New Kindle Singles Announcement and Old Amazon Shorts

Amazon has announced a new Kindle Singles program. It sounds a lot like their old Amazon Short program that I loved. They are more expensive than the 49 cents they charged for Shorts. In fact, that may be why they discontinued Shorts. They apparently couldn't sell them in Canada or other countries because they would lose money on them. Or so some rumors said.  These Singles are more expensive but still very FRUGAL! Ha!

 I had several such booklets cum whitepapers published as Shorts. Here is a link that will give you a better idea of what they have in mind and I'll keep you tuned when I hear more:

http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/amazons-new-kindle-singles-now-available/1

See the cover of one of my original Shorts published by Amazon. below The buy widget is for the booklet I made out of it when the program was discontinued is to the left.  Guess we all need to keep evolving.

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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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Books' Amazon Sales Pages Can Now Be "Liked" on Facebook

Did you know Amazon now has Facebook “Like” buttons on your book’s sales page? Check my Valentine chapbook (with Magdalena Ball)  at  http://t.co/eolGaNu . 

To get share buttons for FB and Twitter, too, click on the "Like" button. They're new, too. 

When you are sharing, you can adjust the wording on the tweets to fit your audience.

Think how we readers and authors can help one another with this feature!  And so easily!

You'll find tips like this in my SharingwithWriters newsletter. Just send me an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and I'll personally sign you up.
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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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Blogging Your Way to a Successful Writing Career

Many of you know that I think blogging is an important part of an overall book promotion strategy. The interconnectivity of the Net practically demands that authors have one.  I wrote a book to help retailers write and promote blogs that will work better for them. We authors are in fact retailers. We must help our publishers sell books. We often retail them on our own.  The title of that book is Your Blog, Your Business. Today, write Tim Handorf contributes a guest post with other resources on blogging to get you started.

By Tim Handorf

Writing a blog is obviously a very different endeavor from writing a book, but many writers these days are finding blogs to be excellent creative outlets and for some they've been the catalyst that finally helped them get that book deal or push their career forward. Nearly all of the biggest and most widely-read blogs have put out some sort of book over the past few years. While most are simply collections of funny or artistic photos and observations, others have been much more and have catapulted their authors into the literary world and the public eye.

Even if you're not interested in using a blog as a platform for a future book there are other ways to make use of the medium. Some writers have used blogs as a way to get past their own creative blocks or to get feedback from others on their projects. Some writers use blogs as tools to gather their thoughts as they're working on books. No matter how you're using a blog, there's no doubt that it can be helpful tool in getting your writing going and getting you noticed-- provided you're doing it right.

There's much more to successful blogging, especially the kind that gets turned into books and movies, than just good writing, though, of course, that certainly doesn't hurt. If you're looking to make blogging part of your writing process, or the first step in something bigger, consider these tips before making the plunge.

• Focus on the concept. No book, article or blog can work without a strong concept. Unless you really want to use it just for your own purposes, you need to develop an idea that is appealing to a wider audience. Fiction or fact, silly or serious, it doesn't matter as long as its interesting. Take the site, book and now movie Julie and Julia as an example. Surely the blogger wasn't the only person who ever thought of trying to master Julia Child's recipes, nor the only person who likes cooking and is struggling to deal with work, personal and marital problems. If you're struggling to find a focus, start writing and see what you're drawn to talking about.

• Build an audience. Blogs are social by design, so if you want yours to be effective you'll need to be writing to more than just the generalized pool of web users. Recruit friends and acquaintances to look at your site, post links to your blog on everything you do on the web. Of course, it doesn't end there. Once you have readers you have to keep them coming back. Make sure to respond to comments, engage readers and provide content that makes them want to come back for more. Author of the popular Shopgirl series Emily Benet simply started writing about her own experiences working in family owned business before she ever got her work, related to her blog, published. At first only family and friends were readers, but with a little Internet marketing, she soon became popular. You can read about her story here.

• Realize it's about more than writing. Blogging isn't like just writing for the sake of writing. You have to care about how you present your writing, make things visually appealing and maintain the technical aspects of your site as well. Your writing can be great but without those other elements it will be hard to get the attention and feedback you need. If you have absolutely no idea how to deal with these aspects of blogging, check out a site like Problogger for guidance and instruction.

• Market, market, market. Much like any kind of success in writing, blogging success is one part talent and one part marketing. You not only have to have something to say but know how to promote yourself across the web. One of the easiest and best ways to do this is through other bloggers and writers. Share links, comment on blogs, and become an active participant in the online world and join your site in blog carnivals and contests. Every little bit can help, and getting your work linked on a larger site can generate hundreds of hits to your own site. This article on marketing your blog can give you some pointers.

