Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Jan Peregrine Reviews How to Get Great Reviews Frugally and Ethically

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

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Nonfiction: Writers/HowTo/Marketing

ISBN: 978-1536948370

Available on Amazon as E-book and Paperback

Reviewed by Jan Peregrine originally for Facebook

The title and subtitle of this book live up beautifully to their claims! Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi-award-winning How to Do It Frugally Series of books for writers, emphatically reminds me of yesteryear book titles with that nonfrugal use of words in her title/subtitle! The generous text carries on this theme with six sections, appendix, and close to 300 pages. This ARC e-book, free until it's print-published, is my introduction to the author and it won't be the last book of hers that I read. We're FB friends now and she published my White Trash book review on her blog. Not only a cool lady, but a very helpful one!

Howard-Johnson's latest e-book is the kind of self-help book that serious writers need. I sure do. While I have the book-writing part down, nary a writer's block to dog me, I unfortunately am messing up big time on the promotional part. Maybe I should blame the former dysfunctional review site I wrote for. Not making much money for my writing has become second nature to me...or something like that.

First she shows us the ropes to build the backdrop of our artistic performances to the reading/listening public That means getting to know who's out there who may help us to promote our books. There are lists we can make of people, reviewers, and publishers who are potential interested parties, especially if we hook them with a blurb about our book. I'd never thought of that. Also she encourages writers to review books where other similar authors will likely read them. That's a great suggestion and Howard-Johnson knows of review opportunities I've never heard of.

She really has a lot of useful tips and links, but I have one for her. Recently I read a young adult novel by Sonya Sones and since she included her email address on the back flap, I emailed her about my concerns regarding her story. I was thrilled to hear back from her right away! She had the erroneous impression that I hated it and would give it a bad review. While I did email back and clarified my impressions, I'll be more careful the next time I email an author. Brief reviews via email don't seem like a good idea.

So now I feel more confident that I'll be better able to promote my own books with effort put into it, even if they're self-published, because Howard-Johnson knows of reviewers who welcome self-published books and are not book bigots, heh.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jan Peregrine writes reviews for Amazon, Goodreads and her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jansbooks/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel. She plans to be a fequent contributor to The New Book Review.

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.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Military Writers, Writers with Military Topics Alert!

I suspect that many readers and visitors to this blog aren't award of MWSA or its great networking community!

MSWS is the Military Writers Society of America. It is not just for those who write with a military theme. It is also an organization the supports writers who are or have been military or are related to military. Though it also accepts authors and writers who appreciate the possibilities it offers.

Membership is reasonably priced and it offers an excellent book award contest. A couple of my poetry chapbooks have won awards and definitely are not military oriented!

And now all members of MWSA are encouraged to attend this year’s conference in September. They say, “In addition to a general membership meeting that will enable you to learn more about what’s going on in MWSA and provide you the opportunity to voice your suggestions for the future of MWSA, the agenda includes seminars to improve your skills as a writer and presentations that will entertain and educate you on the military history of San Antonio.

“We have worked hard to keep the conference costs down this year and are offering an early bird price at an amount below prior conferences and way below other writers’ conferences held around the country. The Menger Hotel is located right in the heart of San Antonio, minutes away from many major attractions: the Alamo, River Walk, Old Market Square, and more.

Learn more at http://www.mwsadispatches.com/events/2017/9/7/mwsa-general-membership-meeting

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG

ew 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, February 25, 2017

Magdalena Ball's Poety Sees Science Everywhere

Unmaking Atoms

By Magdalena Ball
Genre: Poetry/ Science
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Ginninderra Press (January 11, 2017)
Language: English
190 Pages
ISBN-10: 1760412821
ISBN-13: 978-1760412821
Author's Web site: www.magdalenaball.com
Buy the book on Amazon

A Moment in Time

I always learn something new from Magdalena Ball’s poetry and was excited that she has a new book that might satisfy my hunger for more of her science-related poems. And so I was surprised to see an entire section titled “Hieroglyphics” in Unmaking Atoms. That discovery doubled my excitement because years ago I studied Egyptian hieroglyphics for three long, confusing, and exciting semesters. It was a process that entangled me in anything with even the mildest scent of Egypt about it and I have visited that country several times since. But I was confused. Where was the “science” in anything I had ever learned about that country, its history, culture, people, language?

I’m telling you this story because Ball’s poetry is nothing if not eclectic and wholly unexpected. I should have known she could make the connection. In this section inspired by the Online at MoMA exhibition at

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/online/#works, she says,

“the story you’ve left in me

a ridge against the inside

scar tissue

“like art, I could make myself in positive integers

on carbon, memory cutting figures across a black expanse

as I move through these places, at grand scale

“finding a tincture of who you were

each detail of your absence, bringing back

the line and curve that makes us whole.”

And so . . . now I have a deeper sense of many of those things I thought I had come to know. And science? Ball finds science everywhere and—of course—it is everywhere

And this, dear readers, is the beauty and the excitement of picking up a book of Ball’s poetry and slowly, deliberately, letting that science permeate you awareness of whatever she chooses to examine.

You won’t be bored. You will have your senses awakened. And those who know and love ekphrastic poetry are going to fall in love and want more of the modern art exhibit that inspired it.

