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Newsletter No. 91


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                             Free Pint
         "Helping 39,000 people use the Web for their work"
                     http://www.freepint.com/

ISSN 1460-7239                                    5th July 2001 No.91
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                           IN THIS ISSUE

                             EDITORIAL

                        MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
                        from Geoff Harrison

                    FREE PINT BAR & STUDENT BAR
                    In Association with Factiva
                   a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
                     Reviewed by Simon Collery

                               JOBS
           Reading Development Manager | Market Analyst
         Research/Editorial Assistant | Information Manager

                           TIPS ARTICLE
                        "D.I.Y. Site Design"
                          By Duncan Parry

                             BOOKSHELF
                  "Poor Richard's Creating eBooks"
                   Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early

                          FEATURE ARTICLE
                         "Obtaining Grants"
                        By Harris Rosenberg

               EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES

                        CONTACT INFORMATION

              ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
            <http://www.freepint.com/issues/050701.htm>


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                      >>>  ABOUT FREE PINT  <<<

Free Pint is an online community of information researchers. Members
receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on
finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet.
Joining is free at <http://www.freepint.com/> and provides access to
the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, jobs, industry news
& events, with answers to your research questions and networking at
the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". Please circulate the newsletter
which is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.

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                             EDITORIAL

It seems that everyone these days is talking about protecting their
investments and assets. Many people have seen their stock market share
holdings crumble recently, and I'm very pleased indeed that we didn't
finalise the fund raising last year for Free Pint. I'm pretty certain
that had we done so Free Pint would not be around today.

That's why our first major content partnership has been with ICC, to
give Free Pinters the ability to research a UK company to confirm it's
identity and assess credit worthiness. Indeed, my announcement in the
last issue that we're giving away a free Financial Report worth 24
pounds to every user has gone down a storm. However, many members have
written to ask exactly what amount of data is included in this report.

As well as statutory information, a Financial Report has detailed
accounts information going back five years (profit and loss, balance
sheet, notes to accounts, ratios, filing history), details of
ownership (including names of directors, group structure,
subsidiaries) as well as risk information, including county court
judgements, suggested credit limits and a comparison of the company
against others in the same industrial sector.

Remember, every member of Free Pint is entitled to one free Financial
Report, on a UK company of your choice, until the end of July. All you
have to do is to purchase any other report from the system, with
prices starting as low as 2 pounds. To find out more, run a free
search and see samples, please visit <http://www.freepint.com/icc>.

In today's Free Pint we've got some really super articles, covering
topics which are regularly asked about at the Bar. There's a great
overview to building your own Web site, as well as a very informative
guide to finding out about grants online. We've also packed in the
regular mix of tips, reviews, job listings and a run-down of the
latest enquiries at the Free Pint Bar.

We've been protecting our assets too, and I'm delighted to announce 
that 'Free Pint' is now officially registered as a trade mark.

If you consider Free Pint an asset, then please don't protect it too
much. Do pass this issue on to your colleagues and share the benefits
of free membership. They can sign up at <http://www.freepint.com>.

Cheers
William

       William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor
      Email: <william@freepint.com>   Tel: +44 (0)1784 455435
Free Pint is a registered trademark of Free Pint Limited (c) 1997-2001

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        The information world is changing ... and so are we!

       The new Information World Review launches in September.
                To ensure your copy, subscribe today.

             http://orion.learned.co.uk/iwr/subscribe.asp

                      or call +44 (0)1795 414964

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        >>>  INFORMATION RESEARCH JOBS AROUND THE WORLD  <<<
                   <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>

  Free Pint Jobs: Listing of 100 information jobs around the world
   Job Seekers: Search for free and set up an email alert profile
    Advertisers: Match your vacancies against 200+ user profiles
      Agencies: Include all your jobs for one low monthly fee
                   <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>

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                        MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
                        from Geoff Harrison

* Webferret <http://www.zdnet.com/ferret> - a desktop based meta
  search engine which trawls through 20 of the top search engines at a
  time.  My first port of call whenever Google doesn't come up trumps.

* FindArticles.com <http://www.findarticles.com/>  - The first place I
  look for technical material - a searchable database of technical and
  scientific articles from several hundred journals.

* The Quotations Page <http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html> -
  Daily quotes from the great and good. Usually very funny and
  sometimes even quite inspirational.

