Non-fiction

Swimming Upstream coverSWIMMING UPSTREAM

Swimming Upstream goes beyond the mechanics of babymaking into the minds of the one-in-six couples who struggle to have a family.

Written by a man who has been through the struggle and in conjunction with a fertility counsellor, this book is for any couple that has ever heard ‘just relax and it will happen’.

Swimming Upstream explores the issues with humour, insight and honesty and, for the first time, includes the male experience, revealing what every man probably won’t say and what every woman wants to know about their man as they struggle to conceive.   The everyday issues that are discussed include:

  • Fertility myths our society holds
  • Why men don’t talk about problems conceiving
  • How a struggle to conceive affects your ability to plan for the future
  • Anger, particularly at injustice at who gets pregnant and who doesn’t
  • The social isolation and putting on a brave face in a child-centred world
  • Dealing with Christmas and other special occasions
  • The effect on a couple’s sex life
  • The Top 10 things you don’t want to hear, including ‘just relax’, ‘so when are you two going to have children’ and ‘it’s alright for you, you’re on two incomes’. This chapter also gives you some ideas on what to say in response.
  • Issues that are particular to a man’s experience, such as sperm tests, dealing with your own father and understanding what your partner goes through

The stories of fifteen men, the author’s own experience and years of experience of a fertility counsellor come together to provide an easy-to-read, practical and reassuring reference to the issues most relevant to couples who are having trouble conceiving.

Available through Amazon.com.

Basic RGB501 GREAT SOCIAL MEDIA IDEAS FOR SCHOOLS 

This book is a comprehensive ideas factory – 178 pages of ideas and thought-starters to help your school generate enrolments, build community or develop cost savings … all through social media!

Unlock the value of these ideas – generate one enrolment by using these ideas and you’ve already paid for the book!  Any value you can generate out of the other 500 ideas is icing on the cake!

Why was it written?  There is a lot of information that tells your school how to set up Facebook, but not much that tells you what to do with it.

There is now.

Written by an author who has been on the web for 20 years and working with schools for 10, 501 Great Social Media Ideas for your school isn’t about embracing social media for social media’s sake.  It also isn’t about jumping into social media completely and utterly.  Rather, it’s about supplying a list of ideas for you to consider in the context of your school, its life, its brand and its methods of communication.

These also just aren’t a heap of ideas along the lines of ‘wouldn’t it be cool if …?’  These ideas are practical to help your school use social media to communicate better rather than more often.

Even if you implement just 10% of them, you should see improvement in your overall online communication and tangible benefits for your school – ranging from enrolments to bottom line savings to greater involvement by parents.

Have a look at the contents … or a few sample ideas.  And if you’re impressed, order your copy online!