So Where Is Your Career As a Writer Going! Let Lev Grossman Explain

In its Arts section, Time magazine has presented what may be the best assessment of the future of books and the publishing industry of the past few years--and a lot has happened in the past few years. By Lev Grossman , it tells the amazing story of self publisher Lisa Genova and continues with a mini history of books and the novel. It includes important facts for the assessment of our own future as writers--things like "It isn't the audience. People are still reading. According to a National Endowment for the Arts study released on Jan 12 (2009), literary reading by adults has actually increased 3.5% since 2002, the first such increase in 26 years." This article will help you see where books are going--and where you are going with your career.

Here is the link:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122,00.html

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

The Career Czar Talks Career Building, Career Changes

Paul R. Bruno is known as the Career Czar. He and his sidekick Millian are funny and business oriented. He invited me as a guest on his radio show and it's up. He likes inspiration so we talked about how it's never too late to start a new career (I've reinvented myself many times!) and it's never too late to kick start the one you have! (-: Find it FREE at www.alltalkradio.net/careerczar. The archives are on the right and you click on 01-30-09.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

What in Heaven's Name Are Big Publishers Thinking?

How I love my subscribers. Recently Diane Ward sent me an article on "The New Austerity in publishing" from The New York Times. I thought I'd share reporter Motoko Rich's rundown with you and then let you know how I feel about it. Ready?

Rich says the publishing world's "cushy, schmooze fest seems to be winding down." Before you can appreciate these austerity cuts you have to know that last year Macmillan brought its entire sales and marketing staff from New York to Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. Further the partying included spa treatments and wine tastings. If you have never been to that hotel, I need to tell you that it is ultra plush. The new austerity program includes:

~For Macmillan in 2009, no Hotel del Coronado. A Webcam meeting instead for two of its meetings and only one in-person meeting is on the docket. The article didn't say where that one shindig might take place.

~Salary freezes or layoffs or both for HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Penguin Group, Random House, Simon & Schuster.

~Simon & Schuster canceled its usual cushy holiday party.

~Random House substituted a cafeteria pizza lunch for its usual plush cocktail party.

~Across the board editors are being asked to scale back on their two-martini lunch meetings.

~Random House will not be returning to Bermuda for a conference in 2009.

The article states all the reasons the publishing is in trouble other than the current economic downtrend. It also talks about the old days in publishing when executives considered the use of a towncar a luxury.

So, what were these publishers thinking when they were throwing these kinds of parties? I know. You're thinking, well, she's the Frugal Girl. Naturally she'd hate this.

Well, I wouldn't mind a good spa treatment and I might accept one if offered except that I've seen too many emerging authors disappear and despair because these same houses have been downright cheap with promotion budgets for any but their top grossing authors.

I've seen poor, unsuspecting authors assigned editors who can barely proofread.

I've seen authors asked to provide their own booktour funds and do their own or hire out their own indexing.

I've seen editors move from publishing house to publishing house because of what? They couldn't be moving because they are being paid well or because the working conditions are second-to-none!

I've seen fewer and fewer new poets and literary authors published since I've been watching. And catalogs grow sparser. And midlist authors get neglected.

According to Rich, this is an industry that Bennett Cerf was once supposed to have said was "never meant to support limousines" when they have to absorb book returns and should be fostering new talent. So what were these executives thinking?

I'll tell you what. The same thing executives of the now defunct AIG and Lehman Brothers were thinking. It was about immediate profits rather than long term products and greed rather than concern for their own people and their own industry.

It may be too late to tell these giants to watch their backs. I wish them well. I'd like to have a book published by them in spite of all these tales of gluttony, both real and metaphorical. That may be because I was raised up revering these names and words like "literature."

Nevertheless, it's a new world out there. We have new printing technology and entrepreneurial authors (some of who were made that way by the very stinginess of these publishing houses). We have the Web that offers niche opportunities and marketing methods never dreamed of two decades ago. And we have authors interested in giving other authors a hand, in writing and giving of themselves unselfishly (evidenced by my newsletter and this blog in which other authors write and contribute articles selflessly).

It's about the time the big publishing houses got it. If they get frugal and go back to their roots, this will all be for the best. If not, authors will just keep writing--and publishing--without them.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Your Web site, Blog, E-mail Lists and RSS Feeds

Sorry, followers. I've been sick and therefore AWOL. But here's an article for those of you into promoting online (and I hope you all are!). It comes from MaAnna Stephenson of JusttheFAQS.com and fellow tweeter. It's the sick girl's way to give you information--link only--but lots of love. (-:


http://www.justthefaqs.net/dwnlds/Why_Do_I_Need_RSS_Feeds.pdf

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Think Valentine's Day a Bit Early

My frequent poetry coauthor and I are thinking about not neglecting our Valentines this year. And we don't want you to neglect yours. Either your love or your associates or your customers.