* <http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html> - Stunning
  photographs of the cosmos from the Hubble telescope.  Puts things in
  perspective sometimes.

* teldir.com <http://www.teldir.com/eng/> - Most of the world's online
  telephone directories in one place.

Geoff Harrison is a systems analyst and compiler of 
<http://www.thebigproject.co.uk>, used by ex-colleagues at a recently
closed petrochemical engineering consultants to keep in touch and
search for jobs.

Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm> and email <simon@freepint.com>.

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           The end of a day. A good day. A fantastic day.
    Facts at your fingertips.  The power to search.  Your way.
                Pinpoint precision.  Best content.
Dow Jones and Reuters. Two global leaders. One incredible new service.
              Factiva.com The basis of a good decision
   Factiva launched its new product Factiva.com on June 11th.
      visit http://www.factiva.com/factiva to find out more.

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      >>>  CAN YOU TRUST YOUR UK SUPPLIERS OR CUSTOMERS?  <<<

   Free Pint's research gateway has details of ALL UK companies.
Confirm basic details for free, pay for detailed financials if needed.
 One free Financial Report with any purchase. Reports from 2 pounds.
    Come on. Protect your assets: <http://www.freepint.com/icc>

     [One free report per customer. Offer ends 31st July 2001]

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                           FREE PINT BAR
                    In Association with Factiva
                   a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
                           
                     Reviewed by Simon Collery
          <http://www.freepint.com/issues/050701.htm#bar>


Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
-------------------------------------------

   [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of
     XXXXX in the address http://www.freepint.com/go/bXXXXX ]

Supposing you had a floppy disc that contained vital information and
it had been damaged by humanoid gremlins. You could throw up your
hands in despair or you could post a message in the Free Pint Bar
(10884). The latter course has got to be worth a try, whatever your
problem, and in this case it worked. And if you have a mobile phone
that doesn't work in your locality you should get some good advice in
the Bar about that too (10635).

In fact, Free Pinters have been especially resourceful recently,
whether the question was about VAT on Road Fund Tax (10719), lists of
towns and cities in the UK (10848) or recycling CDs (10668). Who would
have thought you could do all those things with them?

If that's all too low brow, you may prefer to join a discussion about
the etymologies of Whigs and Tories (10881, 10730), help out with some
Norwegian to English translations (10800), suggest a good definition
for the term "data mapping" (10652) or visit the Bar's fast growing
Latin Quarter.

But some of us have to be content with workaday matters, such as
finding information on Russian companies (10836), UK company results
(10847), company contact details (10849) and companies in a specific
market segment (10864).

And matters such as content management for Web sites (10597), news
feeds (10661), content management for intranets (10669), fair dealing
in UK copyright law (10841), finding psychology journals online
(10860), free current awareness alerts (10585) and supplying a field
sales force with up to date information (10648).

Unemployed and underemployed Free Pinters have been enquiring about
Spanish translation work (10672), recruitment agencies in West
Yorkshire (10620), systems engineering work in Hong Kong (10655), work
permits for non EU contractors (10657) and library and information
related jobs in Seattle (10898).

Marketing and related fields have had a look in too. There are
postings about database branding (10593), branding, advertising and
marketing strategies (10599), marketing in an information environment
(10614), classification systems for marketing information (10787) and
property management marketing data (10743).

Researchers have been checking out online gambling (10673), house
buying (10903), companies that provide specialist services for the
voluntary sector (10767), change management (10689), electricity
supply in New Zealand and Ireland (10740) and song lyrics (10742).

Search is back on the agenda, too. That's not surprising after our
recent article on Google and there have been mentions of the Google
browser add on, iLOR, (10732), a brand name search engine (10589),
Google's new image search function (10745) and the fact that Google
sometimes gives you results from Google.de, the German version
(10701). And I took time out to review Diggit, an interesting image
search tool (10736).

Those who insist on figures and statistics have been asking for the
top twenty UK food companies (10670), UK temperature statistics
(10763), IT spending within financial institutions (10775), historical
exchange rate data (10857) and international tourism statistics for
the last ten years (10861).

Inevitably, there were technical questions galore about PDF files
(10613), designing logos (10619), hyperlinks in Word and Excel
(10662), setting a browser to open automatically on startup (10674),
uninstalling programs (10797), creating ads (10869), printing
favourites (10917) and introductory tutorials on designing Web sites
(10773). And there's the vexing problem of finding information
resources for analysis of the properties of inductors in electronic
circuits (10706).

