November 8, 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://www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com

an organization of writers who help writers.

To read this letter in plain vanilla text, 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_Sept_#3AllMarketingUpdate_2007.doc

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Note from Carolyn:

Dear Subscribers and Authors' Coalition Members:

Today I'm letting a fine author write my editorial for me. I'm doing that because one of the major tenets of marketing/publicity is to share, to be inclusive. For instance, we should all say - - at the end of a query letter - - "Please let me know if I can help you." At the beginning of a phone conversation with an editor we should always say, "Have I found you at a convenient moment?"

There is a song from the 50s out there, "Little things mean a lot." Well, in love they do. And publicity is a kind of love, a kind of helping one another. So here is Mindy Phillips Lawrence talking about competition and how it does and doesn't work for her writer self, how competition may work only when we pause to consider the growth of others as valuable as our own:

Surpassing the Mentor...

Before I went to the store to shop, I pulled up YouTube.com and listened to three different versions of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” – One performed by Cohen himself, one by Allison Crowe and another by k.d. lang. Cohen is a wonderful writer but I don’t appreciate his voice. It’s honest but not that powerful to my way of thinking. Crowe is a wonderful singer who has a combination of both power and sweetness when she sings. It’s a lovely rendition.

Then we get to k.d. lang. If an artist can OWN a song, lang owns this one. Her raw power, emotion and passion are evident in every note. In fact, I erased my effort when I heard hers. There has to be some ring in hell that I’d accept to be able to sing like this woman.

Pondering “Hallelujah” caused me to take the idea a step further. Cohen wrote the song. How does he feel when another artist, like k.d. lang, covers it and does so much better than he did? The goal for any educator is to teach well enough to have students surpass the master, but how does that affect the master? To answer my own question, I think I would be tremendously proud of my students and, at the same time, want to improve my work, not to compete with anyone but to grow as an artist.

I have not eclipsed my instructor and may never grow to that point. His work makes me want to push my own to another level, not to compete with him but to use what he has done as a tool to increase my ability to write. However, to be honest, I love to joust with him when he sends me his poetry. I don‘t try to beat him. I try to match him. I don’t know why I got lucky enough to be connected to his work again and learn from him, but I am truly blessed.

When I send notes to my former professor to ponder a question with him, I know he is busy. Although I can’t discuss writing issues with him in depth, I still learn from him by close reading of his novels, dissecting his work to see how he put it together, and reading what books he may have used as preparation for developing his characters and stories. I try to get into his mind. The more I study what he has done, the more I realize I am a beginner. Do I think he's perfect? Not at all. His work has issues as mine does. He's just far more advanced than I am.

Humbled? Yes. Discouraged? No. I’m not attempting to BE my former professor but to use what I can from him to develop my own unique voice. He doesn’t like some of my efforts and that’s okay. If his dislike is because of structural issues, it matters. If it’s because of what I say or how he interprets what I say, then it’s grist for my thinking mill. My words sing to their own tune.

Will I ever reach the place where I can say I am on an equal level with my instructor? Probably not. If I do, I hope he applauds.

Thank you, Mindy!

Very best,

Happy, happy writing and promoting!
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 and
www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com

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Making Video Work for You

I've must apologize. I've been ignoring video as a marketing tool, primarily because I've had such bad luck with it. You don't even want to hear about the dreadful trailer I had done by a service I hired. She had done some fun work with genre fiction and so I should have had her work on a trailer for This Is the Place and/or Harkening instead of my how - to books for writers. Suffice it to say, asking her to switch genres did not produce an effective piece for YouTube or anywhere else.

The universe has a way of taking care of us, however. I met a wonderful man who provides this service at a meeting I almost didn't go to. His name is Ray Ybarra and you'll find his work at http://www.veoh.com/channels/BSATV. Or e - mail Rey at rey.ybarra@websitestreaming.com.

