MarchFeb-Interim 2007
Sharing with Writers:
From the Desks of
Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Authors' Coalition Friends
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"Sharing with Writers" is the official newsletter of Authors' Coalition,

http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com

an organization of writers who help writers.

To read this letter in plain vanilla text, just scroll down. To read this newsletter with a bit more pizzazz (not much, though!) at Authors Den go to:

http://www.AuthorsDen.com/adstorage/1713/Sharingwithwriters_MarchFEBInterim_Week_2007.doc

Learn about an opportunity to participate in the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books -- whether you live in LA or not -- by going to my blog at http://redenginepress.com/chjohnson

The LA fair is one of the nation's biggest and most prestigious with more than 130,000 visitors and the power of the LA Times behind it.

Find pictures of last year's booth at http://tri-studio.com/kathegogolewskiPHOTOSfair06.html

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Note from Carolyn:

My fellow AC Members and SWW Subscribers:

A short one this week because I am back from a long weekend and trying to catch up for a presentation this weekend for the California Writers Club. It occurred to me I could let Southern California writers know more about this group than they'll find in my usual rundown of appearances in this letter (just keep scrolling for details) and use some of their expertise as a little lesson.

This group publishes a very nice, multi-paged newsletter that they mail out. It would serve as model or template for anyone who wanted to do something similar for their club or to promote their book or service.

They publish this same Valley Scribe on the Web after it is mailed. That saves them money, allows members easy access when they've misplaced their hardcopy, and makes their group and the services they offer like their coming conference even more accessible to other writers. It also fits well into that frequency mantra I keep humming.

Go to www.CalWritersSFV.com and click on Newsletter.

Now, just go apply this lesson to something in your stable of promotion tactics or promises to yourself.

Best,

Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HoJoNews@aol.com
Websites: http://carolynhoward-johnson.com and www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
http://authorscoalitionandredenginepess.com Blogs: A blog focused on book fairs at
http://redenginepress.com/chjohnson and another blog that is about writing and reading at www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com.
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Fact: If the trend away from reading newspapers continues the last daily newspaper reader will silently walk into the sunset in October of 2044. Do everyone a favor. Subscribe to one of our great national dailies.

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Opportunity:

SECOND ANNUAL FLASH PROSE CONTEST SPONSORED BY WRITER ADVICE

Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com, is searching for flash fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction that grabs, surprises, and mesmerizes readers in under 750 words. If you have a complete story with a strong theme, sharp images, a solid structure, and an unexpected discovery, please submit it to the WriterAdvice Flash Prose Contest.

All entries should be typed and submitted in hard copy, not e-mail, to B. Lynn Goodwin, Writer Advice, P.O. Box 2665, Danville, CA 94526-4339. Entries must be postmarked no later than APRIL 15, 2007.

You may enter UP TO THREE pieces. Enclose a $10 check for EACH entry made payable to B. Lynn Goodwin. This will help defray the costs of the contest. If no prizes are awarded, checks will be refunded.

Include a separate cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, current e-mail address, and each story title. Please put the story title, but not your name, at the top of each page. Finalists will be asked to submit a brief biography and an e-mail copy of the story.

Names of all winners will be announced in the June – July issue of Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com.

JUDGES: Last year’s prizewinners Lyn Halper, Jen Hurley, Kirsten Beachy, and Mary Vallo are this year’s judges. Read their pieces and biographies by clicking on the Archived Contest Entries.

PRIZES: Winning stories will be published in Writer Advice. In addition, First Place earns $60, Second Place earns $30, Third Place earns $20, and Fourth Place earns $15. Honorable Mentions will also be published. A list of all winners will be posted in the June – July issue of WriterAdvice.

