Warning: You are About to Shift Your Life, Make Room for Better Writing in the Process!

Finally, a book that really teaches us how to eliminate issues in our lives!

First of all, Shift: A Woman’s Guide to Transformation will work for men, too. From experience I know that men also have nagging issues that seem to never go away . . . issues that creep into our quiet minds and and wreak havoc on our health. Tracy Latz and Marion Ross have written a book that offers solutions and if you go to the Web site, you can get a sample chapter and view a video on their EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique (a healing technique you can do yourself by tapping acupuncture points and it actually works! My husband has used it successfully, so I do have up close and personal experience. Further, what he has done with it helped him to publish two editions of one of his book (one in simplified Chinese in China and one in India) and finish a soul-wrenching memoir. Thus, I know how importat it can be for writers.

Shift: A Woman’s Guide to Transformation (for men, too) was created by Tracy Latz, M.D. and Marion Ross, Ph.D. following repeated requests to share in written form the information they had been teaching for six years. Prior to using these tools on anyone else, they used them to shift their own lives. Tracy transformed anxiety and stress and an acute physical issue; Marion used the techniques to transform chronic physical pain and an inner restlessness. Their system is a discussion of the 12 self-sabotaging obstacles that we all unwittingly place in our path followed by a menu of easy-to-use techniques for removal of each issue blocking your path. Tracy and Marion do not want you to struggle as they did to find the 12 Keys that they discovered! They share their solutions with the sincere intent of assisting you so that you too can Shift Your Life- only quicker than they did!

Bernie Siegel, M.D., a retired general/pediatric surgeon (& author of another book that changed my life, Love, Medicine & Miracles and that I often give to friends who are sick) heard about Shift: A Woman’s Guide to Transformation and offered to write the foreword for the book. He says: “The lessons to be learned from this book are age old but reframed in ways that are easy to incorporate and appropriate to our lifestyle today … cancer patients who display a survivor personality, exceed expectations and more often survive when no one gives them any hope . . . . It is easier to have coaches and guides to help you on the path to transformation and this book can do that for you.”

Shift is a melding of Chinese medicine, cognitive behavioral therapy, guided meditation, and energy psychology. This book can be used as an intensive personal healing journey and a reference guide to be consulted whenever a specific issue arises.

Drs. Latz and Ross give bullet points at the end of each chapter to show you how to most rapidly dissolve the obstacle in your life along with examples of how others have shifted their lives using these tools. If you're truly serious about changing any long-established habits of emotional patterns/thoughts that have kept you STUCK, then you are ready for Shift: A Woman’s Guide to Transformation - Shift Your Life today! Learn more: http://tinyurl.com/okupgs

Besides more than $8500 in downloadable bonuses (e-books, MP3s, courses, articles, coaching and more) donated by their friends (including me) and colleagues who so strongly support the book, the authors are offering a cash contest for the best Tales of Shift with $250 as the top prize! Check it out! http://tinyurl.com/okupgs We're writers here. I think that might give us an edge in a contest like this. (-:

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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 Hollywood Can Teach Us About Book Promotion

The new movie about Anna Wintour and the Making of Vogue, needs no introduction among fashionistas. Wintour is the guru behind Vogue magazine, and the movie is now "in a theater near you."

I admit, I am (or was) one of those fans of fashion--I had to be. I worked at a New York publcity house where I wrote media releases for the likes of Rudy Gernreich, Christian Dior and Pauline Trigere. If you're thinking "Ugh, enough already," stop! I learned a lot for the fashion industry and so can all of us. (-: And, if you're one of Vogue's fans, you'll expecially love these marketing tips.

And we can learn even more than usual for the people marketing this movie!

Their marketers are not using the old promotion model of presenting it as a sneak preview in theaters! That's been done before. Instead a preview is coming as a gift from Bloomingdale's (or rather a gift-with-purchase) and Bloomie's is generally thought to be the leading department store for clothes horses, this movie's target audience.

I'm sure you are getting my drift here. The marketing people behind The September Issue are stepping out of the usual same old, same old box. Stylishly.

