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Saturday, October 28, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Boost Book Sales with a BOGO Offer (Buy One, Get One Free)
Hi there fellow authors,
It's Lois W. Stern here, your NewBookReview Blog Spot Review Acquisition Coordinator, sharing another helpful tip with you:
This is a great way to grow book sales and brand awareness on a small budget.
The supermarkets do this all the time: BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) and you can use this same idea to boost book sales.
Try bundling a couple of your titles into a 2 for 1 offer. Then send your offer out to your list, post it on your social media pages, add dit to your newsletter, and promote it in any other creative places you can think of.
Your offer might look like this: “Buy (1st book title) at (add list price) and get (2nd book title) for FREE. And if you decide to include free shipping, be sure to use USA MEDIA RATE. When you ship your books, include a friendly message thanking them for their interest and telling them you hope they enjoy your books. This will cost you only a couple of dollars, but you can get barrels full of free PR in return.
(Here are a few ways to benefit from your investment.
Just be sure to ask permission first, as courtesy builds trust.)
- Add their name to your newsletter list.
- Ask them if they could write a testimonial about your books. Then use that testimonial to further spread the word about your books.
- Post a thank you to them for purchasing your books on your social media pages, while adding a picture of your book cover.
- If they give you a great testimonial, ask them if they would expand it into a review, then post it on any of the creditable online book review sites, and send you the link once that review is posted.
- Submit their review to The New Book Review blog spot, following the format provided at:
https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/2023/05/send-us-your-fav-book-review.html .
If you think it’s worth a small investment to get the word out about your books,
how about giving BOGO a try?
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Sci-Fi Author Joy V. Smith Shares Writing Tips from The Frugal Editor
Title: The New Book Review
Subtitle: HowtoDoItFrugally Series of books for Writers
Edition: 3rd Edition
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johhson
Publisher: Modern History Press
Buy on Amazon
Multi award-winner including Reader Views, The Irwin Award
Pages 279
Reviewed by Joy V. Smith
From beginning to end, I learned what I needed to know--and there was so much I didn't realize I needed to know--to help me with my writing. She covers editing helps and resources, grammar, punctuation, computer aids, agents' pet peeves and warnings about CAPs, quotation marks, and exclamation points (one of my pet peeves), And a lot more! (heh, heh)
Of course I can't remember everything so I've used a lot of little flags. In checking some out for this review, I came across the cut and paste warning. Btw, that ruined a recent ms I sent out (the paste ended up after the end of my story). And I see there's a copyright shortcut. Don't miss the dialogue warning (cut back on those italics). Ah, there's helpful advice about hyphens and prefixes, etc. And helpful background on Smashwords and Kindle, plus info re: formatting. (I had to hire formatters for them.) I also needed to focus on front and back matter recently. (A little late....)
I wish I could memorize all that essential info, but that's what my little flags are for. (I'm glad we can end a sentence with a preposition.) I'll be rereading it.... Highly recommended because it'll save you from writing and publishing mistakes. (Nah, I'll skip the exclamation point this time.)
Note: I received a review copy from the publisher in return for an unbiased and honest review.
More About the Reviewer
Friday, September 22, 2023
"Mermaid" Author Reviews Carolyn Howard-Johnson's Flagship Book
Title: The Frugal Book Promoter
Subtitle: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets
ASIN : B07X2CCTGL
Publisher : Modern History Press; 3rd edition (September 1, 2019)
Language : English
Published as e-book, paperback, paper
Text to speech enabled
5.0 out of 5 stars A Dynamite Book!
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2023
Carolyn Howard-Johnson really knows her stuff! And more importantly, she’s willing to share! This includes nearly all things a writer needs to know to promote a new book.
As every writer learns, the writing is only the beginning; then the work of promoting it – to many of us the hardest part – begins. In The Frugal Book Promoter, Carolyn extends a helping, willing hand and offers to share her extensive repertoire of knowledge to get this job done.
Thank you, Carolyn, for this fantastic, helpful book!
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
For fifty years Lorelei lived the life of a devout Mormon woman.
As a child, her mother told her stories of her pioneer ancestors who crossed the plains to find religious freedom. She grew up in Salt Lake City, was baptized in the Tabernacle font on Temple Square, performed baptisms for the dead in the Salt Lake Temple, and also played the world-famous Tabernacle organ. She attended Brigham Young University, was sealed to her husband for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles Temple, and always said yes to the many callings her bishops extended to her.
