Inspiration, References, How-To Books,
 and Other Helps for Writers!

The Best Places
To Learn About Craft
and Promotion Is Books.

Of Course!

Quick Links for Other
Helpful Pages for Writers on This Site

List of Media Release Disseminators

List of Book Publicists

List of Agents

List of Major Review Journals

List of digital (print-on-demand) printers

Writing Oriented Organizations

General Writers' Services

Event Planning

Legal Services

Illustrators, Graphic and Book Cover Designers

Sample Reader's Guide (Template)  for Fiction Writers

Sites and Blogs

Carolyn's Editing Services

How-To Books for Writers-This Page Free Content

Writers' Programs at US Universities

List of Book Fairs, Tradeshows, Writers' Conferences, Conventions

  Contests

Carolyn and Eve's Writers Retreat in Rome

Editors

Author-Friendly Reviewers

Author Friendly Radio, TV

Event Planning
Carolyn's Consulting and Coaching Newsletters To Help Writers

List of Small Publishers

Return to the Main Writers' Resources Page

Author-Related Charities

Review Websites

Great Books for Writers
Nice Desk Companions for Any of the Frugal Series for Writers

Carolyn's newest in the How To Do It Frugally Series of books for writers is multi award-winning The Frugal Editor designed to help authors hire better editors, better partner with their editors and self-edit when necessary.  The marketing plan for this book also won the Next Generation award.

The promotion campaign for The Frugal Editor won the Millennium Award for Marketing.

Sylvia McClain, editor of Scribal Calendar, talks about branding
and how reading business books targeted to other industries
can help writers on my Sharing with Writers blog.


Free Books
On Publishing and Writin
g

Trafford offers excellent materials to help you decide if they are the ones to publish your book. They do quality POD publishing.

Gorham Printing has a free e-book with some neat guidelines on publishing on their home page. Check it (and their services) out. 

Ger your Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips as an e-book with your subscription to my SharingwithWriters newsletter.

(For resources and links galore, grab yourself copies of the Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor.)

Click here for Carolyn's first person essay, "Beating Time at Its Own Game."


               Feeling Depressed or Blocked?

Joyce White's book Sculpting the Heart might help. It's not really a book specifically for writers, but I recommend it for those blue days or even more serious depression. Learn more at  http://www.joycewhiteblog.com/

The Frugal Book Promoter includes information on overcoming
both fears of writing and fears of success, too. (Yes, it happens!)

For lots more links for reading and writing stuff, visit Carolyn Howard-Johnson's 
Sharing
with
Writers and Readers blog.


 

Finding Great Writing References and, Yes, Inspiration

I love making lists. You'll find many books not listed here in the indexes of my books. I just figure books are one of the most frugal ways for us authors to learn what we need to know. And we're supporting our own industry by buying them! You'll also love the lists of my favorite books that help writers in the indexes of my multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers.

Find at least one tip on writing, promotion, or tech on every page of this Web site.                                           


So, you're on the right track!  Find what you need for your writing and promotion efforts here!

Terry Whalin will help you get on the right track. He and I met while speaking at a writers' conference. I loved what he had to say, bought his book on writing proposals by for my husband and highly recommend his advice.  He says:

"'You should write a book.'    "'Some day I'm going to write a book.'

"Over 80% of people plan to write a book and more than six million of them have already written a manuscript. Admittedly there are dozens of companies who will take your money and publish your book. How do you get a book publisher to pay you for your book?

"Former book acquisitions editor Terry Whalin says editors and publishers don't read manuscripts. They read book proposals. In BOOK PROPOSALS THAT SELL, 21 SECRETS TO SPEED YOUR SUCCESS, you learn the inside scoop to achieve your dreams."

 ~~


Getting Control Over Your Own Writing Career

Write, Publish, Sell!: Quick, Easy, Inexpensive Ideas for the Marketing Challenged:
by Valerie Allen: People do business with people they know - which is why you must tell to sell. This book is your step-by-step guide for name recognition, networking, and creative marketing to increase book sales. With little or no promotional budget, you can do these painless activities for successful marketing and book sales.

Get Published Today! is a must-read if you have ever considered going it on your own. By marketing expert Penny Sansevieri.

If you aren’t a Webby nerd but would like to polish your online publicity efforts may I recommend Penny Sansevieri’s Red Hot Internet Publicity. She starts basic and stays practical. It isn’t specifically written for authors, which—in this case—may be a good thing.