SPECIAL PERK: All entries accompanied by an SASE will be returned with brief comments.
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Tip: Marketing to Schools
The school market spends over a billion dollars each year for textbooks and while most of these books are developed especially for certain courses, many are regular books developed for other markets but adopted as supplementary educational aids. Educators are the most price conscious of all the book markets. Textbook publishers respond by keeping the prices lower than normal and extending only a 20% discount to school bookstores. Sell your book to them at the 20% discount and save the extra 30-40% you would have to offer the chain stores!
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From Patrika Vaughn. Write Better-Get Published with your Author's Advocate
A Cappela Publishing
http://www.acappela.com/books.htm

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Mini-Feature

Amazon's Plog, Links and YOU

You do know the power of the Web in your promotion. But have you figured out how to run links from Amazon to your site and back again? This brief (I promise!) article with served as a reminder, if not a tutorial, on how to make that work for you. First of all the all-important link to my plog at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3JH18T58CY65P/002-3692730-7456014

Notice how I have linked the blog/plog back to my site with a hint at additional information available to anyone interested in the subject matter of that particular plog? I gave readers a link for www.hotodoitfrugally.com but I also gave a reader a more precise URL to the specific page on tolerance on my site.

Doing this links my pages to links coming directly from Amazon even though I am the one who provided those links! We all know Amazon is one of the biggest, most powerful on the Web. It might be hard to get them to link to your site but this is a way around that.

Ff you then go to that page on my site, to read my poem on the War Museum at Oslo -- if for no other reason -- you'll see how I linked back to Amazon from my site!

I know I don't have to tell you that
spiders and searchers from engines like Google will love you relevant links. The key word here, of course it relevant. Using them effectively will continue to push your site up to a more prominent position when searches are done on your keywords related to you. (-:
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Tip: If you're interested in the above subject, find a fr^ ^ book on it called The Wealth of Networks at ww.benkler.org. The author is Yochai Benkler, Yale Law School, yochai.benkler@yale.edu.

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No part of this newsletter is paid advertising.
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TIP: Back up your blog. Allyn Evans (www.allynevans.com) writes her blogs (www.allynevans.blogpsot.com) in Word and then transfers them to blogspot.com. One blog expert sent a letter out that would scare the beejeebies out of a serious blogger, but most of just want to be sure our little tidbits are saved in two places -- mostly so we can recycle our essays at will!

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Please pass this letter on to others. Unlike many others, I do not mind if you use only portions of it as long as you credit the writers and include this subscribe information. "To subscribe to 'Sharing with Writers' send an e-mail to HoJoNews@aol.com with 'subscribe' in the subject line."
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Sharing:

Sell Sheets: Not Only for Bookstore Buyers

(SWW Subscriber Nadine Laman sent this information on sell sheets along to share with all of you. It includes some recommended reading.)

My understanding of a sell sheet is that it is for retailers who buy at wholesale. I think it could be used for readers and libraries. But, it can be made specific to each audience.

Here is the thought behind my sell sheet.

People want to see the cover. They want a short blurb, a short review, and ordering info, including the specs of the book (pages; format: hardbound, soft bound, eBook; dimensions...). They want a distributors name or contact info.

My sell sheet features my trilogy, but ordinarily, there is one book per page. Generally, it shouldn't be quite as crowded as my sheet is.

I used WordPerfect to create this in a simple word style document. I don't see why this couldn't be done in MS Word. There are all sorts of graphic programs from simple greeting card software to fancy stuff I've never heard of.

[To produce something like this} I think it is well worth the money to buy a copy of "The non-designer's design book" by Robin Williams (not the actor).Here's the link. http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Second/dp/0321193857/sr=1-1/qid=1172116652/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7516431-7027223?ie=UTF8&s=books

It takes all of 5 minutes to make the difference between a flyer or sell sheet that is attractive and one that looks like a third grader made it. Personally, I don't think it is worth it to pay someone (a PR firm) to do a sell sheet. They are too easy to do yourself to justify the expense of having someone do one for you.

The last thing I would mention is to .pdf the sell sheet. That is the only way I know to stabilize it so it doesn't scramble over electronic transfers.

Here is what mine looks like: http://nadinelamanbooks.com/pdf/sellsheet1.pdf

Nadine Laman
NadineLaman@aol.com
http://www.nadinelamanbooks.com/

rate this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu6f_4ab0uk

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Perks for participants Authors' Coalition's booth in the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books:

 Yarnspinners and Wordweavers will feature an ad for your book.
 You will qualify for an interview or a review in Yarnspinners and Wordweavers.
 Authors' Coalition will run a year-long ad on their site.
 You automatically become a paid member to Authors' Coalition entitling you all the members' perks including a review on the AC site, participation in the AC bookstore, and more.

