The Neighborhood Jukebox: 1 Year Old

The one year anniversary of yourLDSneighborhood.com has been distinguished by the realization of the most complete set of services ever before available to LDS musicians.

The Music Division at yourLDSneighborhood.com encompasses: The Jukebox, a virtual player so your songs and demos can be heard.

• Concert production and sponsorship
• Digital distribution thru all major national channels
• Retail distribution thru LDS stores and soon with several national chains like Wal-Mart, FYE and Costco
• Web presence and promotion with the various Indie and Neighborhood Artists buildings and newsletter on the Neighborhood site itself
• Promotion of CD's to media and radio that support Positive Music
• A radio station, called YLDSR (yourLDSradio-launching November 1st) with hosts Sam Payne, Steven Kapp Perry and Greg Hansen
• An artist development program for artists of all skill levels
• A booking agency for performances, concerts and conventions
• Positive Music and Downloads, the premier download site for MP3's and physical CD ordering (launching Nov 1st)
  

And a cooperative relationship with reporting all the above on PositiveMusicandArts.com, with features on artists, news and events. Musicians can now take advantage of extensive tools to help their careers at all levels. For more info contact greg@greghansen.com.

Advertising with yourLDSneighborhood.com: If you're interested in advertising with yourLDSneighborhood, please contact us at mod@yourldsneighborhood.com and we will discuss different options which would best suit your needs. No pressure situation, just good information which will help you to make an informed decision. We have an advertising package for every budget.

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In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world—all with an family focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

What are Independent Publishers and Authors to do?

The LDS market just became a little easier for independent LDS publishers and authors.

This past summer, the major retailer in the LDS market made the decision to only carry the books of their own authors on the shelves of their stores. They included subsidiaries as well. They then scooped up all the books from independent publishers and sent them back, driving several out of business. The LDS market was looking a little dismal at that point.

Then yourLDSneighborhood.com launched a new effort into the social networking aspect of the internet and begin drawing in consumers of all ages, sex and culture. How does this effect the LDS book market you ask? Oh, let me share!

With gas prices through the roof, the economy struggling and personal time at a premium, The Book Block of yourLDSneighborhood is a virtual reader/shopper's dream and here's why.

The Neighborhood shopper sits down at their computer, pulls up yourLDSneighborhood and shops for products, services, articles, interviews . . . be they books, music, the arts, coin collecting, clothing, food . . . they just cruise yourLDSneighborhood.com buying whatever they want without ever leaving the comfort of their home. They save on money, time and frustration . . . a virtual shopping trifecta!

Now back to our Book Block, my personal favorite of the Neighborhood. The Book Store is a Who's Who of Neighborhood Authors, such as Rachel Ann Nunes, Josi Kilpack, Candace E. Salima and many more. We are adding authors every day, thrilled to bring our shoppers the finest in LDS fiction and nonfiction.

Our virtual shoppers meander down the block checking out bookstore after bookstore. Picture your business there. We have space for six more businesses and then the premium spots on the Book Block are gone. With radio, television, billboard and online advertising, yourLDSneighborhood.com's reach is extending across the world.

Our first stop on the book is Zion's Promise Historical Novels, a store is leased by author, Dr. Chris Jefferies showcasing the books he's written.

The NonFiction Store is new to the Neighborhood and contains the collective works of multiple authors who are advertising their work through the Book Block. We have books from the foremost expert on disaster preparedness in the nation, religious and historical matters. The NonFiction Store's inventory is growing on a daily basis, so our virtual shoppers often drop by daily to see what's new.

The Fiction Store is brand new to the Neighborhood and is at the very beginning! We are adding new books as fast as we can and we will soon have row after row of books. In the meantime, check out Hannah's Heart and Zion's Promise . . . both great additions to home family library. A number of new titles are coming online in just a matter of days.

Imagine a virtual presence on the Neighborhood, my friends. Be you publisher, author or store owner, this is the way to expand your reach across the world. You lease the space and we do all the advertising. Depending on the package you purchase, you receive the following advertising benefits:

Newsletter Advertising: Includes newsletter product tile ads, up to 6 per month

Street Fair Advertising: Product box with link in Street Fair on LDS Outlet block and Newsletter ads, up to 3 per month

Outlet Booth: Product box with link in designated storefront on LDS Outlet Block, and Newsletter ads, up to 4 per month

Marketplace Storefront: Marketplace Catalog box ad in targeted storefront, and Newsletter ads-monthly for designated storefront

Storefront Owner: Building on your block, Building on New Neighbor block for one week, Landing page with on-site ads (i.e., banner, skyscraper, rich media (YouTube media), Newsletter ads – up to 5 per month, Radio recognition in yourLDSneighborhood ad campaigns when available, Outlet Booth and Advertising on Neighborhood and Friends social network

Building Owner/Block Sponsor: Presence on Home Page, Main Building Owner of designated block; Presence on another block with a billboard ad; Building on New Neighbor block for 1 week; Landing page with on-site ads (i.e. banner, skyscraper, rich media (YouTube), Marketplace Catalog page available; Featured Business recognition; Outlet Booth; Advertising on Neighborhood and Friends social network; and TV and Radio recognition in yourLDSneighborhood ad campaigns when available

In other words, this is a unique opportunity for your company, or your work, to establish a presence on yourLDSneighborhood.com. If you've lost retail power in the main LDS bookstores then this is the place for you!

