Robin Books

The Successful Literary Agent’s Guide

by Bill Adler, Jr.

The Successful Literary Agent's Guide to Getting Published includes detailed information on getting published, written by one of the best literary agents in the country. This is a practical¾ and invaluable¾ guide for both new and professional writers. The Successful Literary Agent's Guide to Getting Published and will include:

• How to research your proposal
• Real tips from top editors (from Crown, William Morrow & Company, Prentice-Hall, Que, and many more!)
• Avoiding the "kiss of death" in your book proposal
• Doing market research for your proposal
• Creating and developing ideas for books
• How to tell what’s a good idea, and what’s not
• Answers to questions about publishing
• Actual¾ complete¾ book proposals to use as examples
• And more!

Outwitting the Neighbors

by Bill Adler, Jr.

From the author of Outwitting Squirrels, Outwitting Toddlers and Outwitting Critters comes this new, practical (and maybe essential!) guide to neighbor relations. Outwitting the Neighbors contains ideas for successful ways to go to bat, or battle, against those inconsiderate, unruly, or downright obnoxious neighbors. In this hands-on guide, you’ll find ways to cope with problems through apartment walls, over back fences, or among owners and renters. Whether the situation calls for a friendly negotiation or an all-out war, Outwitting the Neighbors is the source to call on.

Kids Tell Stories

by Maret School

Kids Tell Stories is a delightful collection of children’s stories written by children ages 5 to 8.

Step aside Hans Christian Anderson, The Brothers Grimm, Maurice Sendak, R.L. Stine, and Tomie dePaola. The best children’s stories¾ the ones kids like the best¾ are told by children. Just watch how six-year-olds play elaborate games in which they are princes and princesses, cats and unicorns, flying mermaids, magical knights, ballerinas with golden dresses, and great mountain climbers. You’ll see that a child’s fabulous imagination is without bounds. The plots, characters, props, costumes, scenery, and intricate dialogs they create are both amazing and fascinating. These games come from brilliant stories that are an integral part of a child’s mind.

What if these stories were put to paper? You would have a wonderful, magical collection of stories by children, for children. This collection of stories would delight young children because the tales come from the minds of children themselves.

The stories in Kids Tell Stories are extraordinary. And while this book will be a pleasure to read, it may also become a much talked-about and publicized book.

Children will have an opportunity to create their own stories for future editions of Kids Tell Stories. Many parents will want to buy Kids Tell Stories just to find out how they can get their children’s stories in the next edition, fueling sales.

Outwitting Home Contractors

by Bill Adler, Jr.

They’re supposed to make your home better, safer, more comfortable, more valuable, and fun to live in. But in truth, home contractors have only one thing on their mind: When’s Miller Time?

Outwitting Home Contractors shows homeowners how to cope with the human side of contractors: Painters who dry their brushes on trees; plumbers who disappear, leaving your water off; roofers who insist on starting work just as the sun rises; carpenters who leave big spaces in your living room floor for the weekend; "general" contractors who act more like privates; architects who are more interested in winning awards than in designing livable spaces; and contractors who present very over-inflated bills.

Most books about home renovation deal with the nuts and bolts of it¾ choosing paint colors, wiring computer cables, installing sinks, and the like. But no book¾ until Outwitting Home Contractors¾ shows you how to deal with the human element, the people who are most important to making your renovation a success.

Using examples from people’s actual renovation stories, Outwitting Home Contractors shows you how to have a successful¾ and affordable¾ renovation.

Will Your Baby Like Its Name?

by author to be announced

Do Claires like being Claire? How do Rebeccas feel about their nicknames? Can Richards tolerate being called "Dick" during adolescence? And what about Katharines, who, for their entire lives, must spell and re-spell their names?

In Will Your Baby Like Its Name? people give their honest reactions to their names. Will Your Baby Like Its Name? is not like any other baby name book; this book gives parents insight into how a particular name weathers over the years.

The author interviewed hundreds of people for the proposal. He asked three simple questions:

• Do you like your first name? Why, or why not?
• What are your nicknames, and do you like them?
• Would you prefer to have been given a different name, and, if so, what would that have been?

Many of the people interviewed for this book were excited about the chance to express their true feelings about their names. Here is a typical response:

Will Your Baby Like Its Name? will become a classic baby name book.

Back to main page.

by David Sherer, MD

The Patient’s Complete Guide to Pain Control tells patients everything they need to know about prescription and nonprescription pain medication. Pain¾ which accompanies nearly every illness¾ is both dreadful and frightening. People worry about pain, almost more than anything else having to do with disease.

People are bewildered by the array of over-the-counter and prescription pain medications. Which is better: Motrin or Orudus? Can I combine different pain medications? Does caffeine enhance aspirin’s pain relieving effects? If I’m really suffering what prescription should I ask my doctor for? Is it okay to cut an ibuprofen pill in half for my eight-year-old? How dangerous is it to combine Tylenol with alcohol?