We are still waiting for a list of the UK's business book publishers
(10805) and a list of the US states that have limited or no punitive
damages awards (10819). We are also hoping to hear what a social grant
is in the UK and who they are paid to (10900).

Once again, you could throw up your hands in despair if you were
looking for a wholesaler of those horrible plastic horns that children
get at parties (10813), anecdotes about knowledge sharing (10828),
answers to some cryptic music questions (10765), examples of good
engineering design (10601), places to sell books on the Web (10671),
free email list hosts (10783) or Dutch classical guitar music (10838).
Or you could post a message in the Bar.


Free Pint Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>
-------------------------------------------------------

   [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of
      XXXX in the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/sXXXX>]

As well as looking for advice on what courses to do and which are the
best institutions for various subjects, students have been asking
about grants available for part time researchers (1528), getting the
best from work placements (1534), finding a job in Cyprus (1557) and
UK admissions procedures for non EU students (1533).

Something tells me that most students are now either on holidays or
doing exams. We wish them all the best of luck.

      Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.com>

If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>.

To have the latest Bar postings sent to you every other day, log in to
your account online or send a blank email to <digest@freepint.com>.
For the Student Bar Digest contact <studentdigest@freepint.com>.


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                           FREE PINT JOBS
                   <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>

Free Pint Jobs has details of many information-related vacancies
around the world. The following are a selection of featured jobs:

Reading Development Manager <http://www.freepint.com/go/j349>
  An excellent opportunity in the public sector for those not wed to 
  corporate information!
  Recruiter: Sue Hill Recruitment
  
Market Analyst <http://www.freepint.com/go/j386>
  For leading IT client, tracking markets and trends. Excellent 
  numerical (Degree) and analytical skills essential
  Recruiter: Glen Recruitment

Research/Editorial Assistant <http://www.freepint.com/go/j315>
  An indexer / editor, preferably with knowledge of SICs or 
  online searching
  Recruiter: Business Database Production Ltd 

Information Manager <http://www.freepint.com/go/j387>
  With 5 years experience to develop, promote and enhance all 
  Information resources 
  Recruiter: Glen Recruitment


                [The above jobs are paid listings]

It is free to search Free Pint Jobs and you can set up a profile to be
notified by email of relevant new vacancies.

List your vacancies and receive significant publicity. Recruitment
agencies can also automatically upload all their jobs.

       Find out more today at <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>

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             >>>  ListBot Closing 6th August 2001  <<<

        If you're a customer of Microsoft's ListBot service
           then you might not be aware that it's closing.

  Read more about this announcement and find out about Free Pint's
   reliable list hosting service as a cost-effective alternative.
                <http://www.freepint.com/go/b10798>

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                           TIPS ARTICLE
         <http://www.freepint.com/issues/050701.htm#tips>

                        "D.I.Y. Site Design"
                          By Duncan Parry

So you have been online a while and you have an idea for a website.
Where do you start?  In this article I'll provide some introductory
advice and pointers to useful sites.


PART ONE : PLAN IT!
===================

It might seem obvious, but planning your site is crucial before you
build it.  Do this right and you'll save time, tears and frustration.
Too often somebody immediately starts building their site without
planning it - these sites are the sites we all visit once - and only
once.

Before you plan the layout of your site, stop to consider how you are
going to build it - and learn a little about the constraints you
should place on your design to make it compatible with browsers,
screen resolutions etc.  This isn't too hard - I recommend
<http://www.echoecho.com/dzine.htm>.  It's easy to follow and covers
all you need to know.

More advice can be found at :
<http://www.merlet.com/diy.htm> Nice beginners guide
<http://www.netmag.co.uk/webbuilder> Regular articles
<http://www.web-source.net/web/>.


Domain Names
------------

Domain names are important - decide on something easy to remember, and
if it's not a company name, try to find something that describes the
topic of your site.  Shop around for the best deal, and if you are
buying web space make sure you get a good deal for the two.


URL Redirection
---------------

An alternative to buying a domain name is a URL redirection service -
turning something like http://members.tripod.co.uk/mysite/index.html
into http://go.to/mysite.  These are free, and sometimes advert
supported:

<http://xiy.net/>
<http://www.v3.com/>
  Offers formats like http://come.to/ and http://go.to/


Web Space
---------

Before you build your site decide on how you are going to put it
online.  There are three options - web space that you pay for, free
space from your ISP, and free homepage services e.g.
<http://www.tripod.co.uk/>.  These offer free online site building
tools that require no HTML knowledge.

