have strong platforms have what I like to think of as the celebrity edge. They’ve already established credibility and built somewhat of a high-profile and a following. Whatever books they choose to write in their area of expertise (assuming the topic is somewhat popular) are likely to sell pretty well.

One of the reasons I team up to co-author books with experts in other fields is because they already have a strong platform. They provide me with what I am lacking.

What Is an Author Platform?

An author platform is the marketing machine the author already has in place before he or she begins writing the book. This can consist of any of the following (the more, the merrier):

• Websites
• Blogs
• Mailing lists
• Speaking gigs
• Print media exposure (writing or being interviewed for newspaper or magazine articles or columns)
• TV appearances (on news or popular TV shows)
• Radio interviews

Ralph R. Roberts, the lead author on several of the books I’ve co-authored, has the best author platform of anyone I’ve worked with. He is a self-proclaimed Madman Marketer and is constantly seeking and inventing creative new ways to market his products, including his books. For examples of how Ralph uses websites and blogs to promote books, check out FlippingFrenzy.com and GetFlipping.com. We also do regular articles for RISMedia and Realty Times.

Solid Manuscript

Delivering a solid manuscript is essential to making a successful book. I edited manuscripts for about five years before I started writing them myself, and I found that I could always make a bad manuscript better, but I could rarely make it good. A repaired manuscript is like a car that’s a lemon—it never runs right. The author needs to deliver high-quality, comprehensive content that is clearly worded:

• Explain everything the reader needs to know. Errors of omission are the most difficult to spot, so they rarely get corrected.
• Present the information in a logical manner. Starting with a very detailed outline helps.
• Writing is rewriting. Set each chapter aside for a day or two and revise it before delivering it to the publisher.

I used to think that if “you build it, they will come”—that is, if you write a good book, people will automatically flock to the bookstores and buy it. As long as I believed that, I was destined to be somewhat poor. Yes, you do have to write a good book and deliver a solid manuscript. This is, perhaps, the single most important part of making a book successful, but it is simply not enough.

Excellent Editing

Outstanding editors make books better. They can make a lousy manuscript passable, a fair manuscript good, and a good manuscript excellent.

In the good old days, we used to have five editors on every book:

• Acquisitions: The acquisitions editor was in charge of identifying potentially hot topics and lining up the best available authors.
• Production: The production editor managed the process to ensure the book remained on track and on schedule. This person logged everything as it arrived from the author and then tracked it through the publishing process from development editor to copy editor to production.
• Development: The development editor focused on the big stuff. Does the manuscript cover everything? Is the information presented in a logical order? Is the text even readable?
• Technical: The technical editor has traditionally been a freelancer who is also an expert on the topic. This person’s job is to ferret out any technical inaccuracies and any gaps (errors of omission).
• Copy: The copy editors check for and correct errors in grammar, spelling, and typing. The best copy editors also do some development work to ensure that everything is presented clearly and logically.

Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that some publishers, in an attempt to streamline the process and cut costs, have done away with some of the editors. In some cases, a single editor is in charge of development, production, and copy editing. In such cases, you usually see books with many more errors. I think that no one person can do a thorough job of developing and copy-editing a book; they become less careful with each pass.

Great Sales and Distribution

If people go to the bookstores and can’t find the book they want, you have a problem. That’s why it’s essential to have a publisher who can get your book into the bookstores, both online and off.

Admittedly, I don’t know very much about how sales and distribution work and how much of an effect these factors have on the market success of a book. Perhaps someone with more knowledge on this topic will stumble across this post and offer some insight.

Unrelenting Marketing Campaign

The publishing biz is highly competitive. To have your title’s voice rise above the clamor of the crowd, you have to market it. While much of the marketing comes from the author platform and publisher’s sales and distribution (not necessarily in that order), the author and publisher need to work together both at the grass roots and higher levels to spread the word. Here are some suggestions:

• Send copies of the book to reviewers in the media, including bloggers who commonly blog on the book’s topic. (Include a press release with information that makes it easier for the person to write the review.)
• Send complimentary copies to support groups, user groups, or special-interest groups who are likely to find the topic interesting. (These groups may be able to earn money by selling the book on their website or blog through Amazon’s Associates program or by making a bulk order purchase through the publisher.)
• Offer to write articles for publications that commonly carry articles related to the book’s topic.
• Offer yourself to the media for interviews. Many will send you their questions via email, so you can email your answers (if you don’t interview well over the phone or in person).
• Create your own blog or website to promote the book.
• Post comments and answer questions on other people’s blogs or in newsgroups related to the book’s topic.

