Based in past experience, I can hear some of my subscribers virtually groaning. Many will see this as a way to sidestep their chance to collect more royalties!
Stop it! Right now!
This is a program designed to help you sell more books, not fewer! Amazon is letting your readers recommend your book—easily! By keeping the loan period short, Amazon has actually rigged the program for authors so that many who get a book loaned to them will go back and buy it for themselves . I mean, Kindle editions aren’t expensive, right? And we all know that word-of-mouth sells books. Now, if a reader of your Kindle edition lends your book, you’ll have two mouths out there working for you.
Here’s the announcement directly from Amazon:
“We are excited to announce Kindle book lending (http://www.amazon.com/kindle-lending). The Kindle Book Lending feature allows users to lend digital books they have purchased through the Kindle Store to their friends and family. Each book may be lent once for a duration of 14 days and will not be readable by the lender during the loan period.
“All DTP titles are enrolled in lending by default. For titles in the 35% royalty option, you may choose to opt out of lending by deselecting the checkbox under "Kindle Book Lending," in the "Rights and Pricing" section of the title upload/edit process. You may not choose to opt out a title if it is included in the lending program of another sales or distribution channel. For more details, see section 5.2.2 of the Term and Conditions.
“For more info on how Kindle Book Lending works, see our FAQ here: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=581
Sincerely,
Amazon Digital Text Platform”
-----
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:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Get the Writer in Your Life Off to a Great 2011 with This Book!
179 Ways to Save a Novel
By Peter Selgin
Publisher: Writer’s Digest Books
ISBN: 9781582976075
$16.99
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered and The Frugal Book Promoter
What Writer Doesn’t Want Just One Great Way to Save A Novel?
Peter Selgin offers you 179 of them!
Novelists are going to love this author. He dedicates his book 179 Ways to Save a Novel to “Walter Cummins. And to my students, especially those who argue with me.” As a teacher myself, I know that students who argue offer the best opportunities for learning for everyone from the rest of the class to the teacher herself.
Selgin also knows that “no artist should ever be afraid to make mistakes.” Another core learning principle.
With an introduction that shouldn’t be overlooked, Selgin launches into a small book, dense with ideas for writers of fiction. Writers everywhere will be inspired to write a great new character or improve on an old one, reexamine the deaths that occur in our stories and on and on. Subjects I’ve never seen covered in a book (and I read a lot of books for writers!).
I also appreciate the design of this book. Writer’s Digest assigned Claudean Wheeler to the task and what she does with this book feels right. It’s creative and caring.
Writer’s Digest and Selgin (and Wheeler, too!) should be proud of this one. I hope it lands on the suggested reading list of any teacher who makes it her business to guide students to better-crafted fiction. It’s certainly going on mine!
Here are another couple of books that will help writers by the reviewer: The Frugal Editor and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips.
----- 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:
By Peter Selgin
Publisher: Writer’s Digest Books
ISBN: 9781582976075
$16.99
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered and The Frugal Book Promoter
What Writer Doesn’t Want Just One Great Way to Save A Novel?
Peter Selgin offers you 179 of them!
Novelists are going to love this author. He dedicates his book 179 Ways to Save a Novel to “Walter Cummins. And to my students, especially those who argue with me.” As a teacher myself, I know that students who argue offer the best opportunities for learning for everyone from the rest of the class to the teacher herself.
Selgin also knows that “no artist should ever be afraid to make mistakes.” Another core learning principle.
With an introduction that shouldn’t be overlooked, Selgin launches into a small book, dense with ideas for writers of fiction. Writers everywhere will be inspired to write a great new character or improve on an old one, reexamine the deaths that occur in our stories and on and on. Subjects I’ve never seen covered in a book (and I read a lot of books for writers!).
I also appreciate the design of this book. Writer’s Digest assigned Claudean Wheeler to the task and what she does with this book feels right. It’s creative and caring.
Writer’s Digest and Selgin (and Wheeler, too!) should be proud of this one. I hope it lands on the suggested reading list of any teacher who makes it her business to guide students to better-crafted fiction. It’s certainly going on mine!
Here are another couple of books that will help writers by the reviewer: The Frugal Editor and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips.
----- 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
On Writing and Promotion: Let's Get Organized!
Mindy Philips Lawrence writes "An Itty-Bitty Column" for my Sharing with Writers newsletter. I'm reprinting it here to help ring in the New Year. As you can see, she always includes pertinent links, some that are such vital resources you'll be inspired to get right to work doing better writing or better promotion. I'm talking about links like the one for the Diane Rehm show below.
On with the Show, This is IT!
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. The end of this year is coming up fast and it’s time to do some planning for 2011 while we buy those online gifts and deliberate over where to hang those 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? www.howtodoitfrugally.com/editing_&_writing_services.htm ).
• 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. For leads check www.howtodoitfrugally.com/contests.htm .
• 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. One's 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
~ Mindy Phillips Lawrence, www.freewebs.com/mplcreative, 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 .
-----
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:
On with the Show, This is IT!
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. The end of this year is coming up fast and it’s time to do some planning for 2011 while we buy those online gifts and deliberate over where to hang those 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? www.howtodoitfrugally.com/editing_&_writing_services.htm ).
• 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. For leads check www.howtodoitfrugally.com/contests.htm .
• 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. One's 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
~ Mindy Phillips Lawrence, www.freewebs.com/mplcreative, 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 .
-----
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:
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Authors Sharing with Authors: Basic Marketing Tips for Newbies
December is a great time to host guest bloggers. I encourage other bloggers to host guests often. Everyone benefits. The guest gets exposure. The blogger gets a bit of a rest. The two of them get to network and possibly to work on future promotions or to collaborate in other ways. This one comes to you from nonfiction writer and poet (with my thanks!) Joyce White.
By Joyce White
Congratulations, you’ve published your book.
You will soon realize the buck stops with you when it comes to promoting it unless you have plenty of bucks to pour out to publicists and/or your publisher. To make a difference, money must be spent. We are living in wicked hard times that require wicked smart solutions. Whatever we do, we must learn to have a sense of humor and not take ourselves too seriously.
I’m not one who travels around with jokes in my head, but I think you will appreciate the following, “How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Three. One to screw it in. Two to hold down the author.” Yes, we authors can be a little stubborn and strong willed. To be successful, we must have relentless persistence in our belief of ourselves and our work, to convince others to spend their hard-earned cash on our books.
Most believe authors run on instinct not marketing figures like publishers. John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market your Books says, “The best single advertisement for a book, other than giving away lots of review copies, is the author. An author is a walking-talking advertisement for his book…"The author is his best sales person even though the best solutions emerge through trial and error for all of us. Like Carolyn Howard-Johnson, our Frugal Editor and Promoter says, “Sometimes we have to do what the publisher won’t.” We must remember whatever we do to market our books; nothing significant can be accomplished by acting alone.
Most of us believe the first and foremost marketing advantage is maintaining our own Web site. This is a must in today’s high-tech world. I personally think Albert Einstein had the right idea many years ago when he said, “Strive not to be a success but rather be of value.” You might have a great website but do enough people know about it and is it of value to others?
