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Recently, my significant other and I found ourselves facing bank foreclosure on our home. We knew it was coming. We had missed several mortgage payments while we were laid off from our jobs at the mine. Stupidly, we decided not to communicate our problems to the bank. We tried to make do with part time jobs at fast food restaurants, but trying to make all of our payments on time and still have money to buy diapers and food for the kids was very difficult. It was a scary situation to be in.
The first step in bank foreclosure is missing a payment. It does not matter why you miss that first payment, but the foreclosure ball starts rolling at that point. Once fifteen days have passed from your missed payment, the bank usually tries to contact you. If you do not talk to the bank, more problems are in store. Forty-five days later, the next step is taken. At this point, you are usually warned, in writing, that you are facing foreclosure if you do not take action immediately. If you allow another thirty days to pass with nothing, the formal paperwork will begin.http://www.bankbusted.info
There are several steps you can take before the formal foreclosure process begins. All of these, though vary from state to state. In some states, you can file for bankruptcy. Most will allow you to keep your home as a protected asset. There are two types of bankruptcy you can file for. You can have your debts wiped out, or you can have your debts reorganized so you can continue to pay lenders as much as you can while still having money to survive on. Either way, the ability to file for bankruptcy and keep your home will depend entirely upon the laws in your state. Another thing you can do before the formal bank foreclosure process starts is talk to your lender.
Most lenders are willing to work with customers to lower payments temporarily, suspend payments for a few months until you get back on your feet, or make some other arrangements. Banks do not want to foreclose on people. There isn't some guy sitting in an office giggling manically thinking, "Hmm, whose house can I take today?" Foreclosures are just as much hassle for the bank as they are heartache for you. The final thing you can do before the formal bank foreclosure process begins is look for resources to help you within your state. Many states have foreclosure prevention associations that will provide you with the resources you need in this difficult time.
Even with the best resources in the world, you may still be unable to prevent the sheriff from showing up on your doorstep with a foreclosure notice and giving you a few minutes to get any belongings you can grab and head for the streets where you may be spending a very long time. The important thing to remember is to try to prevent this nasty process before it starts.
Yet the design of your book is crucial to its success.
It may be bursting with invaluable information, but if your book's not easy on the eye and easy to access, then your readers will feel dissatisfied. They may have purchased this book from you but they may not buy another one.
Good design can make the difference between a best-seller and a bomb. Here are five tips to help you produce a better ebook:
1. Your ebook should be easy to read.
Poorly designed ebook are often difficult to read and can cause eye-strain, headaches and fatigue - not the effects you want when trying to build a relationship with your readers.
Frequently, the culprit is the feature-laden word-processor that confuses authors with a bewildering range of options - fonts, colors, formatting, borders, rules, clip art and more. The results The 'Kitchen Sink' school of ebook design.
The solution K.I.S.S! Keep it simple, scribe!
- Use only one or two classic fonts in sizes that are easy to read.
- Use dark text on a light background.
- Allow plenty of 'white space' in page margins and between lines of text.
- Don't try and shoe-horn it all in.
- Use graphics sparingly, if appropriate.
2. Your ebook should look like it's worth a million bucks!
Don't skimp on the production of your ebook - it should look as though it's worth at least three times the price you're asking.
Even if you're giving it away, its presentation directly reflects your professionalism. With so many freebies already available, good presentation is the one quality that will make your ebook stands out from the crowd.
Unless you're trained or gifted, don't be tempted to do your own book cover. There are free recover sites and free software but their output often looks cheap and unprofessional and can drive visitors away from your web site before they've even read your sales letter.
People don't buy shoddy-looking products!
3. Your ebook should be easy to navigate.
- Your text should be organized into manageable chunks. People 'scan' the information and get bogged down in big blocks of text.
- Present your information in logical sub-divisions with chapters or sections, then paragraphs or sub-sections.
- Use titles and sub-headings to signpost the way.
- Provide contents pages and indexes.
- Offer clickable links to take them to the correct pages or web sites quickly.
4. Your ebook should be a properly constructed book.
An ebook should not just be a collection of pages. It should have the same structure as a hard-copy book, with a cover, title page, copyright page, contents page, an index, and page numbers that match those on the contents/index page.
5. Your ebook should be quick to download.
Most people still use 56k dial-up connections. A big file means a slow download and that can cause customer frustration!
Use images sparingly, keep them a reasonable size and optimize them. Trim the fat from your ebook before making it available for download. Zip the finished file to make it as small as possible.
Some of these measures mean extra work, but attention to detail is the mark of a professional presentation!
To recap the 5 tips for designing a successful ebook:
K.I.S.S! Make sure your book is easy to read with a simple layout, few fonts and plenty of white space. Don't skimp on production, aim for a thoroughly professional presentation. Make your ebook easy to navigate. Make sure it's a proper book with all the necessary part. Keep the final file size as small as possible for a quick download.
If you're still baffled by the whole concept of ebook design, don't know where to start, or just want to save yourself some time then hire a professional designer to do it for you. Its money well spent because good design SELLS!