• Have an end goal in mind. If you're using your blog as a platform for a future book project, you need to start with an end goal in mind or at least a point at which you can step back and start turning the material into something more. If you've been successful with your blogging endeavors, you can expect to have reader feedback and support when and if you decide to take your work off the web and into a book.

• Blog along with another project. Working on a book project? Why not create an accompanying blog? It can help you get your ideas out there and can build up some anticipation about the project you're working on. Author Gretchen Rubin created a blog about the topic of her book The Happiness Project , letting her explore ideas and get potential readers for her finished work ahead of the game.

• Don't be shy. You're not going to get your work published or noticed by being a wallflower. If you want a book deal, go out and get it. Send a proposal to a publisher or find yourself an agent that can help you. If you're not sure how to go about doing that, or marketing your book to a publisher, check out this guide on the subject from Lifehacker writer and author Gina Tripani. It offers a lot of great tips for authors who want to make their blog into something more.

Blogging isn't for every writer but with the web being an incredibly powerful tool for both sharing ideas and for promoting your work, it's never a bad idea to try it out if you haven't already started your own blog.


~This guest post is contributed by Tim Handorf, who writes on the topics of online colleges. He welcomes your comments at his email Id: tim.handorf.20@googlemail.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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Spring Book Contest for All Authors

I believe in contests. I believe in awards. With publishing numbers soaring every year, how else is a reader to know what to choose?? Of course, one can read reviews.  But even that once-trustworthy path to finding books we want to read has been diluted in recent years.  That means authors and publishers must do everything they can to make their books stand out. With that in mind, I occasionally run releases for contests that I receive. Here is one of them:
2011 SAN FRANCISCO BOOK FESTIVAL - CALL FOR ENTRIES


SAN FRANCISCO _ The 2011 San Francisco Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual competition honoring the best books of the Spring season.



Once again, the San Francisco Book Festival is tied in with its sister festival in Paris. Winners of the competitions may choose which awards ceremony and city they will attend. More information is at Paris Book Festival.com Both awards ceremonies will be held on Saturday, May 14 in the respective cities.



The 2011 San Francisco Book Festival will consider non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children's books, compilations/anthologies, teenage, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, audio/spoken word, history, wild card, gay, photography/art, poetry, unpublished, travel and spiritual works. There is no date of publication deadline.



Our grand prize for the 2011 San Francisco Book Festival and Paris Book Festival winner is $1500 cash and a flight to San Francisco or Paris for our gala awards ceremonies.



Submitted works will be judged by a panel of industry experts using the following criteria:



1) General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.

2) The potential of the work to reach a wider audience.



ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.

General Non-fiction
General Fiction
Children's books
How-to
Spiritual
Photography/Art
Gay
Poetry
History
Teenage
Biography/Autobiography
Audio/spoken word
Compilations/Anthologies
Best Unpublished Short Story
Cookbooks
Science Fiction
Wild Card

In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The San Francisco Book Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:



1) Author of the Year- Honors the outstanding book of the competition.
2) Book Design of the Year - Honors outstanding and innovative design.
3) Publisher of the Year- Honors the top publisher based on materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as determined by our judges.
FESTIVAL RULES: San Francisco Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.


NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site (www.sanfranciscobookfestival.com). Because of the anticipated high volume of entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.
Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on April 25, 2011. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail and on the web site. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.
TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at sanfranciscobookfestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you. Please contact our office at 323-665-8080 for fax requests. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee of $50 in the form of a check, money order or PayPal online payment in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee
Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We're sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.
Entry packages MUST include:
1) One copy of the book;
2) A copy of your official entry form or a reasonable facsimile;
3) The entry fee or receipt for online payment;
4) Any press/marketing materials you wish to send. Marketing is used as a tie-breaking consideration by our judges.

Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC
attn: San Francisco Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard
Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
AWARDS: The San Francisco Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any project.

The 2011 San Francisco Book Festival is part of the JM Northern Media family of festivals, which include the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, New York Book Festival and Hollywood Book Festival.

A disclaimer here: I haven't tried all the contests I list in this blog.  

Another resource: Find a short list of contests and awards that I know something about on my Web site along with an excerpt from The Frugal Book Promoter on using contests to their best advantage at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/contests.htm. .