Another first is sending out an attractive and informative media (or press) release. This gives you more online visibility, better positions in search engine rankings, and more traffic to your website. If you haven’t done this yet, I suggest you check out Promotion a la Carte at http://promotionalacarte.com/ where where Aggie Villanueva and Nanci Arvizu spend their time promoting authors. Besides creating this great Calendar of Events for me at http://www.promotionalacarte.com/clients-pages/joyce-white-schedule-of-appearances/ , they sent out two releases and created a wonderful book trailer with my poetry book for Christmas marketing. With Promotion a la Carte, you only pay for the services you need or can afford in the moment. They also set up for me book reviews with reviewers that love their work, as well as interviews with Blog Talk Radio hosts. They scheduled had podcasts for me that brought over 300 visitors to my Web site http://www.sculptingtheheart.com/.
American Author is a site that focuses on publishers and authors. They help us create our own places and they are my favorite at http://www.americanauthor.com/index.php?page_id=258 Most web services have only five to eight pages whereas they allow over 100 pages. Mine is not just a selling web. It is all about Art Therapy, healing, recovery, entertainment, and other information. They charge no more than others but give so many more opportunities to engage our readers’ interest and promote ourselves and our work.
We need to keep in mind, the more traffic we can pull in to our web, the more opportunities we will get for sales and affiliate revenue! Nevertheless, it is still important we write our promotional articles and blogs for our reader’s pleasure not the search engines. Another sure way of getting ranked higher in the search engines is to attain additional domain names for your Web site. My domain names are below:
http://wingedforarttherapy.com/
http://sculptingtheheart.com/
http://cricutexpressionart.com/
http://oycewhiteblog.com/
http://joycewhitebooks.com/
http://joycewhitecricutexpressions.com/
I’ve also been working a few affiliate programs; and after about six months, I started receiving small commissions. I am an affiliate for Cricut Expressions craft cutter. The Cricut Expression is a great working partner creative people interested in crafts or art. I have also had some success bringing in small affiliate commissions with Amazon. When choosing affiliates it is best they are compatible with our Web site theme. It is also important to remember no matter what we’re selling, we have to effectively include relevant keywords and tags for search engine optimization purposes. We can also blog, write articles, or book reviews; that also brings in traffic. Some of us co-author by setting up links to other compatible sites, with permission, and that helps both authors get more traffic.
My two favorite sites for blogging are Joyce White Blog http://www.wingedforarttherapy.com/joycewhiteblog_682.html. This blog site is free from Google. I also blog at Authorsden.com http://www.Authorsden.com/joycewhiteMySpace, FaceBook and Twitter. Check out Carolyn’s Authorsden article on 16 Ways to Get Free Publicity at http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=10316 . There are so many opportunities out in the cybersphere for independent authors right now. Most of us network with each other. It doesn’t take much time to comment on another’s work or thank those that comment on ours.
Thanks to Authorsden.com, I’ve been able to link my poetry, my articles and my interest in art therapy all in another central location besides my website. Since 2008 I’ve managed to publish 17 stories, 92 articles, and 83 poems. All these were instantaneously published to the Web and have brought in more interest than anyone can imagine. They also have a Marketing Program where those of us with services can advertise and get paid for our services. I write book reviews. What is your talent, editing, book reviewing, formatting or promotion? Where else can you can you fulfill your own creative urges and still get paid to help others achieve their dreams?
The famed artist Vincent Van Gogh says, “I dream my painting and then I paint my dream.” Like him we need to dream our writing and then write our dream.
Martin Luther King says, “Faith is taking the first step even when there is no staircase.” Keep the faith and step lightly but loudly.
Confucius says, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I agree. Writing is a job but it is no chore.
If you need to make docs into pdf’s, check out these three very awesome and invaluable file conversion sites:
Zamzar file conversion at http://www.zamzar.com/manage/
Book Buzzer Marketing Home for eBook sales & formatting http://www.freado.com/users/settings/getWidget.php?contentid=4991&id=2673
Smashwords for e-book sales and formatting http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1966
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6507
I imagine if you can maintain a sense of fairness for who is responsible for what; you can check out co-publishing material like the chapbooks published by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Maggie Ball. For the last few years they have co-partnered seasonal poetry books, the last one being Blooming Red, Christmas Poetry for the Rational.
Another way to frugally educate ourselves is by signing for interesting e-mail newsletters. We can all be sure our emails go straight to the recipient unlike letters or faxes of the past. Of course, we should all know we have to be careful when it comes to e-mail marketing. It has so many irritants and pitfalls. This kind of marketing can be very distasteful without honesty and respect by both the writer and the reader. Finally, to find out if you’re making any headway out on the net, just Google your name or your Web site's name!
Don’t forget radio and talk shows to promote yourself and your work. Become a joiner.
Successful writers write for our reader’s pleasure not the search engines or our ego. I write about all that interests me not just Art Therapy; however, I am Winged for Art Therapy. This is the pen name I use. No matter who we are, the more traffic we can pull in, the more opportunities we will get for sales and affiliate revenue! We can’t afford to be shy when it comes to getting the word out that we are messengers and we have something to offer others. Don’t believe everything you hear. Despite the fact that writers and authors are notorious for being alone a lot, thanks to Internet and our computers, we don’t have to be lonely.
Networking is fun, socially acceptable and profitable. There are many ways of networking, and one especially informative and enjoyable way, is by sending and receiving News Letters. My favorite is Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s Sharing with Writers newsletter. You can subscribe to it at http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com/ or right on this blog. It was named Writers Digest 101 Best Websites.
Networking moves us all deeply when we discover kindred and compatible spirits. Despite its many advantages there can be some that are repetitious and their sales tactics are questionable or downright dishonest. Of course, honesty and respect are some of the attributes we’d like to see more often in all the phases of networking and marketing. These values promote friendship and success. I’m sure most authors appreciate the words of Gandhi who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Nothing changes us more than books and friendship.
Blessings,
Joyce White, author of Sculpting the Heart and Sculpting the Heart’s Poetry
-----
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:
Saturday, December 25, 2010
The Art of Column Writing
By Suzette Martinez Standring
ISBN 9781933338261
Marion Street Press
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
I love writing columns. It’s one way I can share. I can’t help liking to do that. It must be the teacher in me (or vice versa) because I love teaching, too. Practically speaking though, many writers are columnists because they need to pay the bills while they write books.
Some don’t even know that’s what why they’re doing it. They came to write columns long after they started writing in other genres. Though I have heard columnists say that the paychecks aren’t big enough, I’ve never heard one of them claim that they don’t like getting paid.
Having said that, some write columns for no pay, or rather—more accurately—in trade for a byline, a good credit line that includes the writer’s Web site address, and (if they are also good negotiators) a little ad or image of their book’s cover or the logo of the writing-related service they provide that also pays the bills while they support their writing habits. Those not-quite-so lucrative writing habits may range from poetry to the writing of novels, and may well include several of those less practical pursuits all at once.
That isn’t to negate the skill it takes to write a good column. In fact, learning to write a great column can lead to better writing of about anything, to say nothing of fatter and fatter paychecks.
Therefore, I was glad to see Suzette Martinez Standring’s book The Art of Column Writing. It includes “insider secrets” from the likes of Art Buchwald, Tim Bete, and Arianna Huffington, but it also gives a writer the basics necessary to succeed.
One of my favorites is Standring’s chapter on “Elements of a Pulitzer Prize Winning Column.” As a past president of NSNC, Standring has access to the best of advice from the best of columnists, and some of the ideas in this chapter are from Keith Woods who spoke on the subject at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Many are ideas he gleaned as he judged entries for the big “P” prize.
