The History of Sales: Dale Carnegie is Still with Us

I've recently been hearing sales companies talk about how they are 'helping their buyers buy' with a system that is the 'next thing' after Consultative Selling. After becoming familiar with their concepts and methods, I've come to believe they are correct: they are definitely on to the next iteration. But of what?

The next iteration of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Interestingly, Dale Carnegie's beliefs and sales models continue to capture the mainstream audience for sales professionals, complete with the beliefs and behaviors he put into place in 1937.

Let me take a moment and enumerate them:

1. Although the buyer has input, the seller is the product expert and therefore knows what the buyer needs.

2. The seller's job is to influence, convince, or persuade (the word Carnegie preferred) the buyer to buy the seller's product.

3. By careful information positioning - appropriate pitches, presentations, ads, campaigns, marketing strategies, layouts, commercials - a buyer will recognize that they need a product.

4. The seller can see what is missing from a buyer's environment by virtue of his/her knowledge of the product, and is at fault when s/he fails at selling the product where it is needed.

5. If the seller can get it right the buyer will be ready to buy in the seller's time frame using the seller's sales criteria.

ADDING QUESTIONS TO TRADITIONAL SALES

Once Consultative Selling came along in the mid 80's, thanks to Larry Wilson, Linda Richardson, Neil Rackham, and David Sandler, sellers began realizing they needed to get input from the buyer. Thus the inclusion of 'questions' into the selling process.

And what were the questions? Information-based questions that led the prospect to admit just WHERE they had a problem and just HOW they could solve it using the seller's product. These questions ultimately were a manipulation to get the buyer to concede that yes, alas, they had a problem, and no, they weren't handling it as effectively as they might. Obviously, went the theory, once they realized the error of their ways, they would know it was time to buy the seller's product.

But did they do that?

Given that the questioning system was used to 'create a need' and was therefore manipulative, buyers ended up not being totally honest; they knew they were being set up for a sales pitch. And, after all, why should they share private information with a stranger - especially a stranger that would use the information against them. David Sandler coined the term "Buyers are Liars". The implication here is that sellers, still, have the answer and know the real truth behind buyer's needs. Indeed, sellers create their own objections.

But it's a bit more complex. Buyers have lived in their unique culture - and indeed helped create it - for so long that it feels comfortable. Things are 'done that way' because they always have been, and it seems to be fine. And, if you remember the 3-part series on What is Buying Facilitation® (newsletters October, November, December, 2002), buyers have a very microscopic view on their piece of their environment, and sometimes have difficulty recognizing the entire picture. They intimately know the systems around them and they tend to respond to questions using this micro view as the basis of their answers. [If you have not yet read the above series, I recommend you do so, as this is a very important piece of understanding when helping buyers make decisions.]

So, given that the job of sales continues to be defined as a process meant to move product into the hands of buyers (using whatever methodology that can move it), using Dale Carnegie's precepts will continue to reap the same problems they always have: slower-than-necessary sales cycles - while buyers figure out their internal issues; multiple decision makers appearing seemingly out of nowhere - while the internal systems get organized around change; tough price deliberations - because buyers don't know how else to evaluate one offering over another; seemingly unnecessary time delays - while buyers attempt to solve the problem using familiar resources; rejection - because buyers don't know how to justify change.

In other words, the problems inherent in the conventional sales methodology have become standard business problems, occurring across contexts, independent of product or price or delivery system.

SALES ENVIRONMENTS - HOW BUYING FACILITATION® CREATES SUCCESS

Lets look at two extreme forms of sales environments and how they have designed their business strategy around conventional sales practices and problems.

At the low end of the spectrum are the telemarketers and call center reps: they have a script, push the features, functions, and benefits of a product, and play a numbers game. They aim for a closing ratio of one half of one percent of the calls they place. That process defines a huge multinational industry: hire a specialist to create a great script, find plenty of people (in almost any country) who are willing to work for low wages - and train, train, train (there is a 70% turnover due to the sheer boredom and abuse the job bears).

These sellers get 'no's' because they don't know how to engage the prospect in rapport and don't help them examine their systems problems - not to mention treating all people like numbers. They base their entire process on finding those people who are actually seeking that particular product, with that particular price tag and description, on that specific day. The process actually is one of the most inefficient sales processes imaginable. With just a few small changes, they can increase their response rate to 2% using Buying Facilitation®. But since the people they hire are such a cheap commodity (especially in countries like India where a lot of this is taking place), they just keep aiming for the one half of one percent close, and keep hiring new people when their agents burn out.

I recently trained call center reps at a software company. Although they were receiving incoming calls, they were able to increase their per-dollar sale from $300 per call to $2000 per call. By using Buying Facilitation® they taught their customers how to take a rational look around their business culture, recognize problems, and be willing to purchase new products to solve the problem, all in one call and five extra minutes.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Senior Partners of large accounting and consulting firms. Although they consider themselves above sales, that's exactly what they do. They just do it smarter, with an air of greater expertise, more money, more people involved in the sale, better presentations, and with nicer ties. Buying Facilitation® has helped companies at the very high end of the spectrum bring multi-year sales cycles down to months by teaching the buyer how to bring in all the stakeholders immediately, and giving them decisioning strategies so they can coordinate the whole picture - micro and macro - easily and quickly.