Editor of CompulsiveReader.com Magdalena Ball is my poetry partner and, this Valentine’s, my poetry love. She set up the poetry chapbook we collaborated on last year at Valentine’s so it could be a free gift to Sharing with Writers subscribers (both the newsletter and this blog). Cherished Pulse is a beautiful e-chapbook, in no small part because of the artwork by Vicki Thomas and Maggie’s formatting skills. You could print it out on fine linen paper, staple it together, add a beautiful violet bookmark ribbon and have a very inexpensive valentine for someone on your list.

Or, you could just send the people you love the link and so they could enjoy it online. The link for the .pdf file is http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/Cherished Pulse.pdf. (Note: it is only available at no cost until February 18.)

You could add the link to your blog or your newsletters as a gift from you to your subscribers and readers, too. We won’t mind. For we hope that people like our poetry enough to then--perhaps!--buy the new chapbook we collaborated on for one of the mothers on your list for Mother’s Day. Illustrated with May Lattanzio’s beautiful photographs, it is She Wore Emerald Then: Reflections on Motherhood now available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/She-Wore-Emerald-Then-Reflections/dp/1438263791/ .

Originally Maggie and I collaborated because we recognized that often Hallmark cards don’t quite say what we would have them say. A little too rhymey and too syrupy. Poetry (as opposed to verse), can be read by someone with a little more detachment yet still feel the love.

We hope you will take advantage of our free offer for Valentine’s and, if you think Maggie’s science-inspired or my nostalgic poetry will be appreciated by your audience or by someone on your personal Mother’s day list, you’ll support that chapbook, too.

Happy Writing, Promoting and Editing, too!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson

PS: If you want to sweeten your poetry gift up, you could include a virtual bon-bon or the real thing--perhaps Lady Godiva.

PSS: My chapbook Tracings (Finishing Line Press) is also still available on Amazon and comes with the satin bookmark ribbon so you can have it shipped directly as a gift and have something that feels--well...artsy--arrive in someone's mailbox. http://www.amazon.com/Tracings-Carolyn-Howard-Johnson/dp/1599240173/

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Twenty Seconds A Day for Great Marketing, Networking

Yes, I'm updating one of my books for writers. As always, it will be laden with information you can use no matter where you are in the publishing and/or promotion process. This is an excerpt from it on micro blogging. To be more exact, on Twittering because of all the social networks, this is the one I'm finding works best on my busy schedule. First we'll talk about social networking in general and then I'll give you some specific reasons to try Twitter.

Most authors have heard by now that social networking can be good for the health of their books. Most authors also have trouble finding time to write, so they can only spend so much of it chit-chatting online, however much they'd like to. Here are some specifics for streamlining your social networking to make it work for you, not against you. As usual, you'll see my recommendations are frugal with time as well as money.

 It's OK to put up a profile on a network (a complete one, please--nothing shoddy) and then sit back and let others invite you. Just being present is a good thing. It's about exposure.

 Unless you are just having fun, forget adding people in your neighborhood or old high school to your network. That is, unless they would also be possible readers of your book. Invite and accept people with whom you share career interests. Note that if they are interested in what you're doing, they'll probably find you. Or keep one of your networks for poking and fun walls and use the others to do serious networking. On the other side of the coin, give your followers/friends information they can use. They probably don't want to know what you are eating for breakfast or that you are off to bed.

 Build your buddy lists slowly and methodically. Make a list of those who are influential in you fields that are related to the subject or theme of your book. Ask them one or two at a time so you can connect with a couple of personal messages, perhaps explore a bit with each of them how you might work together.

Caveat: Some networks offer a way for you to use the list from your Yahoo or AOL accounts to invite people wholesale. That probably won't give you the advantages you're looking for and could backfire because it may feel a little spammy to some. Further, I saw someone booted from Twitter recently, presumably because she had invited 1,723 people in two days.

 Keep your biography (or profile) updated.