My very favorite chapter, though, is on copyright. I like it because my students and clients worry about it—sometimes to excess. This chapter will put many writing minds at ease, give them some guidelines so they feel more comfortable with both quotations and research. Pay special attention to her entry, number seven on page sixty-three.
So, if you are a writer without an itch to be a columnist, should you read this book? I think so . . .If you were my student, I’d want you to make a very good case why you shouldn’t. Like maybe you have already reached the top of your game. You are Dave Barry, Walter Brasch or Suzette Standring.
---
Originally published at MyShelf.com.
----- 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:
By Suzette Martinez Standring
ISBN 9781933338261
Marion Street Press
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
I love writing columns. It’s one way I can share. I can’t help liking to do that. It must be the teacher in me (or vice versa) because I love teaching, too. Practically speaking though, many writers are columnists because they need to pay the bills while they write books.
Some don’t even know that’s what why they’re doing it. They came to write columns long after they started writing in other genres. Though I have heard columnists say that the paychecks aren’t big enough, I’ve never heard one of them claim that they don’t like getting paid.
Having said that, some write columns for no pay, or rather—more accurately—in trade for a byline, a good credit line that includes the writer’s Web site address, and (if they are also good negotiators) a little ad or image of their book’s cover or the logo of the writing-related service they provide that also pays the bills while they support their writing habits. Those not-quite-so lucrative writing habits may range from poetry to the writing of novels, and may well include several of those less practical pursuits all at once.
That isn’t to negate the skill it takes to write a good column. In fact, learning to write a great column can lead to better writing of about anything, to say nothing of fatter and fatter paychecks.
Therefore, I was glad to see Suzette Martinez Standring’s book The Art of Column Writing. It includes “insider secrets” from the likes of Art Buchwald, Tim Bete, and Arianna Huffington, but it also gives a writer the basics necessary to succeed.
One of my favorites is Standring’s chapter on “Elements of a Pulitzer Prize Winning Column.” As a past president of NSNC, Standring has access to the best of advice from the best of columnists, and some of the ideas in this chapter are from Keith Woods who spoke on the subject at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Many are ideas he gleaned as he judged entries for the big “P” prize.
My very favorite chapter, though, is on copyright. I like it because my students and clients worry about it—sometimes to excess. This chapter will put many writing minds at ease, give them some guidelines so they feel more comfortable with both quotations and research. Pay special attention to her entry, number seven on page sixty-three.
So, if you are a writer without an itch to be a columnist, should you read this book? I think so . . .If you were my student, I’d want you to make a very good case why you shouldn’t. Like maybe you have already reached the top of your game. You are Dave Barry, Walter Brasch or Suzette Standring.
---
Originally published at MyShelf.com.
----- 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 . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:
Friday, December 24, 2010
Fruitcake Memories Complete with Promotion Idea
This post comes to you as a combination Christmas wish and an example of how you might prepromote a book. It is from a series of sort of nonrecipe that are included in the memoir that is now being shopped by agent extraordinaire Terrie Wolf. I'm publishing one in each issue of my newsletter and will eventually recycle them onto a special Here's How I Don't Cook blog. You will find other ideas for prepublishing promotions and promotions to use once book sales begin to get stale in The Frugal Book Promoter, too. But mostly I just hope you enjoy this, a real recipe from my grandmother, long deceased--a recipe you won't want to try!
From Carolyn’s Coming Memoir/NoCookbook:
Grandma’s Inedible Fruit Cake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~1 C. Shortening
~5 eggs, separated. Add the white last.
~ 1 cup flour
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 tsp ground cloves
~1 1/2 lb raisins
~/2 lb. walnuts-chopped (now here's the thing. If one is harkening back to the 40s, one must buy the walnuts with their shells still on. Or one must pick the walnuts and unhusk them, black gunk under the fingernails. And these walnuts must be shelled by hand using nutcrackers and picks and some shell bits must be left with the meats—though that will certainly be easy enough to do if one isn't too meticulous. Part of the charm of this cake, put very simply, is that one was always in danger of cracking a tooth or worse.
~1 cup sweet wine or sweet fruit juice. (Mind you, the fruit juice here is to appease those Mormons who didn't admit to stocking anything stronger in their pantry or who didn't want to go to the state run liquor store to buy it. They might, after all, be seen by the neighbors there. Grandma, for the record, used Dago Red Wine or Apricot Brandy but not nearly enough of it to make this cake either moist enough or get those who ate it drunk enough to appreciate it!
~2 cups brown sugar
~1 tsp baking powder
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1 tbls cocoa
~1 lb. brilliant mix (For the uninitiated these are the bright little fruits, all glossy, that look a bit like Gummy Bears, only brighter and more cube-shaped rather than bear shaped. Come to think of it, cut up Gummy Bears might do very nicely.)
Cream sugar and shorting until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk one at a time. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with liquid. Add fruit and nuts (flour all fruit and nuts before adding so they won't settle to the bottom).
Bake 2 1/2 or 3 hours in wax paper-lined loaf pans (Can you still buy wax paper at the grocery store?). Do not remove from paper-lined pans.
Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn oven down to 250 degrees for one hour and 45 minutes. Test with a toothpick because cakes make take longer to bake.
Make in October and keep in a drawer. Wrap it in whiskey or wine-soaked dishtowels. Wet the cloths with more booze as they dry out. When fully stewed with wine, the cakes may be wrapped in foil and frozen.
My cousin Kathi notes "This doesn't all seem to make sense—all this separating of the eggs and changing of oven temperatures—but then this was always a cake without peer. (-:”And yes, she did write in the happy face.
And here is a quote from Grandma Ruthie's mother-in-law, Sarah Jane Browell Howard (who, God forbid, may have given Ruthie the recipe!)
"Anyone can be a good cook if they can go to the store and buy whatever they need. A good cook goes to her cupboard and fixes a meal from what she finds there."
Kathy's mom, Helen Graff Howard, always had to make sure the canning jars came out even. Apparently a number seven was not acceptable. And Kathi remembers that "we'd have to wait until November 1st to eat anything we'd canned." No reason, certainly. Grandma always was foisting small loaves of fruitcake on anyone too polite not to accept them (and everyone was too polite!) up to Christmas and beyond. Heavens! Wonder if we could have eaten the fruitcake before that, maybe it would have been moister and a tad more edible. Of course, it the nut shells would still have broken your teeth.
-----
Watch for my memoir (Here's How I Don't Cook), now being shopped by super-agent Terrie Wolf. And keep your fingers crossed for her success. Please!
-----
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:
From Carolyn’s Coming Memoir/NoCookbook:
Grandma’s Inedible Fruit Cake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~1 C. Shortening
~5 eggs, separated. Add the white last.
~ 1 cup flour
~1/2 tsp salt
~1/2 tsp ground cloves
~1 1/2 lb raisins
~/2 lb. walnuts-chopped (now here's the thing. If one is harkening back to the 40s, one must buy the walnuts with their shells still on. Or one must pick the walnuts and unhusk them, black gunk under the fingernails. And these walnuts must be shelled by hand using nutcrackers and picks and some shell bits must be left with the meats—though that will certainly be easy enough to do if one isn't too meticulous. Part of the charm of this cake, put very simply, is that one was always in danger of cracking a tooth or worse.