Big Recommendation for Audio CD I Love

 

Terry Whalin and I often appear at writers' conferences together and I've read his books and recommend them. But I'd never attended one of his presentations because they conflicted with my own. At the last one we were at, Terry said he had repurposed one of his seminars to an audio CD and graciously presented me with one. I just listened to it as I drove the California freeways. It is Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and I love, love, love it! Terry comes at helping other authors through experience and he loads his talks with anecdotes that make his advice entertaining, understandable and memorable. Even though this is recorded live at a seminar, the recording is clear and professional. All I can say is "Wow!" I could tell you all the points he covers, but I won't. You might be tempted to think you know that stuff. But this audio is so much more than the sum of its parts.

 

If your publishing career is lagging or if you'd like to change that path you've been taking (or if you just need a review and a big shot in the arm of energy and ideas!), this is an audio workshop worth the money—even for frugal me. Find it at: http://bit.ly/RxJcfa. Think of it this way. The CD is maybe 1/8 the cost of a real live conference. And you can play it any old time you have the time.

 

The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write (ISBN: 978-0-9795475-5-3) by Mark David Gerson. Tools, Tips and Inspiration to Unleash the Power of Your Creative Potential.

 

 

 

 

"Building a character from the ground up is simple. Building a memorable, living, breathing human being is a most daunting and complicated task, until now. ...Billie A Williams...[gives] character-building tips, tricks, and tools you can master in one afternoon." ~ Beth Erickson, editor, publisher and freelance copywriter.
 

 

Kristi Holl's   Writer's First Aid, gives writers help and encouragement. She is the author of 35 books and experience counts.

 

Website Tip

 Offer something free to your loyal followers. That could be a free e-book or a free article. I once gave a free e-copy of the first in my Celebration Series of Poetry to my newsletter subscribers.

 

 Find at least one tip on writing, promotion, or tech on every page of this Web site. 

 

 

Why Your  Writing Isn't Working and How to Fix It  ISBN 0-9656309-8-6 Audio Book.

This single CD packs into one hour what you might get from a week-long writing workshop.  It has been distilled from classes, seminars and workshops given from Florida to Finland and holds the accumulated wisdom of 25 years of writing, editing and publishing savvy.  It will open your eyes and save you time.

 Promotion Made Easy.

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and SpiteJune Casagrande's Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies  (Penguin) is not only full of good stuff that will make a better editor of you, it's fun. It is a great companion to The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Find Meanies at Amazon.

 

PS: My award-winning novel This Is the Place and my book of creative nonfiction stories,Harkening, are examples of how your genealogy and your diaries might turn into different kinds of books. Find them both in Amazon's new and used feature, probably for the frugal price of under $1 .

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani will teach you everything you’ll ever need to know about reviewing, from how to write them to understanding their influence over the wider spectrum of the publishing world.

Check out Peter Bowerman's Well-Fed Writer books.

Michelle Dunn's e-book report on a book marketing success system is excellent.

Writing for Profit: Break into Magazines by Cheryl Wright. Click here to order this e-book. 
 
In this bleak economy, there is still one avenue that's free - being a guest on radio. Talk Radio Wants You - An Intimate Guide to 700 Shows and How to Get Invited (McFarland & Co 2009) provides all you need to know about each show before contacting a host - the theme, guest criteria, the host's opinion of the best and worst guests and what determines who gets invited back.

 

 

Promotion Tip

Use Listmanias on Amazon to get better exposure for your book. Just make a list of great books in the same category as yours and add yours to it!  That list may eventually appear on the buying page of every single one of the books you list! More than 46,000 people have clicked on my lists. Can't sniff at that kind of targeted marketing, now can we!  PS: You'll find more details of how to build a list in The Frugal Book Promoter.

Find at least one tip on writing, promotion, or tech, on every page of this Web site.

 


Buy Links for Carolyn's Books

Great Fiction
Purchase THIS IS THE PLACE
and
HARKENING at Amazon in their new and used feature.
Both of these books are out of print. They are available only on Amazon's New and Used feature for about $1.

