Aril 6, 2007
Sharing with Writers
A newsletter that is also a community. Share your ideas. Learn from theirs!
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_April_No2Week_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:

Ahhh, April.

Tulip month. I love it. It is my birthday month and it is also a busy month for writers. Lots of spring book fairs, etc. (Be sure to check out what I'm doing to help writers and promote in the appearances section of this paper.) Mostly I'm hoping you will take this burst of spring energy (mine and the universe's) as inspiration (or a nag if you prefer!) to get out there and help yourself by doing for others.

Sure, you'll get a few rejections when you first begin to speak or talk but, hey! We're writers! We know how to take rejection and continue to move forward.

If you just can't force yourself to start speaking or teaching right now, try something else. Start a newsletter. Attend a seminar or event one of your fellow authors is doing. I never fail to get one tip, one contact, one friend out of anything I force myself to get up and do. And that's especially true during the month of April. Renewal is in the air!!

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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Subscribers who have websites or newsletters of their own may be interested in the Free Articles 4 Readers and Writers on my site, www.howtodoitfrugally.com. I add new articles to it each week. If you don't see what you need, just ask. HoJoNews@aol.com.
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Feature

Report on Spirited Agent Interview

I just listened in on the Spirited Woman Circle. (Yes, men were there, too!) This series is run by the Spirited Nancy Mills. The circle is a series of one-hour conversations with authors and other publishing professionals. This one featured agent Lisa Hagan, president of Paraview Literary Agency (www.paraview.com).

One of the things she stressed was the necessity for authors to have a platform. In fact, she says that this aspect of an author's credibility is far more important than having had an agent, having published before or about anything else other than having written a great book.

By a platform Lisa (and the whole publishing industry) means how you've built your credibility; what talents or experience you have with speaking, teaching, television or radio; what kind of a website you have (is it active? do you have traffic coming to it regularly?). If it is apparent to agents and publishers that you understand the world of publicity and promotion then you have begun to have a platform! So what can YOU do to help sell your book NOW? And by now, I do mean now, even if your book is only a little sparkle in your eye, a hope in your heart.

Lisa explained that an agent--at least this agent--looks at you to see if you can sell 25,000 books. You can see NOW is important. It takes more than a minute to build a platform (or following) that can help you do that!

By the way, Lisa also told those on the conference that she stopped representing fiction. She says that editing them became much too time-consuming to be cost effective.

So, you can see that both of the books in the How To Do It Frugally Series are essential reading for authors no matter how they expect to publish, no matter what form their publishing dream looks like.

The Frugal Editor will be officially released this summer and is now in presale mode. I am accepting preorders and will sign and send your book as soon as I have the review copies in my hot little hand (yes, if you order early you might get an "unedited" version.). I am doing this presales business because I can see how important it is to have this book before you submit to an agent, publisher or go to press on your own. It is $18.95 plus $2. (book or media rate). Just let me know and I'll give you my address to send a check. HoJoNews@aol.com .

Of course, you all know how to get a copy of the Frugal Book Promoter on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/

Those interested in learning more from Nancy's archived CDs will find them at www.thespiritedwoman.com.

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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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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!)

Linda Ballou and Carol Wood, California Writers' Club of San Fernando Valley members, for the sweet and tip-laden article on me in their latest newsletter. What a lovely way to thank a speaker for her time. Learn more about newsletter layout and glean some tips from my talk to the club by going to http://www.calwriterssfv.com/ .Click on newsletters and then on the green button that says "Scribe," the name of their newsletter.

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To Jendi and Adam at Winning Writers: for mentioning how my website is becoming a stop-and-learn spot for writers on their "what's new" page, http://www.winningwriters.com/new/wn_new.php .
I find their letter extremely helpful (and up-to-date) for contest information, especially poetry. Check it out! (-:

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No part of this newsletter is paid advertising. If you would like to advertise to subscribers, display ads are available at www.howtodoitfrugally.com (see the advertising tab at the top of the page) or at www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com.
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Tip: Do you know about Media Bistro? They offer lots of classes in lots of metropolitan areas. June Casagrande, author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, has taught with them and they also have online classes. Go to www.mediabistro.com/writers.

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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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TIP: I learn Spanish while I drive (not quickly but I'm trying!) You can get information on writing craft, book promotion, savvy web building for authors and more by listening to the audios I produce with partners Allyn Evans, Joyce Faulkner and Kathe Gogolewski. Go to www.tri-studio.com. Click on the Audio Writing Classes button on the right side of the page. You can even find some fun promotional podcasts for the audios there! (-:

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We have room because of a cancellation for one more one-hour signing segment at the LA Fair. CD and Catalog opportunities are closed but will be available again for the North Hollywood Book Fair in September.
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Editing Tip direct from The Frugal Editor which will soon be available on Amazon: If you learned to type on an old-fashioned typewriter, you probably double space between sentences. Don't do it. Computerized presses now kern (meaning adjust the typeface for wide and narrow letters) automatically and don't need your help. If you just can't stop, you'll find detailed instructions in the Frugal Editor for how to let your Word program help you edit them out those extra spaces.

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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.)

Several Successes for Cynthia Brian: RELAX Magazine has retained New York Times bestselling author, Cynthia Brian as their new garden and lifestyle writer. Darlene Montgomery's newest book, Conscious Women, Conscious Mothers features a story by Cynthia. In August, Cynthia will be teaching a variety of writing courses in Steam Boat Springs, Colorado as part of the Arts for the Soul Retreat and will be the guest lecturer at the Gardener's Soul Picnic.
For information on the retreat or other questions, contact cynthia@star-style.com or www.cynthiabrian.com .

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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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Opportunities

Boomer Women Speak APRIL-MAY Writing Contest
My Favorite Memory of the 50s, 60s, or 70s
Deadline: May 31, 2007

Entry Fee: NONE - Great prizes including $50.00 CASH, books, and New Membership or Renewal to NABBW!

Remember "Hey Jude" or "American Pie?" Maybe you remember riding around all week on $2.00 worth of gas. Or … eating foot-longs at the local Dairy Queen? When your memories stir, does your heart race back to prom night? Don't let "what happened at Woodstock stay in Woodstock!"

Why not share your favorite memory with us and win prizes? We want to know your favorite memory of the 50s, 60s or 70s. Send us your fav and let us all travel with you down memory lane. Just think, this time you don't have to buy gas!

Please visit us at http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com/. Get your guidelines and submission information at
http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com/display_news.php?nid=8&PHPSESSID=ef0326f855a18300bb0a58d0d5636724.

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Carolyn's next one-day seminar on building a promotion campaign for your book is April 14 at UCLA's Public Policy building, 9:30 am. Registrations are available at the door.
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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. By advance registration or registration 1/2 hour before class.
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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 featuring Sona Ovasapyan and Christine Alexanians.
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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 sit on a publishing/writing career panel for UCLA's Career Program. April 10, at the Career center, corner Strathmore and Westwood (near the campus) in Westwood, CA . 5 pm to 7 pm.
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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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&Free Frugal Editor for Publishing Professionals a BEA! Carolyn will be at the Biblio Booth at Javits Center in New York City at 1 pm Friday, June 1, signing her new The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success.
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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 Marriott, 1414 S. Patterson Blvd Dayton, Ohio, 45409. 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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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 spring of 2008 at Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. I'll speak twice at the Kennedy Union on campus.

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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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Web Advice from WebforAuthors.com Expert

From Marshall Turner

Launch your website six months before you think you need it!
It can takes months before you will show up in Google. Affectionately referred to as the “Google Sandbox,” Google appears to suppress new sites for several weeks or longer. They won’t explain why, but some think it’s to weed out fraudulent sites that pop up and then disappear quickly. In any case, it takes a while before your new site will start showing up in the search engines. So get started early!

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Marshall's website is http://www.webforauthors.com/ or contact him for information on producing a site for you at mturner@webforauthors.com.

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TIP: A book you might want to have in your library to refer to on anything to do with anatomy is reviewed at http://www.writeradvice.com/hooked.html#artistic. You'll see I highly recommend it as one of the keepers you'd rather have in your library than utilize the web. While you're at WriterAdvice.com, you might want to check out their contest. Info on it is on the home page.

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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.)

HINDUISM TODAY - Seeks nonfiction, columns/departments, fillers, photos/artwork. Subjects: Hindu thought, practices and culture. Pays on publication.
Guidelines: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/writers.shtml
NEW AGE RETAILER - business magazine with a circulation of more than 10,000 store owners in the US, published seven times per year. Editorial content, including feature articles, to be useful to retailers. $250/article upon publication (2500 to 3500 published wds, with article length depending on topic). We request submission by email or on disk.
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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 Resources for Writers or Resources for Readers pages on www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
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Opportunities

Authors' Coalition Partners with Kathe Gogolewski for Title/Author Personalized Design

Personalize the adorable CD art that AC member Kathe Gogolewski developed for our Authors' Coalition discs. Imagine! Your name and book title for use in your promotional material: flyers, pamphlets', brochures, letters, and e-mail signatures. For only $20 for Authors' Coalition members and $35 for non-members, artist Kathe Gogolewski will tweak the AC logos on this page to suit your promotional needs. To see all the possibilities (male, female, dark skin, light skin, etc. go to: http://www.tri-studio.com/carolyn.html. Then imagine your book's title and your name incorporated into the design.
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Share Your Writing or Promotion Tip with Others
The All-Tips Edition of Sharing with Writers is coming and you will want to send me your favorite resource or tip. That's Pass It Forward of the best kind! C'mon. Don't hoard your brilliant ideas. Share!

Please also let your fellow authors, critiquers, authors' e-groups, etc. know that this great edition of Sharing with Writers is coming so they can subscribe by sending me an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line. HoJoNews@aol.com .

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Tip: I just posted another .pdf file on my site to help editors and people looking for speakers but it can help anyone who wants samples of how media kits can be targeted to different needs. Feel free download all three to use as guidelines for your own. Then compare. It's a valuable lesson in making your kits work the best for you. The URL for my media room is http://www.carolynhowardjohnson.redenginepress.com/media_room1.htm
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Reaching Your Readers

Imagine that your book will be seen by the kind of web visitor you want to appeal to.

That might be poets, those who like to read poetry, the general reading audience or writers looking for information that will help them. Ads are now available at both http://www.carolynhowardjohnson.redenginepress.com/advertising.htm and www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com (think of all those fair visitors searching the AC site because it is listed in the LA Times Fair guide!) Contact me at hojonews@aol.com with questions.

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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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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.)

"Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline."

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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

It always surprised me that most authors don't have a media room (or, Horrors! press room!) on their website. They say, "Well, everything an editor or producer needs to know is somewhere on my site!" Oh, poor editors. They're overworked. Don't make them search. Give them everything they need in one place. Let them download it in a .pdf file. Include a mini bio that they can use as-is--no rewrite needed. Your consideration can actually result in your being chosen over someone else!
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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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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