Sharing a Christmas Poem with a Tidbit for Promoting Poetry

To celebrate the season, I thought I’d share with you one of my short poems from the chapbook Blooming Red coauthored with Magdalena Ball called “Arizona’s Christmas Card.” You’ll see the title of the chapbook came from a line in the poem.

Abdomen and thorax green
bubbles or two emerald cabochons,
his legs like rose bush twigs,
grey, beige, thorned. A green lynx
spider rappels between spikes
of Cholla blooming red.

                                                Carolyn Howard-Johnson ©

PS: Please note that one of the ways to promote poetry is to give away one that somehow fits with the theme of a blog or other media. Be sure to include contact information and a buy link for the book or blogsite where it was published! If  you would like one of my seasonal poem to bring a little holiday sensibility to your efforts, just send me an e-mail at hojonews@aol.com. You can also use this one with a credit for Magadalena's and my Christmas chapbook from our Celebration Series. Learn more about other chapbooks in the series at http://howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm
.  
And have a wonderful holiday season. 
With thanks for your loyalty to this SharingwithWriters blog.

Carolyn

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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; 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 .

Silicon Valley Techy Offers Ten Do-It-Yourself Video Tips

Samanthi Fernando video advice is especially valuable because she has a Silicon Valley tech background and she is the author of what some call the hard-to-promote genre--a book of poetry. Special thanks to her for her contribution to this blog.

Author Samanthi Fernando is using a promotional video for her new Inspirational poetry book – RADIANT ROSES. 

Samanthi is a corporate communications professional in the Silicon Valley, and she says, “We find that videos make the most impact on our audiences— especially when the expected result is for employees or customers to take action” – Being a techie and a poet, she uses technology to promote her poetry.

If you are an Author you probably already have a Blog or Website – Do you have a YouTube Channel? Upload your book previews, poetry readings and share, share, share.

Amazon Author Central offers a great way for Authors to share video updates and book promotions. So upload your videos there too and showcase your work.

Here are some video making tips for Authors from Samanthi:

1.       Write a short engaging script – practice out loud before you record your sound

2.       Select your text content – an excerpt from your book and any key messages to display

3.       Take plenty of photos and pick the best visuals for your message OR record the message as a video

4.       Keep the color theme aligned with your book cover

5.       Pay attention to the transitions between images – keep it simple and smooth

6.       Select appropriate intro and closing music

7.       End with a prompt for action - where to find more information or how to buy your book etc.

8.       Play and replay before you upload

9.       Before sharing: Test your video on all platforms & devices – Windows/Mac, Mobile AND all Internet Browsers – IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari

10.    In addition to sharing the Link to the video, copy the “Share –> Embed” HTML code from YouTube to play the video on your website/blog

Samanthi used Apple iMovie to create her video. Take a look at her Book Preview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eom9vM7CY8Q

Note: While you’re there, won’t you leave a “like” for Samanthi? We’re authors sharing with authors here.

----- 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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; 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 .

Ode to Former Poet Laureate Philip Levine

I run a regular feature in my SharingwithWriters newsletter on poetry. Poetry is one of my great literary loves so,  though the letter consists mostly of practical marketing ideas and help with craft and editing, the poetry corner--I think--broadens its appeal. The poetry feature can include anything from snippets of holiday poetry, to craft, to poetry marketing ideas to what is happening in the poetry world. What is happening in the poetry world this week is the death of former poet laureate for the US Philip Levine. 

In his honor, I'm publishing the SharingwithWriters poetry corner early. The rest of the letter will be available at http://howtodoitfrugally.com/newsletter_copies.htm after March 15.

Very Brief Ode to Philip Levine:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is rare that a poet can trace her poetry path to some specific poet, but I can. My path—a near-journalistic style of poetry—traces through my mentor Suzanne Lummis directly to the Fresno (Calif.) school of poetry more easily identified as the Philip Levine school of poetry (though he taught at ivy league schools including Columbia, Princeton, and Vassar). At one point he said in an interview that his Fresno students were the best he ever taught.

Many define his Fresno school as poetry with a certain grittiness, poetry written so each thought is complete; that is, when read, any given line can be followed easily as a sentence of prose if the reader doesn’t pause at the line breaks.

 

Even an excerpt like this that doesn't include the full thought can be easily understood:

. . . to baptize ourselves in the brine
. . . of car parts, dead fish, stolen bicycles
melted snow . . .

I prefer to qualify that definition as being poetry of personal truthfulness no matter how painful or unattractive that truth may be.

 

Philip was 87 and according to the Associated Press died of pancreatic cancer.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the inPlace; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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 Retailenr’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 .

Mother's Day Free Poetry Tribute to a Recently Deceased Mom

There are times when writing can help us heal and I asked my poetry coauthor Magdalena Ball if I could share this with my SharingwithWriters subscribers and visitors today--for that reason and because it so touched me that it felt a fitting tribute to my mother who hasn't been with me for some time.  Thank you, Magdalena.

And because this blog is always meant to be practical and I think this a perfect example of how to market with heart.

This post comes to good mothers everywhere--mothers who encourage us to write (or do anything else we want to do). Mothers who unknowingly inspire us to write.

BITTERSWEET MOTHER'S DAY AND POETRY

by Magdalena Ball


This Mother's Day will be bittersweet for me.  Sweet, because I have three wonderful children and a terrific husband who will be celebrating the day with me.  Bitter, because it's the first Mother's Day ever where I am unable to phone my mother, send her a gift, or thank her for being wonderful.  I will, of course, spend the day, as I have done every day since she passed away on the 30th of January this year, thinking about her, missing her, and perhaps writing about her.


At my mother's memorial, I grabbed a copy of the poetry book Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I co-authored from her bookshelf, and read a poem from it about how I used to climb into her bed as a young child, and how safe it felt to me (my own children did the same when they were younger...).  I've reprinted that poem below. Of course, I'm not the only one in the world who has lost my mother.  She Wore Emerald Then was released the week of the death of Carolyn’s mother, so the book, which has always been tied to Mother's Day, has a certain poignancy for both of us.  Carolyn and I are going to be running another freebie this year from the 4th of May to the 7th of May at Amazon.  If you don't already have a copy of She Wore Emerald Then, which features beautiful photography from May Lattanzio, please go and grab a copy for free here:  http://www.amazon.com/She-Wore-Emerald-Then-Reflections-ebook/dp/B00BXPW2XO  anytime from the 4th to the 7th of May (US dates).

If you're a mother, or if you have a mother (and that's all of us, even those of us whose mother is no longer alive), please have a happy Mother's Day, even if that happiness is tinged with longing, because every beautiful moment has a kind of permanence to it, even as it disappears into the transience of time. 

Mother's Bed
In the restless night

when mortality lurks in every shadow

the blanket won’t cover your fear

and morning is a half-forgotten dream

vague and uncertain,

slink into my bed

the pillow holds a mother’s secret

whispered charm

you can sink your head into.

There are no demons here;

no whirlwind of memory and anticipation clouding sleep

only eternal warmth

a shared space

free from the ticking illusion

of time, motion, and change.

~Magdalena Ball, novelist and coauthor of the celebration series of chapbooks

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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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 .

What Makes Great Book Marketing?

My poetry partner Magdalena Ball allowed me to recycle her interview of the photographer who contributed her talents to our collaborative poetry book that celebrates Earth Day. And today is International Earth Day!  This is, after all, a rather international book of poetry: Magdalena makes her home on a rural property in Australia and Ann and I are Californians. 

But I'm including this for my SharingwithWriters blog readers because the story of the three of us is an example of what great marketing is. It's not about sales. It's about caring networking. Ann's cards were given to me by a talented writer and leader of a critique group I belonged to and--trust me--I remembered her work! The time came that aspect of networking--sharing and caring--found its perfect moment to benefit many of us.   

 

An Interview with Ann Howley

Interview by Magdalena Ball

As some of you may already know, I've got a new book scheduled for release on Earth Day (April 22nd). There are a few aspects of this book that particularly excite me. One is that it's another poetry collaboration with talented poet Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Another is that it's a full-length poetry collection which is all environmentally themed, and we're partnering with a sustainability charity, using the profits to support a wonderful cause (more on that soon!). I'm also very excited about the amazing photographer we've partnered with: Ann Howley. Ann's work is so exquisite, inspired by her travels, her love of the natural world, and by what is clearly a very well-honed eye for the visual. Ann's work appears on the cover and inside the book and I've invited her to drop by the blog for a little chat.

Your images are so evocative - what inspires you?

I think I’m inspired by the moment. Since each moment is different and I am different in each moment, I am attracted to different things all the time. That makes it fun to look back at images from previous photo outings to relive what I was seeing at the time.

There's obviously a relationship between the looking, and the moment when you decide that what you're seeing has to be captured on camera - frozen in time or turned from perception into art. Talk to me about that and how you know when to take a photo.

My full dive into photography came just as digital cameras were coming popular. At the time, I was learning photography basics as well as dark room printing. The shift to digital allowed me to pursue photography in a big way because of the cost reduction. It used to cost me over $1,000 to get film processed after a trip. With digital, after the large cost investment in cameras, the cost is minimal. I don’t have fear of “wasting pixels.”

All that is to say that I don’t really think about when is the “right” moment any more. If I see something that intrigues me, I shoot. Sometimes it’s one shot and sometimes that starts me digging further into what I am seeing.

In 2009, you went on a pilgrimage. Tell me about the impact of that on your work.

Yes, I walked 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. I think the pilgrimage expanded my ability to see, but also allowed me to not rely so much on my camera. About a third of the way into my pilgrimage, I damaged the borrowed camera I had brought (because my camera with accessories weighed seven pounds and was not conducive to backpacking!). While the camera sounded like it was capturing images, I had no way to be sure. I had to decide if the trip was about “the journey” or “capturing the journey”. I decided on the former and didn’t stop to get the camera repaired. With that, I packed the camera and only took it out for shots I really wanted. On shots I considered “must haves,” I set the camera on automatic, thinking it might compensate for the damage. Ironically, the camera was set up for very small files, so the images I wanted most, I didn’t get.

I will be going on my second pilgrimage this May to Portugal and Spain. It will be interesting to see how my answer to the question changes.

Much of your work is nature oriented. Has this always been the case for you? Why - what draws you to your subjects?

I think of my work as originally travel oriented, but I guess my travel choices are often nature oriented. I wanted to go to Africa ever since seeing the movie “Born Free” as a child. Once I visited Kenya and Tanzania in 1995, everything connected. What I love about shooting nature and wildlife is the peace of being in a beautiful setting, far away from everyday life. I love the quiet. I could sit watching a sunset or waiting for the perfect pose of a lion, bird or even butterfly for as long as the opportunity presents itself. It’s a meditation.

 

Do watch for Sublime Planet on Earth Day. Consider giving a surprise gift to the one person who most exemplifies someone who loves the earth. An award of sorts. You'll find it on Amazon and other online bookstores as either a paperback or an e-book.

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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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 . 

Valentine Horror Story, Redbook, and Your Book Promotion

This is my Valentine’s story from a long, long time ago. I wrote it up as a pitch for the Help A Reporter Out (HARO progam). You can never tell when something will make a hit with a reporters so it sometimes pays to try something different. And this one actually attracted the attention of the editor of Redbook online. 

Was it that it was different? After all, she did ask for Valentine Horror Stories! Was it that I mentioned a fellow Hearst-published magazine?  That might not have hurt. Was it that it was set in New York, a city near and dear to many in the publishing industry? Was it that it was carefully angled to what she had asked for? That's always a good idea when it comes to pitching anything.

So, I'm sharing my Valentine Horror Story with you as a reminder not to fear pitching in unusual places and also as your reminder not to forget Valentine's day (today, mind you!)