~1 cup sweet wine or sweet fruit juice. (Mind you, the fruit juice here is to appease those Mormons who didn't admit to stocking anything stronger in their pantry or who didn't want to go to the state run liquor store to buy it. They might, after all, be seen by the neighbors there. Grandma, for the record, used Dago Red Wine or Apricot Brandy but not nearly enough of it to make this cake either moist enough or get those who ate it drunk enough to appreciate it!
~2 cups brown sugar
~1 tsp baking powder
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1 tbls cocoa
~1 lb. brilliant mix (For the uninitiated these are the bright little fruits, all glossy, that look a bit like Gummy Bears, only brighter and more cube-shaped rather than bear shaped. Come to think of it, cut up Gummy Bears might do very nicely.)
Cream sugar and shorting until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk one at a time. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with liquid. Add fruit and nuts (flour all fruit and nuts before adding so they won't settle to the bottom).
Bake 2 1/2 or 3 hours in wax paper-lined loaf pans (Can you still buy wax paper at the grocery store?). Do not remove from paper-lined pans.
Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn oven down to 250 degrees for one hour and 45 minutes. Test with a toothpick because cakes make take longer to bake.
Make in October and keep in a drawer. Wrap it in whiskey or wine-soaked dishtowels. Wet the cloths with more booze as they dry out. When fully stewed with wine, the cakes may be wrapped in foil and frozen.
My cousin Kathi notes "This doesn't all seem to make sense—all this separating of the eggs and changing of oven temperatures—but then this was always a cake without peer. (-:”And yes, she did write in the happy face.
And here is a quote from Grandma Ruthie's mother-in-law, Sarah Jane Browell Howard (who, God forbid, may have given Ruthie the recipe!)
"Anyone can be a good cook if they can go to the store and buy whatever they need. A good cook goes to her cupboard and fixes a meal from what she finds there."
Kathy's mom, Helen Graff Howard, always had to make sure the canning jars came out even. Apparently a number seven was not acceptable. And Kathi remembers that "we'd have to wait until November 1st to eat anything we'd canned." No reason, certainly. Grandma always was foisting small loaves of fruitcake on anyone too polite not to accept them (and everyone was too polite!) up to Christmas and beyond. Heavens! Wonder if we could have eaten the fruitcake before that, maybe it would have been moister and a tad more edible. Of course, it the nut shells would still have broken your teeth.
-----
Watch for my memoir (Here's How I Don't Cook), now being shopped by super-agent Terrie Wolf. And keep your fingers crossed for her success. Please!
-----
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:
Saturday, December 18, 2010
BookBuzzr Expands Its Author Education Program--All FREE
BookBuzzr Offers New Learning Ops for Writers; or
How to Avoid Becoming a Book Marketing Dinosaur by Marketing Your Book with Emerging Technologies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The technology landscape and associated opportunities for marketing your book is changing at an unprecedented pace. Online games, mobile marketing, Facebook, Twitter, the Kindle, the iPhone, the iPad and the Android are pushing the boundaries of what is possible when it comes to promoting and marketing your book.
As an author, it is important that you keep abreast of these emerging trends and technologies so that you can take advantage of these opportunities. You don't want to become a book marketing dinosaur, do you! Ha!
The first step in avoiding the fate of the dinosaurs is to spend some time to educate yourself, and Bookbuzzr is providing a perfect place to do just that. It's a new kind of online learning environment … one that was focused on getting practical, actionable information from industry leading experts to authors in the most efficient manner. I will be participating so I'm especially eager for you to know about it early enough to include it in your new year calendar. Here is their announcement:
Announcing BookBuzzr’s Book Marketing Technologies Center (BBMTC)
In order to help you to successfully navigate through the swarm of new technologies and separate the noise from the signal, we at BookBuzzr are launching the BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies Center (BBMTC.)
BBMTC is the world’s first and only online, free, learning program designed to help authors learn about emerging new technologies and associated opportunities for book promotion. BBMTC features a monthly online seminar or roundtable (aka webinar) featuring industry leading book marketing experts. Each month they will cover a new technology or emerging trend.
Our panel of experts will talk and share about technologies with authors and writers through webinars and blog posts to cover it comprehensively. This is our way of getting different viewpoints to the table about what is the latest trend emerging for authors in technologies that will help them reach out to more people.
We will have one webinar each month on the topic and as many view points as possible from industry experts as article/blog posts.
For each webinar the panel will share their views about the topic and discuss it in detail. The latter half of the webinar will be dedicated to answering questions from authors and writers. Questions can be asked before, during, and after the seminar on Twitter (with Hashtag #BBMTC) or on our BookBuzzr Facebook Page.
How much does it cost?
You can attend any workshop for free. Our generous expert partners are giving away much of their knowledge for free. Why is BBMTC free you ask? Our expert partners are doing this in the hope that at least some of the attendees will become their clients in the future. Also its our and our experts way of giving back to the author community. Of course you are under no obligation to purchase anything.
What is the schedule and what are my next steps?
The schedule is outlined below. Please bear in mind that the schedule may change and we may make changes to the format of this program or the schedule based on feasibility and opportunities. Simply sign-up to our monthly newsletter to get notified about upcoming BBMTC events.
All seminars/webinars at 2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific / Noon Arizona
January Facebook Fundamentals for Authors Wednesday, 12th Jan 2011
February Using Twitter to Market your Book –I’ll be participating on this panel. I love Twitter for authors! Wednesday, 9th Feb 2011
March Formatting for the Kindle and other readers Wednesday, 9th Mar 2011
April Marketing Your Book in an Apple World Wednesday, 13th Apr 2011
May Blogger Relations for Authors I’m a panellist for this topic, too. Lots of us aren’t using our blogs to their capacity. Wednesday, 11th May 2011
June How to Create Good Book Trailers Wednesday, 8th Jun 2011
July Podcasting Fundamentals for Authors Wednesday, 13th Jul 2011
August Online Gaming - Why it Matters for Authors Wednesday, 10th Aug 2011
September Marketing Your Book in a Mobile World Wednesday, 14th Sept 2011
October Networking on Forums and Reader Sites for Authors Wednesday, 12th Oct 2011
November How Authors can Use Technologies to Market Their Books Wednesday, 9th Nov 2011
December How Authors Can Succeed in the EBooks Universe Wednesday, 14th Dec 2011
Feedback Requested
If you find a topic interesting or believe that you have the expertise to participate on a particular topic, or if you’d like to contribute and be a part of this program – drop us an email at freya [at] BookBuzzr [dot] com. We’d love to hear from you – the more views on a topic the clearer it gets : )
Our BBMTC panel page is up. Do take a look: http://bit.ly/igPsNh
Note: For an inexpensive way to educate yourself on the publicity basics please consider my The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't. You'll get the basics for publicity, writing media releases, assembling media kits and promotion ideas that don't necessarily require high-tech skills. By the way, for newbies, the word "publicity" is synonymous with the word "free." There are ways to get more of it than you ever imagined.
-----
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:
How to Avoid Becoming a Book Marketing Dinosaur by Marketing Your Book with Emerging Technologies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The technology landscape and associated opportunities for marketing your book is changing at an unprecedented pace. Online games, mobile marketing, Facebook, Twitter, the Kindle, the iPhone, the iPad and the Android are pushing the boundaries of what is possible when it comes to promoting and marketing your book.
As an author, it is important that you keep abreast of these emerging trends and technologies so that you can take advantage of these opportunities. You don't want to become a book marketing dinosaur, do you! Ha!
