Amazon Kindle Review

The evolution of paper has given me no choice but to provide readers with an Amazon Kindle review. The mediums which we use to read and write have evolved from stone walls, to papyrus and eventually to paper. In recent years this evolutionary process has stepped into the digital environment and the Amazon Kindle is at the forefront of this technological development. Critics have always reviewed books by only giving regard to the print while ignoring the paper. This will be a review of the modern version of paper by paying particular attention to Amazon's Kindle.

What is the Amazon Kindle?

The Amazon Kindle is an ebook reader which allows the owner to read a digital version of magazines, newspapers or books. The Kindle was first released by Amazon in 2007 and there have been two major models released since the original. Each new Kindle has been altered and improved to make the reading experience more authentic and comfortable. The latest model is the Kindle DX and it offers a range of features which previous models did not offer.

How do I use the Kindle?

Books or newspapers are downloaded directly onto the Kindle through Amazon's Whispernet network. The download is free of charge and the only cost involved is with regard to the book that you select to buy. When a text has been selected it is transferred onto the Kindle immediately. Amazon's Kindle has made it possible to buy a bestseller from the comfort of your couch at home.

How many books are available in Kindle format?

There are over 600,000 ebooks available for the Amazon Kindle. The titles range from classics (which are sometimes offered free of charge) to modern bestsellers. Bestsellers often go for far less than the paperback equivalent, making the Kindle a profitable purchase for the avid reader.

How many books can I store on a Kindle?

The Kindle 2 can store approximately 1,500 books whereas the DX is capable of holding more than 3,000 texts. Until now, it was unfathomable to carry 3,000 reading options with you at a given time. The Kindle is a slim, neat electronic library already owned by over 3,000,000 people, and the list of new owners grows daily.

How much does it cost?

Any Amazon Kindle review would be incomplete without reference to the price of the device. The Kindle 2 is currently available for $189 and you can pick up the Kindle DX for $379. Amazon has always offered used options and these go for much cheaper. People have been buying second-hand books for generations and there is no reason why this tradition can't be carried into the digital age.

Reading has shifted from paper to the digital environment. Old piles of dusty books are being replaced by reading platforms like the Kindle. The modern residential library does not require an entire room; it doesn't even require the space that a single book would normally take up. The pastime of reading has shifted to a digital environment most evidently present in platforms like Amazon's Kindle range.

For more information about the Amazon Kindle, check out our Kindle blog, http://www.kindleowners.com.

Irresistible Chocolate and Ice Cream Tastes

If there is something that everybody loves it has to be chocolate and ice cream, a delight for all seasons, holidays or no holidays. It is a great gift to a loved one, whether in Christmas season or at the commemoration of Valentine. Chocolates and creams are a treat for the whole family and a wonderful package for the journey. What's more, you can even send it as a gift through making an order online and it will be delivered to your loved one.

Some chocolate best sellers worth checking out include Mango Mini Cup, Fleur de Sel Caramel, and Black Licorice among other great choices. With Fleur del Sel Caramel Choice Ice creams, you have chocolate and Cream in one, offering you a chance to enjoy a most irresistible product. It is blended into the Caramel Ice Creams with a great chocolate coating, perfected by caramel ribbons with accents from the exotic French sea salt.

This product, known as Haagen Dazs, is crisply enriched with salty nuances and creamy caramel to give you a combined salty and sweet taste. The interesting part is that Fleur de Sel or simply the 'salt flower' is one of those rare salts in the wide world, harvested carefully by hand on the Coast of Brittany in France.

Ever tried the Ciao Bella Mango Sorbet (Alphonso)? It is a realm of tropical goodness in your mouth, luxurious and magnanimously refreshing with a smooth quality about it. The Ciao Bella offers you the chance to treat your taste buds with a sensational fruity choice, elevating your senses all the way.

With chocolate, you are spoilt for choice. Some great tastes to check out include the Banana Ice cream in Fudge Chunks and Walnuts, Chocolate and Vanilla cream anointed with Chocolate Chip Gobs, Peanut butter cream cup, The New York Super ice creams chunks as well as Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. They are great tastes that will make somebody feel appreciated at any time of the day and in any season of the year.