Dear HARO/Redbook reporter:

My husband and I had been married but a year. My new husband was getting his master's at Columbia. I was working at a competitor of yours, Good Housekeeping magazine. We were a long way from home, had driven across country in an ancient 49 Ford convertible. An adventure. We had just settled into a studio apartment in Flushing and were getting used to the long subway ride and, frankly, I was homesick. It was February 14. We always met in the subway beneath Columbus circle after work. There were buckets of roses all over hell and gone. But he didn't have a rose in his hand. We bought a cheap dinner at a deli after we got off the subway in Flushing--the way we always did. The elevator in our apartment was broken so we walked up. The superintendent was grumpy--the way he always was. My new husband had to study for his next day at school--the way he always did. I tried not to show I was getting sullen. I mean, what he had to do was important right? I yanked our bed out of the wall. Took a hot bath to get warm. Fell asleep promptly. I guess I was in a drowse state when he finally came to bed--just enough motion to make me subconsciously aware he was there. I woke up finding myself whacking him and screaming, "All I wanted was a Valentine." I do remember that I meant a paper Valentine...even one he had made. Which was kind of tender. But the whacks I was giving him weren't at all tender.

BTW, he remembers well. He already brought me chocolates this year (we've been married a long time now!). You know, just in case he should forget on the 14th. He doesn't want any more nighttime whacks.

 

Now, just in case you did forget Valentine's Day, may I suggest Magdalena Ball's and my last-minute Valentine gift idea for $2.99. Cherished Pulse, an e-book of love poetry  can be sent by e-mail by the most forgetful—and frugal—of types.

 

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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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 .

Fun Poetry Promotion That Could Work for Other Writers

I know, I know. I rarely talk about poetry here, not because it isn't a passion of mine but because I know that most visitors and subscribers to this blog aren't poets. Still, I do have a poetry corner in my free SharingwithWriters newsletter where I sometimes feature craft helps and sometimes marketing ideas like the one below. You'll notice though that most marketing or promotion ideas that work for poets can be adapted to other genres and vice versa.

 

 

A Los Angeles area poet (Yes, he shall be named in the spirit of great poetry marketing everywhere!) erected a real-estate-type brochure dispenser in front of his home. On a Saturday he filled it with 30 copies of one of his poems and the Los Angeles Times reported that he said, "…by Monday they were gone." He has continued doing adding new poems to his box. He also noted that e-mail poems aren't quite the same…paper is going out of our lives. A poem on paper is tangible." I should think if you printed the copies are nice paper and included an artistic image, people would use your poems as little gifts. And do include a brief credit line with a link to your most recent online poem or chapbook. Of course!  

Oh, yes. The poet's name is Peleg Top. Here is a quote from the first poem he used in a brochure:

"I look ahead and see no destination
I look behind and see thousands of questions
I look down and hear my heart melting…"

Learn more about him at http://pelegtop.com/poetry

To subscribe to my SharingwithWriters newsletter, go to http://howtodoitfrugally.com. There are tons of Writers Resources there (click on a tab at the top of the page), and the sign up form for the newsletter is in the top right corner of most every page.

PS: If you live in the greater Los Angeles area and have an old real estate brochure box hanging around in your garage that you'd like to get rid of, I'd be pleased to pick it up so I can try this promotion myself.


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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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 .

On Dragonflies, Generosity, and Marketing

I received this e-mail from a friend of mine and it reminded me how important the concept of generosity is to building a platform or marketing a book--or anything else for that matter. May Lattanzio is a photographer and she has always been giving. She provided Magdalena Ball and me with photographs for one of the first poetry chapbooks we collaborated on, She Wore Emerald Then. So when I received this, it  brought back memories. It also suggested to me that it is time to reiterate how important giving away some of our work can be.  Here is her story:

In March of 2008 I took a picture of a cold dragonfly in my hand. She was a slender baskettail. Beautiful wing markings. I love taking photos of them and of course, butterflies. Always a challenge. You can't just tell them to "Stand still!"

I'm on a list of southern odonata lovers and I asked for identification of the fly. Giff Beaton is a naturalist, an airline pilot, takes people on WINGS birding tours, and writer of field guides was "envious" because he'd never seen one.
Dennis Paulson from Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, said they are difficult to find and he might want to put my photograph in his newest field guide. The one he had was posed (chilled, photographed, and released). This one was just cold, hanging outside on the siding near the back door. Actually, I thought a spider had gotten to it. I took her picture and put her in the morning sun to warm up.

I got another email asking for the photo. I sent him four different ones.

Then he asked me to let him use one and to give my approval and after I said "yes,"  I forgot about it.

