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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Publishing Consultant Reviews Frugal Book Promoter
The Frugal Book Promoter
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Available on Amazon.com in paperback or as a Kindle book
Star Publish
Available as an e-book at Star Publish
Number 1 in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers
Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith, publishing consultant, Texana Publishing
Become a master at the book publicity game
Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s PR background shines through as she shares dozens and dozens tips for preparing media materials and working successfully with the media.
The Frugal Book Promoter also offers advice on the effective use of galleys and ARCs, tips for getting blurbs, information on using Amazon’s promotional tools, ideas for book launch announcements and parties, tips for jump-starting sales of books that have been out for a while, and more.
This book is a great tool for both new and experienced authors. New authors will especially benefit from Howard-Johnson’s refreshingly realistic look at the not-always-glamorous world of book signings and book fairs.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Eloquence in Poetry by Usiku
Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance
Usiku
ISBN 13: 978-0-9794450-0-2
Hardcover,2007
$19.95
www.usiku.net
usiku@usiku.net
Reviewed by Jeisea, http://crps-rsd-a-better-life.blogspot.com, jeisea2@gmail.com
Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance is inspiring and uplifting poetry, prose and short stories.
Eloquence provides a unique experience for each as we read and re-read, peeling back the layers of meaning. As Usiku writes in his title poem, "Eloquence":
"Each person understood in their own way
Appreciating, absorbing, appreciating."
From his play on words “(L)imitations” as “impostors” to nature coiled in humanity, Usiku shares insights of life’s journey in this thought-provoking book.
Usiku’s soul liquefies words as they flow in rivulets across the pages evoking our spirit, memories and call to nurture nature.
"Casserole
of nature
spirit
and the everyday
oven just warm enough."
(from “Composure”)
We often seek inspiring quotes to uplift and guide us. Eloquence contains powerful and motivating writing that makes us mindful of the extraordinary in ordinary.
Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance is filled with passion and creativity that is wonderfully refreshing. I highly recommend this reading.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Usiku
ISBN 13: 978-0-9794450-0-2
Hardcover,2007
$19.95
www.usiku.net
usiku@usiku.net
Reviewed by Jeisea, http://crps-rsd-a-better-life.blogspot.com, jeisea2@gmail.com
Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance is inspiring and uplifting poetry, prose and short stories.
Eloquence provides a unique experience for each as we read and re-read, peeling back the layers of meaning. As Usiku writes in his title poem, "Eloquence":
"Each person understood in their own way
Appreciating, absorbing, appreciating."
From his play on words “(L)imitations” as “impostors” to nature coiled in humanity, Usiku shares insights of life’s journey in this thought-provoking book.
Usiku’s soul liquefies words as they flow in rivulets across the pages evoking our spirit, memories and call to nurture nature.
"Casserole
of nature
spirit
and the everyday
oven just warm enough."
(from “Composure”)
We often seek inspiring quotes to uplift and guide us. Eloquence contains powerful and motivating writing that makes us mindful of the extraordinary in ordinary.
Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance is filled with passion and creativity that is wonderfully refreshing. I highly recommend this reading.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Karina Fabian Pens Christian Sci-Fi
FLASHPOINT: Book One of the Underground
Author: Frank Creed
Book website: http://www.frankcreed.com/flashpoint.html
Genre: science fiction, Christian, cyberpunk
Published by Writers Café Press
ISBN: 978-1-934284-01-8
Review's website: www.fabianspace.com
Reviewed by Karina Fabian in www.virtualbooktourdenet.com
Rating: Four of Five stars
Frank Creed pushes the boundaries of Christian fiction with Biblical cyberpunk—when he talks about "God in the machine," he's quite literal. He's been thinking and playing in the genre since long before William Gibson made it popular—and Creed can give Gibson a run for his money.
Creed starts with the basics for both cyberpunk and Biblical speculative fiction: a dystopic world run by a totalitarian global regime, with a pretty wide division between the haves and have-nots. Those who support the regime live a prosperous life, while those who do not are left to the squalor of a crime-riddled underworld at best and slave camps or "reconditioning" at worst.
True to the Christian angle, the government has established a watered-down "feel good" religion, and true Christians (dubbed "Fundamentalists") are forced to hide their practices or go totally underground by joining the Resistance.
Dave and Jen are our young heroes. When the government finds out their family is part of a secret home church, they are taken to the underground by their father to save their lives. Daddy leaves them in order to draw off the authorities and is captured with their mother. Meanwhile, Dave and Jen are taken in by the Resistance and discover they have amazing abilities. They receive cybernetic mind enhancements that enable them to become the kind of perfected humans God created, before we were damaged by Original Sin.
Dave becomes a superhero with Matrix-style abilities, while Jen becomes e-girl, the computer wizard no cyberpunk novel is complete without. They join the Resistance; their first mission: Save Mom and Dad and the members of their home church. And as they fulfill their mission, they learn what it means to be part of God's army.
There's nothing especially spectacular in the plot, but the real magic is in the execution. Creed does a fantastic job of weaving in all the things that make cyberpunk an exciting genre to read: the melding of human capabilities with highly technological advancements, exciting scenes that deliver the adrenalin rush, earthy but clever repartee, cunning twists to the mundane, some well-thought out fight scenes…
But what about the Biblical message? Here again Creed shows his genius. He immerses you in the Word of God just as he immerses you in the cyberpunk culture—in thought, word and deed. The thing I personally love about cyberpunk is the complete cultural mythos, right down to vocabulary.
Creed does the same thing; in addition to some really fun slang, he's woven in Scripture and the ideals of his Christian "Army" so that as you read, you are neither preached to nor pulled out of the story. It's all part of the program—literally and figuratively.
Flashpoint is a fast, fun read, something I was comfortable in giving to my 13-year-old son, and which I wouldn't mind re-reading again. (My husband can tell you that from me, that's high praise.) If you are looking for Biblical speculative fiction the way it should be done, you need to read Creed!
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Author: Frank Creed
Book website: http://www.frankcreed.com/flashpoint.html
Genre: science fiction, Christian, cyberpunk
Published by Writers Café Press
ISBN: 978-1-934284-01-8
Review's website: www.fabianspace.com
Reviewed by Karina Fabian in www.virtualbooktourdenet.com
Rating: Four of Five stars
Frank Creed pushes the boundaries of Christian fiction with Biblical cyberpunk—when he talks about "God in the machine," he's quite literal. He's been thinking and playing in the genre since long before William Gibson made it popular—and Creed can give Gibson a run for his money.
Creed starts with the basics for both cyberpunk and Biblical speculative fiction: a dystopic world run by a totalitarian global regime, with a pretty wide division between the haves and have-nots. Those who support the regime live a prosperous life, while those who do not are left to the squalor of a crime-riddled underworld at best and slave camps or "reconditioning" at worst.
True to the Christian angle, the government has established a watered-down "feel good" religion, and true Christians (dubbed "Fundamentalists") are forced to hide their practices or go totally underground by joining the Resistance.
Dave and Jen are our young heroes. When the government finds out their family is part of a secret home church, they are taken to the underground by their father to save their lives. Daddy leaves them in order to draw off the authorities and is captured with their mother. Meanwhile, Dave and Jen are taken in by the Resistance and discover they have amazing abilities. They receive cybernetic mind enhancements that enable them to become the kind of perfected humans God created, before we were damaged by Original Sin.
Dave becomes a superhero with Matrix-style abilities, while Jen becomes e-girl, the computer wizard no cyberpunk novel is complete without. They join the Resistance; their first mission: Save Mom and Dad and the members of their home church. And as they fulfill their mission, they learn what it means to be part of God's army.
There's nothing especially spectacular in the plot, but the real magic is in the execution. Creed does a fantastic job of weaving in all the things that make cyberpunk an exciting genre to read: the melding of human capabilities with highly technological advancements, exciting scenes that deliver the adrenalin rush, earthy but clever repartee, cunning twists to the mundane, some well-thought out fight scenes…
But what about the Biblical message? Here again Creed shows his genius. He immerses you in the Word of God just as he immerses you in the cyberpunk culture—in thought, word and deed. The thing I personally love about cyberpunk is the complete cultural mythos, right down to vocabulary.
Creed does the same thing; in addition to some really fun slang, he's woven in Scripture and the ideals of his Christian "Army" so that as you read, you are neither preached to nor pulled out of the story. It's all part of the program—literally and figuratively.
Flashpoint is a fast, fun read, something I was comfortable in giving to my 13-year-old son, and which I wouldn't mind re-reading again. (My husband can tell you that from me, that's high praise.) If you are looking for Biblical speculative fiction the way it should be done, you need to read Creed!
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Great Book Proposal Reviewed by Lattanzio
The Great First Impression Book Proposal
An Amazon Short
Only 49 cents
Published by Amazon.com
Reviewed by May L. Lattanzio "Inkslinger", author of "Paradise," an Amazon Short
It's not the writing of the book I hate . . . that part's fun. As an author, freelance writer and poet, no matter how many times you write and rewrite a piece, there's a lot of pride and enjoyment that goes into birthing your best creative efforts.
The downside is...The DREADED QUERY LETTER and BOOK PROPOSAL. They crushing to me, and probably to others who are serious about getting their work "out there" as well. For me, I HATE, HATE, HATE them! I can write a novel - no sweat. But I sweat blood over proposals and queries.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson makes it easy, gives you the switches that can turn you and even the most cold-blooded editor on.
Try it. I'm taking this little booklet and having it tattooed on my inner arm. It's going to be useful to you, I promise. And if you aren't a writer, and you know one, send it on. They'll love it.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coaliition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love--and that includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Author Laura Caldwell Writes Romance, Mystery
Title - THE GOOD LIAR
Author - Laura Caldwell
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Romantic Suspense
ISBN- 0778325016
Reviewed by L. Levy
Kate Livingston and Liza Kingsley have been best friends since
childhood. When Liza sets the newly divorced Kate up with Michael
Walker, she never expects her to fall for the elegant man, 16 years her
senior. The relationship is a whirlwind, quickly resulting in marriage.
Liza begins to wonder, however, if she's introduced Kate to more than
her dream man, catapulting her instead into a world of dangerous
secrets...
Kate follows Michael to the French-Canadian town of St. Marabel,
but she soon begins to suspect, like Liza, that he isn't who he claims.
After digging a little deeper, the two women eventually find themselves
on a collision course, racing from the US to Russia to Canada to Brazil.
The betrayals and crimes of passion they uncover threaten to end them,
as well as everything they love.
Author - Laura Caldwell
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Romantic Suspense
ISBN- 0778325016
Reviewed by L. Levy
Kate Livingston and Liza Kingsley have been best friends since
childhood. When Liza sets the newly divorced Kate up with Michael
Walker, she never expects her to fall for the elegant man, 16 years her
senior. The relationship is a whirlwind, quickly resulting in marriage.
Liza begins to wonder, however, if she's introduced Kate to more than
her dream man, catapulting her instead into a world of dangerous
secrets...
Kate follows Michael to the French-Canadian town of St. Marabel,
but she soon begins to suspect, like Liza, that he isn't who he claims.
After digging a little deeper, the two women eventually find themselves
on a collision course, racing from the US to Russia to Canada to Brazil.
The betrayals and crimes of passion they uncover threaten to end them,
as well as everything they love.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Standing Tall with Roots in Giving
Reviewed by Linda Ballou
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter, and the Frugal Editor, comes from giving. She gives freely of her vast knowledge in marketing to an ever growing list of loyal readers. Whether you are considering subsidy publishing, self-publishing or a traditional publisher her books provide you with a roadmap and the tools to get your book into the public eye. A former publicist for a New York PR firm and a marketing instructor for the UCLA Extension’s Writer’s Program she tells us to put our best blossoms forward. “Think of your work as a bouquet that you arrange to its best advantage.”
The talk she gave at the San Fernanco Chapter of the Calfironia Writers Club (CWC) focused on how to create an effective media kit. Branding yourself, rather than your book, is critical in creating a lasting image and impression on editors. Collecting lists for distribution should be a part of your daily life. Developing an awareness of where opportunities to network lie will facilitate getting the word out about your book. Although she encourages creativity in presentation, editors do not want to search for information. They want it handed to them in an easy to use format that fills already established slots in newspapers and magazines. High points of her talk on how to build a media kit are detailed in the Frugal Book Promoter.
“Don’t be proprietary.” She warns us. “We want to share. We want people to know about what we think and feel.” Carolyn does not worry about people stealing her material. In fact, she invites editors to download articles off her site and to use them for free as long as they give her a byline. She gets more than dollars out of what she is doing. “Besides, she quips “Who wants to stay home watching I Love Lucy reruns?”