About the same time I found this post on one of the groups I belong to. Nikki Leigh, novelist and author of the Book Promo 101 Series, www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm, gave me permission to use it. I figured that for those of you who don't live near enough to Rey to avail yourself to his video service or for those of you who like to do it the FRUGAL way . . . ahem! you might want to try some of Nikki's resources. Here they are:

"Some of us were having a discussion about Movie Maker and Book Trailers and I thought this would be beneficial for everyone - - so I'm sharing the links I dug up.

"This is the link to download Movie Maker

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

"This is the link to the instructions -

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx

"This is a Wikipedia article about Movie Maker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Movie_Maker

"These links should get you started :) Movie Maker is the key to making it easy from what I've seen. There are other programs I tried, but they were harder and didn't do as many neat things. I've also found the key for me is to keep playing and poking around the program to see what it does and what options it offers. I'd start off with random pix etc and just play to see what you can do."

Nikki also says the link to the instructions is essential, that she wishes she'd had it when she first started using it.

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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 and ditto for The Fiction Flyer. Membership is reasonable, too.
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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New Studies in Why We Buy

Judging Products by Familiar Names: New studies confirm that we don't care much about the quality of something or maybe even the cost; we judge products by what they're called and how well we know that name. The University of Cologne asked participants to pick between to airlines, one with a name they knew and one without. Mot chose the name they recognized. Then the researchers planted negative suggestions about the big - name airline's safety record. People still chose the big - name, big - recognized airline. So, tell me that marketing your name (first) and your title (second) isn't important and I'll tell you that you've got it backward. Your name will be around a lot longer than any one specific title.

You might want to read Gerd Gigerenzer's Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious. You'll be convinced of the effectiveness of repeated exposure to a brand (yep, your name, your book's title). As a psychologist the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, this author conducted a study. People sampled peanut butter from three different sources. All were the same peanut butter but 75% of the testers thought the butter in jar that had a brand name on it was better than the other. Stanford did a similar study with French fries and the ones in MacDonald's packages won mouth - down. Now, for my theory. Yeah, it's great if you can get on Oprah. But with many (MANY!) links and mentions all over the web a few mentions in print, and maybe even a review or two, you can be a brand name to your niche audience. It's grassroots branding and most branding starts that way.

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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 try to add new articles to it each week. If you don't see what you need for your blog, or newsletter, just ask. HoJoNews@aol.com.
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Tip: For a quick marketing study, bone up on The Publicity Hound's past newsletters at: http://www.PublicityHound.com/tipsoftheweek . Her letters cover media campaigns, media releases and lots more. Straight - forward stuff.
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Tip: Make you own video - collage. If I can do it (www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com), anyone can. You are going to love this free service from Rey Ybarra. Click on the "Make Your own button at this URL. http://bestsellingauthortv.blogspot.com/2007/10/bsatv - photo - slide - show - of - irwin - awards.html
Click to make the collage do its thing, add a comment (that's part of your grassroots campaign if you leave your website's URL as part of your comment).Then you can make a video - collage for yourself. I know you can! The button is right there. It says "Make Your Own." If you'd like to comment on mine at the site where I made it go to: http://www.slide.com/r/vNksqGVg6T9oU - Ecrz54Q4cf9d18nFyD

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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 at less per year than most sites charge for a single month (see the advertising tab at the top of the page). Authors' Coalition www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com is also accepting ads.
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SWW Subscribers Share

Neglecting Wal - Mart Online?

From Jewel M. Sample

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Wal - mart.com is accepting product reviews, ratings or comments. I took the opportunity to discover if I could put my review for you on this site . . .

I learned anyone can post a review or rate a product. Simply get a free account. Wal - mart does not want personal names, taglines or anything that identifies the reviewer on their site. Because all the glory shines on the product, it is not a way to frugally promote one's own book. However it is a great way to do your fellow authors a good deed! The downside of posting on Wal - mart.com is you will not see an instant display of your comments. It takes 5 - 7 working days to see your post. If you add any self identifying information the post is not accepted and one only knows by the fact it never went up within the 5 - 7 day time frame. Wal - mart does not contact through email as to why they rejected the post or if they posted it.

