Passing It Forward: A Review Journal That Doesn't Discriminate

This is a bit of a brag, but it is also a mini lesson in going with the flow (basically not driving yourself crazy over all the marketing you know you should do but can't or all the writing opportunities that come to you that may or may not ever come to fruition).  And it's also an exercise in passing it forward.

Midwest Book Review has been around a long time and during that time it has supported indie authors and traditionally published authors alike. It has provided resources that can make a difference for writers free.  It just seemed to me that a a simple thank you for what they have done for me and others isn't enough to make those of you unfamiliar with what they do grasp the opportunities they offer.

So here's the story:

 The second edition of my multi award-winning The Frugal Editor is now available in paperback and because of my husband’s illness I have not been able to plan or execute a marketing campaign for it.  And because it is independently published, I have no one else to do it. And because of my caretaking duties, I have no time to hire someone who will.

 

Still, hit or miss, I consider its launch a success not in sales necessarily (people have to hear about a book--maybe hear about it seven times!-- to buy it) but in the support given it by the likes of James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Book Reviews who featured it in his online magazine Library Bookwatch, in his e-mail newsletter The Cox Report, and in the Writing/Publishing shelf of the Midwest Book Review itself. Two of his comments:

 

“. . .an absolute ‘must have’ for virtually all aspiring and practicing authors in these tough economic times.”

 

“Tips, tricks, techniques and do-it-yourself editing secrets will aid in improving one’s writing at every state of the process. . .”

 

And his managing editor Bethany Cox called it “exceptionally worthy” and included her own review in her newsletter. She also said it is a “complete course of instruction under one cover.  From editing, query letters to final manuscript.”

It is an honor to earn the respect of an institution and the people behind it who have for many years conducted a public service for authors and publishers by providing free reviews and always eschewing judging a book’s qualifications by its publisher or the kind of press it is printed on.

 

I am adding some tips that will help you in the review process excerpted from my book The Frugal Book Promoter in the July issue of my SharingwithWriters newsletter and some links to other resources provided by Independent Book Publishers Assn. If you don't subscribe to that letter, e-mail me at HoJoNews@AOL.com  and I'll send you a copy. Between generous and unbiased organizations like Midwest and others (organizations that don't judge a book by the press a book is printed on) and the information they regularly provide, you too will soon be in a position to pass it forward.

 

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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 .

Danger Ahead: Avoiding "Publishers" That Don't Market

As you know I sometimes reprint columns from my SharingwithWriters newsletter for subscribers and visitors to this blog. Here is one that touches on a topic that comes up often--on forums, when I speak at conferences, and about anywhere else where authors gather.   You can subscribe to SharingwithWriters by sending me an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Once subscribed, you can send questions of your own or just sit back and learn from the travails of other authors.  

Q&A a la Ann Landers

When Trusted Names in the Industry Can Be Dangerous to Your Career
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QUESTION FROM AN AUTHORU.COM FORUM:

A new author laments that she got scammed by a well-known publisher associated with big five traditional publish so she assumed she could trust them and assumed she would be getting the same kind of service/publishing as if she published traditionally with the big name. She cries out “Do authors really need publishers like this?”

MY ANSWER:

No we don't need publishers "like" the ones you listed. But we still need SOME partner publishers or POD publishers. They are sometimes called vanity publishers, a term I avoid because discrimination in the past has tarnished its name. There is nothing wrong with a little vanity.

We need these independent publishers for SOME books and for SOME authors. Your lament is the reason I wish (unselfishly, I promise!) I could get to more new authors to read  The Frugal Book Promoter and I wish I could get them to read it all the way through. There are so many factors that go into choosing a publisher not least of which are:

1.book bigotry
2.the author's pocketbook
3.the author's personality (willingness to market, ability to market)
4.the author's time limitations
4.the GENRE/TITLE being published.

Once decided, the answer is still not just "what publisher?" Because even good traditional publishers need the author to market his or her own book. The first question to ask, is "Do I really want to be an author?" And the second, after saying "Yes," is "Am I willing to give it everything it takes to have a successful writing career (or at least a successful book)" That, of course, includes what even the big New York publishers do—market books. It’s part of the publishing process. If a publisher doesn’t do that, they aren’t true publishers.

BTW, in The Frugal Book Promoter I suggest avoiding publishers that are immediately identified as what used to be called "vanity" publishers. They often don't do a good job of editing and no job of marketing unless you pay extra for their overpriced “packages.” But those are not the only reasons I don’t recommend them. Because there is still too much book bigotry out there and they are so easily identified, I believe authors do better with independent publishers that don’t screech their inadequacies with their easily identified brand names. There are many partner publishers out there to choose from. And self-publishers can sure hire people to do specific things they can't do or can't do well (like formatting, covers, etc) so they can truly self-publish. No author need be an island unless he or she wants to be and is willing to take that uphill climb to do it.

