The New Book Review

This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Sarah Dillard Has TWO Mouse Scouts Books!

Mouse Scout Series
Including Mouse Scouts and Mouse Scouts Make a Difference
By Sarah Dillard
Hardcover Paper Books
ISBN: 978-0-385-756-3-7 and 978-0-385-75599-3
Published by Knopf
Fiction – Children




                                Lessons in Creativity and Doing Good!

Mouse Scouts Ideal Annual Gift for Kids


Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, columnist and reviewer for MyShelf.Com and author of multi award-winning fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry,
and the HowToDoIt Series of books for writers

If you are not a grade school teacher, you may not have thought of using trash as a teaching tool. If you are not an artist with a penchant for collage or sculpture (or your name isn’t Bill Nye the Science Guy), you may not have thought about turning castoff straws into musical instruments, siphons, or hoses.

Violet, Tigerlily, and their scouting pals from Sarah Dillard’s Mouse Scouts are back in Mouse Scouts Make a Difference to help parents, kids, and teachers with fun new ideas for ways to make a difference in the world.

This second little book includes ideas for repurposing bottle caps, fast-food containers, water bottles, old mouse pads from Mom’s computer, and—if you’re a mouse—mousetraps used as rowing machines!

This is makes a lovely giftbook for children with parents who want their children to think creatively, compassionately, and universally.  It is also a book that may encourage parents and children everywhere to take scouting more seriously. In fact, make the two of them the beginnings of a Mouse Scouts library.



MORE ABOUT THE  REVIEWER
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a mother, grandmother and former teacher.  She is the author of multi award-winning fiction and poetry and the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books—one series for writers and one for retailers. Learn more at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com or tweet with her @FrugalBookPromo



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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.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

A New Year Gift for Authors, Reviewers--and Readers--from The New Book Review!

You're right! This isn't exactly a review. It's better. I'm sharing an except from my new How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically with all my reviewer visitors and subscribers and author visitor subscribers. Perhaps it will even encourage the many readers who drop by for great reading ideas to write reviews of book you read. The authors who make books possible will love you for it! 



Off-The-Wall –Alternatives for Authors and Reviewers

Making Your Reviews Into Workhorses
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson


Authors rarely get the most from        their reviews. Surprised? I think it’s because the idea of extending a review’s value doesn’t occur to them. Reviewers have the same problem because these days so many reviews these are written by superfan readers. They aren’t professionals, so they have no idea how to distribute content beyond posting their review on Amazon.

Reviewers can get more mileage from reviews by getting them reprinted in more venues than just online bookstores. Authors can do it for them, too.  And, no, it isn’t stealing or plagiarism if you get permission from the reviewer first. In fact, it can benefit the reviewer.

When you distribute reviews beyond their original placement, it’s like getting a little marketing bonus for your book. Here’s how authors can do that:

§       If your reviewer doesn’t normally write reviews (these reviewers are often called reader reviewers), suggest she send her review or the link to her review to her friends as a recommendation.

§  
     If your reader reviewer lives in a town with a small daily or weekly newspaper, suggest she send her review to one of the reporters or editors. She may realize the thrill of being published the first time.
§  
      Ask professional reviewers—the ones who review for journals—to post her review on Amazon.com, BN.com, and other online booksellers that have reader-review features. I have never had a reviewer decline my suggestion. It is ethical for a reviewer to do it or to give you permission to reuse the review as long as she holds the copyright for the review. (Most reviewers do not sign copyright-limiting agreements with the medium who hires them.) Get more information on Amazon’s often misrepresented review policies in Chapter Eleven of my new How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically under “Managing Your Amazon Reviews.” 

§       After you have permission from the reviewer to reprint the review—whether she is a pro or amateur--post it on your blog, on your Web site, and in your newsletter.

§  
     Once you have permission to use reviews, send copies of the best ones to bookstore buyers and event directors as part of your campaign to do book signings, to speak, or do workshops in their stores. Go to (midwestbookreview.com/links/bookstor.htm) for a starter list of bookstores.

§       Use quotations from the reviews to give credibility to selected media releases and queries.

§       Send quotations (blurbs) from the reviews you get to librarians, especially the ones in your home town or cities you plan to visit during book tours. Include order information. Try Midwest for a list of libraries (http://midwestbookreview.com/links/library.htm).

§       Use snippets from positive reviews as blurbs in everything from your stationery to your blog.