I encourage you to let others know they can now post their comments, reviews and ratings on Walmart.com. Here is the link to my review: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3616976
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Jewel Sample is the author of “Flying Hugs and Kisses”, author, the Spanish edition "Besos y abrazos al aire" and the "Flying Hugs and Kisses Activity Book" It won the National Parenting Center 2007 Seal of Approval.
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Tip: In addition to the list of radio shows on the Resources for Writers page of my site, www.HowToDoItFrugally.com, you'll find other shows listed at this address provided by author - subscriber Virgil Jose: http://betsie.tripod.com/literary/id82.html. Do be careful though. Some of them are interview shows that one must pay for. You probably already know that, generally speaking, I think you'd do better not paying for a show, though there may certainly be exceptions.
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About Cross Marketing and/or Intramarketing

Disney has marketing figured out. Here's how James Poniewozik of Time Magazine (October 29) puts it: "Disney uses its vast, multimedia holdings [to make a phenom]. Its stars . . . debut on the Disney Channel. They record CDs for Disney Music. Their music is played on Radio Disney network. They make movies for Disney. They appear on shows like Disney - owned ABC's Dancing with the Stars." See how each Disney entity massages the other. Disney can build a star overnight.

So, your name isn't Disney. But you can do the same, just a little more grass rootsier. That's because you

 have a website
 have a blog, maybe more than one
 belong to organizations like Authors' Coalition
 play with a social network (like Shelfari or Facebook of BookMarket.ning)
 utilize Amazon's free perks (if you're following what I tell you to do in The Frugal Book Promoter anyway!)
 put out a newsletter
 write book(s) (or will soon). And you will someday have more than one.
 belong to or act as a listmom for a listserve (most are on yahoogroups.com)
 teach a class in your field of expertise
 speak at tradeshows or conferences

Each of these parts of your empire can benefit the others. Think of all the ways you can do it. Cross link. Cross promote. Referrals. Ads in one part of your empire for the other part. You'll think of some I haven't. Now, just go do it!
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Targeted Marketing

Facebook, Inc is working on a new advertising system that will let advertisers target the audience most suited to them. They are using the huge amount of information that people who use the Web (and in particular use Facebook) willingly hand over to them when they fill out forms and when they message their social network. That will help potential advertisers predict which Facebook user will most likely be interested in a certain product. I've been preaching that kind of marketing for our books since The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't came out. Most of you have a copy so revisit the chapter on Amazon, as an example, to see how you can focus your efforts on people who read - - and further refine your pitch to the ones who read your kind of book!

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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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TIP: Web experts suggest you start a book - specific blog 90 days before your new release and continue it at least 90 days after its release. Many publishers are running blogs on the books in their catalogs but most don't so it is probably up to you. The same experts suggest that if the author has his or her own blog, the publisher should support it with content. Duhhh.

I'm an expert, too - - an expert from the school of hard knocks. That's what you get when you try to promote the two most difficult kinds of books of all - - literary novels and poetry. And you know my refrain. You're probably on your own no matter what your write. So, you may be tempted to use a blog you already have, but now you know, please don't. I'll be starting a blog for The Frugal Editor soon. I needed this boot in the pants to get me started.

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Watch for the fourth annual All Tips Edition of Sharing with Writers coming in September. Send your favorite tip for inclusion to: HoJoNews@aol.com with "SWW TIP: in the subject line.
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Marketing Study

In one of my online groups, a recent study went uncredited. It was right on target about what affects the sales of a book (and therefore its readership) most. I have rewritten it because I don't want to be accused of plagiarism, but I want to thank whoever did the research. One of the nicest things about this research is that it includes ideas that fiction writers can use to promote their books.

1. Word of mouth. 25% of people polled said they bought a book on the recommendation of another. But then we knew that. Try Shelfari.com - like groups and chat groups to help do this. ASK your fans to help spread the word.

2. The book group. This, of course, is related to word of mouth but it's a network of very serious readers. Oprah's Book Club is influential but mostly out of reach. The Richard and Judy Book Club, is influential, too. Google it. You also might attract readers' groups simply by offering your book on your blog or website.