The marketing opportunities are almost endless when you begin to think about the various ways you can promote a book. I haven’t even mentioned book signings and speaking engagements, for example.

Please Add Your Insights

A publisher once told me that he loved being in publishing, because it was such a “sexy” profession. I agree. I also find it fascinating. After about 20 years, I’m still learning every day. I invite my colleagues to add their comments and insights about what they think makes a book successful. I’m sure they can fill in the gaps, correct my errors of omission, and teach this old dog some new tricks.

Cutting Out the Middleman with Peer-to-Peer Commerce

As I was waiting in the dentist’s office a couple days ago, I came across an article in Time magazine about peer-to-peer lending by Jeninne Lee/St. John entitled ”Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare $10,000?” Various Internet-based companies  facilitate the process by which the “haves” (people with money) can lend money to the “have nots.”

• Prosper
• Virgin Money
• LendingClub

Not only do these companies allow anyone with some savings to become a lender, but according to most reports, borrowers feel more obligated to make payments when they are borrowing from individuals rather than from banks.

Peer-to-peer lending helps both the lender and the borrower. The lender can usually charge more interest than they would earn by keeping the money in a bank account or CD. The borrow benefits by having access to cash, and with the way banks are tightening credit, having access to cash is something that consumers may be more than willing to pay for.

I’m wondering what other areas of commerce this model can be applied to. Perhaps we can get rid of insurance companies by pooling our money online.

Ugh! Canceling My TrueCredit Account

A couple years ago, ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, Inc. sent me a letter indicating that it had lost a tape containing sensitive information about its customers. To make up for it, they gave me a free 90-day subscription to TrueCredit, a credit monitoring system that notifies you in the event that anything changes on your credit report. If someone tries to take out a loan or sign up for a credit card using your name, TrueCredit notifies you via email.

I used the service for 90 days. If I remember correctly, ABN AMRO extended the free subscription for an entire year. I loved the service. Eventually my free subscription expired, and I chose not to pay for it. I figured I’d just download a free credit report once a year.

TrueCredit kept emailing me with special offers, and one day I decided to sign up for a free 30-day trial. I never had any intention of continuing beyond the 30-days. I just wanted a free copy of my credit report.

Just before my 30 days were up, I logged in to TrueCredit and started looking for an option to cancel the account. There is no such option. You have to call. I called and told the person who answered that I wanted to cancel my account. He asked why, so I told him that I just wanted the free report. I said I thought the service was excellent and offered many benefits, but I was unwilling to pay for it at this time. He then launched into a long series of benefits and recommended that I continue the service. I said, “No. I understand the benefits, and I still want to cancel the service.”

He continued, this time with scare tactics. If I discontinue the service, I will no longer have identity theft insurance, and if someone steals my identity, it could really cost me some money… blah, blah, blah. I told him that I understood and I still wanted to cancel the service. I had to repeat my desire to cancel the service no fewer than five times.

This is one of my pet peeves. If I can sign up for a service online, I think I should be able to opt out online, too. And if I call to cancel, I shouldn’t have to tell the person five to ten times that I want to cancel. Once, maybe twice, should be enough.

The gentleman I talked with told me he would cancel my account. He gave me a confirmation number and sent me an email message confirming the cancellation. It ended well, but what a hassle. This will make me think twice about ever signing up for these free services, even with legitimate companies.

Distressed Property Blog

As one of the co-authors of Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies and Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, I keep an eye out for web-based resources that can potentially aid homeowners in the fight to reestablish their credit and save their homes and help investors find promising opportunities. One such site recently came across my radar screen: Distressed Property Blog.

Duane LeGate, creator and manager of the blog, is in the process of populating it with articles on avoiding foreclosure and investing in distressed properties. Recent topics include the following:

• Graceful Exit Strategies to Get Out from Under a House You Can’t Afford
• Negotiating Payment Issues with Lenders
• Trimming Your Losses with a Short Sale
• Researching a Property before Making an Offer
• Evaluating Current Market Conditions

Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash Stains Teeth

During my previous visit to the dentist, the dental hygienist said that my teeth had a lot of plaque, so I decided to put a real effort into caring for my teeth. I brushed after every meal, flossed once or twice a day, and started rising with Crest Pro-Health mouthwash.