§  
      If your reviewer doesn’t respond to your request to post the review on Amazon, excerpt blurbs from them and post them on your Amazon buy page using Amazon’s Author Connect or Author Central features. They will appear on your Amazon sales page. Yes, that’s ethical, too!

§  
      Include the crème de la crème of your reviews on the Praise Page of your media kit and inside the front cover of the next edition (perhaps a mass market edition like the pocket paperbacks sold in grocery stores?). See my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter (bit.ly/FrugalBookPromo) for the complete—and I do mean complete—lowdown on media kits.

      Hint: Occasionally authors get reviews on Amazon that, shall we say…don’t thrill them. Reviews like that can be minimized by asking others for reviews. As new reviews are added, the old ones tend to get buried in the lineup of reviews. We can also (pleasantly!) refute a position a reviewer takes using the comment feature—or thank them for bringing something to our attention. We can also dispute their validity with Amazon, though that rarely works.

You can use some of these suggestions as part of your keeping-in-communication-with-reviewers effort after her review has been published.

There is more on how Amazon can help authors early in their review-getting process. in my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books, How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career. As long as it’s nearly impossible to do without Amazon and still have a successful book campaign, we might was well get them to return the loyalty we show them in as many ways as possible.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. Her next book in the HowToDoItFrugally series for writers will be How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically.


The author loves to travel. She has visited eighty-nine countries and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and journal wherever she goes. Her Web site is www.howtodoitfrugally.com


MORE ON THE NEW BOOK REVIEW

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.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Jan Peregrine Reviews Puts American Class in Perspective

White Trash
Subtitle: The 400-Year, Untold History of Class In America
Author: Nancy Isenberg
Author's Web site: www.nancyisenberg.com
Genre: Non-fiction
ISBN: 878-0-670-78597-1
Available on Amazon


Reviewed by Jan Peregrine originally for her Books on Facebook

Jan Peregrine's Books on Facebook
4.5 stars


Odds are very good that if you're an American too, then we're both members of the white trash class that has existed infamously, and mostly invisibly, since British settlers and their dependents planted their boots (or ill-covered feet) on the shores of the New World. I just finished reading Nancy Isenberg's book White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg who lives in Virginia as well as Louisiana. It's opened my eyes in many ways.
First we must understand that England colonized America with her criminals, vagrants, orphans, and misfits she didn't want simply filling up space, being an economic drain on society. Such people were considered a nuisance and irredeemable, which made them perfect for shipping off to a mysterious, untamed land of 'savages' like America. Scores of them died on the way.
Some wealthy men also sailed to this waste land with the intention of dominating the land as they dominated the poor wretches who worked their fields and kept their homes. We naturally inherited the British class system, Isenberg argues, and the poor became useful to the rich as laborers and breeders whose progeny inherited their parents' lower-class status and roles in society. The vision for America was never about creating the American Dream for everybody, not 'the' land of opportunity where social mobility rewarded those who worked hard for it.
And American politicians have continued to propogate this myth and others, including how the poor are to blame for their inferiority because of 'black' blood or their vulgar temperament and immorality. They may label white trash with many different names, but they're always present, especially in the South.
Isenberg takes us from the earliest days in the 1500s through the Founding Fathers, President Andrew Jackson's 'common man' image, other southern presidents, Civil War, the Confederacy, Reconstruction, the push for eugenics or sterilizing poor, white women, the Great Depression, and all the way up to the present day. Trump was mentioned once, for certain. Isenberg states that many celebrities like him owe their success to their rich, well-connected parents.

I suspect she alluded to Trump when she observed that if we allow elections to become a three-ring circus, don't be surprised if the dancing bear wins.

Reading this huge book was very engrossing. I wish I could write pages about what I found insightful and even entertaining. It may be American history, but it didn't seem dry and boring to me. Indeed it was memorable in the way America was portrayed through the angry eyes of one who represents the interests of the waste people, the white trash, the ones called rednecks today.

White trash have reinvented themselves in recent decades, triggered probably by Tammy Faye Baker's rise to stardom as an unrepentant, white trash princess and Bill Clinton making rednecks or 'Bubba' more accepted in polite society.
Highly recommended for those who wish to understand the turbulent forces behind Trump's terrifying rise on the waves of the disenfranchised masses.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Jan Peregrine was a Top Reviewer on epiinions.com for 14 years and now posts book reviews in Jan Peregrine's Books. They can be seen is on Facebook and  goodreads.com. Her novels are on Amazon  or Audible.


MORE ABOUT THE NEW BOOK REVIEW

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.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Patricia Fry Shares Last-Minute Christmas E-Book Tip


No review today! Rather, a quick tip directly from my #SharingwithWriters newsletter to you because--though Amazon has been letting their customers buy books quickly and easily for some time--there still seems to be a lot of confusion about "Kindle" e-books.

So I have made this tip from Patricia Fry, founder of SPAWN, a semi permanent part of my newsletter. I also wanted to be sure subscribers and visitors to this blog benefit from it, too. And it seemed an appropriate time to share because I am pretty sure that many of you who come to this blog will need a truly last minute gift.

So . . .SharingwithWriters newsletter and Patricia Fry to the rescue!

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Did you know that you can buy your e-books from Kindle, even if you don’t have a Kindle? Patricia Fry, founder of SPAWN says, “If you need an e-book but don’t have a Kindle, just go to any Kindle book page look for the buy options. [You may find a widget there offering a free app to make your download easier.] Choose Kindle. After you’ve done that, the site gives you several options or platforms for that book so you can buy the e-book for yourself or to send one as a gift to someone else whether or not you (or they!) have a Kindle. I believe this shows up on any Amazon page where they are selling Kindle. 
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MORE ABOUT PATRICIA FRY

Patricia Fry, author of the Klepto Cat Mystery series. First in the series is Catnapped, http://amzn.to/14OCk0W And her most recent in the Klepto Cat Mystery Series is By Cat or By Crook (ISBN 9780997519075). I just read it and loved that it would make a great gift for, say, readers from the ages of maybe 9 through any old age at all! Family fare! And, yes, available as a last minute e-book from Kindle (or any other  reader your recipient happens to use!) Buy the e-book on Amazon

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

 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
.

MORE ABOUT SHARINGWITHWRITERS NEWSLETTER

My #SharingwithWriters newsletter has been serving authors--all authors from traditionally published by New York's big five to those who truly self-publish to those who partner-publish--since 2003. It is an interactive newsletter where authors like Patricia can share their tips and articles with fellow authors and in doing so increase the exposure of their own books and successes. You may subscribe and get a free booklet--and e-booklet, of course!--at http://howtodoitfrugally.com http://howtodoitfrugally.com. There is a subscription form in the top right corner of most every page.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

E-book Help for Authors in Time for Holidays

Title: The Frugal Book Promoter
Subtitle: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher
Series: First in the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers
Cover by Chaz DeSimone
Awards: USA Book News winner, Irwin Award winner, honored by Dan Poynter's Global Ebook Awards
416 pages
Genre: Nonfiction/How-To/Writers/Careers
Available as e-book or paperback


Reviewed by Helen Dunn Frame

Carolyn Howard Johnson’s second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter, How to Do What your Publisher Won’t outlines what writers can do themselves. It offers good advice and is a most complete reference source for authors with little to extensive experience. Carolyn is great about networking and sharing. Back in the day, publishers helped to market books. In recent years, the landscape has changed dramatically and authors have to handle the brunt if not all the promotion even if published by a large traditional company. Not all writers can afford to hire help but they can afford this book. It’s worth adding to one’s library if only for the clarification about writing reviews on Amazon.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Helen Dunn Frame
Retiring in Costa Rica or Doctors, Dogs and Pura Vida (Second Edition); Greek Ghosts, Love and Danger; Wetumpka Widow, Murder for Wealth; Secrets Behind the Big Pencil, Inspired by an Actual Scandal.
Website: http://bit.ly/1KxXt7T
  Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1COtMJn 

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

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.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Reviews: The Answer to Book Sales and Career Success

How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically
Subtitle: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career
Third in the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers
ISBN-13: 978-1536948370
ISBN-10: 1536948373
ASIN: BOIMQCKRF5      
BISAC: LAN00400, BUS058010
Distributors: Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Createspace
For more advance information:
http://bit.ly/HowToGetReviews
To order as a paperback: http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews 

Reviewed by Helen Dunn Frame, author

Not long after I started reading Carolyn’s blogs, I began using her “Frugal” book series for reference regarding my writing. When Bookbaby.com  recently promoted advance copies of “Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically . . . , it delighted me to learn that she also designed her latest book for ease in consulting it on occasion. The timing was great. She published it just as our Writers Group discussed how Amazon handles reviews. Those guidelines are well-covered in this book.

If you are like me, an experienced writer, her latest creation will help you loosen the cobwebs about ways to garner reviews that you may have forgotten. You even might learn some new techniques.