Here’s the link to that AuthorU conversation: 

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Do-we-need-Publishers-like-2603729.S.5883641556354748417?view=&item=5883641556354748417&type=member&gid=2603729&trk=eml-b2_anet_digest-null-5-null&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=3m_7sD0zzaN6g1

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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 .

A Mini Essay: On Race, Authors and Creativity

Many of you know that in my other writing life, I take up serious themes like discrimination so I’m especially sensitive to it when I see in the publishing world.

Not long ago, my writing friend Leora Krygier was asked by a reporter for the Orange County Register if she felt qualified to write from the point of view of a young Vietnamese girl in her book When She Sleeps. Having once been in journalism and been in a position to do some interviewing of my own, I was a bit incensed. It seemed amazing to me that someone would presume to tell a writer they couldn't or shouldn't write from any point of view they so choose  or suggest that doing so would cause resentment. How could a reader (or a reporter) possibly presume we couldn't write from the point of view of someone of a different race, a different religion or culture. And why would they tinge that question with a hint-of-haughty in the voice, a bit of a look-down-the-nose demeanor.

My daughter, a cultural anthropologist, suggested that such ideas were a function of our intensity to be as politically correct as possible and The Register did have a large Vietnamese population, which was probably one reason they were doing the interview in the first place. Because I believe that being politically incorrect in most instances, simply promulgates bigotry, I tried to put all my arguments—arguments in favor of creative writers—aside and forget about it.

Then I ran into another instance of this kind of question in Time magazine. There is was in my face again:

Belinda Luscombe put on her snarkiest interview hat to interview Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Michael Chabon. It went something like this: "A central character in your book Telegraph Avenue, Arcy Stallings, is the black co-owner of a record store. Did you feel anxious writing from the point of view of a black guy?" In addition to the haughty and snooty tendencies listed above, her question smacks a bit of the passive aggressive.

I admit it. That got me a little riled. But the interviewer persisted: "But race is a charged subject. In the book, there's a white lawyer, Moby, who talks like a black guy. Didn't you worry that that was you?"

Then I went on a full scale rant, albeit a quiet one to myself. Exc-u-u-se me! But don't writers of fiction always use something of themselves when drawing a character? None of us can pull any character trait that we haven't personally seen, experienced, or read about from thin air! I sniffed! But it doesn't have to be us.

And doesn't fiction work—especially great fiction—because at our cores we are all the same? Sentient human beings who share needs and feelings? When I suffer under one kind of prejudice, as an example, isn't that at some level very similar to what someone else suffers under another? So wouldn't that qualify white-girl me to write from the point of anyone I so chose—if I took care. If I had a worthy subject and theme. And isn't that the job of the artist to decide?

And, (I actually huffed! Almost aloud!), haven't these reporters ever heard of research? Or imagination?

And what about that idea of getting too close to something, so close that we may feel responsible or fear we're putting our souls in danger? Or that someone might mistake sincerity for satire? Of vice versa? Wouldn't any thoughtful person understand that every time an author picks up a pen he or she puts herself in some kind of emotional (philosophical?) danger? And don't readers understand the difference between fiction and reality? Do they really think that every character in our books is us rather than seeing that every character may be us, but may also be a reflection of someone we've observed? Or read about? Or devised by mixing traits of many people we've met?

And this is the answer I came up with.

Apparently not.

CHJ

 

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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 . 

Q&A a la Ann Landers: Stigma, Book Bigotry, and Other Publishing Terms We May Have Got Wrong

Question: There seems to be some confusion between the terms "print on demand" and "publish on demand." Are some calling self publishing and vanity publishing "publish on demand" hoping to avoid the stigma that's attached to vanity and self publishing?

Answer: The term "publish on demand" rather than "print on demand" goes all the way back to the days when monks published a book when they got orders. They'd copy it, illuminate it and deliver it. But only if they already had a client waiting. The term "publish on demand" has a long tradition. We moved away from the monk's model when printing presses were developed. Large runs were more economical so we printed 'em up and waited for orders.

"Print on demand" became a term when digital printers became available. We could go back to doing it "on demand" as the monks did it but it with a lot more speed. Of course, it was also--to many--still "publish on demand." To further complicate the issue, M.J. Rose (and I'm only paraphrasing) said in Poets and Writers that publishing is a word that should only be used when a book is both printed and promoted. I agree. Printing up a bunch of books or even getting one ready to be printed on demand isn't really publishing. Further, the big publishers do a disservice to the whole industry when they print a book and then don't give over a budget so that readers will know it well enough to buy it.

Now, about that stigma thing. Let's just ditch the term "vanity publishing." Some of the best (and richest) authors I know self-publish. The kind of press they use does not make their books bad or good. The content makes them good; their promotion makes what they do lucrative.

In fact, let's ditch anything that smacks of book bigotry. Let's stop doing what we were told never to do when we were young. Let's stop judging books by their covers. And that's a metaphor for judging them any way at all other than by their content.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include
www,TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favoite reviews.
www,AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.
www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com, a blog about editing, grammar, formatting, indexing--all the nitty-gritty parts of publishing we're not to fond of but need to know.