Yes it is. Better than I expected, actually.

I am in my pajamas as I write this. Much of my income comes from designing/building Web sites at nominal fees for local companies. It’s great. I don’t have to leave the house unless I want to. No traffic nightmares to/from work. My gas bill went from about $200/month to less than $50/month. My clothing bill is a fraction of what it was. No dry-cleaning bill. I worked on Web sites while cruising the Mediterraean for two weeks on the Star Princess.

Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret “How-to” Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers By Brent Sampson with a forward by Dan Poynter

Part of my Prosper in Pajamas “career” includes affiliate marketing programs through Amazon.com and publishing my own books and selling them through my Web site or through Amazon as PDF publications. It’s quite easy.

Amazon.com sells billions of dollars worth of books each year, and your title can be on this global bookstore next to established authors without having to have contracted with a publishing house.

If you are a self-published author, it is easier than you think to begin selling your writing through a well-regarded site such as Amazon.com.

The easiest way is to set up self self-published, print-on-demand books such as my eMarketing book.

The key is to use a service that you can load your book onto as well as managing some of the promotion if you choose to. The fees for these services vary. You can do it all yourself for free or you can pay them to do most of it for you.

The process works as follows:

1. Upload manuscript. You take your finished manuscript in PDF format and load it onto the website of the service you choose (examples below). You also load the cover.
2. Create sales page. You write your webpage text and add the price, and your royalties are calculated.
3. Order and Review. You order one of your own books to sign off that you are happy with the final product. Then you authorize distribution.
4. Distribution. The files are distributed to the electronic bookstores including Amazon. You see them with a few days/weeks depending on the service.
5. Build Amazon site. You upload images and get testimonials etc, adding more information to your online site. You promote and drive people to buy your book.
6. People buy the book from the site. The order goes to the service who print it and ship it to Amazon who ship it to the customer.
7. Royalties. You get paid your royalties monthly.

There are quite a few companies now offering assistance with your manuscript and/or online selling. All charge fees, but they are nominal. Following are two of my favorites.

BookSurge
Booksurge is Amazon’s own self-publishing company offering print-on-demand, inventory management and distribution. They can take you all the way from idea to book and onto Amazon with a hand-holding approach, or you can just load your print-ready PDF and cover and go for it. You receive approximately 35% of royalties on retail sales of trade paperback books. The cost price is determined by your book e.g. black and white inner is cheaper than coloured or photos. You can also use Amazon’s own promotional tools e.g. Buy X Get Y program pairing your book with a famous persons (although this will set you back $1000 per month). When you go through the process, you will be guided to upload your files, cover and wording and within a few weeks your book will be featured on Amazon.com as well as Amazon.co.uk.
You can find out all the information at www.booksurge.com

Lulu.com
Lulu offers the same services to Booksurge but it is not owned by Amazon. This doesn’t seem to make any difference to the products they offer at the moment. The books are distributed through Lightening Source and are accessible to many other online retailers. You can load your files and cover and be published on Amazon in the same time frames. You can also be published on BN.com (Barnes and Noble). There is an author community, you can ask questions in real-time online, and you can build a shop front of your own. Lulu has a great FAQ section and that includes detailed information on the required formatting for books submitted for Amazon. Make sure you read this before submitting your document as you may be rejected otherwise. You can find out more at www.lulu.com.

Need New Pajamas . . . Try Nautica Sleepwear

OK, let’s get going!

Before this job market started unravelling, I was working with affiliate marketing through various web sites by offering books for sale through Amazon.com. That affiliate marketing program has afforded additional income each month through book sales AND Amazon.com does all the fulfillment, so I don’t have to do anything but provide links.

Now my affiliate marketing programs are becoming necessary to supplement my income so I can pay my mortgage!

During monthly sessions with out-of-work professionals, I talk about affiliate programs and the benefits of income from them to help get through rough spots, so it seemed worthwhile to post it here also. There’s a LOT of information and it can get overwhelming, but here are basics. If you are stuck finding full-time work, or if you just want additional income or a different path, then affiliate/vendor marketing may be for you. Just add items to your blog and/or eMails to family and friends.