Here's the way they advertised the deal: Stop by participating Bloomingdale's locations (Beverly Center, Century City and Sherman Oaks--all in LA) and purchase $150 or more in the fashion accessories and handbags department (a mere pittance by Bloomie standards) and they would give you "a chance" to see the film. You were to see a Bloomingdale's sales associate for details on the VIP screening pass. You can also ask to be put on a waiting list by sending an e-mail to SeptemberIssue@latimes.com. There were only 100 passes available. Ahem!

Sounds as if--when the thundering Jimmy Choo shoes came stomping in for their chance at this event (not just a prescreening but a chance to look at a whole theater full of other fashionistas willing to spend $150!)--the marketers would have fodder for some follow up stories for the business pages of newspapers and news Web sites across the land.

Are we authors taking notes? Apparently so. I just mentioned this marketing event on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson) and many authors (including Barbara Techel, Connie Gotsch and Tammy Banks) who have written books about dogs are busy trading secrets for getting events at pet food stores and vet offices.

The thing is, this event goes a few steps farther than just finding compatible retailers or other businesses to sell products (in this case a movie and handbags).

It helps, of course, that Vogue already has a fan base. But here are the important lessons to take away from this brilliant promotion.

~It's limited, thus more desirable. Same with Michael Jackson's memorial performance and some other recent events.
~It doesn't apologize. It points out these limitations, thus increasing the mystique.
~It plays to its fan base. In other words, it isn't trying to appeal to anyone but the crowd who buys handbags that cost $150 to many, many thousands. So who is your prime fan base? Now your job is to figure out another business that caters to that same base as a partner.
~It asks for participation (a purchase or taking action by e-mail). That gives Bloomingdale's (and the marketing house behind The September Issue) a list they can build on for the future.
~The most important feature of the campaign is the premarketing. This would be nothing without all participants contributing resources and working up the excitement before the event.
~Notice that, though limited, they haven't closed off the idea that there may be a chance for everyone to attend (even though they admit they only have 100 passes available!). Hope springs eternal for those who care. In fact, hope consumes those same people because it is limited. It's a lottery! Women who love Kate Spade just need to be there!
~And, of course, there's that post publicity I mentioned. Don't think they don't already have those media releases written and waiting to plug in the amazing statistics about the success of the event. Once that's done, they can do their media release e-mail blitz or start their phone banks rolling. There were a few cameras at the event too, for sure.

Oh, and PS! This movie uses one title and two subtitles. It is The Septembr Issue: Fashion is a Religion. This is the Bible. The second subtitle is Anna Wintour & The Making of Vogue. If that isn't more excitement making verbiage, I never saw it.

PPS: Can you think of another aspect of this campaign we can learn from?

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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 Skinny on Business Cards for Writers

I admit it. When I opened my first retail store in the 70s, I thought of business cards as too officious for my branding--you know, something that CEOs handed out, though I'm not sure they even called them CEOs back then. How wrong I was. Business Cards are essential and even if you're branding isn't . . . mmmm . . . corporate, there are lots of ways you can jazz them up.

Then I became so firmly convinced that business cards are a must, I suggested that authors use them in The Frugal Book Promoter (http://www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo).

The thing is, it never occurred to me there was so much to say and know about business cards until I met Reno Lovison, author of Turn Your Business Card Into Business (www.businesscardtobusiness.com). Of course, he knows that business cards are still woefully underutilized in everything from the retail environment to their use by authors and other artists. And that they're often designed poorly for their purpose.

Mine, as an example, may be designed poorly. They are more like cramped mini advertisements that include my books' images, their awards and even little blurbs (or endorsements). None of that corporate well-designed, lots-of-space look. Right or wrong, I know they work and recommend them to other authors in my UCLA Writers' Program classes and in my books.

Reno hasn't seen my cards but it iterates my thinking when he says, "Think about it. Your business card--if properly designed--is like a small advertisement. You probably see the value of advertising in a newspaper or magazine or on the web where we often speak of “impressions.” That is to say how often the printed ad has influenced or made an impression on a potential customer.

A business card is no different. It is an opportunity to make an impression on a customer. If your customer [or reader] takes the card and looks at it three more times in the course of the week that is three more impressions. Three more times that she is reminded of your business."

