Starting and Running an Online Business For Dummies
by Dan Matthews and Greg Holden
Starting and Running an Online Business For Dummies
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ISBN: 978-0-470-05768-1
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd., Glasgow
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About the Authors
Dan Matthews is Group Online Editor of Caspian Publishing, which produces magazines, Web sites, and events for an audience of UK entrepreneurs. Primarily working on realbusiness.co.uk, Dan writes about stellar business success stories as well as up-and-coming start-ups.
He was previously Group Online Editor of Crimson Business Publishing, with responsibility for sites such as startups.co.uk and growingbusiness.co.uk. He has contributed to a range of business magazines, including being contributing editor of Real Business magazine and Growing Business magazine, and is the co-author of Starting a Business on eBay.co.uk For Dummies.
Greg Holden started a small business called Stylus Media, which is a group of editorial, design, and computer professionals who produce both print and electronic publications. The company gets its name from a recording stylus that reads the traces left on a disk by voices or instruments and translates those signals into electronic data that can be amplified and enjoyed by many. He has been self-employed for the past ten years. He is an avid user of eBay, both as a buyer and seller, and he recently started his own blog.
One of the ways Greg enjoys communicating is through explaining technical subjects in nontechnical language. The first edition of Starting an Online Business For Dummies was the ninth of his more than 30 computer books. He also authored eBay PowerUsers Bible for Wiley Publishing. Over the years, Greg has been a contributing editor of Computer Currents magazine, where he writes a monthly column. He also contributes to PC World and the University of Illinois at Chicago alumni magazine. Other projects have included preparing documentation for an electronics catalogue company in Chicago and creating online courses on Windows 2000 and Microsoft Word 2000.
Greg balances his technical expertise and his entrepreneurial experience with his love of literature. He received an M.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and also writes general interest books, short stories, and poetry. Among his editing assignments is the monthly newsletter for his daughters grade school.
After graduating from college, Greg became a reporter for his hometown newspaper. Working at the publications office at the University of Chicago was his next job, and it was there that he started to use computers. He discovered, as the technology became available, that he loved desktop publishing (with the Macintosh and LaserWriter) and, later on, the World Wide Web.
Greg loves to travel, but since his two daughters were born, he hasnt been able to get around much. He was able to translate his experiences into a book called Karma Kids: Answering Everyday Parenting Questions with Buddhist Wisdom. However, through the Web, he enjoys traveling vicariously and meeting people online. He lives with his family in an old house in Chicago that he has been rehabbing for well, for many years now. He is a collector of objects such as pens, cameras, radios, and hats. He is always looking for things to take apart so that he can see how they work and fix them up. Many of the same skills prove useful in creating and maintaining Web pages. He is an active member of Jewel Heart, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation and study group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dedication
Greg: To my best friend Ann Lindner, who makes everything possible.
Authors Acknowledgements
Dan: Dan would like to thank Simon, Sam, Kelly, and Wejdan at John Wiley for their guidance, support, and ultimately patience in producing this book. Hed also like to thank Gemma for her patience and serenity, and Charles, Rebecca, and Kate at Real Business for being all-round good eggs!