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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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Learn How Authors Can Plumb Retailers for Alternative Sales

For information about making retailing work in a down economy and how authors can make their case to retailers for letting them host book signings or workshops (and how retailers can boost profits by partnering with authors) check Paul Bruno's Career Czar® radio program. The show is available f r ^ ^ at http://www.careerczar.com/mp3/career121710.mp3 . Listen to his other shows at www.careerczar.com or at the show's blog at www.careerczar.wordpress.com . E-mail Paul at careerczar@cs.com and ask to be on the show's notification list for free podcasts.

As the author of 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, I appeared on Paul Bruno's Career Czar® radio program. We'll talk about making retailing work in a down economy and how authors can make their case to retailers for letting them host book signings or workshops and how retailers can boost profits by partnering with authors. The show is now available at http://www.careerczar.com/mp3/career121710.mp3 . ; In the meantime, listen to Paul's other shows at http://www.careerczar.com/  or at the show's blog at www.careerczar.wordpress.com. E-mail Paul at careerczar@cs.com  and ask to be on the show's notification list for free podcasts or how you, too, might be a guest.

And for more promotion ideas that you can borrow from the retail industry, click on the widget at the left. You'll also find more information that will help you convince retailers that they should make a partner of 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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Look OUtside the Box for Book Promotion: Look to Paul Bruno (-:

Writers are always looking for every avenue to promote their work. While the traditional outlets of television, traditional radio, book tours, newspapers, et. al. still have their place, many authors overlook the new world of internet radio to get the word out about their work(s). These shows are always looking for quality guests so why not be one of them!
There are innumerable Internet radio stations and podcasts sites with blogtalkradio being one of the leading sites. While detailing all the opportunities out there would be beyond the scope of a brief blog post I can provide an example to illustrate how to find a show to highlight your work.

Using a powerful search engine search on key words related to your work. For example searching on career Internet radio brings back a career related site titled jobradio.fm. Visiting the site one finds a number of shows related to the world of work and careers. Researching the listed shows, the Career Czar® (www.careerczar.com ) appears to be a good show that covers almost any topic from the world of work. Visiting that site there is a button to contact the host. Just click on the button, submit a short e-mail and you may have just found a quality outlet to discuss your work and reaching an audience that the traditional outlets may pass by. In fact, you may want to listen to a broadcast I did with Career Czar Paul Bruno and managed to combine my two major careers--as a consultant for authors and as a speak and author of how-to books for the retail industry-- It's at www.alltalkradio./careerczar/career121710.mp3 and it's free.

Internet radio is growing so don’t ignore this media in your efforts to promote your work.


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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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Guest Post: It's 2011. On with the Show!

By Mindy Phillips Lawrence

When the Bugs Bunny Show began each week, it started with the song, ”On with the Show, This is IT!” that signaled the beginning of the performance. It’s time to do some planning for 2011 while we stowe those Christmas decorations. It’s time to plan for our 2011 showstoppers.
Here are some challenges to take on to begin your approaching writing year:
• Make a list (and check it twice) showing ideas that you would like to write on. These can be nonfiction or fiction ideas (or a combination).
• Learn more about the different ways to publish your work (check this issue for wonderful information on traditional, indie, and other methods of publication).
• Figure out how you will edit what you write. Hopefully, you can find someone REALLY GOOD (ahem, like Carolyn?).
• Make a flexible writing schedule that will allow you to get work done.
• Figure out what contests you want to submit to long before their deadlines and read their submission requirements early on.
• Begin!


Helen Simonson, Author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, said something intriguing to several writers who called in while she was being interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show (http://thedianerehmshow.org/ ) on NPR. She instructed the callers to make SURE and find a good editor, or editors, and to LISTEN to what they had to say. Let the editing be harsh. The writing gets much better that way.
So make some plans, have your Rohatsu/Christmas/Chanukah/Kwansaa celebrations, and then begin your writing year with some well-planned direction.

LINKS

Bugs Bunny
http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/tv/bbshow/
Helen Simonson
http://helensimonson.com/index.php
Diane Rehm Show
http://thedianerehmshow.org/
Working Writers Daily Planner
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Writers-Daily-Planner-2011/dp/1931520674#reader_1931520674
Free Homemade Calendars
http://homemadecalendars.blogspot.com/2010/07/free-homemade-calendars-2011-printable.html


~ Guest post by Mindy Phillips Lawrence, www.freewebs.com/mplcreative , She is the author of the poetry collections One Blue Star and Above and Below. She is co-author of The Complete Writer and a publicist and literary agent. She is in the process of researching a novel titled Alone is Where We Begin. Blogging at: http://mplcreative.blogspot.com/ .

Her specialty is helping writers with their media releases. Reach her at mplcreative1@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 how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including 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. 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog: