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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

How-To for Authors Reviewed by Novelist Sarah Pinneo

 

Review: The Frugal Book Promoter, 2nd Edtion
Subtitle: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Winner USA Book News Best Business Book in Publishing/Writers Category

Available for Kindle, http://budurl.com/FrugalBkProKindle

Paperback, http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo



Reviewed by Sarah Pinneo

I knew I was in strong hands even before I'd opened the mailer containing The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Affixed to the mailing envelope was a very large address label which contained tiny thumbnail images of several of Howard-Johnson's books. As the clever label showcase suggests, The Frugal Book Promoter's author is very thorough.

Weighing in at 416 pages, the book is meant to be a broad survey of twenty-first century book promotion opportunities, covering both fiction and non-fiction. The ideal reader is a motivated author who has already learned a bit about the subject, who could yet benefit from a good primer. For example, if you've read enough to know that you may need a "media release" and "media kit," this is the book which will tell you precisely how--and why--to write one. The tone of the book is that of a knowledgeable aunt who has been around the block frequently enough to have thought the journey through. Dozens of promotion ideas covered: retail opportunities, conferences, media interviews, awards.

The first part of The Frugal Book Promoter helps an author frame her thinking around what book promotion can and cannot accomplish. I particularly enjoyed the short chapter about whether or not to hire a publicist, and also the chapter on being interviewed, and how to be a good radio/TV guest. Because the book tackles so many subjects at once, however, every chapter is short. This book is the #101 survey course, and I sometimes found myself wanting to know more advanced details before I was swept on to the next topic.

If you'd like to peruse the universe of book promotion ideas, this book is for you.

Disclosure: I received a copy of The Frugal Book Promoter when I expressed the desire to review it. You can find more about Ms. Howard-Johnson at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. The book is $17.95 in paperback on Amazon or $9.95 as an e-book.
 
~Sarah Pinneo is the author of Julia's Child, a novel.  She blogs at Blurb is a Verb here on Blogspot.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

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