by:
Radke, Linda F.
Caputo, Salvatore (Editor)

Publisher:
5 Star Publications
Published:April 15, 2000
ISBN:1877749362
Format:Paperback
Pages:175

Description: About the Author
Publishing books was the farthest thing from Linda Radkes mind when she was contemplating a career. The degree in special education and elementary education she received from Arizona State University in 1976 is proof enough of that. However, book publishing has become her career a very successful career as the head of Five Star Publications and Publishers Support Services! She also has written a number of books, including Linda F. Radkes Promote Like a Pro: Small Budget, Big Show, and The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing: How to Produce and Market Your Book on a Budget.

Radkes eye for opportunity led her on a circuitous route to her lifes work. After several years as a teacher, she recognized a crying need for a household employment agency in her area and founded one. When she realized that many people who needed her services could not afford them, she decided to tap that market by offering her expertise in a self-published book, The Domestic Screening Kit. Its success led her to write and publish Options: A Directory of Child and Senior Services while she still owned her agency.

Thats when she discovered she had printers ink in her blood. So, she sold her agency and founded Five Star Publications, Incorporated. As if to prove her publishing savvy, Five Stars first titles Shakespeare for Children, The Story of Romeo and Juliet, The Sixty-Minute Shakespeare, and Shakespeare: To Teach or Not to Teach, all by Cass Foster continue to enjoy perennial sales success.

Five Star spawned Publishers Support Services, through which Radke helps self-published authors prepare, promote and market their books. The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing was an outgrowth of this aspect of her business. As she had realized in the domestic-help field, many people who needed her services couldnt afford them. So after ten years of advising publishers and authors, she distilled her money-saving tips into the book. An instant success, the book became a 1996 Writer's Digest Book Club Selection. It won a number of awards including first place in the 1996 Arizona Press Women's Communications Contest

Radkes other books include That Hungarians in my Kitchen (a cookbook), Nannies, Maids and More: The Complete Guide for Hiring Household Help, and Household Careers: Nannies, Butlers, Maids and More. This last book received the 1994 Citation for Career Education Initiatives from the American Association for Career Education. It also took first place in the 1994 Arizona Press Women's Communications Contest and received an honorable mention in the 1994 National Federation of Press Women's Communications Contest.

Five Star also has published the award-winning Profits of Death: An Insider Exposes the Death Care Industries by Darryl J. Roberts and The Kosher Kettle: International Adventures in Jewish Cooking by Sybil Ruth Kaplan, a Jewish Book Club selection.

Through Publishers Support Services, Radke has helped to produce and promote such books as Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches; The Proper Pig's Guide to Mealtime Manners; Tying the Knot: The Sharp Dresser's Guide to Ties and Handkerchiefs; and SHOAH: Journey from the Ashes.