"I appreciated those prompt replies..."

Christine Parham
Kelly Builders, Inc.


How many users are we allowed to use the book summaries?

You have unlimited number of users.

Are your book summaries meant to replace the books?

Well, I have an short essay on that.Click here. (Hint: no, they don't)

How do we pay for our license?

We offer the most number of options available to accommodate your most convenient way of paying. You can pay through any of the following:

1. Online payment (through our secured servers) using credit cards such as AMEX, Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Discover.
2. Through check or wire transfer
3. Using E-Gold, you can pay in metals.

How are you different from a book review?

A review tells you about the book, while a summary picks out the key concepts and theme of a book. A review tells you whether a book is worth a read. A summary, on the other hand, does not give an opinion, nor it is a digest or an essay excerpts. It's a skillful distillation that preserves the content and spirit of the entire book.

We already have an extensive collection of business books in our library. How can your book summaries help us?

First, your few copies of each book may not be able to accomodate several hundred or thousand employees. Sending the book summaries to each employee is the faster way for them to learn about the book.

Second, the book summaries act as an appetizer to encourage your employees to read the book in full.

Third, and for those who already read the book, a book summary can represent as a memory guide. In an outline form, it is much easier to remember the key points.

In what file format are your summaries sent to us?

Our summaries come in four (4) different formats to accommodate your different approaches to e-learning.

1. Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format – Our default format, which can be read from the computer or may be printed out by your member as a reference material.
2. PDA format – Summaries can be synchronized to your Palm, Pocket PC, or Symbian OS
3. Audio format – Comes in MP3 format so that you may listen to the summaries from your computer or MP3 player.
4. PowerPoint format – Summaries appear as a slideshow presentation which can be used as an educational tool.

How do we access and distribute the book summaries?

One great thing about our programs is that you access and distribute the book summaries in any way your organization is structured in.

Okay. But we are new to this, can you give sample ways to access and distribute them?

Sure! The following are the more popular techniques:

1. Send via email. Your mail administrator can broadcast an email to all your key employees on a regular basis, let's say every week. The book summary can be attached or shown as a URL to link back to the site.
2. Via corporate intranet. Your employees can log in to your intranet and access the book summaries there. They can also download to create hard copies for themselves.
3. Include them as articles for your print-version newletters.
4. For your clients, you can create a separate mail list, password-protected sites or a marketing newsletter for them as well.
5. Via hosted site. If you do not have an intranet, BusinessSummaries can host your membership site.

My company is not considering a corporate license at the moment, but I am interested on a personal capacity. Do you also offer individual subscriptions?

Absolutely. We have a consumer site called BusinessSummaries.com to handle individual subscribers.

For gift subscriptions, can you put our logo on the front page of your book summaries?

Yes, as a matter of fact we can put them anywhere.

Can you do the emailing of the book summaries to our employees or clients for us?

Yes, it can be arranged.

What are the benefits of having book summaries?

On our Benefits Page, we listed just some of the benefits of having book summaries.

How do I check the existing titles in your archive? How many books have you summarized?

To check the existing titles in our archive, simply go to http://www.bizsum.com/catalog.htm

For a corporate license, how do you define unlimited?

By saying unlimited, we mean ALL your employees, members, or students who can access your site or server.

How is BusinessSummaries Corporate Edition different from others?

We have two major differentiators from other providers:

1. We are the only provider who has book summaries in PowerPoint format.
2. We can transfer the whole content to your intranet. Other services do not allow this.


How many book summaries do you send out?

We send out a book summary every week for 52 weeks.

Can we also have access to previous book summaries?

Yes, your enrollment covers not only 53 future book summaries - it also includes access to ALL previous book summaries.

How long are your book summaries?

We believe 8 - 14 pages long should cover extensively all key points of the book.

How do you select the books you summarize?

In the U.S. alone, at least 2,000 new business books are published every year. This is where we also provide you with a value-added service. We only choose 52 (12 for Lite) of the best business books you need. We look at 3 sources:

1. Our Editors - we review all the new books and recommend which ones contain relevant ideas and concepts.
2. Booksellers Lists and the Media - we monitor several bestsellers list from the New York Times, Amazon.com and more. We also monitor business books that get media attention.
3. Our Subscribers - we also review .

In a nutshell, what is the Custom Program again?

We can custom design a set of book summaries for your company for one year.

Why should I need to customize?

Regular book summary services try to have a balanced mix of different topics to suit their different types of customers.

You need to customize to avoid receiving book summaries that are of no relevance to your business. For example, if your company is in the electronics manufactuing business you probably need more books on Six Sigma than on stock investment strategies.

And the editorial style?

We can jointly agree on an editorial style of writing including the length of the book summary.

So I can also define frequency?

Yes, you can have 10 book summaries a month if needed. It all depends on your objectives.

How much is your custom program?

Just email us at sales@businesssummaries.com and a representative shall contact you


I forgot my password. What should I do?

On the Login screen, enter your e-mail address in the “Lost password?” section. Then wait for your password to be e-mailed.

I want to change my password or e-mail. What should I do?

Please login to the membership page. Once you are inside the site, look for “Subscriber Resources” at the left portion of the page. Click on “Change Account Settings” to change your account information.

I cannot read the PDF file you sent me. What is wrong?

There are several reasons. But the most common reason is that you probably ran out of memory. Please exit as many running programs as you can. You can now try to re-load the book summary.

I do not understand how the audio version works. Can I copy it to a CD so I can listen in my car, or to my MP3 player? Or can I only listen on the computer where I downloaded it?

The answer is yes to all. As long as your device supports audio files in MP3 formats, you can listen to our summaries.

I had trouble opening the book summary. An error message -- The files is damaged, but is being repaired -- reflects on my screen.

You probably ran out of memory. Another possible cause is that you need to update your Adobe Acrobat Reader version. To do update this, simply go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

What PDA versions do you support?

We support Palm OS, Pocket PC, and Symbian OS. We support any other PDAs that support Adobe Acrobat formats.

If my PDA does not have the Adobe reader, where do I get one?

Just go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html and choose your PDA. Follow the download instructions.