Guides to commercial web space and domain name companies include:
<http://www.bigbytez.co.uk/>
<http://www.thewhir.com/>
<http://www.findwebspace.com/>.

Decide whether you are happy with adverts on your site (common with
free providers), what technologies you need the web space to support -
e.g. CGI, PHP - and if you need direct access to the server.


PART TWO : BUILD THAT SITE
==========================

HTML and WYSIWYG
----------------

There are two ways to build your site - write HTML code or use a
WYSIWYG tool.  These let you 'draw' your site and cut and paste, just
like you would in Word.

Examples include the professional product Dreamweaver
<http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/>, FrontPage
<http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/> and many shareware and freeware
products.

These offer the advantage of limited HTML knowledge being needed to
create a site, the ability to use templates to create new pages based
on a fixed design and change every page in a site with ease (by
changing the template). However they can sometimes produce incorrect
code.

Of course, if you want to learn HTML there are books and sites galore
to help, including:

<http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/> - Extensive tutorials, easy
to follow
<http://www.echoecho.com/html.htm> - In depth walk guides
<http://www.htmlprimer.com/> - 7 step primer.

Meta Tags
---------
Most people think of keywords when you mention meta tags.  Keywords
are important for search engine placement, but there are several other
tags to be aware of - Description, Abstract, Revisit, Robot, Author
and Copyright.  See <http://www.submitcorner.com/Guide/Meta/> for more
information.

Remember that any tags in your code add to file size and therefore
increase load time.  Make sure you get your site rated by a 'safe
surfing' scheme and include the tags they provided in your code - this
will make sure browsers set to filter 'adult' sites can visit yours.
See <http://www.icra.org> to rate your site for free and
<http://www.w3.org/PICS/> to learn how this works.


Graphics
--------

Images can convey more information than several paragraphs - or leave
the user waiting three minutes for one page to load (or more likely
they are on a competitor's site by then).  So make sure your graphics
are streamlined (and avoid those annoying animated GIFs).
Optimisation services and software are available to compress images -

<http://webopt.com/> Software
<http://www.spinwave.com/> Online service.

Finding Graphics - Photos

You can buy royalty free photos but this can be costly.  Other sites
provide photos and design templates on the understanding you must link
back to them.  Check before using these.

One of the best sites for free photos is
<http://www.freeimages.co.uk/>.  Commercial services include
<http://www.gettyone.com/> and <http://www.cadmium.co.uk/>.  For free
web graphics, try some of the links at the bottom of the article -
there are hundreds of these sites.

Of course you can create your own graphics with a little practice.
The sites below will help with this, using programs like the Gimp.

More information on:
<http://graphicssoft.about.com/compute/graphicssoft/> Software guide
and links
<http://www.gimp.org/> Freeware Software
<http://www.widearea.co.uk./designer/> Tutorials for web graphics
<http://www.wastedyouth.org/> Software tutorials.


Site 'Add Ons'
--------------

There are many free services that add features to your site.  Although
they are free, shop around - some offer more features, better
customisation or related free services.  I've highlighted some below.


Visitor Counters
----------------

There are several free services which provide visitors information and
keep your visitor numbers hidden.  Most of these require you to
display a small graphic on every page - so take this into account in
your design.  These services offer a variety of information - how many
unique and return visitors your site receives, where they are in the
world, browser they use etc.  This information can be useful for
profiling your visitors so you can design and promote your site
accordingly.  Advertisers like to know about this, too.

<http://www.webtrendslive.com> - With a useful graph of results
<http://www.thecounter.com> - Invisible
<http://www.linkcounter.com> - Use to monitor how often a link is
clicked.


Site Search Engines
-------------------

Previous topics in the Free Pint Bar have discussed ways to search
sites that don't offer a search facility.  Several companies offer you
a free search engine for your site, so there's no excuse for this.
These include Google
<http://www.google.com/services/customsitesearch.html> and WhatUSeek
<http://www.sitecrawler.co.uk/>, both of which also offer visitors the
opportunity to search the web.  WhatUSeek is my favourite as the
search box is available in different sizes and can be customised.