The Patient’s Complete Guide to Pain Control will cover:

• The best over-the-counter pain medications for different types of pain
• The difference between regular aspirin, buffered aspirin, aspirin combined with caffeine, and enteric-coated aspirin
• The best pain medications for children
• Pain medication and the elderly
• Prescription pain medications you should know about (but your doctor may never have mentioned)
• Transdermal patches for pain control
• When Percocet, Percodan, Valium, or M S Contin (a long-acting, non-addicting morphine pill) are appropriate
• Why addiction is not a problem when taking opiates for pain control
• Coping with post-partum pain
• Controlling arthritis pain
• Coping with pain from cancer
• Coping with chronic pain
• Pain control and AIDS
• Pain control for the terminally ill
• Coping with pain from broken bones
• Controlling back pain
• Controlling migraines
• Coping with dental pain—during and after the visit to the dentist
• Pain medications and addiction
• Pain medications not to take before surgery
• What pain medications to take camping, traveling, or overseas
• Medications to ask for in the hospital (but that nobody may have offered you)
• Using acupuncture and other alternative treatments to control pain
• Being your own advocate for pain control: You shouldn’t have to put up with pain
• A chart by illness showing the best pain medications (most drug reference guides are organized by medication)
• A comprehensive reference section on pain medications, including dosages for children, adults, and the elderly; a body weight/dose chart for children; whether the drug is safe for pregnant and nursing mothers; adverse reactions, side effects and possible complications; how long you can use the drug; other drugs not to combine this medication with; whether the medication is available generically; interactions with other drugs; can the medication be taken with food; can the pill be cut; how to store the medication; when to call the doctor about a possible side effect; questions and answers about the drug.

The Patient’s Complete Guide to Pain Control will become the bible for pain relief.

David Sherer, MD is an board certified anesthesiologist at Arlington Hospital in Virginia. His anesthesia training was done at the University of Miami. Formerly he acted in television commercials.

Outwitting Schoolwork

by Bill Adler, Jr.

What students¾ and their parents¾ want is for homework and studying to be both fast and effective. That’s what Outwitting Schoolwork teaches high school and college students to do.

Imagine being able to listen to a lecture or read a required book and remember everything you need to know. This book will show you how. Outwitting Schoolwork describes easy-to-learn mnemonic techniques that will enable you to read any book one time and remember nearly all the relevant facts in it.

Organized by subject, this invaluable study aid covers:

Each subject is used as a working example of the methods being taught. You’ll learn how to organize your thoughts, refine your study techniques, and use rhymes, numeric symbols, verbal cues, mental pictures, and more to retain vast amounts of information.

With these simple skills at your command, you’ll be able to recall facts any time you need them. Classroom discussions will become painless, cramming for exams will be history, and study-free weekends will be common. Outwitting Schoolwork will free you¾ and give you outstanding grades.

Inside Publishing

by Bill Adler

Judith Krantz. Gay Talese. Nancy Friday. Wayne Dyer. Robert Ludlum. These are just a few of the superstar authors who have become world-wide celebrities. The industry that got them there¾ book publishing¾ has grown to be the glamour business of the latter part of this century.

What happened to change publishing from its artsy and academic roots to the fast-paced, glittering business it has become in just the last few years? Now akin to the motion picture and television worlds, book publishing has come to be a business of hype, glamour, and million-dollar deals, with its own stable of Beautiful People who shine as brightly as any Hollywood stars.

Well-known literary agent and bestselling author Bill Adler talks candidly about the personalities, the million-dollar authors, the wheelers and dealers and the powerful publishing executives who can make or break careers, who have dramatically changed the business of publishing. He tells "inside" stories about celebrities, publishing agents, editors, and publishing's literati-gathered from a career that developed in tandem with the industry¾ as well as the story of a unique and exciting business in flux.

You will learn about agents: who they are, what they do and how they wield their industry-shaping power. The author recounts inside stories about book deals that have made headlines¾ and created careers¾ many of which he has represented. You'll learn from the inside, too, how authors are fashioned into superstars and how publishers make bestsellers.

by author to be announced

Dreamscapes is a guide to pleasant dreams. Often, when you are overtired or just too keyed up to fall asleep, it’s difficult to let your mind wander to dreamlike thoughts. Dreamscapes is a collection of 366 dream-stories—images, miniature stories and fantasies—to help lull readers into a peaceful and enjoyable sleep. And sleep is very much on our minds: According to a recent Harris poll, forty-four percent of Americans have experienced insomnia in the past twelve months, seven percent in the past twenty-four hours.

Frequently, all you can do while you’re trying to sleep is think about how much you want to fall asleep (which makes you unable to fall asleep), or think about today or tomorrow’s problems, which also keeps the zzzzs away. When you finally do fall asleep, your dreams are fretful, causing anxiety and apprehension. Stress is the last thing anybody wants or need during sleep.