 Once you have a large group of friends you can create events on Facebook and some others. I like to recycle, so I'd make them events that I market to your general audience (or your own niche) and then include your Facebook pals, too. You may attract social friends to your network that way; those who aren't already part of your network will need to sign on to participate. You'll be doing them a favor if you're providing information that they need. It might be best for you to concentrate on only one or two of your social networks for this kind of activity. One person can only do so much!

 On some social networks you'll find a bar on your profile page that tells you which of your friends are also logged in; that lets you connect with them easily and personally to offer them ideas, ask for help or whatever. On Twitter there is a little message link you can use to reach followers individually.

This feature alone is worth the time it will take to build a reasonably useful profile page on one of these networks. Don't use it frivolously, though. Your network friends may be short on time, too. And they may start ignoring you, or worse, block you.

 Add your social network widgets (little logos that help people click through to your social network profile page) on you blog(s) and website(s). Mention them in your e-mail signature, too. Social networks are like anything else. For them to be successful, you'll need to promote them. Anyone who wants to see my e-mail signature to use it for ideas may e-mail me with SIG PLEASE in the subject line and I'll send you an e-mail. I'm at hojonews @ aol.com

 When people join you on Twitter, welcome them with a Tweet. To keep my tweets from getting boring (you know, nothing but welcome notices), I like to give a tip, then welcome them using their Twitter moniker. Sometimes the tip will simply be an introduction to my new follower letting people know why they should know that person.

Now, how can Twitter specifically help your book marketing.

1. Whatever you're doing to promote your book may be mentioned there. If it's online promotion, include the link.

2. You can use a related site called TwitWall.com to include longer pieces, like media releases or articles. There are other Twitter-related services, but you'll learn more about those as you go along. Usually from the tweets of those you are following.

3. You can reach out to your contacts to cross promote. Ask them to trade blog links. Invite them to support a project. Ask for advice. Conduct a poll.

4. You can let your followers know when you've posted a blog, updated your website, instituted a new service, produced a free white paper, released a book and on and on.

5. You can invite/follow influential people in your publishing niche to be friends and learn from them, connect to them.

6. And, of course! You can follow me to network and to get promotion and editing tips. Just sign up for twitter and then go to www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo. Click on the follow bar under the picture of my Frugal Editor book and voila! I'll follow back. Now we're on a roll!

Caveat: I've gotten a bit addicted to Twitter. Because I like it so much. So, yes, I do spend more than 20 seconds a day. But I could keep it limited to that if I really, really wanted to.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

You Are Invited to Cross-Promote at the LA Times Festival of Books

Come Join Us as a Participating Author at the LA Times Festival of Books
Booth planner Chistine Alexanians invites you to participate in our next LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books booth--the last weekend of April 2009--and/or any of the value-added programs aligned with the fair. The book-signing portion of the fair requires that you attend, the others do not.

(To see the 2008 video made by Rey Ybarra, go to Best Selling Author Television site

http://www.veoh.com/channels/BSATV)

Our group of authors will again be sponsoring a booth at the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books on April 25, and 26, 2009. We focus on making a humdrum fair into a sizzling success and from past experience, we make changes every year based on what we learned the year before and the year before that.

One hour (50 minutes to allow set up) signing segments cost $150 for the first and $100 for the second day. The fee includes display in the booth for the full two days.

For cost, participation details and benefits of a cross-promotional booth like this, please go to www.sizzlingbookfairbooths.blogspot.com.

To participate send an e-mail to Christine Alexanians at chalexwrite @ yahoo.com. She can invoice you for PayPal or give you an address to send a check. Please put "LA Times Fair" in the subject line and please let her know the programs you would like to participate in so she will know how to bill you. She will then send you details for participation and answer other questions regarding this show. The booth promotion will be handled by Christine and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Premio Dardos Award Gets Passed to Others

Holly Jahangiri honored publisher Vivian Zabel with the Prémio Dardos (Darts Prize). And Vivian passed it to me. Thank you to both of you. Peer honored awards are always especially nice.

The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

And, of course, those motives are supreme in any great public relations campaign whether you're promoting a book or a business.

The origin of the Prémio Dardos seems now to lie somewhere in obscurity. Still, Holly believes it began in Portugal or Brazil and this is the closest rendition of the original intent available:

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been selected for this award. So, I am passing the torch to:


http://www.allynevans.blogspot.com

http://defyinggravitynow.blogspot.com

http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com

http://stepofaith.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A21V32M89BJ4ZD/ref=cm_blog_blog

http://www.forshriekingoutloud.blogspot.com

http://Conniegotsch.blogspot.com

http://myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com

http://jozettesnotes.blogspot.com

http://www.lindalarue.blogspot.com

http://writebettergetpublished.blogspot.com

http://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com

http://mowtownwriters.blogspot.com

http://thereadingtub.blogspot.com

http://www.divadoctrine.blogspot.com

http://www.rimworlds.com/thecrotchetyoldfan

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Peer Reviews Are About More Than Content and Expertise

Let's Talk Peer Reviews . . .