After a couple weeks, I noticed that my teeth were stained worse than ever – dark brown stains particularly near the gum line. When I smiled, my daughter said that it looked as though I had algae growing on my teeth.

I assumed it was from the harsh cleaning I had received at the dentist office. I thought maybe the hygienist had scrubbed off a protective layer and that the first few cups of coffee I had after that cleaning had somehow soaked into my porous teeth.

Today, I visited the dentist for my six-month checkup. She looked at my teeth and noted how stained they were. She said, “You’re not a smoker, are you?” I told her no, I’m not a smoker.

The hygienist did her cleaning. She needed a special high-powered water pick to blast the stain off. She couldn’t finish. She scheduled me for another appointment.

I explained how discouraged I was. Here I was trying my best to care for my teeth, and this was the worst staining I’ve had in my entire life. How could that be possible?

The hygienist asked if I brushed with Crest Pro-Health. I said no, I don’t brush with it but I do use Crest Pro-Health mouthwash at least once a day and sometimes twice. I asked her why? She explained that Crest Pro-Health toothpaste uses stannous fluoride, which can stain some people’s teeth. She said she didn’t think the mouthwash had stannous fluoride. (I checked the label when I got home – no stannous fluoride. Sure enough, the toothpaste tube does have a warning “products containing stannous fluoride may produce surface staining of the teeth.” No such warning appears on the mouthwash bottle.)

When I got home, I Googled “crest pro health mouthwash stains teeth.” The entire first page of results contained links to articles and blog posts from people who reported that Crest Pro-Health mouthwash stained their teeth a dark brown soon after they began using it.

This really irritates me. I was using a product I thought would make my teeth healthier and whiter and make my gums stronger. Instead, it made my smile look like I was a two-pack a day smoker.

Beware of Spoof Email

I’ve been receiving plenty of spoof email lately, and I wonder how successful these scamsters are at convincing people to hand over sensitive account information. I’m afraid that anyone who is unaware of phishing scams could become easy prey to spoof email.  

Spoof email is email that you receive from someone who is usually pretending to represent a particular company, such as eBay, PayPal, Citibank, and so on. The email message typically warns that you have an urgent problem with your account that you must correct immediately or you will lose access to your account. For your convenience, the message typically contains a link you can click to go directly to the website where you can log in and make corrections to your account.

The trouble is, the link takes you to a website that looks like the official company’s website but is really an imposter trying to collect your account information. This is also known as phishing - as in the person is “fishing” for sensitive data, such as…

• Login name and password
• PIN
• Social Security Number
• Account number
• ATM/Debit or Credit Card number
• CCV (Credit Card Validation) code

Once the scamster has this information, he or she can login to your account, obtain additional information, and use your account to steal your identity and commit other crimes.

What to do

Whenever you receive a message from a company requesting that you go to a particular website to correct account information, you should be suspicious. Take the following actions:

1. If the message contains a link, rest the mouse pointer on the link and look in the status bar at the bottom of the window in which the message is displayed. The status bar will usually reveal the real address of the website or page that the link will take you to. (This is usually different from the address displayed in the message and does not match the address of the legitimate company’s website, as shown below.)



2. Never click the link in one of these messages, even if the message appears to be legitimate. You’re better off opening your Web browser and typing in the official website address yourself, such as www.paypal.com
3. Report the incident to the company being spoofed. Most legitimate companies that are “spoofed” like to know when someone is trying to steal their customer’s information. Visit the company’s official website and look for a “Security” link or something similar (usually at the top or bottom of the page), which you can click to obtain information about what to do. The company will usually ask that you forward the spoof email to them. If you get a spoof email pretending to be from Citibank, PayPal, or eBay, for example, you can forward the message to one of the following email addresses:
        emailspoof@citibank.com
        spoof@paypal.com
        spoof@ebay.com
4. Report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission by forwarding a copy of the message to:
        spam@uce.gov

If you happen to visit a spoof website by mistake and enter any information on that site, contact the legitimate company immediately and ask how to proceed. You may need to cancel your account and open a new account. This could be very inconvenient, but it’s far better than having a criminal running around with access to your account information.