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 .

Ten Free Gifts to Give an Author This Holiday Season

 

10 Frugal (Like Free) Gifts To Give Writers for the Holidays

You thought I was going to say “buy their book.” But that isn’t free and you may have already bought an author's books or even all of their books. Here are ten ways to show appreciation, anyway.

~ Go to their profile page on Amazon and like it. You can find it by clicking on their name on Amazon, one that shows up with an underline. Do it anonymously or drop them a note wishing them a happy season and let them know you did it. Heck, you could do this for every author you know or every time you open an author’s buypage on Amazon all year long. If you don’t know what a profile page is, here’s mine: http://bit.ly/CarolynsProfilePage.

~Find them on Facebook and friend them. Or Twitter. Or LinkedIn. You get the idea. Don't worry that it's an infringement of their privacy. They don't have to accept, but they will appreciate the gesture regardless.

~Review their book and publish that review on Amazon or another online bookstore. Or on your own blog. It needn’t compete with a New York Times review for professionalism. Just a few heartfelt lines will do.

~Share one of their posts on a social network—especially one that relates to their writing career. You know. They’ve won an award. Published a new book. Have a signing coming up.

~Go to the buypage of an author’s book and find the social media icons in the right column of that page. Click. Click. Click!  Share the book across all your social media networks.

~Nominate their blog or Web site for an award like Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites. Here are Writer's Digest suggested categories for nominations, just to help you get your thinking cap on:

Agent Blogs
Writing Communities
Publishing Resources
Jobs and Markets
Creativity and Challenges
Genres/Niches
General Resources
Fun for Writers

Send comments and nominations for next year’s list to writersdigest@fwmedia.com with “101 Websites” in the subject line (deadline is Jan. 1, 2015). Learn more at http://writersdigest.com/article/101-websites-2009 .

~Post an image of an author’s bookcover on your Web site with a link and a little blurb or recommendation.

~ My favorite of all. Send your author a thank you note telling her how you enjoyed her book, what it did to help you or relate a little story about it. When I was speaking at Book Publicists of Southern California Christmas meeting, Melinda Sue Norins came by and excitedly told me that my The Frugal Book Promoter had been recommended in Authors Training Manual by Nina Amir  (http://bit.ly/AuthorsTrainingManual) that she had just borrowed from her library. Then she ran online to get an image of the page it was on to show me. I felt that her enthusiasm was greater than any tangible gift tied up with a bow.
~Go to the author’s blog and leave a comment. Try to be specific about how the author has helped you or your career in the past year.

~This idea will take time and creativity, but what a thrill for some author somewhere. Create a little handmade booklet for an author. Use quotes from their work, snapshots, a personal note.  Or make a similar greeting card and send it along. Once the members of my the critique group I lead at my neighborhood library (Chevy Chase) did that. Each participant made one page. That was years ago and I still treasure it.

HERE'S A BONUS IDEA: Do you have a snapshot of you with the author? Search your photo album and send her the picture--either by e-mail or tucked into a holiday card.  It will be the gift that keeps on giving.  

Learn more about Carolyn Howard-Johnson at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com . Use her social networks for more resources, ideas, helpful books and more.

For more writers’ resources on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/FrugalBookPromo
For resources and more personal fun on Facebook:
http://facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson  
For writers’ resources of all kinds:
http://HowToDoItFrugally.com
To subscribe to SharingwithWriters newsletter:
http://HowToDoItFrugally.com/newsletter_&_blog.htm
Get your cover images on Pinterest; you pin one of her book cover images and she pins one of yours: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson


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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 .

Poets Come Up with Great Promo Idea for Hard-To-Market Genres

I thought I'd tell you about a promotion idea using e-books, paperback books, and Smashwords coupons--all at once. It is the brainchild of my poetry partner Magdalena Ball and I and I thought those of you who write in the so-called hard-to-promote genres could adapt it. Of course, we also hope you'll consider using our poetry for your Christmas greetings. Here it is!

 

 

 

My writing partner Magdalena Ball and I figure nothing is more meaningful at any holiday than a poem—a real poem, not sing-song impersonal verse from the shelves of card shops (I've always disliked that kind of card exept for the way they sometimes use glitter, which is kind of hard to do with a chapbook!).

 

We've also noticed that many people order imprinted holiday greetings (very expensive ones!) in July. With that in mind we're offering a great Christmas-in-July incentive to those early birds who want to gift a chapbook Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational to cherished friends. .

But how would poetry lovers, literature lovers and those who just like something different and beautiful to use as mini gifts or greetings know if this little booklet is for them?

We've arranged to get the e-book version for 50% off until August 6. That means your sample comes to you for a mere $1.98 using the special coupon code ZZ47S when you go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/45393

Then, when you fall in love with the exquisite poetry and the beautiful artwork by award-winning California watercolorist Vicki Thomas, you can order 25 full paperback booklets for only $3.00 each. This is a substantial discount from Amazon’s price of $6.95 each. They become your card and gift in one and orders of 12 or more come autographed by Carolyn. That’s got to be more personal than an imprint.

You just send your shipping address with your check or money order to:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

PO Box 1101
LaCanada-Flintridge, CA 91012-1101

Include $6. Ship charges for the continental US and $12 worldwide, any quantity. Please order before August 15^th.

Blooming Red includes Maggie's science-inspired and my nostalgic poetry. It also includes some humorous poems for fair measure.

For more information on any of the chapbooks in this poetry series, contact either Carolyn or me, or visit media rooms at http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com or http://www.magdalenaball.com. To learn more about artist Vicki Thomas and to see her selections of her work, go to http://www.vickithomasartist.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:

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.




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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:

Ask Amy Expounds on Family Histories

Only the other day, Amy Dickinson, nationally distributed columnist, was asked why it "so hard to get my parents to write down their stories before it is too late."

Amy, whose column appears in the LA Times's Calendar section, suggests that the child (at whatever age) get involved. She suggests "interviewing them and taping the sessions." She says, "Start by asking them to tell stories you've heard many times before." Then move on to asking about how they met, and other open-ended questions about their earlier lives. She suggests the National Story Corps Project's website www.storycorps.net.

Now, I'm going to tell you something she was telling you indirectly. Stop whining. Get in there and do what it is you want your parents to do. Write down vignettes you were told by your parents, your grandparents, and the ones you tell your kids. Then go one step farther and write down what you didn't tell your kids. Do some genealogy work with your relatives. Once you're doing something yourself, you'll find it easier to enlist them in your project. You'll be inspired. So will they.

My book This Is the Place, would never have been published if I'd waited around for someone else to tell me their stories. I simply used the ones I had been told and wove them with my own. To make a novel of it, I had to embroider a bit and that was lots of fun. You'll never be done once you've started but I promise you will have something to leave generations to come. If I can do it you can do it! This one went on to win several awards.

Ahh, the power of storytelling! You might end up with a book to publish.

If you you want to do that, my other books, the Frugal Editor and the Frugal Book Promoter will help you with that. If you don't, just type them up and stow them with your other valuables. Make a copy for your safe deposit box.

Or go to www.creativememories.com or e-mail Debra Synott (Debra4CM@sbcglobal.net), and she'll get you started on publishing individual books with your stories, books that can even be illustrated with your pictures. You can give them to your parents for Christmas. They'll tell you how you got it all wrong. And then they'll be inspired to do books of their own. Writing is like that.

Maybe later, you'll move on and make a novel out of it. (-: If you don't believe me, ask Amy (askamy@tribune.com).

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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 TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.