About This Blog

About This Blog and Blogger

Carolyn Howard-Johnson hosts this The New Book Review in partnership with Carolyn Wilhelm and Lois W. Stern. A review blog, it is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. Here is a review blog that lets readers, reviewers, and authors expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Just follow the submission guidelines in the left column below or use this blog as a resource to find reviewers, publishers, and others who can help your writing career. It is a multi-award-winning blog including a recommendation from MastersInEnglish.org.

Carolyn IS The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor!

Background Information

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered are both award-winners--some twelve between them. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poems have appeared in national magazines, anthologies, and review journals. She speaks on culture, tolerance, writing, and promotion and has appeared on TV and hundreds of radio stations nationwide. She has been an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program for nearly a decade and has shared her expertise at venues like San Diego State's world renowned Writers' Conference, Call to Arts! EXPO, and Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. She was awarded Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by the California Legislature; her home town's Character and Ethics Commission honored for her work on promoting tolerance and she was awarded Glendale's Diamond Award in Arts and Culture.  The Pasadena Weekly named her to their list of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen" for literary activism. American Women's Business Association (ABWA) named her Outstanding Woman in 2007 and Delta Gamma gave her their coveted Oxford award. Her nitty-gritty how-to book, The Frugal Book Promoter, is now in its third edition, published by Modern History Press. It is the first in the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers and Carolyn wrote it as a text for the classes she taught for nearly a decade at UCLA's renowned Writers' Program.  It won USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award.   The second in the series is The Frugal Editor.  It was named the best publishing book by USA Book News and won the Reader Views Literary Award in its category.  Her promotion campaign for that book won the Next Millennium Marketing Award.  The third in the series is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically.  Carolyns The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book in 30 Minutes or Less  and her Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy are both fun, short studies for writers in their second editions from Modern History Press.  Carolyn's first chapbook of poetry, Tracings (Finishing LIne Press), was named to the Compulsive Readers Top 10 Best Reads for 2004 and honored for excellence by the Military Writers' Society of America. Her new book of poetry, Imperfect Echoes, has been given a nod by USA Book News. Midwest Book Review calls Carolyn an "articulate, gifted, insightful, iconoclastic, and a truly impressive literary talent . . ." and the book "inherently fascinating, thoughtful, and thought-provoking read . . . highly recommended . . . "  and was honored by Writer's Digest. Carolyn also coauthors the Celebration Series of chapbooks with Aussie Magdalena Ball. She Wore Emerald Then: Reflections on Motherhood was honored by USA Book News for poetry and is available at http://bit.ly/MothersDayKind . Others in the series include Imagining the Future: Ruminations on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions ( http://bit.ly/Imagining ), Cherished Pulse: Unconventional Love Poetry  (http://bit.ly/CherishedPulse ), Blooming Red: Christmas Poems for the Rational ( http://bit.ly/BloomingRed ) and a full book of poetry celebrating Earth Day, Sublime Planet (http://bit.ly/SublimePlanet ).  Carolyn also wrote a #HowToDolItFrugally Series for retailers called Survive and Thrive. The first is A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions.  Randy H. Eller, retail industry speaker and President Eller Enterprises, LLC, says, "In 35 years in the industry, there are only a handful of retailers I have observed reach the success level of Carolyn Howard-Johnson. There is only one thing you need to learn from her to succeed--everything she says!" Find it at http://bit.ly/RetailersGuide . It, too was honored by USA Book News, a finalist in its business category. Two others followed, one on tweeting, another on blogging. Sharing with Writers http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com and the Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor http://thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com, both blogs by Howard-Johnson, are award-winners. The first was named to Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites and the second to Blog of the Day Awards and received a recommendation by OnlineEnglishMAs.org. Howard-Johnson loves to travel and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, UK: Herzen University in St. Petersburg, RU; and Charles University in Prague.    Her website is www.howtodoitfrugally.com.  She serves fellow writers by helping them recycle their favorite reviews at with this blog and the amazing help of Carolyn Wilhelm and Lois W. Stern.  Tweet with her at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo or www.twitter.com/frugalretailing

Additional Information

I took time from my first passions, fiction and poetry, to share my practical experience and professional knowledge of promotion with writers. Thus, The Frugal Book Promoter and later The Frugal Editors and How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically were born. Please check them out. Tim Bete, director of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Conference at Dayton University, says that when you've read "Frugal," you will "know more about promotion than your publisher."

Favorite Links

Carolyn's Website You'll love Carolyn's new website designed by Chuck Jacobs, bassist for many bands of my era and yours. Writing and Professional Awards This is the Place, Carolyn's first novel, won eight awards, Harkening, a book of creative nonfiction, three. Please visit Carolyn's website for more information on her literary works. A Semi-Monthly Rant is Just Enough to Let Off Steam Visit my "Back to Literature" columns at MyShelf.com--both current and archived. Here you'll find some of my mini rants on everything from censorship to the state of the publishing industry.