Let’s look at the definitions, starting with the term VENDOR, which the dictionary defines as:

someone who exchanges goods or services for money. One that sells or vends: a street vendor; a vendor of software products on the Web. Simply put, this is the seller of any number of goods of any possible type. From topsoil to cars, new homes to pets, the person doing the selling is the vendor. Traditionally, he/she is selling goods that they may or may not have produced or manufactured themselves.

. . . and AFFILIATE as:

anyone that has an agreement with a seller (vendor) to represent (sell) his or her product within the terms that the seller has dictated in exchange for remuneration (payment) of some type, normally a percentage of the sale.

This is the exciting part of doing business on the web . . . either as your main source of income or to supplement your “day” job. There are literally THOUSANDS of companies out there willing to PAY YOU to sell their products and services. All you do is introduce people to a vendor’s product, and we’ll show you how to do that too! The rate of commission paid to affiliates varies widely from vendor to vendor . . . from 3% all the way up to 75% or even higher.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS 6MP with 12x Image Stabilized Zoom
I recommend the Canon PowerShot Pro on International Harbors (one of my sites). If you click on that image, you will be taken to my account at Amazon.com. If you
decide to purchase the Canon, a commission automatically drops into my account. I don’t have to look up. It’s easy. If you pass on the camera, but purchase jackets or daypacks . . . same thing: the commission drops into my account.

Same with Expedia (this is through Commission Junction) . . . Click the Expedia logo, purchase your tickets, and The Maritime Heritage Project receives a nice commission check. (Given that the Project is a non-profit, this is a great way to support an important project and such purchases do not cost the buyer additional money as the commission is built into the price, just as it is if they go direct or through a travel agent. My family now books their travel through this process and it gives me additional funds to treat them to lunch or dinner!

In my experience, electronically delivered goods (intangible goods) such as ebooks, website memberships, etc., offer substantially higher commissions than hard goods (tangible goods). This is largely due to the fact that there are lower associated costs with electronically delivered goods. (stores on computer or diskette, endless supply, no additional production costs, etc.)

Please keep reading to learn how ClickBank and 1stPromotion make you an instant affiliate of approximately 5,400 vendors representing approximately 12,000 products! And YOU can make commissions on ALL of them. There are many affiliate-vendor opportunities out there through some very well known services. Some such as Commission Junction, Amazon, and 2Checkout deal with a mixed bag of goods, both tangible and intangible.

ClickBank is the #1 online provider of electronically delivered goods. They deal solely with electronically deliverable products and services. That’s all they handle. Nope, you can’t get a birdhouse or a backyard pond kit through ClickBank, but you could order plans on how to make your own. As a matter of fact, ClickBank currently offers thousands of the hottest-selling products and services and pays each affiliate up to 75% commission on each and every one of them! Now I know you are thinking, what is ClickBank’s interest in it?

Simple. It’s the same as for you: It’s money.

For every transaction that is performed through ClickBank, they’re paid a percentage or minimum transaction fee. In my mind, it’s well worth the expense. By handling all financial transactions, just think of the headaches they take away from both the vendor and the affiliate.

IF YOU WANT TO START NOW . . .

Or keep reading . . . 1stPromotion is a perfect vehicle to start your career with affiliate marketing. Through a single web page, not only do you instantly connect to ClickBank’s 5400 vendors and their 11,000 plus products, you can also profit from dozens of other affiliate programs – you have total control. A few top-rated programs already built-in to your Pro2 site are:

• Internet Marketing Center
• Ken Envoy’s 5 Pillar Program (SiteSell)
• Linden Method
• Native Remedies
• Push-Button Publishing
• Dropship Wholesalers
• and many more!

You can also add and promote ANY other affiliate program and product that you wish to on your Pro2 store. This is YOUR store, and you have total control over the products and the content of your site. Use the “Suggest A Product” or “Suggest A Program” links to add your favorite product or affiliate program right into our member’s product library and you could have thousands of other 1stPromotion store owners promoting it for you!

IF YOU WANT TO START NOW . . .

Sell anything your heart desires . . . anything you would truly like to share with others . . . music, books, domestic or international travel (flights, cruises, accommodations, tours), cameras, shoes (like these from Jimmy Choo), sunglasses, auto parts, beauty products, gift baskets, coffee, electronics, events tickets . . .