------
Reviewed by Linda Ballou –Adventure travel writer and author of Wai-nani—High Chiefess of Hawai`i—Her Ancient Journey www.LindaBallouAuthor.com
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter, and the Frugal Editor, comes from giving. She gives freely of her vast knowledge in marketing to an ever growing list of loyal readers. Whether you are considering subsidy publishing, self-publishing or a traditional publisher her books provide you with a roadmap and the tools to get your book into the public eye. A former publicist for a New York PR firm and a marketing instructor for the UCLA Extension’s Writer’s Program she tells us to put our best blossoms forward. “Think of your work as a bouquet that you arrange to its best advantage.”
The talk she gave at the San Fernanco Chapter of the Calfironia Writers Club (CWC) focused on how to create an effective media kit. Branding yourself, rather than your book, is critical in creating a lasting image and impression on editors. Collecting lists for distribution should be a part of your daily life. Developing an awareness of where opportunities to network lie will facilitate getting the word out about your book. Although she encourages creativity in presentation, editors do not want to search for information. They want it handed to them in an easy to use format that fills already established slots in newspapers and magazines. High points of her talk on how to build a media kit are detailed in the Frugal Book Promoter.
“Don’t be proprietary.” She warns us. “We want to share. We want people to know about what we think and feel.” Carolyn does not worry about people stealing her material. In fact, she invites editors to download articles off her site and to use them for free as long as they give her a byline. She gets more than dollars out of what she is doing. “Besides, she quips “Who wants to stay home watching I Love Lucy reruns?”
------
Reviewed by Linda Ballou –Adventure travel writer and author of Wai-nani—High Chiefess of Hawai`i—Her Ancient Journey www.LindaBallouAuthor.com
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Memoir, Tolerance and, Incidentally, a Run for President
Dreams from my Father, A story of Race and Inheritance
By Barack Obama
Three Rivers Press
Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael
In Dreams From My Father, Obama wrote of his efforts to understand his family, the leaps through time and the collision of cultures hoping to shine light on the question of identity and race in the American experience.
He described the “underlying struggle between worlds of plenty and worlds of want, between modern and ancient cultures.” He admired those “who embrace our teeming, colliding irksome diversity while insisting on values that bind us together”. And he feared “those who seek, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text,to justify cruelty towards those not like us.”
The book shows how powerlessness twists children’s lives in Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way it does on Chicago’s South Side and how quickly despair slips into violence. It discusses how the powerful respond with a dull complacency until violence threatens them and they then use force,(longer prison sentences and more sophisticated hardware) inadequate to the task.
Obama struggles constantly to understand this problem and his place in it. He is now professionally engaged in a broader public debate that will shape our lives and the lives of our children for many years to come.
If he had known his mother was dying so young, he would have written a different book, less a meditation of the absent parent and more a celebration of the one who was the single constant in his life. He shares some of the stories his mother and her parents told him when he was a child. ”
Obama feels we have all seen too much to take his parents’ brief union, a black man and a white woman an African and an American at face value. He says when black or white people who don’t know him well, discover his background they no longer know who he is.
This is the record of a personal interior journey, a boy’s search for his father and a workable meaning for his life as a black American.
Obama says, “I can embrace my black brothers and sisters whether in this country or in Africa and affirm a common destiny without pretending to speak for all our various struggles.”
Much of this book is based on journals or oral histories of his family. Obama says he tried to write an honest account of a particular province of his life.’
Without the love and support of his family, his mother, his grandparents and his siblings, stretched across oceans and continents he could never have finished it
He was born in Hawaii, lived several years in Indonesia, then lived in New York City where he went to Columbia University. In 1983 he was a Chicago community organizer and a civil rights lawyer.
His Aunt Jane whom he had never met called him from Kenya to say his father was killed in an auto accident. His parents had divorced when he was two years old and he had only seen his father for one month when he came to visit Obama and his mother in Hawaii.
When Obama went to Kenya his half sister Auma and his Auntie Zeitumi met him
They took him to meet Aunt Jane and other African family members.
Family seemed to be everywhere in Kenya and Obama found himself meditating on just what is a family He sat on his father’s grave and spoke with him through Africa’ red soil.
When he returned to America he met Michelle, who had been raised in Chicago. After their engagement he took her to Kenya to meet his family there They returned to the United States and married.