Her life revolved around Mormonism and its clearly outlined path leading to exaltation. Then life's dilemmas thundered around her as she studied and prayed, and the doctrinal foundation she had built her life on crumbled.
She is a member of the California Writer's Club and a published poet.
She's also named after a mermaid.
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Celebrating the 3rd Edition of The Frugal Editor
Third Edition
Subtitle: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Hard Copy: 9781615996018, $41.95, 296pp
Synopsis: Whether you are a new or experienced author, this updated and expanded third edition of "The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets-From Your Query Letters to Final Manuscript to the Marketing of Your New Bestseller" by veteran author, editor and book marketer Carolyn Howard-Johnson will dramatically assist aspiring and experienced authors to present whistle-clean copy from a one-page cover letter to their entire manuscript in ways that will convince those with the power to say "yea" or "nay" to their book.
This third edition of "The Frugal Editor", is part of Carolyn's multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for writers and has been awarded accolades from Reader Views Literary Award, Dan Poynter's Global Ebook Award, the coveted Irwin Award, and many others. This fully updated edition includes the new help you need from managing gender pronouns to maximizing the usefulness of front and back matter. Altogether, "The Frugal Editor" now provides 50% more information designed for the success of an author's title.
Critique: Speaking as the editor-in-chief of the Midwest Book Review, one of the most common problems that self- published authors exhibit is a lack of much needed editing with respect to the books they present for my review and for sale to libraries and the general public.
While this newly revised and expanded third edition of "The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets-From Your Query Letters to Final Manuscript to the Marketing of Your New Bestseller" should be considered as mandatory reading for beginners, and even the more experienced authors will benefit substantially from the experience, expertise, wit and hard earned wisdom of writing and publishing expert Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
While also available for personal reading lists in a paperback edition (9781615996001, $26.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.95), "The Frugal Editor" is a seminal and unreservedly recommended addition to professional, community, and academic library Writing/Publishing instructional reference collections and supplemental Writing/Publishing Workshop curriculum studies lists
Editorial Note: Carolyn Howard-Johnson (www.HowToDoItFrugally.com) was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for The Salt Lake Tribune where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige. That gave her insight into the needs of editors, the very people authors must work with to get free ink and the ones likely to spot unprofessional editing when they see it. Being familiar with the way news is handled helps her see how different books fit into different news cycles.
Later in New York, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. In the Big Apple she also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List. There she started writing media releases (then called press releases) for celebrity designers of the day including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich, and Christian Dior instead of being one of those dreaded gatekeepers of releases who get to say yay or nay.
Carolyn has worked as columnist, reviewer, and staff writer for the Pasadena Star-News, Home Decor Buyer, the Glendale News-Press (an affiliate of the LA Times), and others. She learned marketing skills both in college (University of Utah, and University of Southern California) and as founder and operator of a chain of retail stores. That molded her understanding of how authors might best collaborate with retailers to affect both of their bottom lines. Carolyn's experience in journalism and as a poet and author of fiction and nonfiction helped the multi award-winning author understand how different marketing techniques might be used for each genre.
She was an instructor for UCLA Extension's renowned Writers' Program for nearly a decade and earned an instructor's certificate from that school. She studied writing at Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University in Prague.
Carolyn turned her knowledge toward helping other writers with her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Her marketing campaign for the first edition of this book won Reader Views Award, USA Book News Award, and the marketing campaign for it won the Next Generation Indie Award for marketing.
Friday, July 21, 2023
Subtitle: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets
Edition: 3rd Edition
Publisher: Modern History Press
ISBN: 978 1 -61599-600-1
Available on Amazon as a hardcover, paperback, e-book
Reviewed by C. Hope Clark, author of the Edisto series and Vine Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars An encyclopedic wealth of knowledge
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023
The Frugal Editor, 3rd Edition, just blew me away in its concentration of knowledge. It contains an incredible amount of teachings about how to manage a manuscript from the editing stage to the publishing stage. The book is a far cry from how to copyedit a story. Oh my goodness, it covers grammar, formatting, and tips and warnings about using which writing program, beta readers, hiring an editor, even covers. I have been in this business for 23 years, and I was dumbfounded at the little tricks, suggestions, and how-tos on so many topics. . . like MS Word, which I thought I knew everything about! Take it from someone who has traditionally published 17 novels . . . knowledge abounds in this book, and no author is too advanced to pick up this book and NOT glean something. I'm impressed . . . and I don't impress easily. Well done.