Other services offer a search engine with customisable results pages,
the ability to exclude certain files and tweak how pages are rated.

<http://www.picosearch.com> Free, easy to use
<http://www.searchtools.com/> Guide to services.


Visitor Feedback
----------------

One way to encourage visitors to send you feedback is to use a form
that e-mails you from a web page.  These use CGI - but if you don't
want to learn this (or your server doesn't support CGI) you can use
third party hosts e.g. <http://www.htmlgear.com> or
<http://www.formsite.com/>.

Other 'add ons' include guest books, online polls, 'recommend this
site' boxes and message boards.  Sites offering these include:

<http://www.htmlgear.com>
<http://www.bravenet.com/>
<http://www.everyone.net/>
<http://www.mycomputer.com/>


Content Sources
---------------

There are several sites that offer free content for your site,
normally integrated by inserting code they provide you with.  Topics
include headlines <http://www.moreover.com/> articles
<http://www.web-source.net/syndicator.htm> or
<http://ezinearticles.com/>, and cartoons
<http://www.cartoonlink.net/>.


Site Promotion
--------------

Before you start promoting, it's best to set up a new e-mail account
to use - you will, unfortunately, receive an amount of spam e-mail
from some sites.

Free accounts -
<http://www.lycos.co.uk/service/lycosmail/> 10MB mailbox, POP3 access
<http://www.purpleturtle.com/> - supports Turtle conservation.

Promoting your site can be time consuming and frustrating.  It doesn't
have to be - target your work and hopefully you'll get results.  You
can find relevant search engines to submit to via these sites:

<http://www.allsearchengines.co.uk/>
<http://www.searchking.com/>
<http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/>.

Note : avoid sites that submit to FFA (free for all) pages - they
rarely generate visitors but do generate spam.


Search Engines and Directories
------------------------------

Software and online services abound for promoting to these.  You can
submit to the top engines on Free Pint
<http://www.freepint.com/submit>
and to Lycos UK here < http://www.lycos.co.uk/service/addasite.html/>.

Understand that search engines produce results by querying a database
of sites and that directories are human maintained into categorical
structures.  So be prepared to submit to both.  Prepare a text file
with your site title, URL, keywords and a short site description, and
cut and paste from this when submitting.  Consider buying software/a
service to re-submit your site to search engines on a regular basis.


Reciprocal Links
----------------

If you know of sites that are targeted at the same audience consider
approaching their webmaster to exchange links.  Include your URL, site
title and a brief description of your site when you contact them.


Banner Advertisements
---------------------

If you decide to join a banner advertising network, you will be able
to show your banner across the network - but the number of times it is
shown depends on how many times your site is visited.


E-zines
-------

Adverts e-zines can bring visitors to your site - try to find those
that deal with topics related to your site.  Consider writing for
sites like Free Pint, too.

Useful sites for finding e-zines:
<http://209.53.3.96/newsletters/>
<http://www.list-city.com/adexdb.html>.


Newsgroups/Forums
-------------------

Promoting on sites with forums (or newsgroups) is a good source of
visitors if you choose the right ones.  Read some of the messages they
contain and the terms of use before posting.  Try not to be too
blatantly commercial and don't fall into bad habits like using lots of
capital letters or explanation marks - you'll just get ignored, and
your message may be removed.  Always use your spam e-mail account.


Useful Links
------------

 Part of the Lycos directory concerned with 
site design - from HTML to tutorials to free graphics, you'll find 
the sites above and more here.

<http://www.webattack.com/>  Freeware and shareware software - from
link checkers to HTML editors to submission software.

<http://www.websitegoodies.com/> Articles and a directory.

<http://websitegarage.netscape.com/> Free analysis of your site, image
compressor and more.

<http://www.321clipart.com/> One of the many free graphics sites, also
with design templates.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Duncan Parry is a directory editor for Lycos UK, responsible for
Computers, Technology, Internet and Telecommunications.
<http://www.lycos.co.uk/>.  He also provides freelance site design,
promotion and writing services <http://www.digitalstrike.co.uk>.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Related Free Pint links:

* Webmaster resources and articles in the Free Pint Portal
  <http://www.freepint.com/go/p183>
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  <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
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                        FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
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                 "Poor Richard's Creating eBooks:
 How Authors, Publishers, and Corporations Get into Digital Print"
                   Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early
 
This book is so packed with useful information that just listing all
the topics and subtopics covered would exceed the space allowed for
this review.  Anyone who wants to take part in an electronic
publishing venture, whether as an author/content provider, a
publisher, or even a consumer, will find subjects of interest here.