In every book in her “Frugal” series, whether for editing or promoting, Carolyn generously shares with readers the methods she has used successfully. The appendices offer samples to follow including query letters, media kits, and media releases. Add it to your reference library and follow the path to get reviews today.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Helen Dunn Frame is the author of Wetumpka Widow, Murder for Wealth, a complicated story told from several viewpoints and fired by greed, manipulation, murder, romance, and sex. Learn more about her on her author's page at
http://www.amazon.com/Helen-Dunn-Frame/e/B0054LDOBW


MORE ABOUT THE NEW BOOK REVIEW

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.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

A Holiday Gift from Favorite Publishing Smarties

I love it when my favorite smarties give me permission to reprint the wonderful tips they send to my e-mail box! Valerie Allen (see more about them by scrolling down!), Marshall Frank, and Holly Fox Vellekoop direct several Florida book fairs and I have used their fairs free (so frugal!) and very inexpensive opportunities to display my books--something I rarely do.  In fact, in my multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter, I warn authors against displaying a book at a fair without an agent, pr person, or the author herself on the premises to tout it. This article will show you one big reason Valerie and her team have kept me and my author husband coming back year after year!  It is a list of tips they sends to their book fair participants with tips and reminders after the fair and even the promotions they do with their local communities will give you ideas for your own promotions: 

TO: Authors and Book Sellers
RE: Meet the Authors' Book Fair – Nov. 19 & 20, 2016
FROM: Authors for Authors
Valerie Allen ~ Marshall Frank ~ Holly Fox Vellekoop
 Thank you, thank you. Great job at the book fair.
 Lots of good ideas, networking, and marketing goin’ on!

Networking opportunities are one of the best forms of marketing for all authors.
Here are some suggestions to extend your marketing after the book fair:
  • Keep in touch with each other via the handout in your folder
  • Send follow up email to those with whom you connected
  • Join the Space Coast Writers group on FB
  • Attend monthly meetings of the Space Coast Writers' Guild SCWG.org
  • “Friend” each other on FB, Twitter, GooglePlus, and Linkedin
  • “Like” each other's books on Amazon.com
  • Go to each other's web page and make a comment
  • Offer to read and review each other's books and post it online
  • Find out if anyone wants to do a book trade and give it as a holiday gift
  • Join a writers' group
  • Attend a writers' workshop, conference, book signing, book launch etc.
  • Read books by local authors, post a review online, recommend their books to others
  • Request a book by a local author from the library – they will buy a copy if they don't have one
  • Attend local author's presentations by the Brevard Authors' Society
  • Watch for Local Author Displays in our libraries and join in

Books in the Display Only Option have been processed. Those who wanted their book returned should have them soon, as the books are being mailed within the week. Books donated by the author will be used as door prizes, gift baskets, or in the Kids Who Read Succeed projects.
There are many writers’ groups available to keep you energized, so be sure to join one.
We want to thank the Space Coast Writer’s Guild, the League of American PEN Women, Cape Canaveral Branch, and Florida Book News for representation at the book fair. We hope you took advantage of meeting these folks. A special Thank You! To Robbie Cox for helping us get up and out there on FB.

FloridaBookNews.com is hosted by Lou@LouBelcher.com. Lou Belcher is an artist and author, and a long time supporter of Florida writers. She will post your news and events. You can also take advantage of advertising your web page with a click button on her site. Contact Lou for more details.

SharingWithWriters.BlogSpot.com is an award winning site for authors written by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. She also has a site to post your book reviews. Contact Carolyn at

Authors for Authors has been working with the Brevard County Libraries to set up FREE Local Author Book Displays each month. Watch for these notices and join in to further promote your book(s).

Authors for Authors will sponsor the Brevard Authors' Book Fair in 2017.
I hear you - yes, yes, yes—we will send you an email reminder and registration form.

Keep checking online at AuthorsForAuthors.com for updates.
Authors for Authors is asking for your ideas and suggestions to make these events more beneficial to writers, readers, and visitors. Your promotion of these events is always appreciated. We thank you for all the emails and feedback we have received. We love all the pics and posts online at Twitter, FB, and Google+. What else can we do to meet your needs to better market and sell your books? We want to hear from each of you about your experience at the book fair. Let’s work together to make things better.

Looking forward to seeing each of you again at the Brevard Authors Book Fair in 2017
Thank you from Authors for Authors
AuthorsForAuthors.com
~ Valerie Allen VAllenWriter@cs.com
~ Marshall Frank MLF283@aol.com
Holly Fox Vellekoop



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MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER


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.