When many of us write nonfiction, we ask for peer reviews. We ask if experts in the field might give us input on our book before it is published. But there is more to it than that (especially for writers of fiction so keep reading!). Some of us are fully cognizant of what that "more" might be and others are not.

For many miss a couple of vital elements of a peer review that Susan D. Daffron mentions in her front page article for Span Connection (Nov. 2008) and that is the author will find more peers willing to help if he or she is asked to review only a chapter rather than a whole book. The other is that the peer review process might well contribute to the gleaning of absolutely great endorsements/testimonials for the cover or inside pages of the finished book.

What I like best about the peer review process is that is can be tailored to benefit writers of the so-called hard-to-promote books--fiction, poetry and memoir.

Writers in those genres often think they can't find interested experts but experts come in all stripes. They can be editors, teachers, authors of similar genres, and on and on. In other words, the peer review process can work well for any author. It's only a matter of figuring out what is in your work that you might have reviewed, finding people with expertise in that area and in blocking out a period of time in the writing process just before sending your manuscript off to a publisher to let the peer review process work for you in all the ways that it can.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

New Year's Gifts, Endorsements and Learning from the Pros

One of the best ways to make friends (even influence enemies if you have any) is to do what Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, did recently. That is, just send someone an unsolicited endorsement. And what a nice way that is to thank someone at the beginning of a new year! Here's what she sent to me:

"Carolyn, from one newsletter publisher to another, I just wanted to let you
know how super your newsletter is. I know how much work goes into these
things, and yours is one of the very best---consistently chock fully of
meaty tips--a must for authors and publishers!
"Joan
"P.S. Yes, you may use this as a testimonial."

Now, do you really think there would be many who pass up an opportunity like that? And unsolicited endorsements tend to be more credible than those we ask for, especially if we label them as such. Of course, we usually must ask and information about how to do that can be found in The Frugal Book Promoter. In fact, I'm in the process of doing that for a new book to be released this spring. (It's on prootion for retailers.)

And look, because Joan is so generous, she gets a credit from me(also unsolicited) and a link to her website and a recommendation to subscribe to her newsletter back. So it appears that giving an endorsement from the heart may also be one of the best out there for people who need to promote anything! So find her at http://publicityhound.com.

And notice how she (being the great publicist she is) made it easy for me. I didn't have to write back begging on my hands and knees to use what she said. Her offer and permission didn't lessen her beautiful gesture. It increased it! We're all busy people.

So as they say, these days, I'm "passing it forward." And I hope you will, too. Especially at this season.

Happy promoting! And yes, writing and editing, too!
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Opportunity to Get Your Title Mentioned on Podcast

Opportunity to ask, learn and promote:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson (http://www.carolynhowardjohnson.redenginepress.com/) and Yvonne Perry (http://writersinthesky.com/about-yvonne.html) will be facilitating a one-time class to air on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

"Conversation with Editors" will cover some of the common mistakes writers make and how to correct them. We will also provide helpful tips for impressing a publisher with your query letter.

If you would like your questions about editing and querying answered in this audio class, please post them by using the comments feature beneath this post. If you are an editor and would like to chime in on what mistakes you see most often, please contact Yvonne.

There is no need to register for the class. To get an e-mail with the link to the recording on January 13, simply sign up for the RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/WritersInTheSky)to our blog or contact Yvonne ( http://writersinthesky.com/contact.php) on her Web site.

Carolyn is an editor and author of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward To Avoid Humiliation And Ensure Success (How to Do It Frugally).

Yvonne is a full-time freelance ghostwriter and editor, and the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services (http://writersinthesky.com/).

Participating in podcasts like this is a great way to get the title and Web address of your book mentioned!


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Borrowing Great Promotion Ideas from Smart Publishers

The Southern Review reports that one publisher has offered to give free review copies of some of his books to bloggers who promise to post a review of at least 200 words on both their blogs and on Amazon. Smart publisher. that guy! He's smart 'cause:

*Even though the book may be given to a couple of people who would otherwise buy one, the percentage would probably be very small.