There are so many Chocolate tastes to checkout, with local or foreign blends, but all have one thing in common: Irresistible

Benson Ngugi Thrives on writing for different niches. chocolate and ice cream

Robert Kiyosaki's Thoughts on Wealth

Robert Kiyosaki is an amazing man who has taken the experiences of life and created a wealth of learning opportunities for people everywhere. The author of many books the encourage people to make the most of their assets while teaching them the power of positive and correct view points and thinking.

In today's society it is very easy to get bogged down in every day life, but this man has the unique ability to be able to motivate people into seeing the positive reality in those same situations. Robert Kiyosaki hosts many incredible conferences and seminars all over the world, dedicated to teaching people that being poor is mostly a state of mind, wealth is where you find it. His reference to his own childhood background provides a lot of his reference material as he conducts these highly motivated gatherings that are dedicated to raising the wealth consciousness of people everywhere.

His book Rich Dad, Poor Dad has been a huge success all over the world with millions of copies being sold. This book as been listed for over six years on the New York Times Best Sellers List and he has other books as well. His latest book, Conspiracy of the Rich is now number eight on the New York Times Best Sellers List. He and his wife, Kim, have dedicated their lives and efforts to raising the wealth and financial literacy of the world.

On his web site www.richdad.com, Robert and his wife offer many products and educational programs as well as copies of their books. On this web site you can also find out where and when the most accessible seminars and lectures will take place.

Since 1997, this amazing man has published over 13 different books on a variety of wealth encouraging material. Then in 2001 and again in 2002 he launched a very informative infomercial that has proved very successful. His endeavors, over the years, have also made him a very popular guest speaker on almost all of the major television talk shows.

If you have never heard of this man or his philosophies before now, do some serious research and your wealth barometer will certain rise.

Jenn Lawlor is inspired by Robert Kiyosaki's books and the lessons he shares with the world. Jenn lives on the outer coast of SE Alaska and teaches everyday people how to build real and long term wealth with Life Path Unlimited.

Why Do People Quit?

You only fail when you stop trying. You only fail when you believe that any further effort, time, resources or courage to overcome is no longer in you. Sure we all get to that point in our lives when we feel like all is lost and there is no sense whatsoever in continuing to push try or overcome. I've been there many times. In fact as many of you know who have heard me speak know that I have spent a lot of time in "life's valleys". But, I would like to point out that I am still here speaking and writing and you are now reading what I am writing.

I have wanted to quit so many times during my life that it is even funny now to me. I feel like I have had more adversity in my life than any one person deserves but I will say in my defense (not that I need to) that I firmly believe the reason I am able to help others who read my books and are in my seminars is because of the time I have spent in the valley and not because of the time I have spent on the mountaintop.

Why do people quit, give up or just throw in the towel? Are there times when it makes sense to quit? Are there advantages to quitting or giving in or up? And what are the benefits of standing firm and drawing a line in the sand? Here's my take on these four questions.

Why do people quit, give up or just throw in the towel? Well maybe they shouldn't have started in the first place. Maybe quitting was just another way of not really starting. I believe the main reason why people quit anything; a job, career, task, goal or relationship is because they no longer believe that it will never get any better or easier or that they have no longer have control over the outcome(s) Yes, some people lose interest, some people feel they deserve success no matter what they do or don't do but I'm here to tell you that life is a neutral judge. It favors only the brave, humble, courageous, committed and loving. Sure there are examples of people who have succeeded who break all the rules but I ask you, do you think their achievements over the long term give them the satisfaction, contentment and peace they desire?

Are there times when it makes sense to quit? Yes. I have abandoned several projects, initiatives or goals over the years that it just didn't make any more sense to pursue due to any number of reasons. The key is to not quit quickly or easily before you have given your purpose, goal or whatever - adequate opportunities to succeed. There is absolutely no sense in staying in an abusive relationship or career at the expense of your health or happiness, move on, call it quits and don't beat yourself up about it for years.

Are there advantages to quitting or giving in or up? Yes, but only if you learn from your quitting. Only if you take that learning into your next, goal, mission, purpose or activity.

And what are the benefits of standing firm and drawing a line in the sand? I suggest this action only if whatever it is that you have decided to stick with no matter what, represents your heartfelt dream, passion or purpose in life. I don't care if it takes your entire life to achieve the success you desire and feel you deserve, if you are passionate about it and plan to stick with it no matter what and no matter how long, you will be amazed at the courage, contentment, self-belief and value you receive from knowing that you stayed the course no matter what the curves, roadblocks or failures along the way.

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 4000 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 70 books including; Soft Sell, That's Life, SOLD, 81 Challenges Managers Face and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his websites at http://www.timconnor.com or http://soldbook.com.

Start Your Own Online Publishing Business

The internet allows entrepreneurs to create and market a digital product to hundreds of thousands of targeted customers. Read three tips to start your own online publishing business.

Create A Needed Product

When creating a digital product to publish and sell on the internet it's important to create a product that solves an immediate need. Pick a subject you have extensive experience with that has a market with high demand.

Products that have found success on the internet include alternative healing solutions and how-to guides. As the internet and social media evolves there is a growing expectation for digital products to include a video format with your product.

Videos have become best sellers when included with how-to guides.

Market Your Digital Product

Whether you choose to create your own custom website or sell your product through an auction site it's important to create compelling, but credible copy. It's common practice to give away several copies of your product in exchange for customer testimonials.

Adding positive testimonials to your website adds a social element to your copy that helps generate more sales.

When marketing your product it's also important to select the appropriate price point. Compare your product with your competitors and decide if your product is worth more or less than comparable products.

Create An Affiliate Program

When you have a product that generates consistent sales you may want to scale your marketing by utilizing an affiliate program. You allow other marketers to promote your product in exchange for a commission.

Using the leverage of an affiliate program can turn a few sales into hundreds of sales in a very short time.

The tips above are just a small sample of a larger marketing blueprint found at the Maverick Money Makers.

You can visit the following link to learn more about the affiliate marketing club created by Mack Michaels.

eBay Sellers' Worthless Products Or Instant Best Sellers?

Some things seem never to sell on eBay, often because they have no obvious listing category and, as such, no one knows where to find them on eBay!  If no one knows where to find them there's little chance of anyone bidding on them, and so those items languish on eBay even with potentially hundreds of interested bidders. Yet these items might interest hundreds of people and even start a bidding war. All you have to do is apply a few simple tricks of the trade. Here's how:

A good example is topographical ephemera, such as prints, posters, maps and old guide books about specific towns and cities.  Offer an old postcard of some little known town or village and you could have dozens of people bidding to own it.  That's because 'Postcards' is a huge category on eBay which thousands of people visit daily to key in place names to find new cards for their collection.  'Postcards' even has a Topographical sub-category which is further broken down by counties or states.  It's no big deal to find some postcards attracting double figure bidders.

But what about prints?  They're very collectible and often fetch far higher prices than their topographical postcard counterparts? But prints are not categorised in quite so tight a fashion as postcards, nor are topographical books, ephemera, posters and maps.  That means even the best topographical non-postcard items often go unsold.  That's no big problem where potential bidders key their collecting area into eBay's search engines, where they'll find anything remotely connected with their topographical interest. But doing so could still run into many thousands of listings for related and unrelated items which might deter most of us from looking further.

There is an answer, and it's a sneaky trick I use all the time:

The idea focuses on postcards, and the trick is to buy all the cheapest and most common topographical postcards you can find at boot sales, flea markets, collectors' fairs and yes, even on eBay. They'll cost you cents apiece and almost certainly no one will even consider buying them on eBay. But they might if those common views are couple WITH a related topographical print listed under 'Postcards'.  That way, when people search Postcard topographical sub-categories for their collecting area they'll also see the print and are quite likely to buy. 