Isn’t all poetry but a moment in a time? And isn’t science inundated with unseen time. Ball may help you see time—and feel it.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Indie Reader Posts Blurb for "Mary Poser"

Title: Mary Poser

Author: Angel A

ISBN e-pub: 9876222-0-4

ISBN print: 978-0-9876222-2-8

Number of pages: 472

Publisher: Angel's Leap Pty Ltd

BLURB:

Originally written for and published for IndieReader, http://indiereader.com/2017/02/mary-poster/

“Full of humor and warmth, MARY POSER touches on serious issues like self-harm, anxiety, and prejudice, while inspiring readers to be happy with who they are, and to always look for butterflies.”

Friday, February 10, 2017

Review and Mini Essay from Midwest Book Review

I am doing something a little different for this review. I am reprinting with permission a review of the newest in my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers, How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. I was notified via Midwest Book Review's newsletter and what a surprise that was! But it also a fantastic example of what those personal contacts (like Letters-to-the-Editor and thank yous) I recommend to clients and readers of my books can do! I hope it will encourage you to do more of this kind of thing for and with your fellow authors and your readers!

"Dear Publisher Folk, Friends & Family:

'We all know that book reviews can impact and influence librarians and the general reading public. What is perhaps underestimated is the impact and influence book reviews can have on the author. Last month I was vividly reminded of this fact while reading my review copy of "How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally And Ethically" by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

'Here's what I came across in the introduction on page VIII:

"We have all had disasters if we've been around very long. My book of poetry, "Imperfect Echoes" (bit.ly/ImperfectEchoes) was released just after my husband broke his back trouncing around on our roof to save $140 on solar repairs. I became a full time caretaker and part time writer and had not time to market my book. I did occasionally send out a query far a review and one was so special that it made up for the sad reality that few will read the book because few will have heard about it. So, thank you to Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Book review for that memorable gift."

"I had no idea at the time who Carolyn was or anything about her circumstances. It was just another self-published book of considerable merit by an unknown author and I was trying to establish the Midwest Book Review as a champion of just such folk.

"Since then Carolyn has gone on to a career of writing 'how to' books for authors and publishers and we became 'cyber-space pen pals'. When I thanked her for her very kind words in her introduction, she noted that we first met in person at a BEA convention in Chicago back in 2001. But as I was meeting hundreds (no exaggeration) of folks at that event I didn't remember her specifically.

"But I did recall meeting Carolyn at John Poynter's ebook publishers convention in Santa Barbara, California in 2012 when I was awarded that Life Time Achievement in Publishing award.

"I think she was also in the audience for my 'workshop' at that event -- I recall that one was 'standing room only' it was so crowded in that huge room. A few folks couldn't physically get in because there was no more room -- there was even a line of people standing along the back and side walls of the room.

"Incidentally, that John Poynter convention was also the first time I met in person my managing editor Diane Donovan who for many years prior to our meeting in the flesh had (and continues to be) the editor for three of my nine monthly book review publication: The Bookwatch; California Bookwatch; Children's Bookwatch. Up until then she was a just a voice on the phone and an email correspondent only.

"I'm now in my 41st year as the editor-in-chief of the Midwest Book Review. That means at the age of 74 I have now spent more than half my life in this position!

"Every now and then I get an email or a letter expressing heartfelt appreciation for myself and the Midwest Book Review from authors and publishers for what we try to accomplish in their behalf. It's those messages of support and thanks that give me a reason to keep doing this job for as long as my health, my wife, and my daughter will allow.

"Here is the review of Carolyn's most recent publication and the one that started me down memory lane:"

How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically

Series:3rd in the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers,

Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HowToDoItFrugally Publishing

Genre: Nonfiction: Writing/Book Marketing
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
http://facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson
9781536948370, $17.95, PB, 340pp, www.amazon.com

In the pages of "How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically", Carolyn Howard-Johnson draws upon her many years of professional experience and expertise spent helping writers to avoid pitfalls, misconceptions, and out-and-out scams perpetrated on unsuspecting authors -- and helping them reach their dreams of obtaining great reviews, going on great book tours, and experiencing great launches.

Simply stated "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" comprises the complete, comprehensive, and core manual for obtaining reviews and utilizing them in a practical, effective, and successful marketing campaign that includes all those things and for building the readership necessary for a financially prosperous and emotionally satisfying writing career.

Covering every aspect of the book review process from solicitation to exploitation, "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" is thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, content, commentary, organization and presentation.

Basically, "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" is classified as a "must" for the instructional reference shelf of any and all authors and publishers be they novice beginners or seasoned professionals. While an essential and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Writing/Publishing collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically" is also available in a Kindle format ($9.95).

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.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Midwest Book Review Recommends Book on Eastern Thought

The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

Subtitle: A Commentary on Jesus’ Sayings as Recorded by the Apostle Thomas

Author: Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

http://ocoy.org

Genre: Nonfiction: spirituality, religion, Christianity, esoteric, Eastern thought

ISBN-10: 1507722540

ISBN-13: 978-1507722541

Reviewed by James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, originaly for

Midwest Book Review

Book available at Amazon: http://a.co/1dO6G3k

Small Press Bookwatch: February 2016

Midwest Book Review

"An extraordinary work of theological commentary by Abbot George Burke (who is also known as Swami Nirmalananda Giri), "The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening" is as informed and informative as it is inspired and inspiring.

"Very highly recommended to clergy and non-specialist general readers with an interest in The Gospel of Thomas, this outstanding volume is very highly recommended for seminary, church, community, and academic library Christian Studies reference collections in general, and The Gospel of Thomas supplemental studies in particular.