Dreamscapes ensures a good night’s sleep. Some of the vignettes in Dreamscapes are very surreal, like many of our dreams. Others are exciting, adventurous, erotic, or simply calming, like the sunset on the sea shore. Some put you in roles that would be physically impossible during the daytime, such as telling off the boss and getting away with it, or being called in as a last-minute replacement for the U.S. Olympic figure skating team.

A Baby-English, English-Baby Dictionary

by Bill Adler, Jr. and Karen Adler, illustrated by Bonnie Timmons

"Appull," your toddler screams

"Bakkey," she yells.

"Boon!" he hollers.

What do they mean?

With A Baby English, English-Baby Dictionary, you can instantly understand your child’s demands. (Appull means apple, but also peach, pear, any round food, or tennis ball. Bakkey means put me in the laundry basket and push me around the room. Boon means make this balloon fly away, then I want it back.)

You’ll also learn how small children understand what we say. To them, vase means do-it-yourself jigsaw puzzle, and No means lamp, vase, or door-hinge.

Without A Baby English, English-Baby Dictionary, parenthood can be a babble of missed cues, frustrated children and perplexed parents. Just imagine missing out on two hours of quiet, all because you didn’t know "bud, bud, bud!" meant "I want to nap!"

A Baby English, English-Baby Dictionary make a hilarious baby shower present, new baby gift, present for grandparents, nursery school teachers¾ anyone who loves babies. A Baby English, English-Baby Dictionary includes pages for adding your child’s own words to the dictionary.

Bill Adler, Jr. is the author of a mountain of books, including Outwitting Toddlers, Outwitting Squirrels, Outwitting Critters, and Condensed Fairy Tales. He is 434+ months old.

Karen Adler, born in October 1990, lives in Washington, DC with her blankie.

Bonnie Timmons is the illustrator and author of Anxiety, a collection of cartoons and novellas, and Orville’s Outing for children. She is the illustrator for the hit television show, Caroline in the City. Her book Always Kiss With Your Whiskers was a bestseller.

The Are You An American? Quiz Book

by Peggy Disraeli and Richard Mark

In the old days¾ when the lines between "us" and "them" were clearly delineated¾ it was easy to tell the two apart. "Who won the 1933 World Series?" was the question asked by the sentry. If you knew the answer, you lived. If not, well, that was the ball game.

But today, it’s not so simple. Many people have no idea who won the 1933 World Series¾ or even last year’s World Series. So we need new questions to determine who’s an American and who isn’t. Questions like:

Complete the sentence: M-I-C, K-E-Y ____________________

Which game would a kindergarten class be most likely to play?

How many stooges were there?

Which street is in a bad part of town?

Which would you rather have for lunch?

Is the person next door an American? Is your boss? Is Kenneth Starr? Now, armed with these questions you can know for certain. Documents can be forged, but not the knowledge that most Americans innately posses.

The Are You an American? Quiz Book is a funny look at what it means to be an American. It’s a quiz that all Americans can answer perfectly, but that will stump foreigners. The Are You an American? Quiz Book will make a great gift!

Outwitting Traffic

by Bill Adler, Jr.

Part of the successful Outwitting series by Bill Adler, Jr., Outwitting Traffic, shows drivers how to cope with all those annoying¾ and sometimes dangerous¾ problems on the road. In Outwitting Traffic you’ll learn how to deal with:

• Slowpokes in the left lane
• Tailgaters
• Idiots who park their cars in two spaces
• Idiots who park their cars in your parking space
• Red light runners
• Drivers who speed through your neighborhood
• Drivers who drive with their brights on
• Drivers who don’t put their lights on
• Lane hoppers
• Non-signalers
• Drivers whose hands seem to be attached to the horn
• Drivers who cut in line
• Drivers who give you the finger (or some other appendage)
• Drivers with guns

Written in a conversational tone, Outwitting Traffic shows you how to be more comfortable, relaxed¾ and safer¾ on the road.

Outwitting Teenagers

by Bill Adler, Jr.

They said it couldn’t be done¾ outwitting teenagers. But if there’s one person who could outwit teenagers, it’s the author of Outwitting Toddlers, Outwitting Squirrels, Outwitting Deer, Outwitting the Neighbors, and Outwitting Critters, Bill Adler, Jr. Now, for the very first time in print, there’s a book that reveals all the tricks and ruses that teenagers use¾ and how to thwart them.

Parenting

To Main Page
How to write a book proposal
Our client and book list
Learn about a new time travel book
Online bookstore
Order our latest special report, The Successful Literary Agent's Guide to Getting Published
Report on banned books and censorship
Questions and answers about literary agents
Find out about internships at our literary agency

©Adler & Robin Books, Inc.

The Outwitting Series are a trademark of Bill Adler, Jr. and Adler & Robin Books, Inc.