I told you this was sneaky, but it really works! I've seen this work well on countless occasions - I've done it myself many times.  I've also seen two items, listed together, start an almighty bidding war between two or more people wanting one or other individual item, many wanting both.

The technique works with all manner of items that lack an obvious selling category on eBay, but which are part of an overall collecting subject. For instance, the other day I wanted to list a small trinket box, made many years ago, and featuring a neat collage of early Australian postage stamps varnished on the lid. I was unsure where to list it: it doesn't belong properly in eBay's collectible stamps category, and it isn't really an antique or a specific collectible type.

But I reckoned it would attract most interest among postage stamp collectors but there's no obvious place there for novelty items. So I bought a bundle of early Australian postage stamps and postcards at a local flea market and photographed the entire caboodle along with the box and listed them under eBay's collectibles categories for stamps and postcards. The payoff was huge and my listing attracted double figure bidders and fetch ten times the price I paid for those three items.

Avril Harper is a business writer and eBay PowerSeller who has produced several guides to making money from eBay and other online sources which you can read about at: http://www.avrilharper.com She offers several free Internet marketing guides which you can download right away at: http://www.avrilharper.com/freestuff.html

Nylon Stockings for The Foot and Toe

Stockings have been used for ages. Changes through the years has been made in the fabric used, the colors and the designs making it sometimes hard for people to choose from.

The market is in demand of stockings made of Nylon. These are very comfortable from the feet all the way up to the leg, which is something the woman will not trade for anything.

When there is run usually in the lower leg, this is the time that the person should change it. Those who don't have this in stock at home will have to go to the store again to get a new pair and might find some bright and exciting colors.

Take for instance a pair of Nylon stockings from Frederick's of Hollywood. This firm has been in operation for a number of years now and is still growing because of the patronage of satisfied customers.

One of its best sellers is the Lycra Sheer Stocking Pack. The person will only pay $10 for two pieces that come out of one box. This is not only available in black but also in ivory, nude, pink, rose chintz and white.

This item is designed for those who have small or large legs, which is something unique because many manufacturers just sell this in free size.

Another brand that is at par with Frederick's of Hollywood that is also good for the legs and feet is Agent Provateur. Most of its products are sold over the Internet and it caters to the sophisticated female.

This brand only sells its items in singles. Despite that, the person will love the fishnet design that comes in black or pink that will do well with any colored skirt.

The woman will need a garter belt to keep it from falling down when standing up and sitting down. This brand also has sizes for those who have small or big legs and feet that will cost the customer $20 a piece.

There are many nylon-stocking brands out there to choose from aside from the two mentioned. It will be a good idea to try it on even if the person knows the measurements in that part of the body to make sure it fits comfortably.

If this feels good in the skin and the muscles in the toes, the person should just get it. This will run eventually and those who are happy can buy it again or switch to another brand if this doesn't satisfy the woman's requirements.

Low Jeremy maintains http://stockings.articlesforreprint.com. This content is provided by Low Jeremy. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included.

How to Profitably Sell Books on Amazon

Knowing which books to offer on Amazon can mean the difference between a good income stream and total failure. Here is what you need to know.

First, how do I sell books on Amazon

Amazon.com has a feature called Amazon Marketplace. This service lets you sell your used books, CDs, DVDs, etc. just by listing their code number (ISBN number for books, etc.) Listings can literally be completed in a minute or less for each item you sell. It does take a few minutes to set up a selling account but there is no charge for doing so. In fact the only time you incur a charge is when something actually sells.

There is one small negative to this approach. It only works with products that have a code number. So if you have antique books or other items without a code number, you will need to set up an amazon shop. There is a monthly fee for setting up a shop but the fees that amazon charges are much less in this method of selling than the direct selling method in the prior paragraph. So if you become a volume seller it is probably worth the investment in getting an amazon shop as the investment will quickly be paid for by the savings in fees.

Second, decide your interest level (i.e. just list books or get a store)

The next step is to decide your interest level. It is going to be a casual thing or will you be treating it as a serious business.

Lets say you were just cleaning house and wanted to make a bit of money on some books or CDs you have. In this instance, it doesn't make sense to set up an amazon shop as you won't earn enough to justify the monthly investment in keeping your shop running. But lets say your passion was yard sales and bargain hunting and you knew that every week you could find and list hundreds of books, CDs, DVDs, etc. In this case getting an amazon shop would be a wise investment.

Basically amazon is structured to satisfy anyone's selling needs and they have a variety of simple tools that will help you achieve your selling goals in a quick, cost effective and efficient manner.

Third, these are the types of books you should not be selling

Selling used books is not an obvious thing to do. Common sense would say that bestsellers are the best kind of book to offer because they have sold millions of copies. But it is their very popularity that makes them poor books to sell. If you do a search on amazon for a bestseller, you will find that many people are selling their used copies, many times for under $1.00. With millions of copies out there, the market is glutted. This is true for any type of bestseller - fiction or nonfiction. Other books types you want to avoid are biographies, cookbooks and political books. And of course books like encyclopedias, readers digest condensed books, dictionaries, etc. are also terrible for resale. Oh, and also avoid old library books. There is nothing wrong with them per se but they will be slow sellers because of the markings the library puts on the books.

The only exception to this rule would be signed first editions. If you find a signed first edition, it will retain value and possibly be worth more than the published price depending on who the author is.

Books you should be looking for are books about specific nonfiction. subjects. (In other words, avoid all fiction books.) For instance, books about cars, boats, playing tennis, collecting coins, herbal medicine, business (as long as they are not best sellers), real estate, gardening, etc. are all excellent books and have a very high prospect of selling for a very high price when compared to a bestseller. I will typically get 50-75% of the cover price selling these types of books on amazon.com.

One other thing to note when choosing books to sell. Try to find books that are in perfect or near perfect condition. These books will have their dust jacket if hard cover. The spine will not be broken. They will not be filled with writing. People know they are buying used books when buying from you but they want a book that is nice and presentable, not one that is falling apart.

Where can you find used books for sale?

Used books are everywhere but your goal is to get them as cheaply as possible - preferably for $1 or less. Places I regularly check include yard sales, flea markets, thrift shops and libraries. Libraries often have used books donated to them that they just put right on the sales table. I think the people who donate them think they will end up on the shelves of the library but they never do. Estate sales and auctions can also provide opportunities to buy books. And keep your eyes open. You never know when you might run into a buying opportunity.

Will all the books sell?

No matter how carefully you pick your books, you will end up with some that just don't sell or are just very slow in selling. This is normal. Chances are good that the book will eventually sell but it could take several months. And if you purchase your used books cheaply enough, the carrying cost of the books that sell will be small. I find that if I list a random selection of 100 books, about 25% of them will sell each month. That means that after 4-5 months, I can pretty much assume that all the books that will sell have actually sold and I may be left with 5-10 books that for whatever reason had no buyers.

At that point, I make one of two choices. I either lower the offering price on amazon to try to attract a buyer or "trade" the book for something more desirable.

The only time to buy bestsellers

There is one time and one specific reason I will buy bestsellers. If I have the opportunity to buy a large number of hardcover (and sometimes paperback) bestsellers in perfect condition for under $1 each (under $0.25 each if softcover), I will usually buy them. However, I will not sell them on amazon.

There are a large number of used bookstores that will buy or trade books with you. They typically give you 20-25% of the books list price if you want cash and up to 50% of the books list price if you want a credit. That means I have a ready outlet for liquidating these books. If it is worthwhile, I can just swap them for immediate cash. Or I can trade them for other books I can sell at amazon. In general, I make out better in a trading situation than in a cash situation but sometimes if I have way too many books, I will just go for the cash option to reduce my inventory. It is a really effective form of inventory management.

Before you jump out and buy 100's of bestsellers, do check with the used bookstores in your area to see what they are offering for these books. Different shops may offer different rates depending on their current inventory. A little shopping around by phone can result in a lot more cash ending up in your pocket.

How much can I realistically make?

