E Books E Books E Books!

cat writerAs we have posted numerous times recently, Your Pet Space will be building a collection of pet-related electronic books for sale on our site.  We’re very excited about offering our own e books, for a number of reasons:

1.)  E-Books don’t kill trees!  ‘Nuff said.

2.)  They’re faster to obtain.  If you’re a pet owner, you need answers about your fur babies NOW, not at the leisure of UPS.

3.) They’re portable.  You can read an e book anywhere, and carry many more than if they were paper books.

4.) Find what you need fast!  You can do global searches within an e book that are impossible in a paper version.

5.) You can be a published writer, and make some change doing it.  We can not only showcase new writers about their own pets, but create an affiliate program so you can create income by helping to promote our books.

6.) They’re affordable for everyone.  The average e book costs between $3–$37.00, depending on the content.  We plan to offer our books for $5-$15, depending on the book and creators, as well as production costs.  So you’ll be able to afford to purchase some you like, help shelter pets, and help keep YPS on the air, all at the same time.  😉

7.)  Upgrades can be offered free!  For any e books we create, we will update them for free to our customers.  (So your info is never out of date.) 

8.)  We can load them with useful links.  Our e books will be full of resources–they’ll be virtually (hehe) chock full of information as vast as the internet.

9.)  E-Reader technology can only get better.  Woot!

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Re-Thinking Of The Pitch Your Breed Project

A few months ago, we released an appeal for writers to contribute a paragraph on their pets to helps us create our first two e books.  Originally, we intended that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to a local shelter.  But we’ve since decided, in keeping with our deepest goals in starting this site, and our theme in 2014 of a PET REVOLUTION, that these books will be written by shelters and rescues, and will be descriptions of pets currently needing forever homes.  Further, ALL the proceeds (except production costs) will now go to a rescue in need.  (We’ve chosen Lil’ Paw Prints Animal Rescue Haven as our first recipient organization).

Any contributions of pet owners will go into one of our other pet e book projects, such as…

Other E Book Ideas We’re Kicking Around

Your Good Pet  (training)

Your Holistic Pet

Your Heroic Pet

Your Senior Pet

For this purpose, among others, we’ve recently acquired a sister domain, Petsstories.com, which currently re-directs back to YPS, but may be used in future to promote e books exclusively.  In the meantime, we’d LOVE to hear what ideas you have!  And of course we’d love to hear from you if you have something to contribute to any of our e-books.

Just request guidelines or send submissions to Joy@YourPetSpace.Info

 

 

 

What’s New At Your Pet Space?

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So…what’s new this week?

We have created a dedicated page to The Big E-Book Project!  Please check out this link at the top of our main page.  We are looking for any and all dog/cat/horse owners to contribute to this project.

Affiliate News

petbrosiaPetbrosia contacted us this week and invited YPS to do a free trial and product review on both their dog and cat food.  Watch this space for the result!

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In addition, three new contributors have been added to the Staff Page.  We are proud to introduce you to Tina Caldwell (professional dog and horse trainer), Cindy Huff (professional animal communicator) and Tina Whitehair (professional web designer for YPS).  Please check out their profiles and drop them a note with your questions and comments.

 We are always looking for quality content for Your Pet Space–from both pet professionals and pet owners.  This includes articles, interviews, product reviews, book reviews and your personal experiences.  Please contact us at joy@yourpetspace.info 

 

BOOK REVIEW: Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin

20100121TempleGrandinFrom Wikipedia:

Temple Grandin is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, autistic activist, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. She also created the “hug box”, a device to calm autistic children. The subject of an award-winning biographical film, Temple Grandin, in 2010 she was listed in the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in the “Heroes” category.

I downloaded this book one day because I was looking for anything about understanding the behavior of my three dogs better.  I’d never heard of Dr. Temple Grandin.  To my surprise, the book was not just about dogs and cats, but also horses, cattle, pigs, chickens and zoo animals.

I’ve now listened to the book twice and every time I do I come to admire this woman more.  She writes in a common sense style that’s easy to follow.  And the book is full of interesting facts.  For instance, do you know why cats get stuck in trees?

Grandin writes a lot about the science behind proving that animals have feelings, just like we do.  She talks about the Fear, Rage, Seeking and Play systems of animals’ brains–what stimulates and upsets them as well as what seems to make them truly happy.

After reading this book, I wanted more than ever to buy only humanely produced meats, as well.  Dr. Grandin was instrumental in the audits at meat processing plants conducted several years ago by McDonald’s, Wendy’s and others.  She designed systems to keep animals calm instead of fearful when awaiting slaughter.

In short, I highly recommend this book, both for pet owners and animal lovers in general.  And especially if you have an autistic child, it is inspiring to see what someone with autism is capable of in her life’s work.

Here’s a video of her speaking:

You can get a copy of Dr. Grandin’s book at this link:

 

joy 300Joy Jones is a syndicated columnist living with her husband Dave in Anderson, Ohio.  When not working on Your Pet Space, she writes a metaphyscial column called The Midwestern Buddhist as well as urban fantasy and humor.  You can e-mail her at joy@yourpetspace.info as well as follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

The Sunday News Post

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The biggest news this week is that the Howlloween Costume Photo Contest has ended.  Now, the entrants need your votes!  Go here and vote through November 9th!

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Next, we wanted to let you know that due to the fabulous offer Barnes & Noble just made us, we will be offering links to sales on their Nook e-reader!  For this reason, we are moving book and e-reader recommendations to their own tab at the top of our page.  Enjoy this new special area called “Bookstore”, and don’t forget we always welcome your book reviews.  Please send them to joy@yourpetspace.info.