Reno's chapter on communications strategy is a perfect tutorial in helping people consider their branding when designing a business card. And you've heard me talk branding, I know. On my blog. In my books. Everywhere I can. Authors, in fact, are their own brand but we still have to think about what that constitutes before making marketing decisions.

Reno also reminds folks:

1. "A card is a better way to advertise than many others because it will probably be seen more than once and is far less expensive per impression."
2. "Do not be concerned that the customer will eventually dispose of the card. Customers eventually throw away their newspapers, magazines , flyers and e-mail too."
3. "Distribute your cards to friends, family and people you meet. Enlist others to be your sales staff by providing them with additional cards."

Per card (and even better, per impression), business cards are very nearly free advertising. You can learn more about business card marketing in Reno's book at www.businesscardtobusiness.com and in The Frugal Book Promoter.

Oh, I should have said this earlier, but business cards are not just for writers with published books or for freelance writers. They're also for new writers. One of the biggest psychological hurdles we writers must overcome is beginning to think of ourselves as writers. Having a card with our name and the title "Writer" beneath it is a tangible beginning for that process.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a former New York publicist for the world of fashion. Though she eschewed business cards when she first founded and operated her own chain of gift stores she has come around and now offers them liberally for all of her books—from her novel, to her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers to A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques at www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide. Her Web site is www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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's In Your Amazon Store?

Sometimes I’m amazed at the marketing possibilities that I’ve known about for years and just haven’t gotten around to utilizing. As I was catching up with my reading recently, one of those opportunities leaped up and swatted me upside my head. I’m warning you now, this isn’t new information. But it is a method that can help you sell your books and do other writers a favor, too. Especially if you promote it. It’s called the Amazon Store.

You can have an Amazon A-Store of your own.

The magazine I was reading when I got this Aha! moment was Anchora, my college fraternity’s magazine. In each issue they have a column called “From the Pens of Delta Gammas” and in it they featured my newest book, A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques.

The introduction said, “Now you can hop online and browse books by your sisters. Make a purchase through our new Amazon Associates program and the Fraternity will get a small referral fee. Support your sisters and Delta Gamma! What could be better? Bookmark this page:
http://astore.amazon.com/deltagamma-20 .”

When I support my alumnae group in small ways like this, I support the charity the Blind Childrens' Center they’ve supported for decades. So I did as I was told. I bookmarked their URL.

But what about you?

I imagine you could use a small stream of income (called passive income because once you’ve set up you “store,” you don’t have to do much else but let the money dribble in--and, of course, let people know you have a store).

But the real value here is having one more way for your readers to buy your book. And, really . . . even better. Having one more way you can help expose the writing of authors you love. Your may not know them but you love them because they are talented. You love them because they support causes that interest you. You support them because--like you--they are writers.

We’re all in this together!

PS: The photo is by Randy Detroit who is videographer for the Green New Media Life Expo. -----
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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Book Launch Lesson #1 from an Online Book Launch Trek with Denise Cassino

I am experimenting with an old, trusted friend, Denise Cassino.

And it occurred to me that if I blogged about this book marketing experiment I am doing with her as I went, my blog vistors could learn from the trek I am taking. To do it themselves or to enlist Denise's help.

So this is the first in what I--the marketing expert...Ahem!...am learning from another marketing expert as we work toward the launch of my newest book.

I have referred to the book in this blog infrequently because A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques (www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide) is really aimed at retailers more than authors. Though authors with published books really are retailers when it comes to accruing new readers. Readers, after all, are your end-customer. Selling to the end-using customers is the definition of retail, folks! Further, one of the things the book talks about is how authors can do signings, workshops, etc. in retail stores of all kinds. (-:

In fact, author Shannon Yarbrough says, "I jumped at the chance to review A Retailer's Guide only because I knew I'd find something I could use toward my own book marketing and indeed I did."

Now I am researching how to make Amazon help with a book launch so that I can pass what I learn from a strategic approach to that kind of promotion on to you. I'm working with Denise Cassino (dencassino@gmail.com) who helps launch products (yes, another word you won't like applying to your book but you book is a product!). And I'll be asking you in little baby steps to help me out. You'll benefit, of course, by participating in the steps as needed and,later, when I send you a special edition of my newsletter, Sharing with Writers , on propelling sales on Amazon.