The amount you can make in any given month depends entirely on how many books you acquire that month, how well you did at negotiating the cost and how well your books choices were. This is a business where you can easily make several hundred to several thousand dollars a month depending on the above items. Also it is a business that can give you higher returns the longer you do it. The more you sell, the more you get to know what will sell quickly and what will sell slowly. That will let you be a bit more particular about the books you choose in your book hunting. Instead of ending up with lots of unsold books at the end of the month, you will have an inventory that turns over very rapidly.

Book selling is a really fun and stress free way to earn anywhere from a supplemental part time income to a full time income. And with the tools offered at amazon.com, it is really easy to get started and keep the profits flowing. There aren't many businesses where you can make money by shopping but this is one of them!

Are you a fan of the American Civil War?

Do you love reading about its history?

If that describes you, you need to check out The Civil War Omnibus - the most comprehensive digital collection of Civil War works available. The Civil War Omnibus represents 100s of key and hard to find references to the Civil War for any fan of the war.

Satisfy your history bug. We offer 100s of historical collections at The Historical Archive. Check out our entire collection of historical CDs and DVDs at http://www.TheHistoricalArchive.com.

How To Make Your Product A Best Seller With Absolute Certainty

So you want to create a product to sell on the Internet. The way many people go about creating a product is something like this: they go with a 'gut feeling' of what they think will sell, don't do any market research, pour lots of capital in creating a product, have no marketing plan and just launch it out on the Internet. Then they wonder why they never sold a single copy of their product. The truth is that they lacked a plan.

Football teams spend months in pre-season practising their strategies and honing their fitness. It's the same thing with business, you have to train and prepare for success. You need to research your market to see if there's a demand for your product.

There's a few useful online resources for researching the profitablity of a product idea. One I place I go to before creating any product is Amazon. Here you'll find out which topics currently touch on people's hot buttons at the moment. If you're creating say, a non-fiction information product, Amazon is a gold mine of ideas.

Another place to go to is the eBay Best Sellers list. Here you'll find out which are the top selling items on eBay. You can see category by category which products are selling the best. You can be sure that if a product is selling well, and if you create something complimentary to it or a similar product but with a unique twist, then you can be sure that your product will sell well.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!

Your Inner Voice Has All The Answers

Each of us has an inner voice that guides, directs, prods and helps us as we travel the many highways and crossroads of our lives. Now I ask you would an all loving God put enough sense in squirrels to gather nuts, birds to fly south and fish to swim upstream and not put something at least comparable in humans?

The answer is yes he would.

Psychics, therapists, counselors, spiritual leaders and thousands of people in all walks of life are trying to coax us into believing that we have this inner voice and if we paid more attention to it we would be far better of in our lives.

I am none of the above but I can tell you from years of sometimes listening and sometimes not that when I do listen and heed my life has tended to work out for the better and when I have not, well you guessed it, things got out of whack.

This inner voice takes many forms but it is usually not flashes of light, life-changing spiritual experiences or the result of any number of rituals spiritual or otherwise. It is usually just an inner gentle constant urging to change something, do something or not do something.

There are only two things you need to do to discover the meaning behind the messages from your inner voice; keep asking yourself the right questions and be willing to listen to the answers whether you like them or not.

Here are a few that might help to get you started.

1. What (or who) are you envious of?

2. Where do you want to be right now?

3. What is your body trying to tell you or show you?

4. When are you the happiest?

5. What causes you the most stress?

6. What is your reaction/response to this stress?

7. Who are your heroes? Why?

8. How do you feel about money?

9. If you could change one thing about your life, only one, what

would it be?

10. If they wrote a book about your life to date: what is the title?

What is the title of the current chapter? The last one? The next

one?

11. Who or what is in your life now that is giving you the

opportunity to learn about yourself?

12. If you could live your life to date knowing what you know

now, what would you change about your past? Why

Thought-provoking questions? I hope so. Difficult to answer? It depends on your willingness to listen and be honest with yourself.

The beginning of all growth comes from an awareness that something needs to change. Trust me your inner voice can help you if you will only take the time and have the patience to listen.

