The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal

I thoroughly enjoyed Shobhan Bantwal's first book, The Dowry Bride. It was well written and the glimpses into Indian culture were fascinating. Learning that paying or not paying a dowry could be a matter of life or death was shocking to me and she handled it very well in her book. So, I've been looking forward to reading her second book.

This weekend I took time to read The Forbidden Daughter and my wait was rewarded. The book is about female infanticide. That is the practice of killing female babies and unborn female babies. I've heard various reasons for female infanticide in India and that is one of the elements of this story. Are women less worthy or important than men? The characters have a variety of feelings about this question. Another element is the financial angle to performing abortions along with the social repercussions.

Isha Talik is drawn into this web of lies, deception and money when her obstetrician informs her and her husband that their unborn child is a girl. In an off handed comment, he says that he's willing to perform an abortion if they want to be rid of this child. Isha and Nikhil vehemently insist they will have their child, but they realize Nikhil's parents will want them to abort the child. The couple have one daughter and Isha knows her in laws treat her daughter Priya as less worthy than her male cousins. When the news is shared with the elder Taliks, they insist the child must be aborted.

This debate rages and is only interrupted late one evening when the family receives news that Nikhil was stabbed to death at his job. Isha, Priya and the in laws are all shaken by the news of Nikhil's death. The news is especially devastating to his parents because Nikhil was their only son and he had no sons to carry on the family name. Life for Isha and Priya is tougher each day and after her father in law beats Priya, the young, pregnant widow walks out of the house - with almost no money and only some of her possessions.

Isha and Priya are taken in at the local convent and make their home in a small, bleak room and they wait for the birth of her daughter. The day after Diya is born, Isha is seen by the doctor who helps the convent. He was a student at the college Isha attended and he had a crush on her in school.

Doctor Harish Salvi becomes a very good friend and his affection for Isha and her children continues to grow over time. Isha is reunited with her sister in law Sheila. With Sheila and Dr Salvi, Isha finds the support she needs.

Over time things begin to look better for Isha and her family and her support network grows again. But, the story isn't over and Isha must deal with a couple more concerns before the end. Isha and her closest confidantes realize who killed her husband and why. She has evidence of his wrong doing and the time stamp on the computer disc makes it very obvious, who is responsible for his murder. Will they go to the police? Will the murderer pay for his crime? Who else will have to pay for this man's actions?

I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but I highly recommend this story. You will grow to admire, you will admire and cherish Dr Salvi and you will care what happens to Isha's daughters. This book is a wonderful work from a talented author who share her knowledge of India with us.

Shobhan Bantwal is touring with Promo 101 Virtual Tours in October. Visit www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com for more details.

Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill

Direct mail and email marketing have gotten a bad rap for many years. But, when the email marketing is executed properly, the results can be fantastic. That is the sort of email marketing that Winton Churchill talks about in this book. It’s not just a simple email being sent from time to time, but it is an email system that gets definite and positive sales results for your business.

The complete name of the book is Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles – Proven Ways to Product a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with Effective, Spam Free Email Systems. When properly formulated and executed, an email mailing system can generate additional sales for your company – quickly.

We’re all familiar with the long drawn out and unpredictable sales methods. How many times have your sales people spent endless hours coddling sales leads? How often do these hours generate few sales? You know that isn’t cost effective, but every body does cold calling, trade shows and similar sales approaches. Or do they? You won’t need to continue these unpredictable sales strategies after you read and apply Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.

To illustrate the wealth of information in this book, these are some of the topics–

· Email Marketing is Not About Spam.

· Email Marketing… Relatively Easy and Extremely Powerful – When You Do it Right.

· Change your Mindset, Change Your Future.

· Six Special Needs of Complex Sales Cycles.

· Three Critical Stages of Success.

· Unhooking – The Process of Un-Training Your Brain.

· Four Ways to Identify and Qualify Legitimate Prospects.

· The Rapport Sequence.

· Eighteen Essential Components Simplified.

· Seven Damaging Mistakes Many Executives Make.

· Eight Indispensible “Fast Track” Strategies.

Recipients have mental blocks about spam and supposed junk mail. So, the first thing to realize is that Winton Churchill isn’t talking about spam or junk mail. In various places throughout the book, he admonishes the reader to find a quality list. This helps you get better results because those lists contain people who want to receive information about a product or service that is similar to yours.

Email marketing is reasonably easy, but you need to understand why it works and how it works. The complex sales cycle is a powerful sales tool and Churchill helps you learn how to use it properly. Are you one of the business people who spent your budget on an address list, but didn’t know how to properly use the list? This book is for you. Just having the list isn’t enough. You need to reach the people and determine who needs your product or service. You also need to build up a rapport with these people in order to lead them to make a purchase.