You can participate in some way whether you can be in Los Angeles for the fair or not. When you do you will get exposure at the fair to more than 130,000 visitors. If you participate in the catalog more than 500 or more booksellers and press will see your book

To subscribe to Y&W, send an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line to nate@redenginepress.com. To learn more about the LA Times Fair program go to http://redenginepress.com/chjohnson.
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New members will help Authors' Coalition serve all its members better! Ask your writing friends to join at http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com. Paid members get a favorite review posted, consideration for an interview or review in Yarnspinners and Wordweavers. Membership is reasonable, too. We're even planning a speakers' bureau.

Tell friends to visit our blog. There they'll learn how to spark generally insipid book fairs by using value-added promotions: http://redenginepress.com/chjohnson .
http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com
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Author Successes

(You are invited to send me news about your successes. New books, awards and more. If you read about others' successes you'll not only be inspired, you'll glean resources for future successes of your own. Please get in the habit of using subject lines, though, that will not be interpreted as spam.)

None for me to report this week, always a disappointment! (-:

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Fun and F r * *: If you purchased Promoter in the past, I'd love for you to review it on Amazon or BN.com. Make it simple; just tell what part of it you found most valuable. If you do, send me the review link (URL) and I will send you an excerpt from my soon-to-be-released The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success that includes some sidebars from the book that will help you with some tricky grammar. As a thank you, of course. HoJoNews@aol.com, the Frugal Book
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Editing Tip: The word crisis is not only overused these days, it's misused. It doesn't refer to an ongoing problem (like the Iraq war). It refers to a decisive moment, not something that drags on ad infinitum.

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Carolyn's Appearances and Teaching:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's new course at UCLA is Creating a Promotion Package for Your Fiction or Nonfiction Book (Engl. 735.1, Reg. #S9465). It is scheduled for April 14, 2007, one day only. On the UCLA campus, Public Policy Building, Room 1278, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.
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Southern California Writers Alert!! Carolyn will workshop with members of the California Writers Club and nonmembers alike on Saturday, March 3, 11 am, at the Valley Center Jewish Community Center, 13164 Burbank Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA. Learn more at http://www.calwriterssfv.com. After learning how to build credentials by building a media kit, she will critique kits for audience members. The cost is $10 for nonmembers, $5 for members. The fee includes lunch.
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Coming Saturday April 21, 2007 at 10 am. Led by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Poetry! Don't Let It Molder in a Drawer, Publish It! A seminar and poetry reading at the Glendale City Central Library (California) in the auditorium.
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Mark April 28th and 29, 2007, for the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books. Go to www.redenginepress.com/chjonson for the fair-focused blog with details on how even out-of-towners can participate.
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Carolyn will train American Business Women of America's (ABWA) newsletter editors publish prize-winning, professional periodicals June 9th at their regional convention in Downey, CA.
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Romance Writers Everywhere! Come to the meeting I'll be speaking at on Saturday, June 16th, in San Diego to meet me and the National President of Romance Writers of America (Jill Limber) who will speak on writing a great synopsis--something most of us aren't that adept at (for lack of practice if nothing else). I'll speak at 10 am, she'll speak after lunch. Lunch and meetings at the Mission Valley Handley Hotel is $25 for members, $30. for nonmembers.
For reservations contact hospitality chairwoman Mary Galusha at: marydave66@yahoo.com . Please copy Linda Sundstrom, lsundstrom@ucsd.edu if you want to arrange seating at my table. The group's website is www.rwasd.com.
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Carolyn will be interviewed by popular author and marketer Janet Elaine Smith hosts an online radio program, "Marketing for Fun and Profit," every Monday evening at July 9 p.m. ET on http://internetvoicesradio.com/ .