If you can think of it, there is probably an affiliate program for you!

For quite a few years, I’ve been an Amazon.com affilliate (I sell their books through my sites and make a marginal profit from each sale). Recently, friends have set up accounts to sell their books through Amazon.com and are doing quite well — whether they’re publishing for a small audience or a large audience.

Friends have been selling self-published books through Amazon for a few years. Paul McHugh just included his novel Deadlineson the site. Listing self-published material on Amazon helps you reach a larger audience while avoiding shipping out copies to each customer who ordered through your own website. For a smaller operation, mailing and tracking orders is time-consuming and disruptive. Amazon is huge, with a massive warehouse in Nevada (and probably other places — I haven’t checked). The only place you need to ship your copies is to their warehouse.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)
I’ve also been shopping through Amazon for a decade or so and have never been disappointed. Friends who have purchased Kindle reading devices through Amazon LOVE them.

Amazon Kindle Hot Pink Leather Cover w/ Strap (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle) . . . And now that they have a hot-pink leather cover for Kindle, they may have won me over.

More importantly, as popular as your website may or may not be, it doesn’t compare to the traffic headed to Amazon to search for books and DVDs. Instant credibility seems to develop once one is on Amazon listed alongside the large publisher’s offerings for "similar books" or even in reader’s lists and guides, my titles gain a greater chance to be seen and ordered.

There are two ways to sell on Amazon:

1. Open an Amazon Seller Account and list copies of the books you would like to sell. Amazon charges a 15-percent commission on Marketplace sales and separate fees of $1.23 and 99 cents per transaction. (However, become an Amazon Pro-Merchant if you sell more than 40 books per month on Amazon.com and the 99-cent fee on each sale is waived; at this level, your subscription will pay for itself.) You fulfill the order when an invoice is sent to you from Amazon.com;
2. Fulfillment by Amazon: It’s easy, but, of course, the fees add up and cut into your percentages, i.e. storage, order handling, packaging and shipping weight (you have the latter two no matter how you fulfill the order, of course).

The cost of using Amazon is high. They take 55% of the "official" price (not the sale price but the price you originally determine). That means that even if they discount the book (good for sales), the discount is coming out of their half. But it means you are only getting 45% of your listed price. In addition you pay for shipping books to Amazon, and, of course, for printing them, so the math does not encourage fortune making. Most self-published books are in the "long tail" zone, selling only a few copies per month. This is not necessarily a way to make money, but it will sell books and get you into the public eye.

Following is how to get your book, CD, or DVD listed on Amazon:

1. Get an ISBN (for a book), or a UPC (for a CD or DVD). For one book it costs $125, for one CD, $55, for one DVD, $89.
2. Get a bar code based on the ISBN or UPC. Costs $10, or may be included in UPC.
3. Sign up with Amazon: Seller Account, Pro-Merchant Account, or Fulfillment by Amazon account.
4. Duplicate your stuff; include the bar code on the outside.
5. Ship two copies to Amazon
6. Send cover scan
7. Track sales

You would be surprised at the age(s) of the techno generation, who knows what and who has had experience with what.

At an excellent multi-media party in the Presidio, I noted that approximately 35% of the guests were my age (around 65); they started with the Internet when I did (or before) — in its public infancy. I was content editor for The Chronicle during its foray into public access information systems, then called VideoText. That design department built pages, literally, pixel by pixel. It was insane. In was exciting. The first ad “sponsorhip” sale was to American Express. And guess for what? Oh, you’ll never get it.

Numbers were the game then, and they are the game now. From working at The Chronicle, I knew that the most read pieces were 1) The comic pages; 2) The sports pages; 3) The horoscopes. I don’t care who says they sit around reading Spinoza for relaxation. They don’t. Actually, I do. Do you know that Spinoza wrote “There’s no virtue in humility.” (No, I did not sign a non-disclosure agreement so The Chronicle cannot sue me — or if they can/do, I can’t pay them, so who cares.)

What did I also discover at this exceptionally well-organized networking party, other than I wasn’t the oldest person in the room? Some of under-40 folks, whom I thought would be miles ahead of me on eMarketing and eNetworking aren’t! I talked about eMarketing, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn with a few people. They are just starting to dig in. These are media professionals. They are in the trenches. They are barely dealing with eMarketing and are still using more traditional print ad methods (mail, flyers, brochures) than eMethods. I have been testing eMarketing for two years with dramatically slashed budgets. The Internet is staggeringly effective (more effective) if you know your market and know where they are.