3. Author. This is one I talk about ad infinitum in my seminars. Brand yourself and keep writing. More people buy a book because they've read another one by the same author than because someone recommends it. Brand, brand, brand. You are the star.

4. Cover art. It's getting fancy: Full color. Cut outs (check out Dava Sobel's paperbacks), thick paper, embossing, foils, and now even glitter. Sell the book as an object of art, an object of desire. Printing in China where it is cheap has encouraged the trend.

4. In store marketing. Authors have little if any control over this because the battles for space in bookstores are generally fought by distributors and publishers on your behalf. That's why your website and the online bookstores are important. See the Frugal Book Promoter's chapter on using f r ^ ^ Amazon perks for targeting your reader.

5. Literary prizes. The Pulitzer and Booker may be out of your reach (maybe not!). In any case, lesser awards including my Noble (Not Nobel!) can be used effectively to set your book above others. There are many awards - - big and small - out there.

6. The title. We knew that, too. But did you know that you can use two subtitles? One on the front and a second subtitle on the back cover which gives you a second chance to convince the browser. See the Frugal Editor for an example.

7. Reviews. They're related, of course, to word of mouth. Having said that, it is possible to market a book without them. And keep it mind that a paid - for review is not credible. Why pay when you can ask any of your readers to weigh in on Amazon and B&N.com.

10. Newspaper serialization. This is a method that is often neglected by authors. For good reason. Fewer and fewer print vehicles are doing it. Time magazine occasionally runs a shortened version of a book but they almost always are nonfiction books that are politically important to the nation.

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Tip: I've said it before. In the Frugal Book Promoter, in this newsletter and sometimes personally to people who write me. It bears repeating. Because of viruses many editors/agents/publisher don't open e - mail with attachments. Some who do open the mail, won't open the attachments. Some are barred by their employers from opening attachments. Offer to send extra material by attachment. They'll let you know! Offer a media kit for download on your website. If it's a pdf, the editors won't be squeamish about going after it. It's all about making it easy on your contacts so they'll be more likely to use what you send.
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Tip: Put all your essential contact information in the window of your e - mail. That includes your signature including URL, e - mail address, blog addresses, and phone. (You'd be surprised how many authors don't do this!). Yes, your e - mail program can do this for you automatically, so there is no excuse.

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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: I met a wonderful marketer at the Southern Festival of Books when I was speaking there. Her business motto fit well with what I try to get over to my fellow authors. It is: "When You Network Well - - You Never Need to Sell ™" She is Raeus Jae Cannon, CNS. She is a networking specialist, trainer, coach, and speaker. www.raeuscannon.com.

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Fun and F r * *: If you purchased The
Frugal Book 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 The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success that is now available for pre - order on Amazon. The excerpt includes some of the sidebars from the book that may help you with some tricky grammar. As a thank you, of course. HoJoNews@aol.com, the Frugal Book
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Q&A a la Ann Landers

Question from one of my Yahoogroups: If anyone else has had experience with marketing their USA Book News award, how did you promote the fact that your book won? Or how would you promote it?

Carolyn Answers: I'm following the advice in my own book the first in the HowToDoItFrugally.com series of books for writers. The second just won in the writing/publishing category so these are the things I have done or plan to do:

 I posted a media release to some free release disseminators.
 I posted the release in my media room, on my website and on my AuthorsDen website (where it reaches lots of authors).
 I' sent that same release to my media contact list - - that includes all media including online editors.
 I posted related articles and/or the release on my blogs
 I posted chatty announcements on some of my social group sites.
 I just posted on my blogspot.com blogs that RSS feeds to my Amazon plog.


I still want
 to let my Yahoogroups know
 make a new Listmania list of my win and the finalists in my category and similar categories.

An award is a forever thing. You don't stop using it to set your book apart from the more than 200,000 published every year. You continue to include the award in your media releases and to tag and keyword the name of the award when you post a release on any subject related to your book.