Most people in sales truly care about their customers, so I'm being a bit unkind, but only a bit. Sellers would be happy to do it more efficiently if they knew how, but unfortunately, the method that Dale Carnegie created lives on and is still considered the norm, even though we've added a few bells and whistles to his original concept. Ultimately, once a sale is based on one person having the answers and finding a way to impress their solution on the other, it becomes an exercise in power, control, and ego.

PROBLEM VS. SOLUTION

Before I clarify how Buying Facilitation® gets rid of the inherent business problems created by conventional sales methods, let me digress and discuss the reasoning behind the continued use of the sales methods as Carnegie defined them.

The thinking goes something like this: since buyers haven't solved the problems that face them (in the area the product resides), obviously they can't or they would have already done so. One of the reasons for this oversight, the reasoning goes, is that they weren't even aware of the capabilities of the seller's product. Once they are made aware of them, and see how the product solves their problem, obviously they will be smart enough to buy it.

I can't tell you how many thousand times I've heard a seller say that the buyer was a jerk, or stupid, or worse, because they didn't buy the product they obviously needed. Obvious to the seller, of course.

It's becoming a known fact that buyers want a solution, not to solve a problem. So the sales community has learned the new lingo about helping buyers discover their solution. But they don't use skills that will support this discovery, and continue to use problem-solving techniques (information push, product-focused) as a way to sell.

In reality, the only people that can know how to fix a problem are the people that have a stake in the solution - those on the inside. And all the information that sellers collect or share will NOT address the systems necessary to support a new solution on a seller's site. People do not buy based on information; they buy based on their ability to align all of the systems that need to be included in a solution. And often, the data that sellers collect is just the top-of-mind data - not the intricate systems data that creates a final decision.

SALES VS. BUYING FACILITATION®

Buying Facilitation® is a new sales paradigm, and it fits with our new economic challenges (slowdown, recession, people taking a long time to decide to spend money). It has different skills, a different premise, and different results. It does NOT use the Carnegie thinking, or the consultative methods. It does NOT use the typical product pitch, probing techniques, closing strategies, or questioning approaches. Most importantly it operates on a totally different set of premises:

1. only a person working or living within a culture/system can understand that culture/system.

2. people will do something different only when they are assured that there will not be chaos (or they know how to manage the chaos) when they make a change.

3. a seller is in a unique position to be a brand manager for his/her company.

4. a seller is in a unique position to truly serve a buyer by helping them discover how and what and when and where and why they need to solve a problem within the parameters that exist in their unique culture.

5. a buyer is the only one who can navigate the decision system s/he lives within - the seller has no political capital and truly can only take a macro view since s/he doesn't reside within the buyer's team/family/company.

6. a buyer must be able to recognize the differences in competitive product offerings before they make a purchase: it is only when they have recognized precisely what a solution needs to entail are they ready to understand product data and differences.

7. the seller's job is to help people understand their systems in order for change and before product information is relevant.

8. the seller does not initially need to know or understand the buyer's needs, and, during the first phase of the Buying Facilitation® process, functions purely as a neutral navigator.

The most significant difference in thinking is that the buyer is the only one who can understand their own needs, given their understanding of all the elements that go into their unique decision and culture. The seller is taken out of this aspect of the equation, until the buyer can specify what they need and how. Only then is it time for the seller to pitch and present their product in terms of what the buyer needs to have happen in order to buy.

So, to summarize: Buying Facilitation® is NOT a new way for sellers to glean the data they need in order to make a sale. It is a decisioning process that teaches buyers how to recognize all aspects that need to be included in a decision in the area of the seller's product benefits, with the seller being the neutral navigator to help the buyer think it all through.

Here's a personal story that would be funny if it weren't so sad. A visionary sales manager from a large multinational hired me to train his group. It was an easy sales process for me, since the person with the checkbook was the buyer, and the Facilitative systems questions I posed were (in his estimation) not relevant since he was a single buyer.

As the training progressed, I discovered that the entire company had been opposed to him bringing in a visionary sales model. Folks had had meetings with him, threatened him, traveled long distances to get him to listen to reason, etc. because they were unwilling to change the system. Since this man had his own budget, he went ahead, but did not bring his annoyed colleagues into the process.

By the time I got there, it was too late: they were lying in wait for him. During the brief post-training coaching phase, the sales numbers lagged. That was it. They began a lethal campaign that led to the redeployment of the trained reps, and a new job - for another company - for my client. Oh. The figures for the month the sellers used the Method were 600% over their projected revenue. It was more important for the system to be stable than a huge increase in revenue.