Not many people get it yet. eMarketing is still quite new. For a great story of the effectiveness of this, find a story about the Jim Beam Baja 500 wherein you race just about anything through a 500 mile stretch of desert in Baja. Jim Beam Twittered the whole event in micro-blogs. (I first saw this in the Tokyo Drift movie, so maybe that’s where Jim Beam got the idea.) It was brilliant “soft” marketing and extremely effective. The guy that thought of this got 40 cells, positioned people on the course with them, and reported the race in Tweats. In no time at all, they had more than 40,000 followers on Twitter. I am SO envious of anyone who thinks like this. He was up 36 hours, but what an exhilerating 36 hours that had to be. I will try to find the original article and upload it here. The actual racing news on this is at: http://twitter.com/BAJA500

A note directed to those of us who are semi-recently unemployed: One of the men at this party was making, oh, $19 million a year not that long ago. It’s gone. His house is gone. What did he learn? Saving for a rainy day might be a good idea. I noted this because I have never had a savings plan. I’ve always been able to find significant funds when I needed them. This IS a different clime/climb.

(Please excuse typos. I don’t have an editor sitting in the room. Darn.)

This is difficult for me to believe, but here it is again . . . In the 1970’s, Duke University’s Psychology Department compiled this data after long-term experiments in Neuro-linguistic programming. These words have been proven to evoke emotion in a listener or reader. The words are, in no particular order:

You, Money, Save, New, Easy, Love, Discovery, Results, Health, Proven, Guarantee, Free

The theory runs along the lines of weaving as many of the words into your vocabulary as often as possible. Apparently, this was not lost on the major advertising agencies across the world, as we notice all 12 words appearing in all types of media. 

And here they are in a short fairytale:

As a result of this new discovery, you will save money easier than you ever imagined. Additionally, by insuring you good health, these results are proven to freely guarantee you love that will last your lifetime.

What do you think? Will it sell?

This guide was initially written to assist real estate agents with new marketing techniques, however, everything in this less-than-100-page PDF book is proven to be effective. Techniques have increased traffic to a new day spa, resulted in tour bookings for a travel company, and provided a base to professional job seekers needing to learn about new media.

The marketing techniques used in this book during 2008 were so successful that the ad budget was cut by 35%, sales were $3.6 million over the previous year, the company had its highest income in its history. As this went to press, the company owners were cruising the Mediterranean! This step-by-step guide will show you how you can put money in the bank AND take a vacation to exotic locales.

The Author: A small business consultant and media-marketing professional of broad experience, D. A. Levy worked in a variety of roles at the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times companies. She is also a photographer, a licensed real estate agent, earned an ePro marketing certification from the National Association of Realtors® and is working towards a Small Business NxLeveL certification.

80 pages
D.A. Levy, Author
$10.00
ISBN13: 978-0-9822768-2-2
You can order the book as a PDF download by ordering online at www.TerraPublishingHouse.com or just by clicking this link:

The Maritime Heritage Project
This 11-year-old site is dedicated to preserving the maritime history of San Francisco Bay during the 1800s. It has information on ships, captains, and lists of thousands of the many passengers sailing into the Port of San Francisco during its most dramatic days. It also has information about merchandise shipped into San Francisco . . . if you had money, you could have anything you wanted in those days.

Just found on OLOGY.COM, a self-described “daily online publication and the hub of an emerging blogging network it says. In addition to the new original content on Ology every day, we will mine through the best content from our network blogs and showcase it on the main site, diverting traffic to those blogs.”

Their query: “Why not blog? Given this economy, it’s not like you’re going to get a job this month.”

To get a job in today’s market, to keep your job, to stay in touch, and to learn and to keep moving forward, to support a cause, make a difference, exercise your voice, stay intellectually alive. And there’s always: I think, therefore I am.

Many positions advertised today require social media and blog skills, including much-desired positions in “green” companies and non-profits. Employers are finding employees through the Internet. A blog will give you visibility on the internet and, thus, in the job market. 