I used to be a bit skeptical of the "bestselling-on-Amazon" approaches to marketing; many smacked of misleading tactics. Denise's approach does not. It's more like authors recommending books (or products) to others, recommending books and products they can believe in. It's like word-of-mouth with Amazon acting as the measurere, if you will.

We all know that word-of-mouth is a wonderful marketing tool. You tell the guy at the supermarket that you love a book, he believes you, buys it and loves it and then tells someone else. Anyway, I'm excited about sharing this with you, You learn as I learn.

As an example, today was my day for narrowing down the tags (or keywords) I establish for my books on Amazon. You can do that, too, even if you aren't your own publisher. The ones I chose are "Product Management" and "Direct Marketing." Denise tells me I can add more later but right now, I need those to take hold and soar on Amazon.

I chose those categories because they were the ones that described my book but had the fewest competing titles on Amazon.

The next step is to ask you to go to my page and click three times. Now, that won't take you long, I promise.

Here are the clicks: You click one each on the tags "Product Management" and "Direct Marketing." You find the place to do this under "Tags Customers Associate with This Product." Then if you feel comfortable doing it, scroll a bit more an click on the fifth star where it says to Rate This Item to Improve Your Recommendations.

The benefits to you? The follow-along process in this blog (information will also be in my newsletter). I'm even thinking about writing a f r ^ ^ booklet that I'll publish when I'm done. You can learn about that (if and when) on this blog or in my newsletter.

One does learn more by doing. In fact, you can begin to work this as I give you more information, one step at a time.

So, won't you help? Go to http://www.budurl.com/RetailersGuide and follow the steps above. Just keep scrolling to the specific sections. These sections are right above the "Customer Reviews" so if you get to the reviews, you've scrolled too far.


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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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 Makes Romance Novels So Profitable for Publishers: How Can You Emulate That?

This week Andrea Sachs of Time magazine reports that "Romance novels . . . are helping some publishers hide from the worst of the recession.

More than 1.4 billion in sales last year attest to it romance novels' success. That's the largest share of the consumer book market (1 in four books sold). Part of the reason for this is price but another reason is that romance readers are loyal. Read that Loyal with a capital "L."

How do you build loyalty regardless of the genre you write in? Read the chapters on branding in The Frugal Book Promoter.

But here is the basic principle and, really, you already know it. Loyalty is built by continued, caring contact with your readers. Almost every section in the TFBP is about one method or another for doing that.

The chapter on writing thank you notes won't hurt, either. (-:

What is your favorite way to stay in contact with your readers?

PS: The picture of TFBP is of publisher Nancy Cleary's own copy. Thank you, Nancy, for the visual! (-:

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Gene Cartwright Keeps Expanding iFOGO Benefits for Authors

I have been part of iFOGO village pretty much from the start. It is now a ning group and growing but it is not too late for authors to get in on the ground floor with me and several of my author friends including Shirley Roe. Gene Cartwright is the trusty leader/owner of that group. This is, as they say on CNN, BREAKING NEWS, and, as they say on Fox, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY! (-: Here is his most recent call to action:

To Carolyn's Sharing with Writers Visitors:

In part, what we are now providing is for iFOGO Village authors to have:

Their own ifogo.com website that displays their personal, existing web site as it exists. In other words they will have theirname.ifogo.com.

This provides authors the advantages presented by the connection with the name we have and are establishing.

Authors also benefit from association with our Google penetration and search engine optimization.

Authors iFOGO Web link will appear on iFOGO.com under a menu tab: "Village Authors."
They may also have an ifogo.com e-mail address. For example: JohnDoe@ifogo.com. The email address will forwarded to an existing e-mail address they designate.

In addition, those who obtain all this will also have Coverblast.com included. This gives them the ability to send their book-jackets as e-card.

Those who are already Premium of Basic Plus members will receive all this free. Others, instead of having to become Premium Members, will pay only $29.95/yr.