Contrast this to the success of the Buying Facilitation® implementation at California Closets. When we began the training and discussed the possible points of disruption and chaos, the entire executive management team got on board to create strategies to contain any chaos. As soon as it began, the team put into place their action plan, and mitigated the problems. Now, after five years, they continue to use Buying Facilitation® successfully internationally. The rewards include easier collaborations amongst all stakeholders, as well as increased revenue and long term client relationships.

Remember this: until buyers take into account all of the 8 points above, they will drag their heels, or do something to recreate the status quo. Change is too costly.

The results for sellers when using Buying Facilitation® are:

1. greatly reduced sales cycles;

2. sales people become brand ambassadors for the company;

3. long term loyal business relationships;

4. the decommoditization of products (i.e. no price competition);

5. easy differentiation with the competition;

6. alignment of all stakeholders in a short time period.

ALIGNING DECISION FACTORS

Helping buyers find solutions by thinking through and aligning all of the decision-making factors that create their culture is obviously different than a 'sales' philosophy (although people buy as a result). But it seems to be a hard bridge to cross to get sales people to understand that their job hinges on the actual decision process rather than the strength and relevance of the product.

Because there is now so much access to data, sellers actually think they have all the 'data' they need to 'help' a buyer know how to buy. And while they might have all the data, unless they live with that family, or sit in on team meetings and share projects and phone calls and gossip with a team for months and months, they will never understand HOW buyers make their decisions, and the criteria they use in order to choose to make a change.

Indeed, buyers might not consciously understand the 'hows' either. But make no mistake: until they do, they won't buy anything. They need to do it with you or without you: it might as well be with you.

Buying Facilitation® (for those of you needing a refresher) is a questioning methodology that uses systems thinking to help buyers figure out what a solution needs to look like:

- so they don't have unmanageable chaos;

- so they don't step on political toes;

- so they assemble all the relevant criteria of the players;

- so all the players are on board;

- so they link all of the history and politics with a new solution.

It's not about the product; it's about the norms of the buying culture. And the seller has NO WAY OF KNOWING the buying culture.

So even though you have the exact right product, if the buyers can't make sense of their own norms and values and beliefs and history and future and stakeholders, you can't sell it.

I recently spoke with someone who is running programs in one of the new sales methods, purported to be the 'next step' from Consultative Sales. What have they done? They've added questions that help sellers handle the anxiety brought about by pushing a solution from the seller's perspective.

Sellers are recognizing the problem - they can't make a sale unless a buyer makes a buying decision; but they haven't figured out how to handle that problem using the original thinking that Carnegie gave us. They continue to use the same methods with the same basic beliefs. In fact, the person I spoke with said, "Buyers don't know what they need. We take care of that by helping them work through their anxiety."

Nice. But imagine if you didn't try to sell. Imagine if you led buyers of any type of product, in any market, through a simple process that taught them:

1. how to look at their environment with (their own) new eyes;

2. how to stop and consider all of the political and historic factors that not only got them where they are, but are planned to be used into the future;

3. how to fix it themselves if they can (so they know it's time to seek a different solution if they can't);

4. how to understand and align and handle all of the stakeholders and policies that have kept the status quo where it is.

Until or unless a buyer does all of the above, they will not buy. Remember: the time it takes people to come up with their own answers is the length of the sales cycle.

Dale Carnegie's methods (including Open, Probe, Pitch, Close) taught sellers how to sell. There are no skill sets within his belief set that support buyers in discovering the unique, idiosyncratic solutions they, and all their stakeholders, need to create in order to make a new purchase that involves more than one person.

Given our economy is at such a difficult juncture, it might be time to apply Buying Facilitation® and help support those decisions.

Sharon Drew Morgen is a thought leader, and the author of New York Times Bestseller Selling with Integrity, Sales on the Line, and Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell as well as over 400 articles. She is the pioneer behind the visionary sales paradigm the Morgen Buying Facilitation Method®. As the architect of a wholly original sales model, Sharon Drew has provoked, inspired, and motivated thousands of sales professionals world-wide. With a history as a million-dollar producer and 30 years in sales, an entrepreneur of a successful start-up, and a sales consultant in many Fortune 100 companies, she brings field knowledge as well as innovation to her audiences. She can be reached at: http://www.sharondrewmorgen.com

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Demons Defined - Evil Beings in History and Literature

A demon is generally understood as a metaphysical or mystical being, generally characterized by their evil nature or origin. While good demons are found occasionally in literary works from authors such as Shakespeare and Hesiod, in general a demon refers to a malevolent being that acts as the "enemy" in most works of fiction.

The most famous demons are found in Christian literature, where they are understood to be the fallen angels. These being are said to have once been angels in heaven, but they joined forces with Lucifer when he rebelled. When the rebellion failed, Lucifer and all of his compatriots were cast out of heaven into hell, where they became demons.

The goal of the demons of hell, as stated in literary works such as Milton's "Paradise Lost," is basically to cause trouble for earth, heaven, and the world, in order to undermine the order of the universe. In Revelations and other biblical prophecies, demons are predicted to fail in this endeavor at the end of time, when they will be completely destroyed.