The Frugal Book Promoter won the same award a few years ago and if you Google USABookNews you'll see hundreds of references I made to that award still extant on the web. Your award doesn't have to be a momentary flash. It can be the fire that roars.

There are probably quite a few ideas I've missed. I'm going back to reread my own chapter on utilizing awards in the Frugal Book Promoter to see what they might be.

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Sign up to receive a copy of my Sharing with Writers blog in your e - mail box. It is a focused blog on all things related to writing and publishing from scolding Oprah to free speech. Go to www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com. Sign up in the left hand column. Find related resources by scrolling to the bottom of the blog.
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Tip: TV can be a part of your overall marketing plan if you prepare for it. Authors with nonfiction books on public affairs and policy (no nonfiction self - help) may submit a pitch by e - mail at boooktv@c - span.org or by mail:
Book TV on C - SPAN2
400 N. Capitol St., NW, Ste 650
Washington DC 20001.
For more information go www.boooktv.org. They do not return submissions.

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Booth opportunities are now available to the 2008 LA Times Festival of Books. Learn about them at www.AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com. =======================================================

TIP: Are you sending out sell sheets on your book to bookstores, particularly local chain stores and independents? You should be. And when you do, use an old marketing trick big advertising firms use. Instead of folding the paper the traditional way, fold it inside out so that the person who take the sheet out of the envelope sees your color book cover image first. In other words, it appears on the outside, not the inside, of the fold.

Associated tip: E - mail me for a sample of what a sell sheet looks like. They don't have to be gorgeous. In fact, many of the big publishers send out crowded ones so as to get the essentials on one page. Put "SWW F r ^ ^ Sell Sheet Sample" in the subject line and send it to HoJoNews@aol.com.

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A general marketing rule is that a product must be seen seven times before it is purchased. That is just as true for books. Let people see that book cover image! So, you are invited to advertise as a site sponsor at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. for a year at the same price many sites frequented by readers and writers charge in a year. Yep, the frugal way! Click on the Advertising tab at the top of the page or contact me personally at hojonews@aol.com.
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Tip: .Here is a way to market and network (remember, you never have to sell if you network! Ha!) by using websites designed to connect you with people of similar interests. This one is LinkedIn.com. I have invited only one person and it manages to - - tech miracle of miracles - - work for me anyway! This page http://www.linkedin.com/reconnect?displayCategories=&trk=nbld_cats illustrates how the site finds people for you.

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Advertising Anyone?

A report in the online newsletter "Publishers Lunch" from publishersmarketplace@yahoo.com reports that the New York Times is expanding its bestseller lists.

As an old reporter I can tell you that what they are doing is expanding ad space. They figure to sell a lot of it because so many authors are publishing and promoting (witness the popularity of my The Frugal Book Promoter which - - by the way - - advises new authors not to spend money on ads). Further, new authors don't know any better than to spend thousands of dollars on a single ad, so the Times should have a nice, steady supply of ad revenue. Newspapers operate on profit. They don't do nuttin' unless they think they'll make some money.

You, however, won't make that mistake unless you have a huge ad budget. You will know that ads don't work unless an author or publisher can afford to run many ads in the same newspaper or magazine, over and over again. Ads are expensive and, without repetition, won't sell many - - if any - - books.

PS: If you should decide to do an ad against my advice, at least promote it. Say things like "As see in the New York Times." And put that phrase everywhere!

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Available: Audios from Audio Divas on many aspects of building a writing career are published by Double Dragon Press. Here is the page where you'll find the full list (http://www.double - dragon - ebooks.com/glist.php?imprint=AUDIO) including one on "Do It Yourself Indexing." The first audio, "Promoting Easy and Cheap!" is a
F R ^ ^ sample you can download. Each comes with a resource guide. Here is an example of a guide for the audio - lesson Your Divas did on "Contests": http://www.derondouglas.com/audiosample/AwardResourceGuideContests.pdf
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Tip: One way to refine your marketing approach is to conduct a survey. You can do it in a note to your contact list, on a blog, on your website. A tool that some use for this purpose is www.SurveyMonkey.com. Blogspot offers a poll widget that you get to from the layout page.

