My Favorite New Frugal Book Promotion Tip

If you are a subscriber to this blog you know by now that I believe in recycling writing, but only occasionally do I include articles or tidbits from my SharingwithWriters newsletter here. After all, those who are loyal readers of my free newsletter should have a few privileges, but I couldn't help myself with this one. I know it will make you feel good about being in publishing (look at what you do for readers!), but also give you ammunition for Getting Reviews (my new favorite topic) and getting free publicity in general! 

Here is my (New!) favorite query letter  tip from my
#SharingwithWriters Newsletter
Helping Writers Since 2003

In the News: Here’s some feelgood news about books that—depending on the topic of your book—may be ammunition to make your book fit current-news requirements of many editors and make your query letter stand out. A Yale University study indicates that reading books  has benefits for longevity(even more than reading newspapers and magazines!). This little fact could be used in a deck or lead on a query letter to get publicity or reviews from health-oriented periodicals.

 ~ As reported in AARP Magazine

To be sure you know all the magic of writing great query letters, getting reviews and making them work for your book—and the next—and the next, subscribe to #SharingwithWriters at http://bit.ly/SWWNewsletter or in the form in the upper right corner of almost any page on my website at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.

Find archived issues of #SharingwithWriters at http://bit.ly/SWWNewsletter


MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER

 Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including the award-winning second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor. Her latest is in the series is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Learn more on her Amazon profile page, http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers is one of her booklets--perfect for inexpensive gift giving--and The Great First Impression Book Proposal, another booklet, helps writers who want to be traditionally published. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it will help them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It 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. In addition to this blog, she helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs at all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart,and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com)

Off to a Great Book Marketing Start in 2017

Here is something directly from my #SharingwithWriters newsletter to get your book marketing year off to a great start. In that letter I include articles, letters-to-the-editor, Q&As a la Ann Landers, resources like opportunities and accessible contests and a whole lot more. It's also interactive--meaning subscribers can contribute and get credited with their author name, title, and links to their books. They help other writers and get a little exposure for doing so! Win, Win!  And it's free.

"Tip: When you mail a book —to editors, your readers, your reviewers—enclose a flier that give them more information on your other books or other services. This flier might include a request for a review or endorsement, a link to your Amazon profile page which showcases your all of your books, your blogs, your social networks. (If your profile page doesn’t do this, don’t lose a minute before you update it using Author Connect!) Not to worry! This idea is well rooted in publishing tradition. Big publishers do it with a flier commonly known as a sell sheet."

So, the next issue of SharingwithWriters will soon coming to an e-mail box--perhaps yours. If you aren't already subscribed, send me an e-mail with HoJoNews at AOL dot com and I'll do it for you or go to http://howtodoitfrugally.com.  There are subscription boxes in the top right corner of every page of the site. 

Back to shipping enclosures or sell sheets:  My New Year's gift to you will get you started using them in the New year. It is a copy of a professionally produced sell sheet for you to use as a guideline for your own sell sheet. Just e-mail me at HoJoNews at AOL dot com with SELL SHEET in the subject line and include your address. I'll send it to you in the mail. (I promise to delete and never use your address again!)  

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER

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 How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically.  Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers is one of her booklets--perfect for inexpensive gift giving. The Great First Impression Book Proposal, another booklet,  helps writers who want to be traditionally published.. 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 .

Like a Writer's Resume: Your Published Works Almanac and Media Kit

I often feature question and answer pieces on my #SharingwithWriters newsletter and share some of the ones that cover less-frequently asked questions on this blog, too.  You can subscribe to SharingwithWriters newsletter that comes directly to you in your e-mail box at http://howtodoitfrugally.com or by putting "Subscribe" in the window of an e-mail and sending it to hojonews@aol.com. Yes, it's frugal. It's free.

 

QUESTION:

Dear Carolyn,
You referred to a published works almanac on pp15-16 of your January SharingwithWriters newsletter. I wasn't sure how to create one or amend when I have more books.