Today I got a package. It's this HUMUNGOUS, 538 page field guide, "Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East" (eastern US and Canada) by Dennis, a complimentary copy. I had forgotten the earlier incident! The book is so lovely,  I hated to crack the cover! But there my dragonfly is, page 389, clinging to my finger, unposed.

Anyway, that's my little surprise. I will treasure this. I didn't know he'd finished it or if he really did use my photo.

And people wonder why I'm out there in the heat, in muck or in fields, on the water and always with a camera? You just NEVER know what you can find.

May Lattanzio
May is a freelance writer, poet and photographer. She is the author of   Waltz on the Wild Side: An Animal Lover's Journal and Sam, The Grouchy as Usual Bear: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Magic. She contributed to  Least Loved Beasts of the Really Wild West: A Tribute and is an Amazon Shorts author. She also contributed photographs for She Wore Emerald Then (www.budurl.com/motherchapbook ) by Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  Learn more about her at http://jpgmag.com/people/maziel
http://redbubble.com/people/MayLattanzio

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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 award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; 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:

Goodreads Free Promotion Gets Reviews for You

Thought Sharing with Writers visitors and subscribers would like to see this promotion and review-getting idea offered by GoodReads. My poetry partner Maggie Ball remembered this one. Be sure to click through and see how many entries we received for a free copy in just a few hours! If we can do it with poetry, you can do it with a so-called easier-to-promote genre! Thought you'd also like a sample of Maggie's poetry.

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Deeper Into the Pond

by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Released July 12 2011

Giveaway ends in 3 days (July 31, 2011)
1 copy available, 146 people requesting
giveaway details »

Enter to win

Jupiter’s Moons

If I pushed through this mortal cage
flew out past the atmosphere
to find you
my chalky friend
would you reach through the icy crust
of Europa
wet from your briny ocean
your extremophile heart
growing larger from the contamination
of an all too early touch.

Would it be enough
in the transitory evolution of your life
to link up
our temporarily compatible minds
dancing through the lava flows of Io.

Could you teach me
to breathe
thin oxygen
Jupiter's magnetic field
raining onto the surface of Ganymede.

When we part ways
kissing goodbye on Callisto
would you cry Gallilean tears
against my endless female needs
for atmospheres, oceans
amino acids

 

(Copyright: Magdalena Ball, 2011)

See the other chapbooks in our Celebration Series at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm .

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Making Marketing Lemonade Out of Controversy

In The Frugal Book Promoter I talk about making good lemonade out of a very sour fruit and here is a way to do that. It seemed easier to just include the entire release that explains a copycat of Maggie Ball's and my series.--intentional "borrowing" or not.  This way we all get some publicity for it.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Magdalena Ball

maggieball@compulsivereader.com
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HoJonews@aol.com

Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery

Poets Take Borrowing in Stride If It Increases Poetry Readership

July 22, 2011: It was only a matter of time before someone stole the idea that Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball first meted when they created Cherished Pulse, the inaugural book in their poetry based Celebration Series.

Of course the idea of using poetry as a form of gift or greeting card isn't new. People have been using poetry to celebrate big events like marriage, wedding anniversaries, and milestones since Homer's day, but nowadays most of the expensive greeting cards in shops are so rife with platitudes that they've ceased to have any meaning at all and can hardly be called poetry. What was new was making chapbooks into a kind of carriage trade greeting card with real poetry grouped around holiday themes. They are genuine messages that mean something. Make the books as inexpensive as a card, and as beautiful as a gift book, and you've got a gift that provides sentiment that won't be thrown out with the wrapping paper.

That has always been the rationale behind Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball's Celebration series, which includes a range of chapbooks clustered around themes like Valentine's Day: Cherished Pulse (www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse ), Father's Day: Imagining the Future (www.budurl.com/Imagining ), Mother's Day: She Wore Emerald Then (www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook ), Christmas: Blooming Red (www.budurl.com/bloomingred), and the newly released feminist inspired Deeper into the Pond, suitable for any female birthday or celebration (www.budurl.com/DeeperPond ). All of the chapbooks are as inexpensive as a high end card, attractive, featuring real art, and perfect for gift giving.