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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! You know you want it on your website!
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Tip: Many of you know that I think your promotion dollars can be spent better than on souvenir - type items to include in your media kit or give away f r ^ ^ elsewhere. There are some exceptions and some ways to make them work better (all enumerated in the Frugal Book Promoter). If you MUST buy pens, though, buy the click kind with the attachment doohickey that is a permanent part of the pen. If it's on a separate lid, the pen will get lost when a bookstore buyer (as an example), hangs her pen on the name tag around her neck or on the pocket of a tote back. She'll be left with only a lid and that isn't where the pen is personalized.
Additional Note: If you only can afford one line of print on the pen, make it your website URL. That way anyone with the pen in hand can find more information on you.
Additional Note #2: As souvenirs go, pens are good because they are useful and will stay with a person, at least until they get lost (or parted from their lids).

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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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Tip: In the afterlight of the snafu many small publishers had with distributor Biblio, here is an alternative distributor. http://distribution.selfpublishing.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 any of my books - - the HowToDoItFrugally Series to my chapbook of poetry - - for a place on my Resources for Writers or Resources for Readers pages on www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
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On Branding

Everyone is branding these days. One of the best definitions comes from the national magazine of my college fraternity (yes, even though it is a women's organization, it is a fraternity).
The Anchora explains their new marketing efforts: "A brand, whether it represents a company, a product, a service or an organization like Delta Gamma, includes a cohesive collection of messages, images and ideas that, taken together, describe a particular entity. . . . it consists of a logo, tagline, fonts, color schemes, and symbols developed to represent implicit values, idea, and even personality."
Nice, no? And, obviously it's easier to accumulate and implement these parts of your marketing plan. If you being to think in these terms earlier rather than later you may avoid having to discard, backtrack and reinvest in materials you already have.
Do you need a designer, marketing expert, or consultant to help you with your campaign? The key word here is need. No, but you do need to think about your branding from day one if you can and, if you can't, you need to start doing it right now.
Your branding is affected by everything you do from promotion to editing. Thus, the first two books in the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers are, indeed, about branding. Even the Frugal Editor. And the next book I write will, too. That's because just about everything to do with publishing is about branding.

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I use Vista Print for lots of my promotional materials. Be aware that shipping prices may fluctuate, depending on the deal of the moment. Even at that, the prices generally are good, the products they offer excellent quality and they do short runs. (I don't advise long runs on promotion material because your needs can change very quickly.) Please use this link:
http://www.vistaprint.com/frf?frf=815651421184
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Tip: The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 2007) reports that "The business of selling classy personalized stationery - - think of the 'from the desk of' stuff that Katharine Hepburn might have used - - is gaining momentum after a period of stagnant sales." Mmmmm. Didn't I tell people to write thank you notes back when The Frugal Book Promoter was first published. And, yes, e - notes are nice but a real note on real paper is more impressive. I use Vista Print (see above for a link) for notes and my local corner printer for some nicer stuff. And, though real engraving is nice, it isn't essential. The paper you use for thank yous associated with your book can include your title and maybe even your cover art.

========================================================The New Book Review is a service of this newsletter and Authors' Coalition. It allows authors to get more exposure from their favorite review and reviewers a chance to have more readers see their reviews - - with links, of course. Please check the guidelines on the blog site at www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. This has been popular so please allow some time before your review will be posted. ======================================================

E - Tips for E - Promotion

E - promotion is marketing, too. Think of it in terms of the marketing principles. Things like frequency, branding, ethical standards. Treat it like one of the most important parts of the promotion efforts you make on behalf of your book because it is. Not only is it effective because it can be targeted, it's often completely free. Here's the caveat: No promotion effort works well with one stab. Like any good marketing plan by the world's top corporations (Coke?) or the top advertising agencies, you need to commit to it long term.
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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.)

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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.)

" Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly."

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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 How To Do It Frugally Series of books for writers, www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

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, send an e - mail to HoJoNews@aol.com with "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/

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/