Philosophically speaking a demon is actually a result of the idea of angels. In general people's religious and metaphysical beliefs encompass ideas of unity, where the good side is balanced out by an equally powerful negative side. Often the balance of power is skewered to some extent to the good guys, but the demon is what allows the good side to have a reason for existing.

The reason you need both sides of the conflict is that life itself is full of both good and evil. Describing a world full of angels without demons, doesn't make sense, because bad and evil things happen all of the time. It is in the balance that the story becomes more plausible.

For more information about Demons, Vampires, and Magic visit http://www.TrueLore.com True Lore is an interactive social community where you can meet anyone, from a reclusive demon summoning necromancer, to a flirty wood elf. It also contains a huge wealth of information on the magical secret side of the world.

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High School Students Fail to Pass History and Literature - How Can You Help Your Kids Succeed?

Audiences are usually delighted when late night comedy hosts wander onto the street to ask passers by basic history questions. We think it is hysterical when people fail to answer "Who was buried in Grant's Tomb?" or "When was the War of 1812?" The laughter dies however, when one considers a 2008 report produced by Common Core, in which they surveyed a random sampling of 1,200 seventeen year olds across the country. The report revealed some disturbing facts.

Thirty-three percent of the students could not identify the document wherein Americans are guaranteed their freedom of speech. Forty-nine percent could not identify the political party attacked by McCarthyism. A whopping fifty-seven percent could not correctly place the American Civil War within the second half of the nineteenth century, while forty percent didn't know that WWI took place within the first half of the twentieth century. And that was only the beginning.

If, as the report declares, "the first mission of public schooling in a democratic society is to equip every young person for the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship," then our public school system seems to be failing.

So what's to do? Blame our teachers and schools? That's probably not fair. After all, America's schools are over crowed, under funded, and sadly hampered by scholastic standards that put creative and civic instruction on the proverbial back burner. Just today, I spoke with a local high school curriculum coordinator who bemoaned, "I have plenty of content, but no time to teach it." Hardly a surprise when US Department of Education data shows that "the amount of weekly instructional time devoted to history and social studies in grades one to six fell by 22 percent between 1988 and 2004. The amount of time devoted to "English and reading arts" increased substantially during these same years, but there is reason to believe that most or all of this additional time was spent on basic reading skills, not literature."

The Common Core report, which you may read at http://www.commoncore.org/_docs/CCreport_stillatrisk.pdf, did notice that a segment of students who consistently scored higher had a few important aspects of their lives in common. One, they had at least one college educated parent. Two, they were more likely to have read at least one literary book not assigned in school. Three, they were more likely to have visited a museum or attended a cultural event with their family and friends. In other words, parental and family involvement in the cultural and historical education of a child tends to raise that child's grade point average by one level, sometimes two. The report seems to confirm what many parents and teachers have known for years-the love of history and literature begins at home. Knowledge of our past is a gift we receive from our parents when they take the time to share their passions with us.

So what are parents to do if they have no college education? What if they have no money for museums and theatre? What if they work three jobs and only see their kids a few minutes a day? Luckily, quality of time is truly more important than quantity. If you know your kids are studying US History, rent and watch John Adams with them. Ask them what they think of a bunch of rebels deciding to start their own country. You don't need to test them; just expose them to your culture's history and literature and then talk with them about it. If you watch a film about South Africa, be sure to get out a map and let them know where the country is. If they are watching a movie about WWII, look for a timeline that tells them what came before and after. Kids are naturally curious, and parents can't afford to wait for schools to try and cram a lifetime of learning into one semester. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or money, look for a mentor who does. Your community and your kids will thank you for it.

I personally would like to see Historybuster Clubs sprout up across America. What is a Historybuster Club? Designed by a history teacher, Historybusters provides parents with the tools they need to hook their kids on history early, encouraging active learning as well as parental and community involvement in the education of our children.

To find out how Historybusters can help you inspire your kids, visit http://www.navigatinglife.org/historybusters.

I personally would like to see Historybuster Clubs sprout up across America. What is a Historybuster Club? Designed by a history teacher, Historybusters provides parents with the tools they need to hook their kids on history early, encouraging active learning as well as parental and community involvement in the education of our children. To find out how Historybusters can help you inspire your kids, visit http://www.navigatinglife.org/historybusters

Lynn Marie Sager

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Kid Stuff - Comments on the History of Children's Literature

It appears that the "Tom Swift" and "Wizard of Oz" books - popular with kids for most of the last century - are finally to be replaced by "Harry Potter."

The fourth volume of the Harry Potter series went on sale at bookstores throughout the country during midnight parties -- excitement not seen since the Pet Rock craze a decade ago.

Titled "The Goblet of Fire," the latest book by British author J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling promises - or threatens -- to prolong indefinitely the Potter series for the generation coming on line.

Some parents are uneasy about the new sub-literary fad. It features a supernatural kid who hobnobs with sorcerers and witches. Hey, they're reading instead of watching the same stuff on teevee.