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 81 Challenges Managers Face and Your First Year In Sales. He is also the CEO of Sales Clubs Of America. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his websites at http://www.timconnor.com or [http://www.SalesClubsOfAmerica.com]

Golf Fundraiser For NonProfit Groups

A great warm-weather fundraising event is a golf fundraiser. Hosting your own golf tournament is actually fairly easy and if done right, you can raise a significant amount of money. Here are some tips for maximizing your results.

Big turnout

Obviously, the bigger the crowd, the better you'll do with your tournament. Promote with quality posters at golf stores, your own offices, and other high-traffic, high-visibility locations. Use your newsletter and email lists as additional ways to get the word out.

Distribute a press release about your golf fundraiser to all your local media outlets. Describe your most noteworthy news angle in the summary paragraph and then get into the who, what, when, where, why, and how aspects.

Greens fee markup

Most golf courses will give you a substantial discount for a large group, particularly if you're scheduled for a weekday when traffic is low. You can charge the regular price and do quite well. Or, you can pocket the discount, markup the regular greens fee by $10, and do even better.

Hole sponsors

Contact local businesses and ask them to sponsor a hole. To attract eighteen sponsors, make it affordable, say $100 or so. Show them a mockup of the signs that will be placed for each sponsor and your event program where you'll list all your sponsors.

Corporate sponsors

For the biggest financial impact, approach large corporations and ask them to sponsor your event. Companies with headquarters or substantial operations in your area are your best bets. Price your corporate sponsorships at a reasonable level, say $1,000 for a smaller golf tournament, and you'll get a good response.

Put together a sponsorship request on your letterhead and be specific as to what's in it for the corporation, i.e. prominent signage at the event, corporate logo golf balls for all golfers, newspaper coverage, golfing slots for top executives, etc.

Ask around within your group to see if anyone has personal contacts at the management level. Managers often have discretionary funds available for reasonable promotional expenditures.

Player sponsors

Just like individuals get sponsors for Relay For Life walks, Multiple Sclerosis bike rides, and other types of event fundraisers, so should your players. Put together a sponsorship form and ask each player to raise at least $100 in pledges along with their greens fees.

Silent auction

Solicit items from local businesses and even offer to pay for some popular items that will attract serious bidding such as golf lessons from the club pro or a set of new irons.

On the day of your golf fundraiser, setup a couple of tables full of donated goods and services. Tape bidding sheets and descriptions of each item to the tables so that golfers can place bids one-handed.

Make sure to get the bidding started on each item and encourage everyone to bid. Do a last call for bids as everyone is gathering for the awards ceremony that wraps up your tournament, then announce the winners, collect the funds, and disperse the merchandise.

Hold a raffle

You can sell raffle tickets for quality prizes in conjunction with your event. They don't even have to be golf related, but it does help to have at least some prizes such as a new golf bag, free round, season pass to top course, etc.

Price your tickets so that you raise at least twice as much as your prizes cost. If your prize costs total $5,000, then sell 1,000 tickets for $10 each. You can make even more if you get prizes donated.

To increase sales, sell tickets to the general public and not just to your group of supporters. You can even set up a sales table at high-traffic locations like shopping centers. obviously, follow all local regulations concerning raffle ticket sales.

Cash bar cart

Load up the back of a golf cart with ice and cold drinks, then drive the course and sell your golfers what they want. Cold beer and sodas are the best sellers, but don't forget to include snack foods like pretzels and chips.

Catered lunch

Work with the club to offer a catered lunch to all your golfers or at least a boxed lunch of sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Depending on what you're offering, markup your costs by $2 to $4 per person and you'll do well. overcharging will actually cut into your total profits.

Summary

If done correctly, a golf tournament can raise a substantial amount of money. Leverage all these fundraising tips and you'll have a record-breaking golf fundraiser!

Kimberly Reynolds writes for national publications on fund raising topics such as nonprofit fundraising, golf fundraisers and other charity fundraising events. Find more fundraising tips on her website, FundraiserHelp.com