A recent scan of 1,000 jobs listed on craigslist in the San Francisco Bay Area indicated:

• 199 companies have social media as a requirement;

• 405 companies refer to Web 2.0 and a component of the job;
• 105 include the word “blog;”
• 44 include “blogging.”

Understanding social networking (including blogging) has landed me interviews resulting in part-time and consultative job offers. Little else in my substantial background is opening doors. The Internet IS the way the world is doing business.

WHAT TO WRITE ON YOUR BLOG?

Anyone researching today’s job market, thinking about career changes, reading about “green” companies or nonprofits is coming across new information daily . . . information that might help others or that is just worth storing somewhere in case you need to review it at another time.

As you come across valuable information, type it into your new blog. You will start sounding knowledgeable and this could lead to a job offer.

Or perhaps you have a cause you support; talk about that on your blog. You’ll be learning and helping at the same time.

Information herein is a quick overview. You might find it worthwhile to read just one book on Social Networking or Blogs.

This information may look like a lot, you probably will get frustrated, but just go step-by-step. It may take a couple of hours to set up, but it is worth it and it is fascinating once you get the mechanics out of the way.

WordPress is purportedly the easiest to use and it is the most popular right now.

You do not need new software. Blogs are a perfect example of “cloud computing,” which simply means using the internet to access software running on someone else’s hardware.

Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:

Wordpress.com is free. However, you end up with a clumsy url, i.e. yourname.wordpress.com. If future employees (or your family/friends) forget the wordpress portion of the name, they will not find you.

Wordpress.org requires that you have your own url and hosted web site. Here is a link to my favorite site for purchasing Web names and for hosting:

Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:  

Setting Up WordPress
Instructions follow, and I’m on the other end of eMail, but it might be easier for you to go to one of the following: 

Online textual Instructions: www.wordpress.org or www.wordpress.com 

How-to Video for a WordPress Blog

Or, If you do use GoDaddy:

Go to Hosting Control Center

Setup your account: GoDaddy is in Arizona, always there, and can help with this if you get confused (which is easy to do initially): 480 505 8877.

• Click on “Manage Account” to the right of your new account
• Click Your Applications on top.
• Click on Blogs on the Left.
• Click on WordPress.

• Click the INSTALL NOW orange button.

You will have to unzip this file: If you do not have Unzip software, there is a free 30-day trial from WinZip:
http://www.winzip.com/index.htm. Download that and then unzip the file.

Your BlogT
There is a lot of information to wade through.

Once that is done, go to
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons 
where you will find WordPress for Beginners.

Again, it looks overwhelming, but you won’t need to read all of it, you don’t need to know any of the complicated coding, etc.

Mainly you will need to go to:
http://codex.wordpress.org/First_Steps_With_WordPress for an overview of setting up your site.
This page has everything you will need starting with a free Theme which you will download from:
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

Then to:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts for information on writing posts and to write your first post.

Blogs/Webs

• www.WordPress.com

• www.w3.org: World Wide Web Consortium, the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web
• www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/report.html: Overview of Social Networking

• www.eZine.com: Articles re the Web: www.Ezine.com

Non ProfitsDuring recent career workshops, approximately 40% of the participants expressed a desire to work at a non profit and another 40% is interested in a career in a “green” industry. So I feel obligated to put these notes here . . . which also could feed into your blogging experience once you choose a direction.

I spent 18 years in non-profits. If you want to feel good about working for non-profits, please check annual reports, which are required by law and which are public. Some have high overhead.

A friend – a former Chronicle columnist – is a Buddhist. He wanted to do something “meaningful.” His upajihaya (mentor) explained that everyone cannot sit around chanting all day and added, “If you are a bus driver, be the best bus driver possible. If you are a bouncer at a bar, bounce gently.” Paul actually did work as a bouncer; he is very strong. His technique for “bouncing gently,” was to hold the person in a bear hug until they calmed down.

Sometimes the non profit’s value to the community is questionable, and funds have been tightening for the past few years. Resources:

• CharityNavigator.org
• FoundationCenter.org

We have opportunities to perform “social work” every single day just by being happy, appreciating life, being thankful for any work you have, helping old ladies cross streets, smiling at children, loving your family, and volunteering.