All kids go through the make-believe stage, and some of us never outgrow it.

Ms. Rowling insists she makes up her stories simply to entertain children and make a living for herself and daughter. However, deep thinkers profess to see hidden allegories in her works that criticize the political and social life of our times.

Her emphasis on wishful events seems to bear out contemporary yearning for magic solutions conjured by 12-year-old Harry Potter to deal with his travails.

Whatever.

The technique is rooted in ancient literature such as "Aesop's Fables" and "Mother Goose Rhymes."

More than 600 fables related by a Greek slave in 550 B.C. was intended to impress social verities on children through talking animals.

As an 11-year-old, I discovered Aesop's wisdom in a library book. I have never forgotten his account of the hunt by a lion, fox, jackal and wolf. The four hunters brought down a stag and then discussed how to divide it.

"Quarter this stag," roared the lion. Accordingly, the other hunters skinned it and cut the meat into four equal parts. With this, the lion pronounced judgment:

"The first quarter is for me in my capacity as King of Beasts. The second is mine as arbiter, and another share comes to me for my part in the chase. As for the fourth quarter, I should like to see which of you will dare to try and take it from me," growled the Lion.

"Humph," grumbled the Fox as walked away with his tail between his legs, "You may share labors of the great, but you will not share the rewards."

Still, today, I shake my head a little when someone ascribes the largest share of anything as that due the lion. The lion's portion, stated ironically by Aesop, is not a share at all, but everything.

This fable is a realistic lesson to be learned at an early age. It describes both social and political greed to guard against throughout life.

* * *

The same dual purpose inspired the hundreds of Mother Goose rhymes. In medieval England, criticism of kings, nobles and other authorities could cost your life. Consequently, jibes at government were couched as ditties for children.

Consider this rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses,

And all the king's men,

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

The term humpty-dumpty was commonly used in England to describe someone stupid or muddle-headed. In the rhyme it refers to King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Richard was resisting a rebellion by Henry Tudor. In the battle, King Richard fell from his war-horse named Wall. He was surrounded by enemy soldiers and hacked to pieces. He was the last of the York kings and the last king to die on a battlefield.

Books For Kids

After the American Civil War, the invention of cheap "sulfited" paper pulp sparked a revolution in publishing. Newspapers expanded. "Dime novels" became popular. Public schools were extended to the high-school level. Children had knowledge and desire to read for pleasure.

The old custom of veiling politics with kid-appeal was an easy approach for publishers and writers. Regular patrons of this column may remember the recent account of Joel Chandler's "Uncle Remus" series.

Those charming tales of talking animals by an editorial writer for the Atlanta Constitution were aimed at "children of all ages." The objective was to entertain - while portraying former slaves as wise and dutiful citizens.

An outstanding example of hiding a social message within a fairy tale is the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" published in 1900.

The author was Lyman Frank Baum, editor of the weekly newspaper at Aberdeen, South Dakota. When it failed in 1891 during the prolonged collapse of crop prices he moved his family to Chicago. There he wrote for various newspapers.

He also participated actively in the Populist (Silver Coinage) Movement and the presidential campaigns of Sen. William Jennings Bryan. He also wrote his first book "Mother Goose In Prose" in 1897. Interestingly he employed the fantasy/reality techniques of Aesop Fables, Mother Goose, and Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland" which preceded him.

Baum's first venture into fantasy was not widely circulated but reviewed favorably enough to encourage him to write his first Oz book. It was an instant bestseller, which he turned into a theatrical play the following year.

His ambition was to act and write for the theater. Nevertheless, the response to "Wonderful Wizard" was so great he consented to write a sequel titled "The Marvelous Land of Oz."

Before he died in 1919, Baum wrote 14 Oz books. Thereafter, Ruth Plumly Thompson and other ghostwriters authored 26 additional volumes until the series was concluded in 1963.

Baum stoutly maintained that the original Oz had no sociopolitical inferences. Yet, the story and its characters so ably reflected the turbulent times that the comparison is compelling.

Oz is the abbreviation for ounce, the standard measure for gold.
The yellow brick road is composed of gold ingots that lead only to a field of opium poppies and drugged sleep.
The Emerald City is the store of "green-back" paper money backed by silver as well as gold.
The Tin Woodman, represents the industrial worker made heartless by factory owners and left to rust when his labor was no longer needed.
The Scarecrow is the farmer with not enough brains to support Sen. Bryan's reforms.
The Cowardly Lion is Sen. Bryan who roars a lot but is afraid to bite.
The Wicked Witch of the East represents New York City financiers and bankers who enslave little people called Munchkins.
The Good Witch of the West portrays people in the heartland of America.
The Wizard is supposed to be President William McKinley who conceals his deceptions with smoke, mirrors and phony proclamations.

Dorothy's magical silver shoes (changed to red in the ever-popular color movie) had the power to grant her wish to go home once she acknowledged the value of family and farm.


If Baum did not intentionally weave these symbols into his first Oz book, he subconsciously reflected his time and place - after all, the genius of good writing.