*You're after inundation of the net in a few short weeks to propel sales in a given time frame. Note: This process doesn't necessarily have to be done only as you launch a book. What's wrong with keeping a book alive?

*Giving away a book plus postage is very cheap exposure compared to advertising (advertising is by its nature paid-for exposure).

*Bloggers talk to people and word-of-mouth is the best sales tool around, and once they've blogged, they may talk up your book in other ways, especially if you follow up with a great thank you letter afterward (even if you weren't crazy about the review!). If the review was favorable you could ask the reviewer to include the book on a reading list (if he is a teacher), recommend it on his website, or even add it to one more online bookstore like BN.com after you've complimented him on how much you loved it.

*People who accept the offer become part of your network if you save their e-mail address.

Individual authors could do the same with their own book as this publisher did for the book he published. Why not? We give lots of copies to friends and relatives who often never read our books anyway, right? So commit them. Or we could make an offer to the general public and limit the number of books we offer.

Think about this before you do it, though. You must be comfortable with the idea that a review is an opinion and the reviewer is welcome to voice it. If they hate your book and say so, as a professional you can't go back and ask them to withdraw their review or change it. It is against journalism ethics. Having said that, I never suggest a reviewer do a complete slash and burn of a book. A tactfully worded letter to the author that the reviewer is reneging on his or her offer to review because it appears the reviewer and book are not well matched is far kinder--and also more professional.

Some days I'm a very quick learner. So here's my offer. I will give away 25 of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (published by Red Engine Press) to those who will post a review of 200 words or more on their blogs and post the same review (or slightly different) on Amazon.com before January 30th, 2009.

To do so, send an e-mail with REVIEW BOOK REQUEST in the subject line to HoJoNews@aol.com. Include your address and preferred e-mail address, the title of your book and your web address, because an added bonus will be a thank you in my Sharing with Writers newsletter. It will include a link to your site. If you have already reviewed The Frugal Editor, and want to participate, let me know and I will extend the offer to either Harkening, This Is the Place or Tracings.

Another idea: I added a classified advertising page to www.howtodoitfrugally.com. It's very inexpensive Only $10.00 and I'll run any book-related ad for up to a year. (You get to tell me when to take it down if your ad is time-sensitive). That would be a good place to help get the word out about your review campaign.

And did I happen to mention that when you write a review and include your byline and tagline, the review becomes a mini promotion for your book? You'll find more details on how that works in The Frugal Book Promoter.

Happy promoting! And yes, writing and editing, too!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson

PS: And if you don't make the cut-off for this offer, please don't be upset. I'll do another such offer soon with another of my books. (-: Only maybe with that one, I'll only offer e-copies. There's another idea for you!


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Author Flash! Utmost Importance for Future of Your Book On Amazon

Thank heaven for valuable Twitter pals like www.twitter.com/fivebyfivepr. Their tweet led me to Amazon's announcement page where they say, "On the first day of this new year, how about some info on a new online publicity opportunity for authors?

So, here’s the news:

On December 29, Amazon.com launched a new feature called Author Stores. These single pages list all of an author’s published works and include additional information such as biographies, author images, and discussion boards. Amazon plans to add capabilities for video and blogs as well as listing related products soon.
Right now, the feature is in beta-testing, so not every author has a page. To see who is currently listed, you can browse listings in the Author Stores Directory

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_7650012_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000315331&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1Z1WYGPQVR6C71J0JQQS&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=465638831&pf_rd_i=1000286411. (Sorry these aren't live links. I didn't want to make a mistake and have you without one at all, so please just copy and paste!)

Though I wasn't listed, just like you, I hope to be. And you should know about it so you can check and and keep your fingers crossed because they appear to have no application process set up. The feature seems to be a sort of wait-and-see proposition but Amazon's publicity director Andrew Hardener does assure us that eventually they hope to have a bookstore page for every author in their system. Actually, it shouldn't be too hard because many of us authors already have our books listed on our profile page where we have more control over submissions and approval.

Once your Author Store is added, you can use the Author Central page to edit it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_7650012_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000302021&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1T3KBW02GBNSSQEPK8CX&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=466229071&pf_rd_i=1000286411

Receive updates on the progress of additional Stores by signing up for the special newsletter on this specific subject here.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/html-forms-controller/AEP-Feedback-Link

And, if you want to tweet with me, find me at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo. This news will be featured in my Sharing with Writers newsletter, too. I'll let subscribers there know if I've learned anything more at that time. (-:


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.