The first step in avoiding the fate of the dinosaurs is to spend some time to educate yourself, and Bookbuzzr is providing a perfect place to do just that. It's a new kind of online learning environment … one that was focused on getting practical, actionable information from industry leading experts to authors in the most efficient manner. I will be participating so I'm especially eager for you to know about it early enough to include it in your new year calendar. Here is their announcement:
Announcing BookBuzzr’s Book Marketing Technologies Center (BBMTC)
In order to help you to successfully navigate through the swarm of new technologies and separate the noise from the signal, we at BookBuzzr are launching the BookBuzzr Book Marketing Technologies Center (BBMTC.)
BBMTC is the world’s first and only online, free, learning program designed to help authors learn about emerging new technologies and associated opportunities for book promotion. BBMTC features a monthly online seminar or roundtable (aka webinar) featuring industry leading book marketing experts. Each month they will cover a new technology or emerging trend.
Our panel of experts will talk and share about technologies with authors and writers through webinars and blog posts to cover it comprehensively. This is our way of getting different viewpoints to the table about what is the latest trend emerging for authors in technologies that will help them reach out to more people.
We will have one webinar each month on the topic and as many view points as possible from industry experts as article/blog posts.
For each webinar the panel will share their views about the topic and discuss it in detail. The latter half of the webinar will be dedicated to answering questions from authors and writers. Questions can be asked before, during, and after the seminar on Twitter (with Hashtag #BBMTC) or on our BookBuzzr Facebook Page.
How much does it cost?
You can attend any workshop for free. Our generous expert partners are giving away much of their knowledge for free. Why is BBMTC free you ask? Our expert partners are doing this in the hope that at least some of the attendees will become their clients in the future. Also its our and our experts way of giving back to the author community. Of course you are under no obligation to purchase anything.
What is the schedule and what are my next steps?
The schedule is outlined below. Please bear in mind that the schedule may change and we may make changes to the format of this program or the schedule based on feasibility and opportunities. Simply sign-up to our monthly newsletter to get notified about upcoming BBMTC events.
All seminars/webinars at 2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific / Noon Arizona
January Facebook Fundamentals for Authors Wednesday, 12th Jan 2011
February Using Twitter to Market your Book –I’ll be participating on this panel. I love Twitter for authors! Wednesday, 9th Feb 2011
March Formatting for the Kindle and other readers Wednesday, 9th Mar 2011
April Marketing Your Book in an Apple World Wednesday, 13th Apr 2011
May Blogger Relations for Authors I’m a panellist for this topic, too. Lots of us aren’t using our blogs to their capacity. Wednesday, 11th May 2011
June How to Create Good Book Trailers Wednesday, 8th Jun 2011
July Podcasting Fundamentals for Authors Wednesday, 13th Jul 2011
August Online Gaming - Why it Matters for Authors Wednesday, 10th Aug 2011
September Marketing Your Book in a Mobile World Wednesday, 14th Sept 2011
October Networking on Forums and Reader Sites for Authors Wednesday, 12th Oct 2011
November How Authors can Use Technologies to Market Their Books Wednesday, 9th Nov 2011
December How Authors Can Succeed in the EBooks Universe Wednesday, 14th Dec 2011
Feedback Requested
If you find a topic interesting or believe that you have the expertise to participate on a particular topic, or if you’d like to contribute and be a part of this program – drop us an email at freya [at] BookBuzzr [dot] com. We’d love to hear from you – the more views on a topic the clearer it gets : )
Our BBMTC panel page is up. Do take a look: http://bit.ly/igPsNh
Note: For an inexpensive way to educate yourself on the publicity basics please consider my The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't. You'll get the basics for publicity, writing media releases, assembling media kits and promotion ideas that don't necessarily require high-tech skills. By the way, for newbies, the word "publicity" is synonymous with the word "free." There are ways to get more of it than you ever imagined.
-----
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:
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sharing with Writers Subscribers, Google has officially announced its new sales program for e-books. I see some advantages here if you hurry to get in on the furor.
1. There will be lots of publicity surrounding Google's e-book program launch.
2. The amount of competition on any given topic at the Google e-book site will be limited--at least at first.
The disadvantages are, of course, that I can't tell you how well it works, how fast they pay. etc. If you decide to use this program, please come back to this blog and let us know your take on all the details!
Here is the letter I received from Google. You notice that I am already a "partner" and have been since that program was announced years ago. If you are not already part of the program, the process will be different for you.
Dear Partner,
We're thrilled to announce the launch of Google eBooks. While Google Books allows users to find and preview your content, with Google eBooks they'll now be able to buy and read it online. You can take a look at our Google eBookstore to browse through the books we're already selling on the behalf of thousands of publishers:
http://books.google.com/ebooks
We would like to invite you to join them by including your books so that readers can discover and buy them -- earning you additional exposure and revenue. Our contract is non-exclusive, so you won't be limited to selling ebooks only through us, and you'll reach users who want new choices in how they access ebooks. To start selling Google eBooks, sign in to your Partner Program account and visit the 'Google Editions' tab at:
https://books.google.com/partner/
You'll be asked to agree to an addendum to the Google Books Terms of Service. Once done, you'll be able to start entering settings for books you've already submitted for display in Google Books. You can find information on getting started in our Help Center:
http://books.google.com/support/partner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=167975
We're also happy to answer any questions. We hope to see your books available soon in Google eBooks.
Sincerely,
The Google Books Team
-----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:
1. There will be lots of publicity surrounding Google's e-book program launch.
2. The amount of competition on any given topic at the Google e-book site will be limited--at least at first.
The disadvantages are, of course, that I can't tell you how well it works, how fast they pay. etc. If you decide to use this program, please come back to this blog and let us know your take on all the details!
Here is the letter I received from Google. You notice that I am already a "partner" and have been since that program was announced years ago. If you are not already part of the program, the process will be different for you.
Dear Partner,
We're thrilled to announce the launch of Google eBooks. While Google Books allows users to find and preview your content, with Google eBooks they'll now be able to buy and read it online. You can take a look at our Google eBookstore to browse through the books we're already selling on the behalf of thousands of publishers:
http://books.google.com/ebooks
We would like to invite you to join them by including your books so that readers can discover and buy them -- earning you additional exposure and revenue. Our contract is non-exclusive, so you won't be limited to selling ebooks only through us, and you'll reach users who want new choices in how they access ebooks. To start selling Google eBooks, sign in to your Partner Program account and visit the 'Google Editions' tab at:
https://books.google.com/partner/
You'll be asked to agree to an addendum to the Google Books Terms of Service. Once done, you'll be able to start entering settings for books you've already submitted for display in Google Books. You can find information on getting started in our Help Center:
http://books.google.com/support/partner/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=167975
We're also happy to answer any questions. We hope to see your books available soon in Google eBooks.
Sincerely,
The Google Books Team
-----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:
Thursday, December 09, 2010
What Better Gift for a Writer Than Career-Bettering Books?
So, the deadline is approaching. That is, online bookstores will soon no longer guarantee delivery on books for Christmas. So, just to get you hopping, here are a couple I'd like to suggest as gifts for fellow writers!
Yep, books are frugal. A real value for your money. So, while you're ordering them for others, order a couple for yourself!
