The Democratic nomination process continues to be exciting to watch as we saw Obama trounced Hillary by a huge margin in South Carolina. Without doubt, Obama and Hillary will fight it out for a long while to come. Each side have their merits but I have to admit to being more moved by Obama than Hillary.

On the Republican front, it was comforting to see McCain beat out Romney by a large margin. But again, as much as I want to see Romney out, he is still very much in on the Republican fight.

Now, we move on to Titanic Tuesday on February 5!

As the first new titles are being designed, written, and developed for the upcoming TurnKey Publishing series, a concept I will be discussing and describing is Accelerated Publishing. Essentially, I will be describing how to develop a system to turn an idea and concept to a finished product within a matter of weeks.

In traditional publishing, whether it is print or audio books, the lead time and preparation time is tremendously long, often many months and sometimes over a year. However, I have discovered that this does not have to be the case and it is not the case for me.

I have created a system that continues to improve over time for bringing new published products into reality very quickly. That system will be discussed as part of Accelerated Publishing.

People interested in self-publishing will be excited to learn about Accelerated Publishing.  There will be more announcements in the months to come.

I continue to think we are living through history in the making.  I think it is amazing that Bernanke and the Federal Reserve decided to surprise the world with their unannounced .75 percent rate cut.  From what I know, this has not happened since 1994 when the last big boom occurred.

This rate cut is making investors go crazy especially in the stock market.  Personally, I love cheap money.  It makes investing in real estate and business projects much easier and more attractive.  However, it remains to be seen how much of a trickle down effect there will be if lenders are afraid to loan money out so soon after being burned by risky credit users.

On Jan. 30, when they have their official meeting, there is a chance for an additional minor rate cut.  For me, I say let’s bring it on although I am certain it will not save anyone who are about to lose their homes to foreclosure through those wonderful ARM loans.

It is going to be a very interesting, albeit, economically tragic year.

In my prior article, I wrote about my larger role and responsibilities as a Publisher for Ascend Beyond Publishing. I continue on that article by sharing the educational model I am employing in my publishing business.

Many years ago, when I was a Technical Trainer and Technical Instructor of advanced networking, technologies, and network operating systems, I became indoctrinated to the idea of customized education and modular learning.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of modular learning, it is simply the concept of giving the student the ability to custom create and design their own learning curriculum no matter what the subject matter is.

The fact of the matter is, we live in a society where time is precious and adult education is something we pay for. It takes time and costs money to learn any new subject but each of us have a different view of what we should learn and how much time we should take. The determination of success from our learning comes from the results that come from the execution of our action plans. If we execute and manage our affairs well, we should yield successful results. If we don’t, we have poor results. In other words, we no longer get grades as we did in school. We simply measure results.

As a publisher, I believe in providing tight, singular topics my readership and students can choose from. Comprehensive learners prefer to buy “an entire set”, many others prefer to buy their educational materials “a la carte” or “piecemeal”.

In the TurnKey Investor Series, readers and students can immerse themselves in the TurnKey Investing Philosophy that we created and practice ourselves. Or they can simply pick the individual pieces they want to learn about. Either way, the customer comes away happy.

I have had customers that I have never heard from and swoop in buy entire learning sets in one purchase. I have had many more customers who bought one or two titles and come back to purchase a few more. Clearly, repeat customers are a sign they are happy with what they have read or heard.

There is this myth that most readers or students want a monolothic approach to their learning. I believe that represents a small minority of readers and students. This is why encyclopedias, tomes, and other thick reference books don’t sell as well as smaller, tightly-focused titles. This is why Audio Titles have gained so much ground in recent years co-existing with their print versions.

Outside of the walls of Academia, people want to choose to learn in their own way at their own pace. And so, unlike so many of my fellow authors and educators, I don’t try to create a high-priced “monster master course” that tries to cover everything and anything regarding a subject.

I say to my readers and students, “Choose and create your own education” from our suggested set of offerings.

Customized education and modular learning is the new paradigm. Publishers, authors, and educators had best understand this new learning paradigm.

This article is one I have long thought I needed to write and clearly express my “official position” as to why I regard and identify myself as a Publisher more than I do as an Author.

First off, I have no negative feelings attached to the title of being an Author because it is something I have done many times. In fact, I am quite proud that I can include the title “Author” on my resume (or CV). I have obviously written, co-written, and edited many books and audio programs with several more in various stages of development.