Green

Green is a buzzword. There are many fine long-standing environmentally-oriented corporations in all industries:

• Travel (which started sustainable tourism about 30 years ago, particularly in fragile places such as Patagonia and the reefs off of Belize)

• Costa Rica is committed to 50% development/50% environmentally protected
• Marin County is committed to about 40% open space
• Transportation
• Engineering, computers
• Commercial/residential retrofits
• Automobile
• Dry-cleaning
• Pest control
• Medical
• Water/water rights

Just figure out the industry you want to be in, find the perfect fit for you, and check out the company’s environmental standing.

Or Start Your Own Non-Profit

If you are well-connected and/or are good at marketing, start your own cause-oriented non-profit, beginning with your Blog.

Dozens of issues are being ignored or have been shoved to back-burners. Everyday, I ask myself (and some of this stuff is on one or another of my blogs):

• Why are developers continuing to build 4,000+ square foot houses?
• Why are real estate agencies still going through thousands of sheets of paper every year? Why don’t they have to plant at least one tree after every sale?
• Why are golf courses and swimming pools still being erected in deserts?
• Why are counties/countries considering desalination? That will destroy sea life . . . one of our food sources.
• Why is it okay to toss a lit cigarette out of a car, or, for that for that matter, why is it okay to litter the ground with toxic cigarette filters that wash into the Bay and poison water?
• What about birth control? Aren’t there really just plain too many people for the earth’s resources?

County of Marin started a “Green Business Program” and provides a list of local companies that meet environmental regulations:

http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/CD/main/comdev/ADVANCE/Sustainability/greenbusiness/gbiz_index.cfm

We are fascinated by words. Please send us your favorite(s) to include here. As soon as we figure out how to insert an RSS feed, we’ll include the Oxford dictionary.

aardvark A nocturnal animal of Southern Africa Orycteropus after, with a tubular snout and a long extensible tongue, that feeds on termites. Also called ant bear
Afrik: f aarde earth + vark pig

absinthe /absinth/ n. (also ab-sinth) 1 a shrubby plant, Artemisia absinthium, or its essence. Also called wormwood. 2 a green antiseed flavored potent liqueur based on wormwood and turning milky when water is added. [F. absinthe f. L absinthium f. Gk apsinthion}

antediluvian adj. 1 of or belonging to the time before the biblical flood. 2 colloq. very old or out of date [ANTE- + L diluviun DELUGE + -AN]

babel 1 a confused noise, esp of voices. 2 a noisy assembly. 3 a scene of confusion (ME f. Heb babel/Babylon f. Akkad bab ili gate of god (with ref. to the biblical account of the tower that was built to reach heaven but ended in chaos when God confused the builders’ speech; see Gen 11)

bagpipe /bágpïp/ n. (usu. in pl.) a musicial instrument consisting of a windbag connected to two kinds of reeded pipes: drone pipes which produce single sustained notes and a fingered melody pipe or ‘chanter’. bag pip-er n.

calamity /kelámitee/ n. (pl. -ties) 1 a disaster, a great misfortune. 2 a adversity. b deep distress. ca-lam-i-tous adj. ca-lam-i-tous-ly adv. [ME f. F calamite f. L calamitas - tatis]

mesmerize /mézmeriz/ v.tr. 1 Psychol. hypnotize; exercise mermerism on. 2 fascinat, spellbind mes-mer-i-za-tion n. mes-mer-i-zing-ly adv.

metamorphosis/métamáwrfsis/ n (pl. met-a-mor-pho-ses/-seez/) 1 a change of form (by natural or supernatural means). 2 a changed form. 3 a change of character, conditions, etc. 4 Zool. the transformation between an immature form and an adult form, e.g., from a pupa to an insect, or from a tadpole to a frog. [L f. Gk metamorphosis f. metamorphoo transform (as META-, morphoo f. morph form)]

scintillate /sintilayt/v.intr. 1 (esp. as scintillating adj.) talk cleverly or wittily; be brilliant. 2 sparkle; twinkle; emit sparks. 3 Physics flouresence momentarily when struck by a charged particle, etc. scin-til-lant adj scin-til-lat-ing-ly adj [L. scintillare (as SCINTILLA)]