So it's no surprise that others are copying the idea.

This is what happened. Three years after the release of the Celebration Series. Relationships Australia, Australian Poetry Ltd, and artists/designers Gracia and Louise have just released their own father-themed book titled Dear Dad, promoted specifically as a great Father's Day greeting card/gift. It's a little dearer than the Celebration Series offered by Ball and Howard-Johnson, but it's a great idea featuring some excellent Australian poets, and probably the tip of the iceberg when it comes to real poetry as greetings. Why not? Poetry is always a good gift.

Learn more about Ball and Howard-Johnson's work at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/poetry_books.htm .

For more about Dear Dad, visit: http://www.australianpoetry.org/blog/2011/07/19/dear-dad-2nd-edition-pre-sales.

For more information on Ball and Howard-Johnson’s Celebration series and their Father’s Day entry, visit www.howtodoitfrugally.com/more_on-Imaginings.htm.

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Images and media kits available on request: HoJoNews@aol.com

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and 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:

Who Says Poetry Can't Be Marketed?

I hear all the time--even from experts--how hard it is to market certain kinds of writing, especially fiction. Especially poetry and literary fiction.

OK. It is a bit harder, but certainly not impossible. Today I'm doing some marketing of my own and at the same time, showing you one way to market even poetry using a contest. Of course, that I'm including the media release for the winners of that contest is a bonus. Use it as a template for your releases. Or adapt the ideas in it to your own marketing campaign--whatever that campaign is.  You can also use the guidelines for media releases (truly step-by-step) and for marketing campaigns that you'll find in The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't.

OK. Enough chit chat. Here it is:

Media Release

CONTACT:
Carolyn Howard-Johnson e-mail: HoJoNews@aol.com

CONTACT:
Magdalena Ball e-mail: maggieball@compulsivereader.com

For Immediate Release

Actor/Producer Wins Contest for Bookcover Art

Winning Artist Says: Life’s highway has lots of off ramps, so why not try more than a few, really enjoy the ride, and the time to enjoy the scenery by the side of the road.

Worldwide Web--Award-winning poets Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball announce the winner and runners-up of their first-ever contest for cover art of their poetry chapbooks. When published in July of 2011, Deeper into the Pond will celebrate, support, and inspire women and contest Jacquie Schmall’s winning entry reflects the powerful energy of women in the process of co-creation. Thus it seemed an ideal image for a chapbook conceived and published by Ball and Howard-Johnson that has resulted in this, the fifth in their award-winning series.

Schmall, who lives in San Diego, developed a style she calls “rainbow geometry.” After spending time in theatre productions, and on film sets, she was compelled to paint a series of watercolors reflecting the powerful energy of women. The selected painting is one of them; it will be reflected in three iterations on the cover.

The chapbooks in the Celebration Series include Cherished Pulse (for anyone you love), with artwork from California artist Vicki Thomas (www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse); She Wore Emerald Then (for mothers on your gift list) with photographs by May Lattanzio (www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook); Imagining the Future: For Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions (for the men in your life) (www.budurl.com/Imagining); and Blooming Red, a celebration of Christmas (www.budurl.com/BloomingRed), also featuring Thomas’s work.

Runners up in the contest are Roxanne Kahan and Cynthia Uhrich.

Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected CompulsiveReader.com review site. She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, which was published to unanimous five-star reviews. Her novel Sleep Before Evening, was a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's poetry appears frequently in review journals. She is listed in Poets & Writers and her chapbook of poetry, Tracings, was published by Finishing Line Press ( www.budurl.com/CarolynsTracings) and was given the Award of Excellence by the Military Writers Society of America. One of her poems recently won the Franklin Christoph Poetry Prize. She is also an award-winning novelist and short story writer and instructor for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

For more information on any of the chapbooks in this poetry series, contact either of the authors or visit media rooms at www.howtodoitfrugally.com or www.magdalenaball.com. To learn more about artist Jacqui Schmall and to see her selections of her work, go to http://jacquie-pleasecallmelater.blogspot.com/2011/06/paintings-by-jacquie.html.

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Support material available electronically or by post on request.

 

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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: