Q: There is a lot to being a sommelier that you can’t learn on your own or in books. The professional side of what’s expected of you, how to hold and pour wine, and how to select wine glasses depending on the type of wine are all things a mentor can teach you. Find a restaurant that’s willing to pair a novice sommelier with a more advanced one. Some restaurants even have an internship program for prospective sommeliers. Working a harvest will not only develop your appreciation for the work that goes in to making a wine, but it will also give you a deeper understanding of the process and a better sense of how wine is connected to land and weather. Look for a part-time job, or do a grape harvest internship to get the full experience. The wine industry is very traditional, and it will take some time for you to move up in the world of sommeliers. At the beginning of your career as a sommelier, a restaurant might have you moving boxes and doing inventory. As useless as these jobs seem, they actually give you a familiarity with the restaurant’s wines and with wine regions as a whole, and can be a great way to augment your understanding of wine.
A: Find a mentor. Work a grape harvest to fully comprehend how winemaking works. Prepare to do a lot of grunt work.

Q: Start preparing for guests by cleaning. A clean home will be welcoming. Focus on areas where your guests will spend time, like the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and entryway. Dust, vacuum, clean surfaces, and get rid of clutter.  If you're having overnight guests, change the linens on the bed where they will sleep. Put out clean towels in the bathroom. Make sure you'll have everything you need while your guests are in your home. Buy enough food, drink, and other necessities, like tissues. You'll feel more prepared and confident knowing that you won't run out of anything.  Check your supplies of toilet paper, soap, napkins, and other essentials. Make a shopping list based on your menus and any supplies you need to restock so you don't forget anything when you shop. Whether your guests are coming for a party or a weekend, you want to verify that things work. For your party, make sure that the equipment you want to use for playing music works and can be amplified. Also check that games have all of their pieces. For your overnight guests, check that lamps have lightbulbs, clocks are set correctly, and remotes have batteries. This is a great time to fix major things aren't working, like plumbing that is stopped up or a broken step on your porch. If you can't fix them in time, be sure to warn your guests and have a backup plan. Your guests will arrive with gifts for hosts, coats, purses, and luggage if they are staying overnight. Plan where you want these to go while you're entertaining. Take care of your guests' things as soon as they walk in the door so they will immediately feel welcome.  Set aside a space for your luggage on the surface like a trunk or the floor of a closet. You can even invest in a luggage rack. This will help guests stay organized.  Make space in dressers and closets for your overnight guests. If you are having a party, invite people who you think will get along, appreciate the invitation, and enjoy the party. Plan your guest list so everyone can fit comfortably in your home. For example, if you're throwing a dinner party, decide how you want to seat guests and if you'll have enough chairs. When you plan for overnight guests, only invite the number of people you can reasonably accommodate. Consider throwing a few smaller parties if you have a small space and a long guest list. If you are worried about guests overstaying their welcome, specify how long you are inviting them for. For example, give specific dates to overnight guests. And when you issue party invitations, state exact start and end times. If you don't want overnight guests for more than a weekend, you could say, “We are so pleased you can visit us. We will be able to host you the weekend of the 10th to the 12th and would love to have you visit then.” It's a good idea to decide if there are places in your home where you do not want guests. For example, you might not want them in bedrooms during a party. If you have a family or roommate, come to an agreement about which areas are off-limits and how you will all politely steer guests away from those areas.  Say that you aren't prepared to show guests certain rooms, for example: “Those are the bedrooms. We didn't really clean them up for guests. Sorry.” Encourage guests to explore areas that you don't mind them seeing, for example: “The bedrooms are down that hall. Let me show you the patio and garden now. I think you'll enjoy seeing them.”
A: Clean your home. Stock up on supplies. Check the details. Organize your space. Plan your guest list. Tell guests exactly how long you can host them. Decide where guests are welcome in your home.

Q: You can sell directly on many popular Internet vendors, which also serve as publishing platforms. You upload your electronic file and they convert it into an eBook. You then include information about the book and choose a sales price. If you choose not to go through one of these platforms, then you'll need to create your own eCommerce site and fight for visibility. The most popular platforms include the following:  Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing Apple iBooks Barnes and Noble Nook Press Google Play Kobo Writing Life Each has different rules for publishing content. You should look around the sites and find each site's terms of service. Read it thoroughly to see whether the vendor allows you to publish public domain content and what terms/conditions apply.  Kobo, for example, will only give you a 20% royalty for public domain titles.  Apple iBooks and Nook Press have also refused to sell public domain work in the past. Amazon won't allow you to publish a public domain title if there is already a free version in their store. You should search the Amazon site to see if a title already is for sale. It's okay if there is a title so long as it is not for sale for free. Amazon, for example, will let you publish the public domain title if you differentiate your book. Your book will be differentiated if you do the following:  Offer a unique translation. This means you translate the book. Don't use an online translation app or use a translation that is in the public domain. Include unique annotations, such as literary critiques, study guides, detailed biographies or historical context. Provide 10 or more unique illustrations that relate to the book. Don't assume that because you found a book on the Internet that it is in the public domain. Also, you shouldn't assume a work isn't copyrighted because it lacks a copyright notice. Instead, you need to individually analyze each book based on the following:  Certain work is not eligible for copyright protection because it is common property, such as calendars or works by the U.S. government.  In the U.S., a book is in the public domain if it was published before 1923. Pre-1923 material is the safest material you can use. If the work was published after 1923 but before 1978, then it is in the public domain if it was published without a valid copyright notice. If the book was published after 1923 but before 1964, it is in the public domain if the copyright was not renewed. You can check if a work was renewed by searching at the Copyright Office. Be careful, however. Works might have been registered under different names. You're inviting a copyright infringement lawsuit if you publish a work that is protected. The copyrights for books published after 1978 will not expire until the middle of this century. The only way it is in the public domain is if the author dedicated it to the public domain. There should be a notice to that effect on the work. Online publishing changes rapidly. Vendors change their terms and conditions at will, and what was legal six months ago might no longer be allowed. Accordingly, stay up to date on publishing requirements.  Join different message boards for indie publishers so that you can keep up on changes to each publisher's terms and conditions. Also check your accounts regularly. Books might be removed from sale without notice, so you always want to check.
A:
Identify possible publishing platforms. Obtain publishing requirements from vendors. Check if a free version already exists. Determine how to make your book different. Confirm that the work is in the public domain. Stay informed.