E-publishing is an enormous field, covering publishing via the
Internet, on CD-ROM, in dedicated formats such as GlassBook or
Microsoft Reader, and Print-on-Demand.  Within each of these is a
number of subsidiary considerations.  For instance, will an Internet
publication be set up in HTML or Adobe?  Will it be sold by
subscription, offered in part for free and the rest for payment,
completely free to advertise the print product for sale, or by some
other means?  How should one decide which of the dedicated e-book
reader formats to produce for?  Just defining the issues involved
takes up several chapters.  They are discussed in such detail, though,
that even one who has been following the e-publishing scene for
several years may find issues or angles not previously considered.

Many of the ideas mentioned apply only to electronic means of
publication.  Encryption, digital rights management, custom books, and
storage in knowledgebases are issues that don't really apply to print
publishing.  All these concepts, and many more, are explained in
depth, and suggestions are made as to how authors and publishers
should deal with them.  However, this book could be useful to anyone
(especially an author) hoping to get a book published by traditional
means, as well.  There are good explanations of different types of
rights to be aware of (for instance, everyone knows about paperback
and movie rights, but may not be familiar with adaptation,
merchandise, and serial rights) which apply to all kinds of
publishing.  Sample wordings of contracts are included, both in the
body of the text and in a separate appendix dedicated to them, and
information is also provided about where to find an agent.  Any of
this would be helpful to anyone trying to get published, in any
format.

For those who wish to set up as publishers, business models for
electronic publishing are compared with those for traditional
publishing, making both clear.  Although the authors admit to bias
(after all, they're authors!), they present the publisher's side of
things clearly and fairly, pointing out that it's very difficult to do
it all, so that most authors need publishers, and vice versa.  This is
not to say that the issue of self-publishing in electronic formats is
ignored; it is, in fact, explained as clearly and thoroughly as all
other aspects.

The book finishes up with success stories of people who have written
and/or published e-books, appendices covering specific e-publishers,
other resources for writers and publishers, and the aforementioned
sample contracts, a glossary of terms, and a very useful index.  This
book is highly recommended to anyone wishing to publish, either
electronically or otherwise.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Caryn Wesner-Early is a librarian, contracted to the US Patent and
Trademark Office Scientific and Technical Information Center.  Her
interests include reading and cats, and she maintains a personal Web
site at <http://home.dencity.com/CarynW/>.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Related Free Pint links:

* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
  <http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/ebooks.htm>
* "Poor Richard's Creating eBooks: How Authors, Publishers, and 
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  published by Top Floor Publishing and written by Chris Van Buren, 
  Jeff Cogswell, Christopher Van Buren, Matt Wagner
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
  <http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1930082029/freepint0c>
  or Amazon.com
  <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1930082029/freepint00>
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Free Pint
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To propose an information-related book for review, send details 
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                          FEATURE ARTICLE
        <http://www.freepint.com/issues/050701.htm#feature>

                         "Obtaining Grants"
                        By Harris Rosenberg

One often reads about hundreds of millions of grant money available -
all but for the asking. Whilst large sums of money may be available
the notion that it is available to you, your business or your charity
by simply asking for some help is wildly inaccurate. Grants, where
available, are available for a reason.


Tips in obtaining grants
------------------------

Several points to consider when applying for grant support are:

Grants are designed to help specific people/organisations,
with defined projects in specific circumstances for specific purposes.

Grant support will rarely meet even fifty per cent of project
costs, meaning you have to find other funds, usually from your own
savings or your company reserves.

Most schemes are 'discretionary'. Your success or otherwise
will be dependent upon decisions made by the purse holders of the
grant scheme.

Grantors will always consider the viability of your project,
including management capability.

You usually will need a Business Plan

You must always check that you are eligible for a grant. Location
may be vital.

Terminology can be important, a cleaning company is unlikely
to get a grant, a company that is a specialist cleaner of limpets and
barnacles from ocean liners could be successful.

Grants are rarely awarded retrospectively. If you start your
project before a grant is approved, you may be deemed not to need
grant support.

Grant applications have to be submitted on time.

You may need to demonstrate that you have tried and often
succeeded in sourcing other funding.

Always treat grants as a useful bonus that will help you with
your project, not as a crutch upon which your project may stand or
fall.

Remember, the existence of a grant does not mean that it will
be of any use to you, your business or your charity.


The range of grants
-------------------

The range of grants available is large and constantly changing.
Sources include:

Grant giving bodies
-------------------

Many organisations, often grant giving bodies themselves, provide free
information on finance available. The Small Business Service (SBS)
<http://www.sbs.gov.uk> or <http://www.businessadviceonline.org> aims
to provide a single national gateway for guidance and help, at a local
level, on government support, export, work force development,
employment and training and advice on regulatory matters. Many of the
services offered will be provided through the existing network of
Business Links <http://www.businesslink.org/> and other business
support agencies, such as Chambers of Commerce, Learning and Skills
Councils, government offices, Regional Development Agencies.

Similar support mechanisms are available in the regions. Scottish
Enterprise <http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/> is Scotland's
principal economic development agency. At a local level, business
development is led through Local Enterprise Companies (LECs)
<http://www.links.sln.co.uk/> and the Scottish Business Shop Network.

Business Connect <http://www.businessconnect.org.uk/> is Wales'
principal support network for small and medium businesses. Through the
National Assembly for Wales <http://www.wales.gov.uk/>, consultancy
advice on a wide range of business related issues, may be obtained.

In Northern Ireland, business counselling is available to small local
businesses, employing less than fifty people, from the Local
Enterprise Development Unit (LEDU) <http://www.ledu-ni.gov.uk/>.

Enterprise Agencies are advisory services aimed at new and very small
businesses. They often work in conjunction with Business Links, local
authorities, the Learning and Skills Councils or other business
support services.

The principal organisations administering employment and training
grants schemes for small businesses in England are the Learning and
Skills Councils <http://www.lsc.gov.uk>, Local Enterprise
Companies in Scotland, the Training and Employment Agency in Northern
Ireland and Business Connect in Wales provide similar services to the
LSCs. The LSCs work closely with the Employment Service, to provide a
co-ordinated approach to the administration of the Welfare to Work
Agenda, which includes the New Deal Strategy. Enterprise and
entrepreneurial support and training are offered by the Small Business
Service and the now privately run Business Links.

In many instances, the local authority will have detailed knowledge of
assistance available in their area. Important contacts would be the
Economic Development Unit (EDU). These are sometimes called business
development units or sections. Planning departments tend also to be
grant aware. Often, local authorities are charged with implementing
grant schemes on behalf of central government and of the European
Union.

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
<http://www.local-regions.detr.gov.uk/rda/info/> and the Greater
London Authority aim to provide effective and co-ordinated regional
economic development and regeneration. RDAs work alongside the nine
Government Offices (GOs) in England, English Partnerships
<http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/> and local authorities in
providing financial support to the region. The GOs combine the
regional functions of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),
Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR), and
the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). The Government
Offices also include representation from the Home Office and the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Government Offices are
charged with the administration of industry based grants such as
Enterprise Grants, Regional Selective Assistance and grants for
Research and Development.

The Countryside Agency <http://www.countryside.gov.uk/> aims,
through regulatory powers and financial assistance to conserve and
enhance the countryside as well as promote social equity and economic
opportunity for the people who live there.

Funding from the European Union <http://europa.eu.int/> is
determined by the European Commission in Brussels. The European
Commission's work is divided between 36 departments. Key funding
mechanisms used to address socio-economic disparities between Member
States are the EU Structural Funds. These include the European
Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and
the European Guidance and Guarantee Section of the Agricultural Fund
(EAGGF). In addition, there is a separate Fund, the Financial
Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) for some areas dependent on
the fishing and aquaculture sectors.

The EU also offers a comprehensive free source of information on EU
R&D projects via the CORDIS database <http://www.cordis.lu>. CORDIS
offers ten comprehensive databases, comprising over 30,000 Web pages,
thousands of links and contacts, search and assistance tools.

A range of support is available to exporters from Trade Partners UK
Country Help Desks <http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/> and through
export development counsellors who may be contacted through Business
Links in England, Scottish Trade International, and Wales Trade
International. Trade Partners UK also provides information to
exporters on most of our trading partners and on different industry
sectors on its Internet site.
<http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/aidfundedbusiness> will
advise companies on business opportunities and support offered by the
British Government, the European Union and multi-lateral agencies.


Books, manuals and databases
----------------------------

There are many publications on government and other grants and how to
apply for them. These vary in price, from about 30 UK pounds for books


to 200 UK pounds for updated manuals. Databases vary in price from
free to 4,000 UK pounds per annum. Unfortunately, I have yet to come
across a grant database that bridges the wide range of help available
in the profit and not for profit sectors. Some profess to do so but
more often than not the rhetoric does not match the reality in either
content or accuracy. Like all services, grant database providers vary
considerably in quality, as such they should be avoided unless you
have a defined project that you wish to undertake.

Regrettably, grant databases are often the province of the "grant
cowboy". As many readers probably know, in theory, a local corner shop
may be eligible for about 40 grants, in reality it might get one or
two - and these are likely to be very small. The "grant cowboy",
playing on half facts and client greed will promise the earth but
deliver little - and all for an up-front fee. With grant databases, it
is vital to adhere to the following rule: DON'T EVER PAY FOR INITIAL
INFORMATION BUT BE PREPARED TO PAY FOR INFORMATION THAT ACTUALLY LEADS
YOU TO A SOURCE OF GRANT FUNDING.

Grantfinder <http://www.grantfinder.co.uk/>
Enterprise Advisory Service <http://www.govgrants.com/>
j4b WEB: <http://www.j4b.co.uk/>
Euro-Bid Watch <http://www.euro-bidwatch.com>
MCS <http://www.mcs-net.com/index.html>
Growth Resourcing Associates <http://www.gra-ukgrants.com/>
National Federation of Business Support
<http://www.business-support.co.uk/>
EuroFinder <http://www.eurofinder.at/>.

A comparable publication on CD-ROM and in paper format is Gee's Grants
and Aid for Business <http://www.gee.co.uk/>.

In the not for profit sector useful sites are the Charity Commission
for England and Wales <http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/>
Caritas <http://www.caritasdata.co.uk/> and Charity Choice
<http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/>.

A number of organisations, including my own
<http://www.grantsforbusiness.com> provide a free initial grant
assessment and procurement service to clients in the business and not
for profit sectors. Some Business Links will also offer 'instant' and
free grant advice to callers.


Advisory services
-----------------

Over the past two decades a number of bodies have been established to
provide "one stop shops" on information suitable to businesses,
including grant services. The government openly encourages
organisations seeking grants to contact first the local office of the
Small Business Service in England, Scottish Business Shop Network,
Business Connect (Wales) or LEDU in Northern Ireland. Many business
support services offer sound advice on obtaining grants. However, in
some areas - particularly those where grant availability is not
straightforward, the project is in the not for profit sector, or the
project is esoteric - their knowledge and experience of appropriate
grants and how to obtain them may be limited. The Economic Development
Units of many local authorities are often a good conduit for obtaining
information.


Professional and trading organisations
--------------------------------------

There are many firms of professional business grant negotiators. Some
are more specialised than others. A number of business
organisations such as the Federation for Small Businesses, trade
associations and chambers of commerce offer advice to members on
government and other grants. Some banks offer grant advice, but this
is often limited to providing lists of grants or directing a customer
to governmental advisory services. Although many accountants offer
grant services, the quality of the services is variable. You should
always vet any professional adviser for their background and expertise
in this specialist area.


Winning grants
--------------

Obtaining a grant is not usually a difficult process. Grantors like to
know that applicants are knowledgeable about their business and their
project. They also like to know that their grant will make a
difference to the quality and success of a project. Provided you meet
eligibility criteria, funds are still available and if their rules
are adhered to, success is possible.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harris Rosenberg BA(Hons), DMS, MCIM, MIMng is acknowledged as the
United Kingdom's leading expert on business and other grants. He is a
member of the Institute of Management, the Chartered Institute of
Marketing and an Expert Witness. He is the author of nine books and a
contributor to many publications relating to various aspects of
grants, financing and business development. Harris may be contacted on
Tel: 020 8449 6510; email: <grantsforbusiness@btinternet.com> or 
through his website <http://www.grantsforbusiness.com>.

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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                           FREE PINT GOLD

This time last year we had an another great article from Richard
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* Free Pint No.66, 6th July 2001 "Panorama of Engineering Portals" and
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* Free Pint No.42, 8th July 1999. "Electronic commerce" and "Plastics
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Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information 
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