The email complex sales cycle allows you to screen these potential clients, show them that you are an expert in your field, demonstrate ways that you can help them and lead them to your business to make a sale. That does not mean that every one on the list will become a client, but when you start with a targeted and qualified list, your chance of making the sale increase. Once you have the right list, work on the cycle of messages that prove your credibility and illustrate how you can fill their needs.

In several of the chapters, Churchill addresses the mindset and that re-training are necessary to make email marketing work. The content of this book helps you get past the preconceived ideas about spam and to see the strategic way that a complex sales system works.

I enjoyed the entire book and I really enjoyed the sections on how to identify qualified prospects, how to simplify the eighteen components that are necessary and learning about common mistakes. I learned long ago that we can learn through past mistakes – the ones we make and the ones that other people make.

Finally, the eight “fast track” strategies are very useful. We all want to fast track our sales cycle, but it needs to be done correctly. Throughout the book, Churchill explains that we can ruin the sales cycle by pushing too hard to fast, so learning how to effectively “fast track” the program is helpful and will help us avoid mistakes.

My copy of the book has all kinds of information highlighted for future reference. I found many great ideas and tips that I will use. As I was reading the book, I also noticed an idea forming to use email marketing for a client’s business. I hadn’t thought about the approach before, but it made so much sense as I read Email Marketing Solutions.

The content could inspire you to make radical changes in the way your sales force finds and how they handle sales leads. Think of the time and money you could save with a more effective sales prospecting system for your business. Let Winton Churchill show you how to make these changes and how to increase sales that are generated for your company.

Winton Churchill will tour the blog-o-sphere September 15 to October 10. For more details, visit www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com

Vietnam Air Rescues by Dave Richardson

I have to start by saying that I love to read true stories - the good, the bad and the ugly :) This is a good one.

Dave Richardson is a man who was sent to Vietnam in the late 60's and he chose to be a helicopter rescue pilot while he was in the war. This put him in a position to have some fascinating experiences and it gave him a chance to see his faith in action during trying and dangerous times.

Vietnam Air Rescues started out as a book from a father, to his family. It was the chance to share his experiences and to help the family understand what he did during his time in Vietnam. A big part of the book are Dave's recollections and pictures from his rescues. There are many pictures throughout the book which are a great addition. I should mention that Dave does remind us that the pictures were taken over 30 years ago and most were taken under "less than favorable" conditions. Some of the pictures are out of focus, but when you read the content and realize what he was doing at the time he was taking the pictures, a bit of fuzz should be ignored.

The book begins with Dave Richardson's "Totally Unauthorized History of the Vietnam War". He shares his reflections of the war and his time overseas. He also explains the various editions of the book. The first edition was written for Dave Richardson's family, but as others requested copies, slight changes were made to make the story appropriate for other readers.

Dave shares many interesting details throughout the book, a jargon section, information about a typical day, details about the missions he flew, he shares maps of the area and full details on each of his rescues.

I feel that the personal feel is very obvious in the book. It feels like a friend is telling you about a year in his life and you get involved in the things they did to kill time when they had time to spare. We also feel the tension as he struggles to rescue a pilot who was shot down, realizing that a mistake would mean death for a number of people. It was never a situation where he only had to worry about his own life.

I interviewed Dave Richardson on my radio show and I got the chance to learn so many additional details. Learning more about how a person handles a helicopter added more tension to the rescue sections. I highly recommend listening to the interview for plenty of details. (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh/2008/08/18/Nikki-Leigh-Talks-with-Dave-Richardson)

On August 25th, I will interview Dave Richardson and the last person he rescued, Kenny Fields. Both men wrote books about their experiences. One of the interesting things is that these two books give us the perspective from the air and the perspective from the ground. Dave was days from going home and he agreed to go out one more time. Little did he know what would happen over the next 48 hours. Kenny Fields was stranded on the ground and the rescue planes and helicopters had a very difficult time - these men will share their stories with us.

If you prefer to read the details - Dave Richardson's book is Vietnam Air Rescues (www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Air-Rescues-Dave-Richardson/dp/1434891348/nikkileighaut-20)
Kenny Fields book is Rescue of Streetcar 304: A Navy Pilot's Forty Hours on the Run in Laos (www.amazon.com/Rescue-Streetcar-304-Pilots-Forty/dp/1591142717/nikkileighaut-20)

If you would like to learn more about what happened behind the scenes this is a great place to start. There is no grandstanding, no political undertones and no agenda in Vietnam Air Rescues. But, there is a great story told from an author who is proud to share his story with us.