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
C. Hope Clark is the author of The Carolina Slade Mysteries, The Edisto Island Mysteries, and The Craven County Mysteries. She’s editor of FundsforWriters, one of the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers and published in The Writer Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Guide to Literary Agents, Writer’s Market, and other trade and online publications.
Saturday, July 1, 2023
William Bernhardt Pens New Novel of Love and Words
TITLE: The Florentine Poet
AUTHOR: William Bernhardt
Available on Amazon
Blurb by Dan Millman originally for this books cover
“Pietro's passion for his angelic Sophia mirrors the author’s love affair with the written word…[T]his book sparkles like a jewel in a cosmic clockwork—an uplifting gift to readers everywhere.”
— Dan Millman, bestselling author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dan Millman, a former world champion athlete, gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor, is author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior (adapted to film in 2006), and 16 other books read by millions of people in 29 languages. Dan teaches worldwide and has influenced people from all walks of life. Learn more about him at https://www.peacefulwarrior.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including The Last Chance Lawyer (#1 National Bestseller), the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, three books of poetry, and the Red Sneaker series of books on writing. In addition, Bernhardt mentors aspiring authors, hosts an annual conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast.
Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." In 2019, he received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
Learn more at
More About #TheNewBookReview Blog |
Monday, June 12, 2023
How-to-Books-For-Authors
SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2023
Dawn Colclasure Lauds Carolyn Howard-Johnson's "The Frugal Editor"
|
Saturday, June 10, 2023
Poet Theresa Werba Reviews James A. Tweedie's Humorous Poetry
Title: Laughing Matters
Subtitle: Poetry with a Wink and a Smile
Kindle Edition
This collection of humorous poetry by the excellent James A. Tweedie is more than a mere collection of clever jokings and funny sayings. James Tweedie is reveling in the power of language, and celebrates its gift-giving capacity in the ways in which words and phrases, and even various authors, and styles, and forms can be experimented with, played with, coaxed, and birthed into a fantastic array of poetic expression.
James Tweedie is not only a first-rate poet, but is also a musician and composer, which is very refreshing to me, as I am also both a poet and a musician. You can hear the musicality exuding from his poetry. The meter is clean and precise, the rhymes are perfect, rarely slanted, so you get the full effect of the satisfactions inherent in perfectly-executed formal poetry. But it never upstages the humor and wit of Tweedie’s funny perspective, and the results are often quite unexpected! It is very refreshing and satisfying indeed to “hear” the sonorities and the rhymes and meter within my head as I read his work.
Tweedie is highly creative in his use of form. He employs the traditional Shakespearean form ABAB CDCD EFEF GG plus the variant ABBA CDDC EFFE GG. The opening poem “Fleet of Foot Pheidippides,” is an excellent example:
Fleet of Foot Pheidippides
A Grecian runner named Pheidippides,
From Athens, ran to Sparta with a plea.
“We need your help to fight the Persians, please!”But Sparta sent him back with, “Nosirree!”
Two-hundred eighty miles is what he ran,
For four or maybe five days he was gone.
But Athens received help from the god, Pan,
And Persia met defeat at Marathon.
Pheidippides, we’re told ran all the way
To Athens to announce that they had won.
That’s why it’s called a “marathon” today.
For twenty-six-plus miles he had to run.
They say he gave the message and dropped dead.
But why did he not ride a horse, instead?
Tweedy also uses the Petrarchan form (in “I wrote a poem” ) as well as some unusual presentations such as an Anapest Dimeter sonnet, a Monometer sonnet, and a 20-line sonnet variant (as opposed to the traditional 14-line sonnet). He also creates a short piece of prose (in the poem ”Doublespeak”) from a sonnet by reformatting it, literally disguising the form and structure of the sonnet so it reads like a short essay. Ingenious! Some of his poems also have a Dr. Seuss-like quality to them, the prime example being the alliterative poem “Beastly Betty.” You can tell Tweedie was having fun while writing this one!
Beastly Betty
An Alliterative Poem
Beastly Betty badly breaks her brother’s
Buttocks with a bat upon his butt.
Broken, beaten brother barely bothers
Bellowing at bawdy Betty. But
Because bad blood between both babe and bro
Builds baleful bias brought by Betty's bane,
Beleaguered Bob bestows a bitter blow.