Also included is membership in our iFOGO Village Author+Plus group that permits author members to market their non-author products and skills.

When we announce this, it will be for iFOGO Village Members to take advantage of for a 72 hour period. All authors wanting these advantages should waste no time joining iFOGO Village.

We have more planned so please join, watch us grow and grow with us!

Very best,
Gene Cartwright

PS: I started a poetry group on iFOGO with Magdalena Ball, my co-author for She Wore Emerald Then and Cherished Pulse. It is in its infancy. We'd love to have poets join us there.



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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Boo! Promoting Books at Halloween!

Today Mayra Calvani, an author who writes books for children, shares her ideas for seasonal promotion. But because it's nearing October, she's highlighting Halloween. Boo! Books! Thank you for sharing Mayra!

By Mayra Calvani

Christmas is a wonderful time for children’s book authors to market their Christmas picture books. And Halloween is the perfect time for horror authors. But, with a little thought, you may find a niche for your book in any season. But let's concentrate on this season.

There are many events you can plan ahead of time to sell books during the spooky month of October. For instance, you may do book signings at general bookstores, or, better yet, at horror specialty bookstores or a costume shop. You may host a Halloween party and invite all your friends, co-workers, relatives and neighbors. If you’re a children’s author with a Halloween-theme title, you can host a party for your children’s classmates, as well as do readings in schools and libraries.

The important thing here, however, is to make the event fun and ‘spooky’ for everyone. At singings, why not wear a costume? If your book is about witches, why not disguise yourself as one and arrive with witch’s fingers cookies and a caldron with dry ice for a special effect? If your story deals with vampires, why not dress up as one and offer glasses of a deep red drink? The same goes for zombies, monsters, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures. The idea is to play out the ‘theme’ of your book, and to get plenty of attention.

Decorate your signing table with spider webs, bats, rats or black cats, and other paraphernalia. Be friendly and always look at visitors in the eye when you talk to them. Offer them something to eat or drink—-anything that will make them want to stay by your table and look at your book. Your imagination is the limit. It’s up to you to make your book signing a success.

I once heard of an author who hosted a Halloween party at his home and sold over two hundred copies of his book in one night. He sent out invitations one month in advance to his relatives, friends, and neighbors. He also posted flyers in local libraries, bookshops, and around his neighborhood. Of course, he went all the way with decorations, food, and drink. His house became a ‘real’ haunted house, complete with props, creepy music, candelabra, dry ice—-naturally, his books were beautifully displayed at various locations throughout the house. Most guests were more than happy to purchase a copy of his book before leaving.

For book signings and readings, don’t forget to plan the event and contact the coordinators at least five months in advance, as they may have tight schedules during the Halloween season.

Remember that booksellers, especially specialty shops, are more willing to consider horror titles for shelf display during Halloween. So if you want your book to be sold in these shops, contact the owner or acquisition clerk several months ahead. You may approach them with an attractive brochure of your book, but preferably with a copy of the book itself accompanied by a brief cover letter.

Happy Halloween marketing!

Today's guest blogger Mayra Calvani is a multi-genre author, reviewer and animal advocate. She enjoys writing for children and adults. A regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine and American Chronicle, she's a member of SCBWI, CWCC and Broad Universe. She keeps two blogs, Mayra's Secret Bookcase (http://mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/) and The Dark Phantom Review (http://thedarkphantom.wordpress.com/).

Additionally, she's the co-author of the ForeWord Best of the Year Award winner, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing. (http://slipperybookreview.wordpress.com/).

Visit her newest, fun blog, Pets and Their Authors (http://petsandauthors.blogspot.com/), where her golden retriever interviews authors' pets.

Mayra does Spanish translations of children's picture books and is the National Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com (http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner).


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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Holiday Catalog Opportunity for Books and Other Snazzy Gifts

I am participating in a holiday catalog spearheaded by book launch guru Denise Cassino. I'm excited because she will use many of the same contacts and methods to promote the catalog that she uses for her spectacularly successful online book launches. Here's how she explains it--just in case you'd like to give your book a holiday boost:

We are creating a spectacular online Spirit of Christmas Catalog. This exclusive catalog will feature books, products and even services for your friends and followers to consider for holiday gifts. Our plan is to launch the catalog with each participant mailing to all of our contacts and social networks on December 1. We'll provide everything you need for the announcement.