For our authors we have four very unique packages which fit every budget and purpose.

If you're interested in establishing a presence on yourLDSneighborhood.com and extending the reach of your customer base, then contact me at mod@yourldsneighobrhood.com and we'll talk. We'll examine all your options and find the package which suits your needs best.

Come on home to the Neighborhood. You'll like it here.

Alex Boye' coming to Orem!

There is a fantastic concert coming up and it's happening right in Orem, Utah on Wednesday, October 8th. Alvin and I are very excited about it and plan on being front and center to enjoy the music.

Alex Boye' is coming in concert and he's bringing his friends with him. Let me share a little bit with you about Alex. I went straight to his website because I happen to LOVE his voice. I mean really, this man can sing. Wait until you read his bio!

Alex Boye' was born and raised in London, England. He joined the church at the age of 16 and later served an LDS Mission to England Bristol. Alex sang regularly on his mission, and from the encouragement of his Mission President, pursued a career in music when he got home.

Alex became the lead singer in the European Boy band "Awesome", and signed a recording contract with Universal Records in 1996. The band had hits in over 15 countries, selling over half a million CD's and performed alongside such groups as N'SYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Missy Elliott, Bryan Adams, Mary. J.Blige, The Smashing Pumpkins, and George Michael to name a few.

Despite the fame, glory and fortune, Alex felt emptiness in his life that none of these worldly accolades could sufficiently fill. He explains, "I was climbing the ladder of success but when I got to the top, I found myself leaning on the wrong side of the wall". In 2000', Alex felt compelled to move to Utah, to pursue a career in gospel music, and is currently signed to Deseret Books' Shadow Mountain Label. Alex has since received the 2005 Male Artists Listener Award by the LDS Booksellers Association for his sacred Album entitled 'Testimony', and also received the "2006 Spirit of Heritage Award", for his notable work with the youth, an honor given to Senator Hatch, NBA star Thurl Bailey and Elizabeth Smart in previous years. Alex has been nominated this year for three Pearl awards by the Faith Centered Music Association.

Alex continues to have wonderful experiences in the Arts. In theatre, he has performed 'Smokey Joe's cafe'" at BYU, "Big River" at the Hale Center Theatre, and played Frederick Douglass in Frank Wildhorn's "The Civil War".

In music, Alex has had music featured in several LDS movie Soundtracks including Charly, The Dance, Baptist at the Barbecue,Suits on the Loose, and Church ball.

In acting, Alex played 'Abinadab' in The successful Lightsone Films production of 'David and Goliath' which has won a 'Dove Award', and is shown regularly on 'TBN' channel that has gone out to millions of Christians worldwide.

Alex has found much joy and purpose utilizing his personal experiences in the entertainment industry to educate and warn the youth through his powerful and engaging firesides on some of the dangers and perils of today's media and entertainment, and how they can affect our thoughts personalities, character, and spirituality.

Alex simply refers to himself as the "Token Black Guy in Utah". He loves to laugh, and says some of the highlights in his life have been giving a Book of Mormon to Prince Charles, recently joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and marrying his wonderful wife in the Salt Lake Temple.

He is a captivating entertainer who will be joined by a five-piece band and special guests Mindy Gledhill, Nicole Sheahan, Ryan Innes and Matt Abernathy for a night of pop, rock, soul, contemporary and inspirational music.

So come join us! It's going to be a wonderful night in Orem. Bring your families and friends, you won't want to miss this!

Alex Boye and Friends
Time: October 8, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Location: Scera Center: Showhouse II
Street: 745 South State Street
City/Town: Orem
Website: http://www.scera.org/events/view/94.
Contact Info: 801-225-ARTS

General Conference Advice That Keeps on Giving

by Jennifer Ricks
Guest Blogger

It was almost a year ago when my husband and I took some advice and guidance from general conference and applied it to our family. I never thought that a General Conference talk could still impact my life this much a year later. As the first talk in the Sunday Morning session of the October 2007 General Conference of the Church, President Eyring taught the members of the Church by example “to find ways torecognize and remember God’s kindness” (Ensign, Nov. 2007, 67). As President Eyring related to us the account of his first inspiration to begin keeping a family journal and how keeping the family journal was a daily blessing for him as he “became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers” and “felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that [came] because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ,” President Eyring also shared that that his family journal has since been a blessing years later to his sons as “reading of what happened long ago helped [them] notice something God had done in [their] day.”

