Become A Research Expert & Scope Out The Competition For Your Book

Become A Research Expert & Scope Out The Competition For Your Book

By Library Superstar and Research Guru Shawn R. Fields

Published by Shawn R. Fields at Smashwords

BECOME A RESEARCH EXPERT & SCOPE OUT THE COMPETITION FOR YOUR BOOK. Copyright 2012 by A Better Way Consulting. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-0-9854914-1-3

www.abetterwayconsultingct.com

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Disclaimer

All of the websites and databases listed in this book were done so without the permission of their owners.

This book is dedicated to my wife Lorrie, who is perfect in every way.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Research Process and Strategy

Chapter 2: The Visible Web

Chapter 3: The Invisible Web

Chapter 4: People

About the Author

Introduction

Rachel shivered slightly as the elevator that she was in gave an almost imperceptible jolt when it started to move up. The falling feeling that you often get at the beginning of the ride only augmented the serious case of jitters that she developed. She was nervous and there was no doubt. Her friend Laura was an administrative assistant for a major publishing house. She had created an old debt when Rachel gave up her claim on a mutual potential flame, and now Laura was repaying the debt by getting Rachel in to see the editor that she worked for.

Rachel had been working on her book for three years. It seemed funny to her to think of her crazy idea turning into a ‘book.’ She had even more trouble thinking of herself as an ‘author.’ In the third grade she had an idea, no- more like a dream, pop into her head while bouncing a ball aimlessly in recess. She had a vision (of sorts) of a pixie, a fairy princess, who tumbles out into full human reality through a tear between the two worlds. The pixie gets befriended by a little girl, and a neighborhood badger to whom she can talk about her problems. Eventually the pixie becomes the President of the United States (so much for proof of birth).

Despite starting her adult life trying to study pharmacology, Rachel could not resist the draw of the unemployable field of English literature. She was so enamored with the written word that she was drawn into its vortex. Eight years of waitressing at a horrible New York pub could not even change her love for writing. There were some good things about her ‘career’ path: she met Laura and she got to write her book. Her pixie stood triumphant; at least would if she could get someone to publish it. She had tried what seemed like a million different literary agents and was always rejected, if responded to at all. This fortunate meeting with an editor seemed like a gift from ye gods, and she was determined to make the best of it… if she could get over her nerves.

One question was all that it took. One question derailed her dreams and dropped the stars onto her head. Her pixie was dead and there