Each product will offer a detailed description, product image, price and buy button. If your response is strong, we’ll create a page where you can submit your info as we do on the book launches we do.

We want to give Sharing with Writers subscribers and visitors first dibs on featuring your books, products, and services in this beautiful online catalog. Our contact lists have grown immensely and what better way to utilize our expertise than to allow you to sell via our Spirit of Christmas Catalog.

December is a busy gift buying season. What a great opportunity for you all to make money selling your stuff and to bring in a little extra cash for the holidays.
The Spirit of Christmas Catalog will be organized by sections such as Spiritual, Motivational, Abundance, Body, Mind, Transformational, Fiction, NonFiction, Children etc. We can even offer handmade products. Your item will be placed in the category you indicate. The actual purchases will be made from your own page when they click the Buy Button. This way you keep control of your sales and fulfillment.

We will design, create and organize the catalog. The cost per person is $69 for the entire season. This includes placement of up to 5 items for that price. If this catalog goes well, we will continue with a Spring, Summer and Fall edition. That’s only $23. per month and we handle the website design, labor costs, staffing, etc. You will keep all the sales proceeds yourself. In this difficult economy, we can all benefit from inexpensive advertising. We want you to have a great experience and at the same time benefit from the tremendous number of contacts that we have accrued.

All items will have standard alphabetical ad placement. However, we are also offering specialized featured placement for an additional cost. In other words, we will have special ads on the home page that click through to the buy page. We will also offer ads on every page in the various categories. So, if you want your spiritual book to appear on every spiritual product page, we will have an additional fee for that. Let me know if you have an interest in the special placement.

We will launch on December 1. We will provide you with our ad copy and banners to that you can place them on your site or in your newsletters, blogs, tweets and social networking.

We are so excited by this venture and know this will be a great opportunity for all of us to get our products and services in front of perhaps 2-3 million people! Let us know by return email if you are interested. We can only take so many, so it's a first come first serve basis. When we assess the interest level, we will take the next step. You payment can be made via PayPal.

Be sure to share this with your friends who might also want to be a part of this exciting opportunity! We want to reward those who supported our launches and their friends and Carolyn is one of those supporters. Our way of giving back. Let's make this the most prosperous Christmas ever!

Here’s the link: www.spiritofchristmascatalog.com – you can fill out the form here.

Merry Christmas!
Denise Cassino
303 838 3399


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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Stretching Our Taste in Books Just a Tad

Some of us were English majors. Some not. Some of us thrived on Shakespeare. Some said phooey.

All of us are writers or readers. Regardless of our backgrounds, we’ve all heard that we should read. Authors should at least read books in the genre we write in. Readers should at least try to expand their interests and tastes.

I’m going to take it a step farther than that. I think we should all also read great books. Classics, if you will. Not necessarily all the time but often enough to inspire us to stretch just a bit, to reach for an important theme or a voice we haven’t tried. Or even to develop a turn of phrase, a metaphor, or a simile. Of course, readers may find a new favorite or new understanding by reading authors who write about the greatest themes of all.

Newsweek ran a list (www.newsweek.com/id/204478) of the greatest books ever written. Their choices may be arguable, but one can not argue with their intent. I thought it might be fun for you to see how many you’ve read. Gauge your relative success on your age. If you’re a senior you may have read more than if you are fifteen. If an English lit major, more (perhaps) than if you majored in engineering.

Actually, how many you’ve read is not nearly as important as how many you’re going to read. Or your motivation to set a goal. For the ambitious, how about a resolution to reread one you’ve already read and a pledge to read three more in the next year.

I hope you'll use my Noble (Not Nobel!) prize list for suggestions, too. It appears every January at MyShelf.com. And my columns are archived.

Back to those goals. For most of us--we busy ones--how about a commitment to read just one of them. C’mon. Just one.





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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Quick Tip on Amazon Connect

I rarely do shorty tips on my blog. It sorta feels like a cheat when my newsletter is full of them for free. But I've been seeing so many authors these days who aren't taking advantage of Amazon Connect.