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Carolyn will speak on "Your Media Release: You Write So You Can Do It! September 8, 2007 at the Valley Cities Jewish
Community Center in Sherman Oaks, CA www.CalWritersSFV.com
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Carolyn will moderate a panel on publishing at the West Hollywood Book Fair on September 30. Circle your calendars. It's f r ^ ^ Even those who are old hands at publishing will learn something new, I promise!
West Hollywood Park
647 N San Vicente Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Learn more at http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org/Mambo/
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Carolyn will speak at the fourth Annual Pen to Paper Literary Symposium October 6, 2007, Dayton, Ohio. The conference will include tracks for music and screenwriting, in addition to writing and publishing books. Start planning now to attend this elite event and take advantage of the early bird special (www.penofthewriter.com/pentopaper).
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The f r ^ ^ Muse Online Writers' Conference, sponsored by Lea Schizas and Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is accepting early registration. More than 1,000 attended last year and openings are limited. Learn more about this year's conference, October 8 to 14, and how you can assure your spot 2007. We will present an all-new program soon. Go to:
http://www.freewebs.com/themuseonlinewritersconference/presentersregistration.htm
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Carolyn will be speaking to PEN USA's Emerging Voices fellows in May at Antioch University. This is a closed event but you can learn more about the program for yourself or to help other talented writers by going to www.penusa.com.
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New for 2008! & As you can see 2008 is already beginning to fill. I will be sharing with the nation's humor writers again in the fall of 2008 at Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.

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Authors' Coalition members! For credibility, use the AC logo on your promotional materials. Ask for it by sending an e-mail to HoJoNews@aol.com or download it with a click from the AC site http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com.
Be sure to link it to the AC site, too!
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Thank Yous:

(There are leads here, just as you'll find in all the most innocent-looking areas of this newsletter. You never know when you'll find a name or a site that will help you network or write better!)

~To Ian Middleton is writing book reviews, which will be published on various websites and also on my special book review blog:
http://ians-book-reviews.blogspot.com/
Check out the latest review of Carolyn Howard Johnson’s, The Frugal Book Promoter and feel free to leave your comments.

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Endorsement:
www.HowToDoItFrugally.com , by Carolyn Howard--Johnson [is] a top website for writers . . . I'd say my ROI is over 1,000%. The advice is particularly strong in addressing the new author where they are in learning the publishing/selling process. Very practical. The site is excellent.
~Hill Kemp, author of Capitol Offense, http://www.capitoloffense.com/, and contributor to Secrets, Fact or Fiction? I, ISBN 0-9737282-5-6 and Secrets, Fact or Fiction? II, ISBN 1-59594-062-6, LOC 2006904627, http://www.secretsfactorfiction.com
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Resources
From Elizabeth Lucas-Taylor

(Elizabeth contributes at least one valuable paying resource per SWW issue--either a great place to sell material or find writing craft or promotional idea--and sometimes throws in a resource for you.)

REFEREE MAGAZINE Rates vary from 5 to 10 cts/published wd, depending on how we use the text. We may decide to hold your submission on file until space opens up or we will pick a month to run it. Scheduled articles need standard contracts that will be sent to the writer to sign and return for payment. Accepts submissions on spec, but appreciate direct queries, either by mail or e-mail. (No phone calls) Guidelines: http://www.referee.com/WritersGuidelines/index.html

2007 LIST OF BANISHED WORDS - http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

GRAMMAR: COMMON REDUNDANCIES - http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/redundancies.htm

THE WRITER’s DESK - a website that will forward your query to an agency. You will have to sign in and there is a small fee. It gives a good list of agents to get you started. http://thewritersdesk.org/groups/agents.html
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Find Elizabeth at http://www.authorsden.com/elucastaylor or her new blog at http://www.elucas-taylor.blogspot.com/


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Reciprocal Links: Many subscribers are in a position to cross-promote. Let me know if you would like to trade some recommendation or promotion for a place on my Links for Writers or Links for Readers pages on www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
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Link Opportunity:

I am still working like mad on my site and have a "Links for Readers" because I hope to attract readers to my site for my books like THIS IS THE PLACE, TRACINGS, HARKENING and others. Of course, I want writers, too! You writers are my break and butter and great loves! Without you my FRUGAL series would be nothing. Thus my "Links for Writers" page.

So how can we promote together? I can put your book on one of these pages, no matter who they are directed to. How might my site or one of my books fit on yours? Go to www.HowToDoItFrugally.com, click on the links page that you think will work for you and send me something that looks like those links. By the way, that's an associated TIP:

Associated Tip: Send material to editors in a format as closely matched to what they will need as you can. They are very busy people. By doing that you have a better chance that your submission will be used. That means including little things like the link. That means paying attention to the font and the information the editor needs. Don't expect the editor to sift through reams of material if she usually published a single sentence or a single paragraph. Supply your own tagline (you'll do a better job with it than she would anyway!)