SUGGESTION #1:
Have you ever wondered why people collect things like all of Stephen King’s books or why some book covers attract people more than others and, by extension, why branding works? Read How Pleasure Works, a new book published by W.W. Norton and authored by Paul Bloom. One point: we love fiction not “because it’s an escape, but because it allows us to practice for real life.” Trust me. This book will help anyone market book books better.
SUGGESTION #2:
Also check out Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge by Oded Shenkar (from Harvard Business). I've often suggested borrowing marketing ideas from the big guys. I've also suggested that authors read my HowToDoItFrugally series for retailers. That seems like learning from another industry, but it isn't really. Authors and publishers are all--at some level--retailers (www.howtodoitfrugally.com/retailers_books.htm) . I've also suggested that we authors learn from the king-size booboos those so-called smart companies make.
SUGGESTION #3:
Here’s another book for your consideration: Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon from Crown Business.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SUGGESTION:
As long as I’m talking books, how about the term “usage books?” I’m surprised more authors don’t know about them. They help with most things that perplex us, like pored vs. poured, even when they seem interchangeable in so many instances. Here are a few “usage books:”
Fowler’s Modern American Usage
Garner’s Modern American Usage
Webster’s Modern American Usage
My favorite grammar guru, June Casagrande says, usage books are “written for our convenience . . . “, meaning they make it easy on us readers and researchers to find what we need. She suggests you check “vale of tears.” Is it “veil” or “vale”? When we put our reasoning caps on, we can come up with very good reasons why either could be correct.
-----
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:
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Does Your Book Deserve More Attention?
The 2010 Los Angeles Book Festival has issued the call for entries to its annual celebration of books deserving more attention from the world publishing community.
The Los Angeles Book Festival judges consider entries in general nonfiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, cookbooks, science fiction, business, spiritual, genre-based, how-to, photography/art, spiritual, poetry, foreign language, romance and mysteries, teenage/young adult, how-to and the wild card (anything goes!) categories published on or after Jan. 1, 2007. There are cash prizes and other benefits for winners. Learn more at http://www.losangelesbookfestival.com/ /
For more contest information go to to the section on Writers' Resources on my Web site: www.howtodoitfrugally.com/contests.htm . By now you know how important I think awards are for the process of promoting your book and for getting readership for your book. If contests aren't your style, find lots of other tried and true ideas from my Frugal Book Promoter--also a multi award-winner, I might add. (-:
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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:
The Los Angeles Book Festival judges consider entries in general nonfiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, cookbooks, science fiction, business, spiritual, genre-based, how-to, photography/art, spiritual, poetry, foreign language, romance and mysteries, teenage/young adult, how-to and the wild card (anything goes!) categories published on or after Jan. 1, 2007. There are cash prizes and other benefits for winners. Learn more at http://www.losangelesbookfestival.com/ /
For more contest information go to to the section on Writers' Resources on my Web site: www.howtodoitfrugally.com/contests.htm . By now you know how important I think awards are for the process of promoting your book and for getting readership for your book. If contests aren't your style, find lots of other tried and true ideas from my Frugal Book Promoter--also a multi award-winner, I might add. (-:
-----
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:
Monday, December 06, 2010
How to Sell More Books on Amazon
Today I am interviewing Dana Lynn Smith as part of the virtual book tour (http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/booktour/sell-books-on-amazon.html) for her new book, How to Sell More Books on Amazon. She is always willing to share her knowledge with others. I figured this was a good time to let her share some of it with my subscribers. (-: Keep reading! She even offers you a free e-book!
~Dana, congratulations on your new book. Can you tell us what motivated you to write this book?
I meet a lot of authors online and I've noticed that many of them are unaware of the variety of ways to work with Amazon and to increase their book's visibility and sales appeal.
With this book, I wanted to help authors and indie publishers understand the range of options available though Amazon and show them how to take advantage of those opportunities. Amazon doesn't make it very easy to find information about their programs, so I have included a number of hyperlinks to helpful pages on the Amazon Web site.
Like all of the Savvy Book Marketer guides, this e-book focuses on practical how-to tips and includes detailed instructions to help readers implement the ideas in the book.
~I noticed that this is the first e-book that you have offered in Kindle format in addition to PDF format. How has that worked out for you?
The process of publishing for the Kindle was easier than I imagined, and I have been surprised to see that about one fourth of my sales so far have been in Kindle format. Of course, I don't know if those Kindle sales have come from my own promotional efforts, or if those customers found me through keyword searches in the Kindle store.
One of the advantages of being in the Kindle store is that the number of competing books is smaller, which can give you an edge in getting found. Right now there are about 720,000 Kindle listings vs. 14 million print book listings. Although many of the printed books listed on Amazon are out of print, that's still a big difference.
Because I don't have a printed book on Amazon, the Kindle e-book was a great way for me to get visibility on the site. My book comes up number two in the search results for "sell books on Amazon" in the Kindle store. Many of the competing books are actually designed for used book dealers who are selling in the Amazon Marketplace, so I don't have a lot of competition.
~What advice can you give to authors who want to improve their sales and profits on Amazon?
Amazon.com is the most popular bookstore, accounting for the vast majority of online sales and about 22 percent of total book sales in the U.S., so it's really important for authors to understand how to promote themselves on the site.
Take some time to learn about all of the various ways to work with Amazon and then prioritize your promotional activities. There are many options, but these are the activities that I would put on the "must do" list:
• Enhance your book description
• Brand yourself with the signature in your personal profile
• Solicit book reviews
• Review other products
• Sign up for the Look Inside program
• Participate in the Amazon Associates program
• Use tags to increase your book's visibility in search results
~Dana, thanks for stopping by today to talk about profiting from Amazon.com. I've noticed that lots of my clients and people I associate with on the Web love to hate Amazon. I fear they are severely limiting their opportunities. Authors can use the widget I provide in this blog or learn more about you and your other books at: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/savvy_book_marketer/
For more book marketing tips authors will want to follow Dana at www.twitter.com/BookMarketer.
Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips e-book at http://www.thesavvybookmarketer.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:
~Dana, congratulations on your new book. Can you tell us what motivated you to write this book?
I meet a lot of authors online and I've noticed that many of them are unaware of the variety of ways to work with Amazon and to increase their book's visibility and sales appeal.
With this book, I wanted to help authors and indie publishers understand the range of options available though Amazon and show them how to take advantage of those opportunities. Amazon doesn't make it very easy to find information about their programs, so I have included a number of hyperlinks to helpful pages on the Amazon Web site.
Like all of the Savvy Book Marketer guides, this e-book focuses on practical how-to tips and includes detailed instructions to help readers implement the ideas in the book.
~I noticed that this is the first e-book that you have offered in Kindle format in addition to PDF format. How has that worked out for you?
The process of publishing for the Kindle was easier than I imagined, and I have been surprised to see that about one fourth of my sales so far have been in Kindle format. Of course, I don't know if those Kindle sales have come from my own promotional efforts, or if those customers found me through keyword searches in the Kindle store.
One of the advantages of being in the Kindle store is that the number of competing books is smaller, which can give you an edge in getting found. Right now there are about 720,000 Kindle listings vs. 14 million print book listings. Although many of the printed books listed on Amazon are out of print, that's still a big difference.
Because I don't have a printed book on Amazon, the Kindle e-book was a great way for me to get visibility on the site. My book comes up number two in the search results for "sell books on Amazon" in the Kindle store. Many of the competing books are actually designed for used book dealers who are selling in the Amazon Marketplace, so I don't have a lot of competition.