* * *

My favorite books as a youngster were those in the "Tom Swift" series which began in 1910 and continue popular today. There was not a speck of politics in them, but they were progenitor of science fiction.

Tom, "the boy inventor," built contraptions that were just in the discovery stage at the turn of the century. In several instances, the authors of Tom Swift books anticipated science.

Such subject matter reflected the fascination of kids - particularly boys - with the gee-whiz technology of that time. Then it was such things as motorcycles, speedboats, automobiles, planes, submarines, radios, and super cannons.

These things are ordinary today. Kids now are titillated by witches, giants, monsters, demons, magicians, terminating-killers, space ships and assorted planetary aliens. All are served up by computer games, videos, television and special effect movies.

The genre of series books for children -- with the same, central character -- was the brainchild of a publisher named Edward Stratemeyer. He started the Stratemeyer Syndicate of ghostwriters to churn out endless books about characters and situations he dreamed up.

Among his creations was the Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew. The big money maker, though, was Tom Swift. Most of the first 38 volumes were written by Howard Garis, Stratemeyer's best friend, under the pseudonym Victor Appleton.

The books have come to be known as the Tom Swift Senior series. Since then, other publishers bought the name rights. They continued to produce Swift Junior books with ghost writers and adventure topics until "Death Quake," the last one, in 1993.

The 99 Tom Swift series is the largest total, and longest running, of all time simply because it tapped the interest of kids in exciting things which might be.

Ms. Rowling is simply following a well-tested format.

I wish I had thought of it.

July 16, 2000

Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at:

LinWms@earthlink.net

LinWms@lindseywilliams.org

Website: http://www.lindseywilliams.org with several hundred of Lin's Editorial & At Large articles written over 40 years.

Also featured in its entirety is Lin's groundbreaking book "Boldly Onward," that critically analyzes and develops theories about the original Spanish explorers of America. (fully indexed/searchable)

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An Outline of History of British Culture and Literature

Every work of literature has a generic context. In addition, every work has a historical context. That is, it belongs to a particular historical period.

1. Old English or Anglo-Saxon period

· It mainly belongs to the period before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

· The language in which it is written is more like German than modern English.

· The greatest single poem is Beowulf (probably written around 700). It is either an epic or tragic poem.

· The other works: the prose Chronicles, Christian poem such as The Dream of the Rood and The Battle of Maldon.

· The major made in Old English is sort of narrative poem and deals with the desire for order in a savage and unruly world

2. Middle English or Medieval period

· It belongs to approximately the 1065 to 1550.

· The outstanding writer is Chaucer who wrote The Canterburg Tales.

· In this period, there are narrative poems, lyric poetry, and drama.

· The most distinctive feature of the literature of this period is that it is markedly Christian. A familiar pattern is the gap between the Christian ideal and the reality of life in this imperfect world.

3. Renaissance period (The seventeenth century)

· Approximately dates are 1550 to 1660.

· It is considered as one of the richest eras in English literature, because society was changing in such a fundamental way; the world was becoming much more complex, with the whole economic and social fabric of society changing.

· Like medieval writers, renaissance writer still recognize God as the only source of order, even though so much of their attention is on how man distracted and tempted by worldly ambition and secular concerns.

· There was attention between a traditional order and disruption of this order. We can see this in Shakespeare's work, Hamlet (1600), and King Lear (1605).

· The central historical event is the civil war of 1642-1651. it embodies a similar conflict between the king's traditional status and authority and new forces who wish to wrest power from the king.

· We can see this in Milton's work, Paradise Lost (1667).

· The outstanding writers such as: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, and Jhonson.

4. Eighteenth Century

· It belongs to about 1660 - 1790.

· The tension is between the desirability and their awareness of the inevitability of social disorder. They deal with the gap between how things could or should be in society and how they really are.

· Outstanding writers: Richardson and Fielding.

5. Romantic period

· About 1800

· It is considered as the great ages of English poetry, with Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Bryan, and Shelley.

· It was no longer pay attention in God as the source at order, nor is order sought in society, but it seeks a harmony in life which is at one with a pattern that can be found in the natural world.

· The outstanding novelists are Jane Austen and George Elliot.

6. Victorian Period

· About 1830

· It develops from romantic literature

· It is the great age of novel because the novel was only form that could expand enough to cope with the scale and complexity of Victorian society as it, too, expanded and changed with the growth of industrialization.

· The great novelists are Charles Dickens and Eliot. They are fully aware of the disorder, injustice, and hand ships of the world they live in.

7. Twentieth Century

· It is a period of extraordinary creative in all the arts.

· The point is the fact that rapid social changes, an alteration in the whole structure of society, almost always stimulate the production of great art.

· The central historical event of the early years of the twentieth century is the First World War (1914-1918).

· There is find an increasing senses that life is overwhelmingly confusing and complicated. E.g.: novels of Hardy, Conrad, Joyee and Lawrence. Poetry of T.S Eliot and Yeats.