Amazon Connect is like a profile page on Amazon and is a must for online sales. Full instructions on how to do it are in your copy of The Frugal Book Promoter (Amazon chapter).

Be aware that since I wrote TFBP, Amazon allows you to do a blog for that Connect page and then that blog appears automatically on all your books’ sales pages, even if you've written many books. That means your books' sales pages will look more complete and be more helpful to your readers, too.

And, get this! That blog can be fed from your regular blog (say one on Blogspot or Wordpress) to that page so you don’t have to duplicate efforts. Here’s mine for you to look at: http://budurl.com/CarolynsAmazProfile Scroll down to see the blog entries.

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

Kim McMillon Hosts Poets on Moe Green Poetry Hour

I find more and more of my clients and subscribers to my Sharing with Writers newsletter are writing poetry. Part of that may be that the Poetry Corner with resources for poets that appears in my newsletter is attracting more poets, but the other part may be that writers are coming to understand that the elements of poetry can contribute favorable to their writing careers--from the use of alliteration in a media release headline to the use of image, symbol and metaphor in nonfiction.

Thus, you will hear a little about poetry in this blog from time to time. Esepcially when someone who actively promotes writers like Kim McMillon is onboard for an event. So, please join Kim, Joan Gelfand, Rebecca Foust, and me on BlogTalkRadio on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The details are in in the release below.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Kim McMillon
(510) 681-5652
kimmac@pacbell.net




Moe Green Poetry Hour Presents
Poets Joan Gelfand, Rebecca Foust, and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
With Guest host Playwright Kim McMillon
Wednesday,September 9th at 12 Noon to 1 PM
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword

(Los Angeles), August 24, 2009 --- Are you looking for a creative way to spend your lunch hour? Tune in to Rafael Alvarado’s Moe Green Poetry Hour on Blog Talk Radio on Wednesday, September 9th from 12 PM – 1 PM. Bay Area Playwright Kim McMillon guest hosts this lively hour with poets Rebecca Foust, Joan Gelfand, and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

This powerful hour of women poets is built around the themes of healing not just ourselves, but our families an environment through poetry that speaks to what we can do for a better planet, and healthier lives.

A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams, Joan Gelfand’s second collection of poetry is a richly layered collection that speaks to environmental destruction, economic finagling, rampant globalization as well as nature, friends and family, and the love that sustains us. California Poet Laureate Al Young wrote. "...Joan Gelfand’s poems vibrate, shudder or take flight, roaring and purring to safe and not so safe landings in the heart, in the gut. Readers, beware. This is powerful stuff.”
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success which is already receiving acclaim. Cheryl Wright of Writer2Writer.com says, "The Frugal Editor will become a well-used reference for writers around the world." Carolyn was awarded Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by the California Legislature; her home town's Character and Ethics Commission honored her for work on promoting tolerance, and the Pasadena Weekly named her to their list of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen" for literary activism.

Rebecca Foust’s latest collection of poetry, Mom’s Canoe was the winner of the 2008 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize, and was released by Texas Review Press in February 2009. Its poetry deal with living in poverty in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania, an area of once-pristine rural landscapes. Foust is also the author of Dark Card, a book of poetry about raising a son with Aspberger’s Syndrome, winner of the 2007 Phillips Poetry Prize.

So, tune in on Wednesday, September 9th at noon to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword, or call (718) 508-9717, for a fun hour of poetry.

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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 Authors Can Learn About Marketing from Disney

I love Disney. It’s the child in me. It isn't just Disney, it's myth, legend, fairytale. When I was studying literature at USC, I couldn’t resist taking a children’s lit class. That I have written very little for children is beside the point.

Besides all those things, I admire Disney for its marketing. But lately the LA Times reported something of special interest in its Calendar section (Aug 24, D1-D9). First the background.

