Excerpt
from
Carolyn's Favorite Audio
on
Winning Contests, Avoiding Scams
And Using Your Wins to Best Advantage

To better use contests to gain exposure and expand your credentials:

  • Set a goal based on the kind of writing you do and the size of your pocketbook. No-fee contests work well until you refine your contest IQ.   Pick contests that impose fees at least as carefully as you might select a tomato from the produce department at your market.
  • Consider less popular contests as well as those that carry names like Hemingway and Faulkner. On a slow day, editors won't care how big the name and on any given day, most reporters who are generally journalists not novelists after all,  won't know the difference between a small contest and a blockbuster.
  • Choose contests that match your needs. Short story contests for someone with a published book of short stories, for an example, may be more accessible than a contest that judges complete books.
  • Pay attention to the contest’s guidelines. Don’t enter a competition that seeks experimental fiction if your book is a mystery. It wastes your time and theirs even if no fee is involved.
  • Ask your publisher to enter your book in contests that require a publisher, rather than the author, to nominate a book. Many publishers won't do this without a nudge.
  • To increase your chances and to keep you from worrying about each entry, submit work to several contests at a time.
  • Don't neglect community contests and awards for individuals rather than books. I've found one given by members of the California State Legislature for woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment one of the most valuable awards for promotion. There is a relationship between arts and entertainment, of course,  but the award isn't specifically for one of my books. Another award given for literary activism by the Pasadena Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Pasadena, offered me many promotional opportunities that awards on my writing alone could have offered because it was community-centered and that's a broader demographic than readers alone.

All the audios the Divas produce are packed with practical information you can't afford not to know.  Why struggle on your own when you can know what the Divas took years to learn! Order yours now at Tri-Studio

Here's a podcast (clip) from (including a bit on understanding some of the limitations of dialogue!) from the audio on Dialogue.

Here's a podcast from Getting Reviews and Advance Praise for your book! 

      To see reviews of audios and more, click here.

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Important Resources

 


Buy Links for Carolyn's Books


Great Fiction
Purchase THIS IS THE PLACE
and
HARKENING at Amazon.

Great Poetry
Purchase TRACINGS (Finishing Line Press) at Amazon.

Give the gift of poetry with a chapbook
from Magdalena Ball's
and
My Celebration Series

CHERISHED PULSE: Unconventional Love Poetry
IMAGINING THE FUTURE: Ruminations on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions
SHE WORE EMERALD THEN: Reflections on Motherhood
BLOOMING RED: Christmas Poetry for the Rational
DEEPER INTO THE POND: Celebration of Femininity
SUBLIME PLANET: Celebrating the Planet and the Universe as Never Before

HowToDoItFrugally Series for Writers
THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER, Second Edition
THE FRUGAL EDITOR
GREAT LITTLE LAST MINUTE EDITING TIPS FOR WRITERS
THE GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION BOOK PROPOSAL
 

Survive and Thrive Series of HowToDoItFrugally Books for Retailers
A RETAILER'S GUIDE TO FRUGAL IN-STORE PROMOTION
FRUGAL AND FOCUSED TWEETING FOR RETAILERS
YOUR BLOG, YOUR BUSINESS

Most of Carolyn's books are also available for the Kindle reader and
using Amazon's app, other readers, too.
 


 

 "Careers that are not fed die as readily
as any living organism given no sustenance." 
~
Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Studio photography by Uriah Carr
3 Dimensional Book Cover Images by iFOGO
Logo by Lloyd King

All Carolyn's Frugal Books Are Available on Kindle
As Well as Paperback

Helpful Books for Writers

  Helpful Books for Retailers

Poetry: The perfect inspirational gift.

Fiction and Short Stories


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Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers

"I have been a professional writer 40 years, and am also a tenured full professor of journalism. Carolyn's Sharing with Writers newsletter is  most useful for me--and for my students. I emphasize to them that while research is 90% of writing, and the actual writing is about 10%, there's another 100% out there called promotion. Carolyn shows numerous ways to get the message to the mass media."
~Walter Brasch, author and educator


Find Carolyn on the Web

  writers retailers

Carolyn's Blogs

Sharing with Writers
All things publishing with
an emphasis on book
promotion. Named to
Writer's Digest
101 Best Website list.


The New Book Review
Great way for readers, authors, reviewers and publicists to get more
mileage out of
a great review.


The Frugal Editor Blog
This is the Frugal, Smart
and Tuned-In Editor blog.
Covers editing, grammar, formatting and more.
Get the answers you need.



Tip

Don't wait till you absolutely must have information on writing and publishing. You know what they say about stress! The Audio Divas share the kind of information both seasoned and new authors need, much of very valuable before you need it!
If you are in a hurry, you can download an audio in short order and learn on the fly!

  Find tips on writing, promotion or tech on every page of this Web site. 


Carolyn's Awards

Awards for Carolyn's Books, Blogs and More

The New Book Review
Named to
Online Universities'

101 Book Blogs
You Need to Read

Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites
for
Sharing with Writers blog.

 


Best Book Award for The Frugal Book Promoter (2004) and The Frugal Editor (2008) and the Second Edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (2011).

 

Reader Views Literary Award for The Frugal Editor

New Generation Award for Marketing and Finalist for The Frugal Editor

Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award

Military Writers Award of Excellence for
Tracings, A Chapbook of Poetry.


A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion wins author Military Writers Society of America's Author of the Month award for March, 2010

 

Gold Medal Award from Military Writers Society of America, 2010. MWSA also gave a nod to She Wore Emerald Then, a chapbook of poetry honoring mothers.

The Frugal Editor Named #! on Top Ten Editing Books list.


The Oxford Award recognizes the alumna who exemplifies the Delta Gamma precept of service to her community and who, through the years, devotes her talents to improve the quality of life around her.

And more than a dozen other awards for Carolyn's novel, short story collection and poetry. See the awards page on this site.


Published Works Almanac