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When was the last time you bought a book from an author you know? Tracings, my new chapbook of poetry is available for that honor at www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599240173/qid=1141623936/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4692447-2218401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
but any book mentioned in any one of your Sharing with Writers newsletters would be a nice gesture. If all of us directed more of our reading to newer authors who write in genres we love or genres we need to stretch into, we would do ourselves and the publishing industry a great favor.
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Tip: Did you know that with your paid membership of only $20 to Authors' Coalition you received a page of your own on the site that includes your favorite review, book cover, and headshot? That you also get:
Subscription to "Sharing with Writers" where authors can brag a bit and learn about everything from book promotion to writing craft. (Non-members may subscribe at no charge by sending an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line to HoJoNews@aol.com.)
Subscription to Yarnspinners and Wordweavers. You can announce your new books, show off your cover art, discuss issues of import to writers, get credits, use pdf for media kits, and just enjoy. (Nonmembers may subscribe at no charge to this newsletter by sending an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line to nate@redenginepress.com )
Access to exclusive support materials
Access to reasonably priced AC site ads
Access to AC-sponsored book fair booths
Opportunity for cross-promotional projects such as The Complete Writer's Journal*
Use of the professional AC logo
Access to a blog focused on making book fairs work for you
Posting with author picture or book cover picture in our AC bookstore
Your favorite review posted on the AC site
A no-cost list of author-friendly bookstores
Access to the AC Speaker's Bureau
Access to member pricing for AC products & services

And if you kick your membership up a notch to the next level (gold), you get any two of these books free: The Frugal Book Promoter , The Complete Writer, The Complete Writer Journals.

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"AC is the current that powers your writing career." http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Authors' Coalition Founder
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E-Tips for E-Promotion:

You are doing visitors to your e-commerce site a favor if you recommend a product there that you feel comfortable endorsing. A good PR person won't insist that such an endorsement be a straight-across trade; a GREAT PR person will ask if the favor could be returned if the other site owner feels comfortable doing it. If the other author/webmaster isn't set up for that, then perhaps a mention in a newsletter would do the trick. To put this as a famous campaign battle cry once did: It's NOT the link, stupid. It's the exposure! See Opportunities in this newsletter for working with me on links.

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This is a regular Sharing with Writers feature by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of USA Book News' Best Professional Book THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T and the soon-to-be released THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS. (E-tips for E-promotion was originally a regular feature of SellWritingOnline.com.)

========================================================If you enjoy "Sharing with Writers" please nominate it for Writer's Digest's 101 Best Newsletters for Writers. We aren't big, we aren't old. So it would take a huge outpouring from subscribers to make a dent. Send an e-mail to writersdig@fwpubs.com with subject line, "101 Best Newsletters for Authors" and let them know what this newsletter does for you!
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Wordstuff ™

Something to Make Writers Smile:

(Every year the Washington Post conducts a neologism contest. These are the winners, one at a time. You might have some favorite neologisms metaphors or similes that make you smile. If so, please contribute.)

" Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp."

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Essential Book and Record Keeping:

This letter is an entity of Authors' Coalition http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com

Edited and distributed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,

http://carolynhoward-johnson.com

author of This Is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, this is a place to share with others and learn from others.

Though I do attempt to verify information used within this newsletter's pages, Sharing with Writers does not guarantee entities or information. Subscribers should research resources

To submit information articles, tips or other information e-mail Carolyn at HoJoNews@aol.com . Please put "Submission: Sharing with Writers" in the subject line.

If you do not care to receive this letter, unsubscribe at HoJoNews@aol.com

Include "Unsubscribe" in the subject line but please, please don't tell me you've given up writing or promoting!

To subscribe to Sharing with Writers send an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to: HoJoNews@aol.com

Please pass this newsletter on to friends or e-groups. It needn't be pasted in its complete form, but please credit this newsletter, Authors' Coalition and the individual contributors with anything you snip and paste.

Order the Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't
at stores like UCLA, Dayton University and San Diego State University's bookstores. Order it as an e-book at http://starpublish.com/carolyn_howard-johnson.htm

or paperback at Amazon where it is discounted:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/qid=1149015406/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4692447-2218401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Tracings, a chapbook of poetry, published by Finishing Line Press may be ordered at www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599240173/qid=1139084827/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7824821-4156653?s=books&v=glance&n=283155