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A Brief History of Chinese Literature

Chinese literature goes back thousands of years, from the dynastic court records to novels that became popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368-16440). During the Tang Dynasty (618-907) woodblock printing was invented, and along with movable type printing that was introduced during the Song Dynasty (960-2179) this enabled the spread of written knowledge among the literate Chinese.

At the beginning of the Gonghe regency (841BC) the Chinese began to keep detailed court records. Perhaps the definitive work in early Chinese writing was the Shiji, a narrative history of Chinese, written by the Han Dynasty court historian Sima Qian (145BC-90BC) and completed about 389BC.

The oldest extant dictionary in China is the Erya, dated to the 3rd century BC, anonymously written but with later commentary by the historian Guo Pu (276-324). There were also large encyclopedias produced in China throughout the ages. The Yiwen Leiju encyclopedia was completed by Ouyang Xun in 624 during the Tang Dynasty, with the help of scholars Liinghu Defen and Chen Shuda.

China has a rich tradition of literature that has continued through the ages and continues to the present day through post Maoist writers. Chinese language literature has also flourished in the diaspora - in South East Asia, the United States, and Europe. China is the largest publisher of books, magazines and newspapers in the world. In book publishing alone, some 128,800 new titles of books were published in 2005, according to the General Administration of Press and Publication. There are more than 600 literary journals across the country. Living and writing in France but continuing to write mainly in Chinese, Gao Xingjian became the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000.

Maureen Mclean

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A Little Piece Of History Of Books And Literature On Web Authoring

I guess you are all wondering, why start with the history of Books and literature on web authoring, to most of you it might sound pretty boring, like 'blah blah blah' most importantly this gives us an insight into how far the world wide web has come from its inception. This is a handy part to know for a budding web authors.

Web Authoring, also known widely as web design is the know how to build a doorstep to you from the world vastly unlimited space of the world wide web. From the inception of the world wide web hypertext concept by Tim Berners-Lee, to the public arena commercially in 1996, along side with the Webby Awards (an award for the recognition of the best websites) in 1995, has drawn great interests in creating a piece of virtual paradise. Over the years there has been many books and other literature, written on how to build websites, turning what looks like a plain screen into to the beautiful sites such as Microsoft and Apple Computers.

As the world wide web grew, many problems and challenges were faced, the first being the amount of browsing software, secondly the differing formats. A browser is like the visual tool to view the pages published on the world wide web. The browser in itself like different cars, they handle and operate differently firstly because of their internal engines, and it's visual interface, this is noticeable if you have experimented with Mozilla Firefox (using Netscape open source Mozilla Engine), and the Internet Explorer series of browsers. As such, this affects the way in which the website is coded, to accommodate for the differences in handling.

The secondary issue is that there are many different formats in which that can be coded, such as .html, .asp, .php. This has come about because of the number of different core operating systems available in the industry such as Windows Server, UNIX, and LINIX. Due to this complexity, there has been numerous Books and Literature on Web Authoring based in each of the coding format. Despite the differences and the complexities of all the above, there are key basics which are adhered to in Web Authoring, and as such most Books and Literature on Web Authoring cover these key aspects.

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A Short History of English Movies and Philippine Literature

The history of English-movie is very old dating nearly back to the same time as other most of the European countries and America. While Philippine literature is also very old and most of the ancient literature of Philippines dates from ancestral worship and legends which were brought by the first settlers from Taiwan.

In 1913, American movies and actors had infiltrated deep into England and this fashion became so popular that a London based film company started making films in the UK casting American actors.

The Philippine islands were a Spanish colony from early 1500s and were controlled by the US in the first half of the 20th century. The written literature was present much earlier than the Spanish colonial period. Because Spain was in a grip of investigation, the church doctrine passed a decree to destroy the Philippines written records and be replaced by Catholic teachings only.

There were problems with the English-movie industry for maintaining its pace with the progressing technology. Because of this problem, there was technical comparison of English-movie industry with its European and American counterparts.

The English movies were also greatly impacted by the theatre culture. The presentations of English movies were similar to the style of screen play as stage play. Many English movies ended up in the same actors and sets that were used in the stage plays.

The First World War was also a cause of problems for the English movie industry. The audiences were more attached to American movies and they were praised a lot. The downfall of English movies continued despite the infusing of private sponsorships into the English movie industry until it finally ceased completely in 1924.

Through the first half of the 20th century till this time, most Philippine poetry and literature was written in Spanish. José Rizal is a Philippine national hero and considered the father of Philippine literature. Although his work was written and published in Spanish language but it has inspired many Filipinos. José Rizal was also a model of civilized living and he had also studied medicine and philosophy and was awarded for his work.

The downfall of English film industry did not remain forever and the dedicated efforts of some film producers and actors luckily revived the English movie industry in 1927. Many Philippine writers excelled to the level that story writing and poetry became a major cultural export. Although the professional writing in the Philippines is nowhere near as advanced as other English speaking nations but several awards are offered annually that recognize the excellence of Philippine literature.