~What advice can you give to authors who want to improve their sales and profits on Amazon?
Amazon.com is the most popular bookstore, accounting for the vast majority of online sales and about 22 percent of total book sales in the U.S., so it's really important for authors to understand how to promote themselves on the site.
Take some time to learn about all of the various ways to work with Amazon and then prioritize your promotional activities. There are many options, but these are the activities that I would put on the "must do" list:
• Enhance your book description
• Brand yourself with the signature in your personal profile
• Solicit book reviews
• Review other products
• Sign up for the Look Inside program
• Participate in the Amazon Associates program
• Use tags to increase your book's visibility in search results
~Dana, thanks for stopping by today to talk about profiting from Amazon.com. I've noticed that lots of my clients and people I associate with on the Web love to hate Amazon. I fear they are severely limiting their opportunities. Authors can use the widget I provide in this blog or learn more about you and your other books at: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/savvy_book_marketer/
For more book marketing tips authors will want to follow Dana at www.twitter.com/BookMarketer.
Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips e-book at http://www.thesavvybookmarketer.com/.
-----
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:
Sunday, December 05, 2010
The Spirit of the Seasons Catalog
Most of my subscribers know that I don't believe marketing is about book sales so much as exposure, branding, and networking. Today I'm sharing with you a cross promotion effort spearheaded by my friend Denise Cassino because, in addition to the three marketing essentials I just listed, the machine that drives successful books best is cross-promotion. And a holiday catalog is cross-promotion at its best.
The Spirit of the Seasons Catalog (www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.com) is a transformational way of giving gifts and promoting books.. Now, if you subscribe to the mailing list, you'll get a free booklet, 11 Inexpensive Holidays Gifts You Can Make. Between the catalog and the booklet you'll be set for all that last-minute gift giving.
Many of the gifts in the catalog can be downloaded and e-mailed and are wonderful items your friends and family will enjoy. Others must be shipped, but there's still time. So if you're sick of the mall and just want to shop from home for something unique, check it out - the special gifts in the Spirit of the Season Catalog are just what you need. You’ll find gifts in the Spirit of the Seasons Catalog in the following categories: art, inspirational, motivational, business opps, success & wealth building,and health and energy healing. You'll find Law of Attraction workshops, intuitive healing, all genres of fiction, and a variety of nonfiction. So, won't you go browse? After all, if authors don't keep the heart of the publishing world beating, who will? And a free gift is involved, so why not check into it?
OR, if you want to network with Denise so you can do something like this next year, now's your chance. http://www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.com .
The Spirit of the Seasons Catalog is the catalog that keeps on giving throughout the season(s). Please share it with your friends, family and contacts! As you've heard me say before, we're all in this together. (-:.
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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:
The Spirit of the Seasons Catalog (www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.com) is a transformational way of giving gifts and promoting books.. Now, if you subscribe to the mailing list, you'll get a free booklet, 11 Inexpensive Holidays Gifts You Can Make. Between the catalog and the booklet you'll be set for all that last-minute gift giving.
Many of the gifts in the catalog can be downloaded and e-mailed and are wonderful items your friends and family will enjoy. Others must be shipped, but there's still time. So if you're sick of the mall and just want to shop from home for something unique, check it out - the special gifts in the Spirit of the Season Catalog are just what you need. You’ll find gifts in the Spirit of the Seasons Catalog in the following categories: art, inspirational, motivational, business opps, success & wealth building,and health and energy healing. You'll find Law of Attraction workshops, intuitive healing, all genres of fiction, and a variety of nonfiction. So, won't you go browse? After all, if authors don't keep the heart of the publishing world beating, who will? And a free gift is involved, so why not check into it?
OR, if you want to network with Denise so you can do something like this next year, now's your chance. http://www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.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:
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Opportunity for Christian Authors
It seems as if we all enjoy winning something, especially if what we win can keep on giving. My friend Smitty has a contest going and the winner gets free marketing. Here is his note to Sharing with Writers readers:
Dear Authors,
Would free marketing on 25 separate sites help you to promote your book? What if that that free marketing helped you increase your online presence and possibly your page ranking and placement on the major search engines? What if the marketing was for one full year and it shared your book cover, a description of your book, and a link back to your authors site, blog, or authors page?
Join The Authors Page Now To Enter the Contest.
You might win:
~1st Place: One Year Of Free Marketing On 25 blogs.
~2nd Place: One Year Of Marketing On 15 blogs.
~3rd Place: One Year Of Free Marketing On 10 blogs.
These blogs have an audience that would be of special benefit to authors with a Christian audience.
How do you enter? Simple, become a active member of The Authors Page. Just sign in to follow us. Your membership automatically qualifies you in the drawing.
How do I become a follower? Simple, visit the blog, find the follow us section and sign in
What is a active member? You become a blog author, place a post on the blog. That post may share your book with our readers. It's free.
When will the drawing take place? Drawing and winners to be announced December 31st, 2010.
How will the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners be determined? That's simple, each member will receive a number assigned to them, all numbers will be placed in a hat and 3 numbers will be drawn for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
Rules: Let's keep it simple. Your book must be a Christian book, you must have a author's site, author's blog, or author's page of your own.
Smitty
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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:
Dear Authors,
Would free marketing on 25 separate sites help you to promote your book? What if that that free marketing helped you increase your online presence and possibly your page ranking and placement on the major search engines? What if the marketing was for one full year and it shared your book cover, a description of your book, and a link back to your authors site, blog, or authors page?
Join The Authors Page Now To Enter the Contest.
You might win:
~1st Place: One Year Of Free Marketing On 25 blogs.
~2nd Place: One Year Of Marketing On 15 blogs.
~3rd Place: One Year Of Free Marketing On 10 blogs.
These blogs have an audience that would be of special benefit to authors with a Christian audience.
How do you enter? Simple, become a active member of The Authors Page. Just sign in to follow us. Your membership automatically qualifies you in the drawing.
How do I become a follower? Simple, visit the blog, find the follow us section and sign in
What is a active member? You become a blog author, place a post on the blog. That post may share your book with our readers. It's free.
When will the drawing take place? Drawing and winners to be announced December 31st, 2010.
How will the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners be determined? That's simple, each member will receive a number assigned to them, all numbers will be placed in a hat and 3 numbers will be drawn for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
Rules: Let's keep it simple. Your book must be a Christian book, you must have a author's site, author's blog, or author's page of your own.
Smitty
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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:
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
The Single Most Important Plank in Your Platform and a FREEBIE
You may have noticed that the holiday season is a good time for us bloggers to share the brilliant ideas of our fellows. Guest posts are little two-way gifts--one to the author doing the sharing and one to the authors doing the reading. They also are a great way for a blogger to avoid getting "blogged down" (yes, a pun!) during a season that's especially busy. So today Laurel is talking about what I consider the single most important plank in your platform, your contact list. But she's also offering a holiday gift that not only offers information every author should have, but shows them how a great e-book should look. If I were giving a prize for great e-book design, hers would win!
BUILD YOUR AUTHOR PLATFORM WITH A FREE E-BOOK
By Laurel Marshfield
One fairly easy way to build your author platform (a single plank of it, at least) is by systematically collecting the e-mail addresses of people interested in your book, your subject, or both. As your list of e-mails grows, it will become more and more valuable to your promotion efforts. Eventually, you’ll reach many thousands of people with a single online mailing. When that happens, you’ll reap the rewards of promoting your book to thousands of interested readers.