After hearing President Eyring’s talk, I knew that this was the perfect use for a wedding gift that had been dormant for months. One of my former Young Women’s advisors had given us a beautiful wedding gift: a leather-bound journal with gold-edged pages and an artistically textured cover. She also pasted our wedding announcement in the inside cover of the book to make it especially ours. I knew that such a wonderful gift deserved a wonderful purpose and all summer I had been brainstorming how we could use the journal and put the gift to good use. I toyed with a lot of ideas in my mind, but nothing ever stuck or gave me enough motivation to begin writing in the journal. The summer ended and we were well into autumn before the answer of what to do with the beautiful journal came where I least expected it, in President Eyring’s talk.

After General Conference, my husband and I prayerfully decided that we should follow President Eyring’s example and use our wedding gift to start our own family journal. While President Eyring used his family journal to write down “evidence of what God had done” for his family each day, we decided that we needed to use our family journal to write down a moment when we were happy each day. Every night we take turns and each write a sentence or two in our family journal about a happy event that day. We have found that by writing in our family journal we have been more grateful for the many blessings that Heavenly Father gives us each day. As we approach General Conference this year, I’m excited to have a year’s worth of entries in our family journal. Soon I’ll be able to look back and see what blessings had come into our lives exactly a year ago. This exercise has been important in motivating us to keep important family records and has helped us draw closer as a family as we seek to recognize the daily blessings that the Lord gives to us.

In beginning a family journal of your own, you could do as President Eyring did and ask: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” Or, you could
personalize the idea of a family journal and prayerfully adapt it to your own family’s needs. This could mean a happiness journal, a gratitude journal, a journal of family spiritual experiences, or a blessings journal. As you seek his inspiration, the Lord will bless you with promptings of how you can better keep baptismal covenants as a family to always remember him.

President Eyring has promised us that as we “will find a way to preserve [memories of God’s messages] for the day that [we], and those that [we] love, will need to remember how much God loves us how much we need Him,” these memories “will soften [our] hearts to allow the Holy Ghost to testify to [us].”

© Jennifer Ricks 2008

Return to the Neighborhood.

yourLDSneighborhood Ideal Employer

yourLDSneighborhood is not only a great place to socialize and shop, they are a dream employer. Really. They've gone totally green. 90% of their employees work from home using a completely virtual office in order to complete their duties and responsibilities. The bulk of our work is done via telephone and internet, which is wonderful.

Looking at today's economy I find myself wondering why more employers don't look at this option. With today's technology there's no reason why most employees can't work from home, as long as production remains high, it's perfectly ideal.

First: As a woman, I save a fortune on business clothes, makeup and hair products. I don't need them on a daily basis anymore. I work from my home office, perfectly comfortable, only needing to put on said "business look" when I head out for a lunch meeting.

Second: I save a fortune on gas. Really. With gas prices where they are now I'm saving a lot of money by staying home, which is really helping our budget. If I bought into the carbon footprint, which I don't, not to the extent the environmentalists sell it, I'm certainly reducing mine. All in all, a very good thing for both sides. And I avoid the frustration of a twice daily commute, which of course reduces my blood pressure, frustration and stress. Always, always a very good thing.

Third: I actually work harder and produce more from home. There's no one dropping by my office to talk or waylaying me at the water cooler. I get up around six in the morning, put in several hours, break and take care of things and then back to work for several more hours. While working in an office, I was chomping at the bit to get out of there after putting in my requisite eight. But not now, it just doesn't feel like work, although it is. I put in a good eight to ten hours , sometimes fourteen, a day as a matter of course. Great for my boss. Great for me.

Of course, working from home requires discipline and self-motivation. Initially, I was putting in close to 20 hours a day. I had to stop, regroup and exercise discipline in keeping to a reasonable number of work hours in a single day. Self-motivation isn't a problem for me, never has been. And it seems to be that way for everyone at the company. We work hard to provide a wonderful place for you, our customers and clients, to browse, shop, read, listen . . . and enjoy yourself. Everything we do is to that end.

So here's to the Neighborhood! You're doing your part to protect the environment by having your employees work from home. Oh, and one more thing. By providing yourLDSneighborhood.com, you're allowing shoppers to go to one central online location and shop a number of vendors, products, services, authors, artists, musicians, photographers, articles, interviews and so much more. Therefore, you're saving them gas and money too! You just can't go wrong! yourLDSneighborhood . . . great place to be. Great newsletter, one of the favorite parts of my day. Wonderful music.

There are great changes ahead for yourLDSneighborhood and believe me, my friends, you you'll want to check it out. Every day there is something new and exciting.

Speaking of new and exciting: Join us at Neighborhood and Friends. yourLDSneighborhood has launched its own social network and it is a fantastic place to be. Connect with family, friends, musicians, authors and more. Share photos, music and videos. Join discussion groups on a variety of subject and simply have a blast in a safe, clean environment.