This is an absorbing and moving tale of a man who takes a journey to his father ‘s home, where he lived much of his life and died. Obama re-evaluates his relationship with the myth of his father and the meaning of his own life. It is a quiet but intense examination of a man’s past and his son’s attempt to understand it.
Examining his family’s life and thinking about his own, Obama finds a certain relief reliving times and behavior that had slipped into the undifferentiated past and finally arrives at some kind of understanding.
The writing style is exciting, a well written blend of memoir and history. The rich narrative and interesting characters keep the reader turning pages. Obama’s sensual descriptions made the reader feel he is visiting south side of Chicago, Harlem, Indonesia or Kenya. You see the people, hear their voices, taste and smell the food, feel the breeze and smell the ocean.
This is a book I would have enjoyed even if had not been written by a well-known, fascinating man beginning to put his mark on the world.
-----
Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael www.authorsden.com/maryanneraphael
"No matter what I'm doing right now, I would rather be writing."
By Barack Obama
Three Rivers Press
Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael
In Dreams From My Father, Obama wrote of his efforts to understand his family, the leaps through time and the collision of cultures hoping to shine light on the question of identity and race in the American experience.
He described the “underlying struggle between worlds of plenty and worlds of want, between modern and ancient cultures.” He admired those “who embrace our teeming, colliding irksome diversity while insisting on values that bind us together”. And he feared “those who seek, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text,to justify cruelty towards those not like us.”
The book shows how powerlessness twists children’s lives in Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way it does on Chicago’s South Side and how quickly despair slips into violence. It discusses how the powerful respond with a dull complacency until violence threatens them and they then use force,(longer prison sentences and more sophisticated hardware) inadequate to the task.
Obama struggles constantly to understand this problem and his place in it. He is now professionally engaged in a broader public debate that will shape our lives and the lives of our children for many years to come.
If he had known his mother was dying so young, he would have written a different book, less a meditation of the absent parent and more a celebration of the one who was the single constant in his life. He shares some of the stories his mother and her parents told him when he was a child. ”
Obama feels we have all seen too much to take his parents’ brief union, a black man and a white woman an African and an American at face value. He says when black or white people who don’t know him well, discover his background they no longer know who he is.
This is the record of a personal interior journey, a boy’s search for his father and a workable meaning for his life as a black American.
Obama says, “I can embrace my black brothers and sisters whether in this country or in Africa and affirm a common destiny without pretending to speak for all our various struggles.”
Much of this book is based on journals or oral histories of his family. Obama says he tried to write an honest account of a particular province of his life.’
Without the love and support of his family, his mother, his grandparents and his siblings, stretched across oceans and continents he could never have finished it
He was born in Hawaii, lived several years in Indonesia, then lived in New York City where he went to Columbia University. In 1983 he was a Chicago community organizer and a civil rights lawyer.
His Aunt Jane whom he had never met called him from Kenya to say his father was killed in an auto accident. His parents had divorced when he was two years old and he had only seen his father for one month when he came to visit Obama and his mother in Hawaii.
When Obama went to Kenya his half sister Auma and his Auntie Zeitumi met him
They took him to meet Aunt Jane and other African family members.
Family seemed to be everywhere in Kenya and Obama found himself meditating on just what is a family He sat on his father’s grave and spoke with him through Africa’ red soil.
When he returned to America he met Michelle, who had been raised in Chicago. After their engagement he took her to Kenya to meet his family there They returned to the United States and married.
This is an absorbing and moving tale of a man who takes a journey to his father ‘s home, where he lived much of his life and died. Obama re-evaluates his relationship with the myth of his father and the meaning of his own life. It is a quiet but intense examination of a man’s past and his son’s attempt to understand it.
Examining his family’s life and thinking about his own, Obama finds a certain relief reliving times and behavior that had slipped into the undifferentiated past and finally arrives at some kind of understanding.
The writing style is exciting, a well written blend of memoir and history. The rich narrative and interesting characters keep the reader turning pages. Obama’s sensual descriptions made the reader feel he is visiting south side of Chicago, Harlem, Indonesia or Kenya. You see the people, hear their voices, taste and smell the food, feel the breeze and smell the ocean.
This is a book I would have enjoyed even if had not been written by a well-known, fascinating man beginning to put his mark on the world.
-----
Reviewed by Maryanne Raphael www.authorsden.com/maryanneraphael
"No matter what I'm doing right now, I would rather be writing."
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