There’s one small problem. How do you convince people (those who know you, those who barely do, and those who don’t) to fork over their names and e-mail addresses? You can do that by offering them a gift--a bribe, actually. And one of the best bribes for an author is a free, downloadable e-book about something that those interested in your subject or your book will be fascinated by. Wow, you want them to think, I have to know what this e-book says. The freebie list-builder e-book bribe isn’t limited to nonfiction authors, either. It works equally well for those who write fiction and memoir, because the steps are essentially the same. Here they are:
~First, Find an Enticing Subject:
If you write self-help nonfiction, focus on the problem your readers want to solve, and write your e-book about one part of the solution. If you write fiction, focus on the world your novel creates, and provide more background information. Or tell the story of how you came to write your novel (locate the most exciting element, and dive into it more deeply). If you’ve written a memoir, provide material not covered in your book --tell stories you left out, or talk about aspects of your journey as an author. In every case, write about the one thing, or several things, your readers really want to know.
~Second, Use Your E-Book Opportunity Well:
Your freebie e-book is a chance to communicate in a more personal way with your readers and fans, to show them you’re worth their loyalty. Apart from intriguing information, offer them a way to cultivate a relationship with you. Encourage them to comment on your blog, or perhaps ask questions via an email address dedicated to that purpose. Be creative about finding the best way of connecting with your audience of readers. But do make yourself available (via the Internet) for reader-author dialogue. This is good for your book, but it’s more than that. Once you publish, you become a spokesperson for your book’s subject (nonfiction), or its world (fiction, memoir), and wise authors seek forums in which to fulfill the spokesperson role.
~Third, Create a Visually Appealing E-Book:
Your e-book should communicate with your readership in a meaningful and memorable way, but words aren’t everything in the effort to do that. The design of your e-book is nearly as important. Hire a professional designer to create something you’re proud of, an e-book your readers will want to print out and read, not just scan quickly online. Use lots of images or photographs to break up blocks of text. Use white space, too, for the same reason (you can buy images from many online sources; one of these is: http://www.istockphoto.com/ ).
~Fourth, Provide Additional Resources:
To make your e-book more valuable, dedicate its final section to resources for your readers. If you write nonfiction, list other books; Web sites (include your own Web sites, too); organizations; and professionals in your field--all of whom can offer more insight on your topic. If you write fiction, provide links to your blog, Web site, book trailers, video and audio interviews, print articles, and book reviews. If you’ve written a memoir, list all of the above, depending upon what sort of world your book encompasses.
With a bit of research to find a topic enticing to your readers, a week or so spent writing, and the services of a professional designer, you can create an e-book your readers and fans will eagerly give you their email addresses to get. In return, your mailing list will grow into a useful promotional tool that sells your book and nurtures your career.
Want to see an example of what I’ve been talking about? Pick up a copy of my freebie e-book for authors by signing up for my free, periodically published newsletter at:
http://www.bluehorizoncommunications.com/every-question-same-answer/
The signup form is in the upper right-hand corner. The e-book giveaway is I Need to Be a Bestselling Author -- Is That True? The Five-Destination Roadmap to Authorship.
~Laurel is owner of Blue Horizon Communications,1037 Waverly Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147,
BUILD YOUR AUTHOR PLATFORM WITH A FREE E-BOOK
By Laurel Marshfield
One fairly easy way to build your author platform (a single plank of it, at least) is by systematically collecting the e-mail addresses of people interested in your book, your subject, or both. As your list of e-mails grows, it will become more and more valuable to your promotion efforts. Eventually, you’ll reach many thousands of people with a single online mailing. When that happens, you’ll reap the rewards of promoting your book to thousands of interested readers.
There’s one small problem. How do you convince people (those who know you, those who barely do, and those who don’t) to fork over their names and e-mail addresses? You can do that by offering them a gift--a bribe, actually. And one of the best bribes for an author is a free, downloadable e-book about something that those interested in your subject or your book will be fascinated by. Wow, you want them to think, I have to know what this e-book says. The freebie list-builder e-book bribe isn’t limited to nonfiction authors, either. It works equally well for those who write fiction and memoir, because the steps are essentially the same. Here they are:
~First, Find an Enticing Subject:
If you write self-help nonfiction, focus on the problem your readers want to solve, and write your e-book about one part of the solution. If you write fiction, focus on the world your novel creates, and provide more background information. Or tell the story of how you came to write your novel (locate the most exciting element, and dive into it more deeply). If you’ve written a memoir, provide material not covered in your book --tell stories you left out, or talk about aspects of your journey as an author. In every case, write about the one thing, or several things, your readers really want to know.
~Second, Use Your E-Book Opportunity Well:
Your freebie e-book is a chance to communicate in a more personal way with your readers and fans, to show them you’re worth their loyalty. Apart from intriguing information, offer them a way to cultivate a relationship with you. Encourage them to comment on your blog, or perhaps ask questions via an email address dedicated to that purpose. Be creative about finding the best way of connecting with your audience of readers. But do make yourself available (via the Internet) for reader-author dialogue. This is good for your book, but it’s more than that. Once you publish, you become a spokesperson for your book’s subject (nonfiction), or its world (fiction, memoir), and wise authors seek forums in which to fulfill the spokesperson role.
~Third, Create a Visually Appealing E-Book:
Your e-book should communicate with your readership in a meaningful and memorable way, but words aren’t everything in the effort to do that. The design of your e-book is nearly as important. Hire a professional designer to create something you’re proud of, an e-book your readers will want to print out and read, not just scan quickly online. Use lots of images or photographs to break up blocks of text. Use white space, too, for the same reason (you can buy images from many online sources; one of these is: http://www.istockphoto.com/ ).
~Fourth, Provide Additional Resources:
To make your e-book more valuable, dedicate its final section to resources for your readers. If you write nonfiction, list other books; Web sites (include your own Web sites, too); organizations; and professionals in your field--all of whom can offer more insight on your topic. If you write fiction, provide links to your blog, Web site, book trailers, video and audio interviews, print articles, and book reviews. If you’ve written a memoir, list all of the above, depending upon what sort of world your book encompasses.
With a bit of research to find a topic enticing to your readers, a week or so spent writing, and the services of a professional designer, you can create an e-book your readers and fans will eagerly give you their email addresses to get. In return, your mailing list will grow into a useful promotional tool that sells your book and nurtures your career.
Want to see an example of what I’ve been talking about? Pick up a copy of my freebie e-book for authors by signing up for my free, periodically published newsletter at:
http://www.bluehorizoncommunications.com/every-question-same-answer/
The signup form is in the upper right-hand corner. The e-book giveaway is I Need to Be a Bestselling Author -- Is That True? The Five-Destination Roadmap to Authorship.
~Laurel is owner of Blue Horizon Communications,1037 Waverly Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147,
http://www.bluehorizoncommunications.com/. where she specializes in BOOK MANUSCRIPTS AND PROPOSALS, Consultation, Manuscript Evaluation, Developmental Editing, Collaboration, Co-Writing, Ghostwriting, and Coaching for Authors and Writers. Reach her at (215) 922-7207, or books@BlueHorizonCommunications.com. She blogs for authors at www.BlueHorizonCommunications.com/blog/. Follow her on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BookEditorLM
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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:
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