Kind regards,
Chioma Nnani
Award-winning Author. BEFFTA-nominated Writer. Presenter. Producer.

ANSWER:

Aha!  I guess using a published works almanac on your Web site is a matter of knowing how to build a Web site or a matter of having a good Webmaster. I used to have a hired Web master but found it was both too expensive to hire the amount of work I wanted to do for my expanding Web site and way too slow. So now I do it myself, but it was a huge headache to learn. Here's an alternative approach to using an almanac even if you aren’t Webmaster savvy:

Use the media kit you are assembling to become a record-keeping kit as well. In it you'll have several sections including your published works almanac which will give those gatekeepers looking at your media kit a sense of your experience—your writing chops so to speak. It will do the same thing for you as a résumé but you won’t be applying for a job. More than likely you’ll be trying to get some free publicity or get a conference director to hire you to speak.

Sometimes (once you've been writing a long time) you may need to divide the published works almanac into genres, say freelance, poetry, short stories, etc.  But that's getting ahead of our needs here. An almanac works great to send out as part of a media kit, but once you have one it can be copied and pasted into a Web site or blog page or even a social networking profile. In the meantime, it's great for record keeping so you'll have it when you go to write a book proposal or a résumé. I’d be pleased to send my basic kit to as a .pdf to subscribers who want to use it as I did for Choma (It includes the published works page so you can use it as a sample). Just send a note to hojonews@aol.com asking me for it. The essentials can be adapted to any book, any author.]

 

[Note: Your media kit can be put into a .pdf file, installed on your Web site where it can then be downloaded from your site's media room just as I do with my media kits and newsletters. People (in this case feature editors, radio hosts, etc.) can go online and download your media kit with your almanac in it. It saves them from the time it takes to request it from you and having you send it to them as an attachment.

As you can see, your Published Works Almanac can be useful long before you have a Web site of your own!  And when the time comes to learn to make a Web site or to hire someone to do it for you, your Almanac will be ready to go except maybe for some last-minute editing and formatting.

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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 .

Don't Complain! Get Jazzed with FREE Five-Day Help!

Rather than complain about summertime writing doldrums, Beth Barany suggests you let her help you get over it.  Today advice (and a program) this is better than the "just get over it advice" we so often hear and, yes, it's frugal. In fact, it's FREE. 

Beth Barany Offers
Help to Get You Moving

 

By Beth Barany 

Writing begets writing.

Ready to get moving? Then join us for our 5-day free Fiction Writers Online Intensive that starts Monday August 19, 2013.

Sign up HERE.

In our boot camp we’ll help you find your doable next step and accomplish it in five days.
– Want to get you book done? Write 1000-2500 words (or more!) in five days.

–Edit 20-30 pages thoroughly in five days.

– Research 10-20 agents in five days.

– Write and polish your query and synopsis in five days.

– Convert your book to e-book for the Kindle and upload in five days.

– Write and polish 5 marketing pitches in five days.

– Draft a marketing plan and start implementing in five days.

 

What can you do in five days to move your author career forward?

 

Pick one goal and get it done together. It’s all about taking action!

Click here to sign up for our intensive.

And, if you know and love us already, and want ongoing support over a longer period of time, then check out our Author Group Coaching Program that starts August 26th. All the details are here.

ABOUT BETH

Beth Barany is a writer’s coach, a keynote speaker and a marketing advisor for writers and publishers. More at www.bethbarany.com.

Beth Barany | Author, Speaker & Creative Consultant for Novelists & Publishers

www.BethBarany.com

Oakland, CA 

510-333-7320

Special: I’m now accepting students into my How To Run a Blog Tour course! Join me here now: https://www.udemy.com/how-to-run-a-successful-blog-tour-for-authors/.

*My gift to you: Author Entrepreneurship Magazine. Download the latest issue (or view online) and please share with your friends and colleagues: www.authorentrepreneurship.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 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 .