Topic: Describe a magazine/ book publication process.

By: Solomon Ojeagbase

There are various processes in publishing a magazine/book if it’s a book for academia, entertainment, financial, infotainment or sports. A magazine/book is generally supposed to share information or enlighten people on issues which are public knowledge or to bring something to the fore. Take for example a story about a teacher who knows very well firsthand how to communicate a topic to her students; a book about this individual will bring the awareness of people to the person in question. That is why we have to be conscious about what we write because once it is written there’s no going back.

We have about ten processes involved and first on the list is research. In research the publisher has to do a thorough evaluation of other magazines/books already in circulation in same genre as his/hers, and map out a plan to outwit them. Also he/she has to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this other rival publications, in doing this the publisher would have to carefully read the magazines from cover to cover to be able to adequately sift out the flaws. This enables the publisher the convenience to bolster the strengths of his/her own publication.

Given the fact that the publisher is doing a synopsis of other magazine/book from his/her genre, he/she may also want to sketch out his/her target audience and age group; this could mean the people you intend to buy – read your magazine/book. In this case we may be looking at the youth cadre which is from eighteen years to thirty five years or the older cadre which is from 40 year and above. All this information is what will be in the market penetration strategy under research.

Secondly, consider your options and costs. In publishing cost is very important hence you have to consider 

Words "viral" and "epic" consigned to college trash

This story might be epic, and could even go viral, but not if Lake Superior State University has anything to do with it. Just sayin.'

The small college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, released on Friday its annual list of "banished words" -- terms so overused, misused and hackneyed they deserve to be sent to a permanent linguistic trash can in the year ahead.

"Viral," often used to describe the rapid spreading of videos or other content over the Internet, leads the list for 2011.

"This linguistic disease of a term must be quarantined," Kuahmel Allah of Los Angeles said in making a nomination.

Runners-up included "epic" and "fail," often twinned to describe a blunder of monumental proportions.

A total of 14 words were on the list.

Cliched terms such as "wow factor," "a-ha moment," "back story" and "BFF" (Best Friends Forever) rated highly. The very au courant use of "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs got a thumbs down as well.

As usual, election-cycle zingers and catchwords quickly look as worn out as last year's campaign posters.

In that vein, voters suggested the banning of "Mama Grizzlies," used to describe right-wing female politicians in the mold of Sarah Palin, and "man up," famously used by Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharon Angle in a testy debate with Democrat Harry Reid and a favorite Palin expression as well.

"A stupid phrase when directed at men. Even more stupid when directed at a woman, as in 'Alexis, you need to man up and join that Pilates class!'" said Sherry Edwards of Clarkston, Michigan.

LSSU began its popular list in 1976, when it named "at this point in time," as substituted for the concise and elegant "now," as a linguistic dud. The college now receives well over 1,000 nominations each year through its website, lssu.edu/banished.

Previous winners and nominees include the terms "shovel ready" for 2010, "battleground states" for 2005, "24/7" for 2000 and "family values" for 1995.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Jerry Norton)

6 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook

The whole social networking phenomenon has millions of Americans sharing their photos, favorite songs and details about their class reunions on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and dozens of similar sites. But there are a handful of personal details that you should never say if you don’t want criminals — cyber or otherwise — to rob you blind, according to Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

The folks at Insure.com also say that ill-advised Facebook postings increasingly can get your insurance cancelled or cause you to pay dramatically more for everything from auto to life insurance coverage. By now almost everybody knows that those drunken party photos could cost you a job, too.

You can certainly enjoy networking and sharing photos, but you should know that sharing some information puts you at risk. What should you never say on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site?

Your birth date and place.

Sure, you can say what day you were born, but if you provide the year and where you were born too, you’ve just given identity thieves a key to stealing your financial life, said Givens. A study done by Carnegie Mellon showed that a date and place of birth could be used to predict most — and sometimes all — of the numbers in your Social Security number, she said.

Vacation plans. There may be a better way to say “Rob me, please” than posting something along the lines of: “Count-down to Maui! Two days and Ritz Carlton, here we come!” on Twitter. But it’s hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don’t invite criminals in by telling them specifically when you’ll be gone.

AP Stylebook adds 42 new guidelines for social media

(Mashable) -- The AP Stylebook has released its new social media guidelines, including the official change from"Web site" to "website" (a move first reported back in April) and 41 other definitions, use cases and rules that journalists should follow.

Among the more interesting changes -- at least from a grammar and style standpoint -- are separating out "smart phone" as two words, hyphenating "e-reader," and allowing fan, friend and follow to be used both as nouns and verbs.
Beyond that, the AP has also defined a number of acronyms that are commonly used in texting and instant messaging. While most of them should be fairly well-known to regular web and mobile phone users (ROFL, BRB and G2G are among the definitions) one actually was new to me: POS.