You might also be interested in learning the detailed History of English Movies and also The History of Philippine Literature.

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Short History of Philippines Literature

Philippine is an island country situated in Southeast Asia along the Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and South China Sea. The language spoken by the people is known as Tagalog. The islands were a Spanish colony from the early 1500s. The US controlled the islands in the early 20th century. Philippines is the 11th most populated country of the world.

The Philippine islands have a rich oral history of legends, poetry and tales which is common with other aboriginal societies. Unfortunately, a lot is not known among urban inhabitants and the older generations have retained them in most cases who are the subject of an anxious project by universities and cultural awareness groups.

Legends were brought with the Taiwanese settlers, it was the first homeland from the Austronesian people. The old stories of heroes and gods are shared in many parts with the stories that are familiar for the people of Indonesia, Pacific islands, Madagascar and New Zealand. However, Philippines have been settled for a mot longer time that allowed home grown versions to develop. The story of monkey and turtle is a favorite tale with the Philippine children. The moral of the story was that one should always share everything with friends. This is a defining nature of Filipinos.

Written literature existed prior to the start of Spanish colonial period. Spain was however gripped by inquisition and the church passed a decree that the existing Philippines records should be destroyed including unique Philippine alphabets. They were all to be replaced by Catholic teachings in Spanish only.

Baybayin was the only surviving documents written in tagalong alphabets. The written form literature in Philippines is only known from times of the colonial period. Most of the works written in those periods were religious praising the Christianity to the population that was previously following polytheism.

Poems were energetically encouraged that could be read or used in church or local festivals. A poem written by Fernando Bagonbanta in 1605 contained many lyrics that could be sung. In 1705, Gaspar Aquino de Belen wrote quintillas in succession that were more serious as compared to Bagonbanta. Philippines still use them today.

Since the first half of 20th century, many poetry and literature of Philippines was written in Spanish. Tagalog was frowned as the base language not capable of great works. Francisco Balagtas was one of the greatest writers of Philippines. He was a man compared with William Shakespeare for his deep nature of works. Florante at Laura was his greatest work written in Tagalog. It is about a man and woman during the times of Greek Empire.

José Rizal was the Philippine national hero and is considered the father of native Philippine literature. His works were also published in Spanish language. José Rizal was not only revolutionary but he was also very intelligent. For him, Philippine independence was very important for survival of Tagalog language.

Jozé Rizal was a source of inspiration for many Filipinos. He was also a model for civilized living. He had also studied Philosophy and Medicine and he was awarded many degrees from several European universities. Rizal also spoke 22 languages. Unfortunately, his works on literature were limited to only two novels. The second one was a sequel owing to his execution by firing squad in 1896 at the age of 35 after being convicted of up roaring revolutionary ideas. Philippines came under US control after Rizal's death. It was later associated with the US as a Commonwealth. The chosen language of the early 20th century was Spanish.

English became the preferred language of literature by the start of World War II. There was a brief flirtation with writing Tagalog during the Japanese occupation as Japanese forces were suspicious that Philippine spies would use English for passing secret messages to US forces.

On the contrary, writing in English allowed Philippine authors to successfully expand their horizons having their writing published globally. Several awards are offered annually that recognize the excellence.

You might also be interested in learning history of Philippine Literature and also history of the U.S. Constitution.

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Philippine Literature - A Brief History

Philippine is a country rich in diversity and language heritage. Even before Spanish colonization, its literature had evolved tremendously. Some of the notable literatures are a general reflection of the influence exerted by Spaniards during the colonization of Philippine. During pre-colonial times, there has been widespread evidence that the island inhabitants display a culture rich with traditions. Folk speeches, folk songs and indigenous rituals are part of their daily lives. The infusion of such elements represents a lifestyle deeply ingrained in the locals. An understanding on the history of Philippine literature will allow us to appreciate the literary riches of this nation.

The colonization by Spain did not subject literature development to a halt. Rather, it breathed a different kind of life into the local literary works. European civilization was imbued into the local traditions through religion and institutions. During that period of time, performing theaters were introduced and the local languages experienced enrichment. Much later, Spain brought about liberal ideas and a sense of internationalism to the people of Philippines. Similar to the period of renaissance, it has substantial influence on local intellectuals. They start to question and portray the meanings of "liberty and freedom" in their works. The history of Philippine literature demonstrates that the combination of realism and surrealism gives rise to some of the greatest Philippines literature today.

19th century marks a change in the literary development when Filipino intellectuals educated in Europe wrote about colonization and the associated downsides. This realization brought about a reformation movement which eventually led to the downfall of the Spanish colonial. The history of Philippine literature was once again marked by a change when English was introduced. The introduction of English language led to the slow demise of Spanish, and subsequently literature written in Spanish. The sustaining use of English language birthed some of the well known English poems, short stories and once again enriched the local literature in a unique way.

Upon examination, we will discover that Philippine literature encompasses a way of life and values cherished by the locals. The local literature is a uniting element among its people, and will continue to evolve as enriched by modern changes.

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