However, I identify myself more as a Publisher because it is a larger scope of responsibility I take on than “simply” authoring books. In some ways, the Publisher title is less glamorous. I have to oversee the creation of a body of work whether or not I am the primary author or not. Up to this point, it so happens that I am the most prolific author in my publishing company simply because I have a lot to say and communicate, not because I am not willing to accept more titles from other authors.

I believe it is my responsibility to ensure that the body of work I bring into reality fit in consistently and congruently to the greater whole that represents Ascend Beyond Publishing. Every title must be congruent and synergistic to the greater whole. There is a “greater message and theme” that Ascend Beyond Publishing (ABP) represents. Ascend Beyond Publishing represents optimism, independence, entrepreneurism, strength, decisiveness, unedited truth, and personal responsibility.

Any author or work that does not fit in congruently with these attributes will not be able to be published under the ABP banner.

In the last 4.5 years Ascend Beyond Publishing has been in existence, 19 titles were created and developed. I expect the the number of titles will double in lesser time. As each title comes out, the body of work ABP stands for will continue to evolve and updated with the times.

My responsibility will continue to grow as Publisher. If I do my job well, I hope to make a larger positive impact in the world we live by serving my readership and students well.

Another wow. I cannot believe Romney beat McCain by such a big margin in the Republican Michigan Primary. Like it or not, I guess the game is still on. Huckabee, McCain, and Romney are still full on.

And what the heck is the deal with the Democrats doing with Hillary vs. “Uncommitted”? That is just plain weird. Something about Democrats “punishing” Michigan for moving the primaries up? Good grief.

Well, at least we are down to 3 Democratic players: Obama, Hillary, and Edwards.

The Republicans still have a mess of contenders.

Onward to South Carolina. This is going to be pretty important. And Super Duper Tuesday? All hell will break loose there.

Wow, it was another exciting night watching the numbers come in for the 2008 New Hampshire Primaries.

I was very happy to see McCain come out on top by a significant margin on the Republican side. Romney keeps trying to buy the election and he shifts his talk every time the wind shifts. I don’t know how long I have to wait before he drops out. Mike Huckabee is still in the fight and it will be interesting to see how he performs in South Carolina.

On the Democratic side…

Although I thought the media underestimated Hillary by predicting a huge loss, I was also incorrect in thinking that Obama would win by a small margin. It turns out Hillary won by a small margin. I fell into the media trap thinking that Obama popularity meant winning votes. That is not always the case as New Hampshire has shown.

John Edwards had a tough fight. I was hoping he would do a little better but he is clearly struggling. If he does not turn around on some of the Southern states, he is going to be out. With Obama in the race, he will end up as a Presidential or Vice-Presidential nominee. It would be stupid for the Democrats to ignore Obama even if he did not win the Democratic nomination.

My attention will turn to Michigan and South Carolina next.

I haven’t been too productive today. One of those reasons is my flipping through the 3 national news channels: CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC. I have been following the New Hampshire Primaries like I have never done before.

It has been a great show. On the Democratic side, Hillary had a touching emotional moment. Either she has gotten worn down or it was just a moment of weakness. It was interesting to see that side of her. I didn’t see much of John Edwards but he is going all out as the self-appointed underdog. And the rock star named Obama? Damn, people are inspired by him. And I cannot say I am immune. I was inspired since I first heard him speak in 2004 on the televised Democratic National Convention.

On the Republican side, Romney continues to offend my sensibilities. That is all I have to say about him. I am rooting for McCain on the Republican side. When I hear him speak, he really is very wise. I just wish he didn’t look so old. It makes me feel like he won’t last long enough to make a difference even if he were elected. I am not trying to be insulting but it is how I feel. With Giuliani, I like how he took accountability for his past and admits that he is not perfect on the GOP NH Forum.

On the Democratic side, although I would still like to see John Edwards come out on top, it looks like Obama will win. It seems like he is now a rock star. How can anyone compete with someone who has become a political rock star? Hillary will likely come in at a close 2nd to Obama. Unless she has ticked off a ton of voters in the last few days, Hillary is still a force to be reckoned with.

On the Republican side, I think McCain will win, thank goodness. But Romney will likely come in at a close second. Ugh, that means he will continue on and I have to listen to him yak more. Huckabee is a great talker and will come in 3rd.

I am looking forward to the results tomorrow night.