By blasting boiling bile on Betty's brain.Tweedie often groups his poetry into cycles or themes: a sonnet cycle on the Brothers Grimm nursery stories, a set of “Equilateral Proverbs” (where the first and last words of the couplet rhyme), three limericks based on famous poems by Shakespeare and Dante, with the folksong Molly Malone thrown in, as well as a collection of seven riddles. He also has a poem on the death of Edgar Allen Poe, delightfully executed, and a collection of “Groaner Poems" with some truly groan-inducing puns.
There is such a joyous wordplay and reverie in language that exudes from Tweedie’s work! What I truly love about Tweedie’s poetry is his interesting rhyme combinations. I am delighted when I see such rhyming as death/shibboleth, if/glyph, tease/Diogenes, oogenesis/diaresis, Guinness/amanuensis, and antipode/postal code. There is a love of language that just exudes from each poem presented, a reverie and a celebration of the poetic possibilities waiting to be uncovered. It’s truly enchanting! I couldn’t wait to see what he would come up with next as I read!
I would have to say my favorite poem of the collection is “Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You,” which sold me on its very first line. Anyone who can put together “A pyroclastic vomit’s what I call it;” is a hero in my book!
Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You
A pyroclastic vomit’s what I call it;
An up-chuck from Mt. Shasta’s north west side.I bet you the last dollar in my wallet,
That everything that lived beneath it, died.The famous Captain Cook saw from the ocean
Its pillared smoke arising in plain view—
A seventeen and seven-six commotion.
A record of the last time Shasta blew.Now every volcanologist agrees
That since its active period reappearsIn clockwork cycles of three centuries,
Its next eruption’s due in fifty years.
Because the end is near, I wrote this sonnet
To warn you not to build your new house on it!I also particularly like "Didn't Warn You" because Tweedie employs the rhyme sonnet/on it, which I also have used in one my own sonnets.
Another of my favorites is “The Perfect Poem,” a perfectly-executed sonnet on the creative process of formal poetry-making:
The Perfect Poem
There is, I’m sure, in someone’s file drawer,
A perfect poem, written on a whim,
Perhaps, or, maybe as a simple hymn
Of thanks and praise to God, and nothing more.Or, then again, the poem could express
The burning passion of a lover’s heart,
A terse description of a work of art,
Or soul-torn angst amidst some cruel distress.All grammar, syntax, perfectly intact,
Each foot a proper iamb, anapest,
Or trochee, dactyl, spondee, at its best,Each comma in its place, each rhyme exact.
In spite of flawless tittle, jot, and letter,
There will be some who think they could do better.Anyone who enjoys clever wordplay and creative use of language in novel and unexpected ways would be delighted to have their mind’s ear experience the rich variety of form and humorous content in Tweedie’s Laughing Matters. Highly recommended!
More About the Author
James A. Tweedie is a retired pastor living in Long Beach, Washington. He has written and published six novels, one collection of short stories, and three collections of poetry including Mostly Sonnets, all with Dunecrest Press. His poems have been published nationally and internationally in The Lyric, Poetry Salzburg (Austria) Review, California Quarterly, Asses of Parnassus, Lighten Up Online, Better than Starbucks, Dwell Time, Light, Deronda Review, The Road Not Taken, Fevers of the Mind, Sparks of Calliope, Dancing Poetry, WestWard Quarterly, Society of Classical Poets, and The Chained Muse. His poem “Pneuma” was a Laureate’s Choice in the 2021 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest; his sonnet, “Forever Nine,” was chosen Best Poem in the Summer 2020 edition of The Lyric. He was a First Place winner in the 2022 100 Days of Dante poetry contest and was honored with being chosen as the winner of the 2021 SCP International Poetry Competition. He claims to be an optimist.
More About the Reviewer
Theresa Werba is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Sonnets, a collection of sixty-five sonnets (under the name Theresa Rodriguez, Shanti Arts, 2020). Her work has appeared in such journals as The Scarlet Leaf Review, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Spindrift, Mezzo Cammin, The Wombwell Rainbow, Fevers of the Mind, Serotonin, The Art of Autism, The Road Not Taken, and the Society of Classical Poets Journal. Her work ranges from forms such as the ode and sonnet to free verse, with topics ranging from neurodivergence, the writing process, love, loss, and aging, to faith and disillusionment. Her website is www.bardsinger.com, where you can view videos of her performance poetry and find information about her books. Follow Theresa on Instagram and Twitter @thesonnetqueen.