In July Disney had promoted its coming Alice in Wonderland at Comic-Con the in San Diego where 126,000 fans of cult stuff showed up to play. Disney brought Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and the Expo took advantage of the new media by rolling out the festivities on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. (BTW, that is one of the things about any event; these days they are no longer necessarily local. That goes for the LA Times Festival of Books, the Green Expo I'll be participating in as an interviewer on October 31--see the correction on this event below under appearances--at the Ontario Convention Center and about anything else!)

Disney president and chief executive Robert Iger says, “ . . . we live in a world where digital communication enables people to express their opinions about things to a much broader set of people. We call it the combustion of digital word of mouth . . . their ability to communicate with others is unlike anything we’ve seen at any time before."

But, apparently, Disney doesn’t like just being part of the festivities. Even as an exhibitor. So they are taking the best of Comic-Con and making it into what they’re calling D23 Expo, a four-day event coming in September that will celebrate Disney. And apparently Disney exclusively. And, according to Iger, they will be concentrating not so much on attracting new fans (Comic-Con did that) but to acknowledge and cater to the fan base they already have.

Nothing wrong with that. The secrets for us authors to take away from this are:

1. I already mentioned that no event is local. By using new media effectively, you can reach many times the number of people than you would at any onsite event. In fact, you could give a party like Nadine Laman (www.nadinelaman.blogspot.com) just did. Four weeks of what she called a Blog Party (get it? Block Party) where she gave away books and communicated with people like the Welsh guy, Glyn, and people from Croatia as well as Ohio.

2. That we can adapt what works for one book or one profession--however different it may be from ours--to our own needs.

3. The people who can most likely spread the word for us are those who already love us. Let them know they are loved back and they will jump through hoops, knowing you are doing the same for them.

Viva Disney! Viva us Disney fans!

PS: Often I give timely news like this to my Sharing with Writers newsletter subscribers first. I mean, somebody's gotta be first. I warn you. My newsletter is long. That's because it includes tips on craft and promotion, feature articles, what's new in the publishing world--all information that will help build your career. I subscribe to a couple long (and newsy and helpful!) ones like this and I print them out. I don't want to miss a thing. With the warning, I'd love to sign you up. Send an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to HoJoNews @ AOL. com.

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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.

On Branding and Your Web Site

Gayle Trent is guest blogging today on how people can upgrade their Web sites. Most of us need to do at least a little tweaking.


How Can My Web Site Help or Hinder My Writing?

By Gayle Trent, author of cozy mysteries

Before you go thinking you’ve heard all you need to know about Web sites, you might want to take a look at this article. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about them, but I found I was horribly wrong when I had my ite overhauled by a professional.

Blogs

We’re told every writer needs a blog. So I had blogs. I had a WordPress blog, a Tripod blog and three Blogger blogs. This scattered me and my brand all over the place. While it’s good to be found in a number of places, I learned that search engines don’t recognize free sites as well as they do hosted sites. Therefore, it’s better for your main blog to be a part of your Web site.

More Than One Site

I had sites for different books, different names and different ventures. As a result, the web designer told me I was too fragmented. Your one site should act as a funnel, directing attention to you, building your brand as a writer and bringing everything together. Your site should define who you are and what you do. First and foremost–careerwise–I write cozy mysteries. I also do coaching and speaking. Those two features now have tabs on my main Web site. That way, someone who goes to a site and learns about Gayle Trent, the writing coach, will also be aware that Gayle Trent writes cozy mysteries and enjoys speaking.

What Will It Take To Get YOU To the Next Level?

Basically, you need to ask yourself where you want to be and what it will take to get you there. Do you need a more professional online image? Do you need clips to entice editors and/or agents? Are you effectively promoting your books, your writing or your coaching talents? Is your site clear and easy to navigate? If you’re not sure, ask someone to go to your site and tell you how quickly and easily they found your book; learned what your book is about; learned where to buy your book; learned how to become part of your community; learned what else you do; learned about your upcoming appearances, if any. Then, take a look at a number of sites of writers you admire to see what they’re bringing to their site that your site may be lacking. Discover how you can add something similar to your own site.
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Guest blogger Gayle Trent is the author of
MURDER TAKES THE CAKE published by Bell Bridge Books. Find her book trailer on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGnKwHYlPCQ and her blogging at Fatal Foodies .


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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 for writers, 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. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. 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.