Great Poetry
Purchase TRACINGS (Finishing Line Press) at Amazon.
IMPERFECT ECHOES: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters,
lie and oppression with Small

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 Earth and the Universe
 

HowToDoItFrugally Series for Writers
Purchase THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER,
THE FRUGAL EDITOR
Second Edition
GREAT LITTLE LAST MINUTE EDITING TIPS FOR WRITERS
GREAT FIRST-IMPRESSION BOOK PROPOSALS
HOW TO GET GREAT BOOK REVIEWS FRUGALLY AND ETHICALLY

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.
Did you know that with the Free app, Kindle can be adapted to any reader--even your PC!
 

 "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

 

Frugal E-Book Tip

Kindle E-Books Aren't
Just for Kindle Anymore

Did you know that Amazon’s Kindle e-books are a low-cost/no-cost way to access books even if you don’t have a dedicated Kindle reader? You can read Kindle's e-books on smartphones, desktop computers and any e-device in between. You can even store the books on the Amazon cloud.

~ Quote from Diana Schneidman, author and marketer

To subscribe to Carolyn's FREE online newsletter send an e-mail.

Learn more about Carolyn's newsletter and blog.

Read past issues of Carolyn's Newsletter.

 

Your Book Marketing Resource

The Frugal Book Promoter is one of  your most valuable resources because it is written from personal experience and gives you the basics for promoting everything else you do--in print, on TV or radio, or online. See an excerpt on Fifteen Publicity Commandments, and excerpt from that book.

 

Other Links

 

Acting

 


Celebration Series
 

 

This is the Place

 

Speaking

Tracings

Harkening

Carolyn's Poetry

Helps For Retailers

Helps For Writers

Full Published Works Almanac

Travel and Poetry

Published Books

 

 

 

Subscribe to
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's Sharing with Writers Newsletter

and get a FREE copy of
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

"A decade of bettering writers' careers with how-tos, tips, and publishing news."


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.



Carolyn's Awards

Awards for Carolyn's Books, Blogs and More

The New Book Review
Named to
Master's in English.org Online Universities'

101 Essential Sites for Voracious Readers

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.

Finalist New Generation Book Awards 2012, The Frugal Book Promoter; Finalist 2010 The Frugal Editor;
Winner 2010 Marketing Campaign for the Frugal Editor


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.

The Frugal Book Promoter is runner-up in the how-to category for the Los Angeles Book Festival 2012 awards.

Glendale City Seal
Winner Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts
Glendale California's Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Glendale Library,
2013

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


Other Interests

Acting
Speaking
Travel

Tolerance


Carolyn's Poetry

Tracings
Imperfect Echoes
Celebration Series
Travel


Carolyn's Literary Works

This is the Place
Harkening
Published Shorter Works


Carolyn's How to Do it Frugally Series

For Writers
For Retailers


Endorsements

I've been reading your chapter on Amazon again because there is so much
great stuff that you write about and so many resources that authors 
can utilize.Your book is now a fixture on my desk.
~ Anna Maria Prezio, author of Confessions of a Feng Shui Ghost-Buster

Your book on frugal publicity is a 'classic.' I have it, I've read it, I've recommended it, I believe in it, &  I've met you... and I can easily talk about it.
~ Deborah Granger, radio host and publisher


Book Fair Resources

Click Here for a list of book fairs, tradeshows, conferences and conventions. Your aid to planning ahead.


Site Secret

Browsing Allowed

You will find at least one promotion, writing. or tech tip on every page of this site. Sometimes you'll find, two or three! Happy browsing and collecting!


Video

Click on the logo below to see an example of Reno Lovison's trailer for my Survive and Thrive Series of books.

Authors Broadcast for reasonably priced and thoroughly professional video book trailers. 


Site Secret

Carolyn's favorite resource for writers is the one that lists media (or press) release disseminators--complete with mini reviews. Can you find it?


Proud Member

www.wrwa.net
Honorary Member



ABWA is a group of highly skilled networkering women in business.

Military Writers' Society of America

Also, honorary member of Publishers and Writers of San Diego, Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS), IWOSC, and Publishers Association of Los Angeles (PALA)


Book Publicists of Southern California (BPSC)  Pix: Proud Irwin Award Winners
Carolyn and Janet Goliger.


Website Sponsor

As Featured in Publishers Weekly

This unique book paints a revealing picture of America for those foreigners who will benefit from a better understanding of America. Endorsed by ambassadors, teachers and editors, it even examines our culture, customs and language. Carolyn loves the chapter that simplifies English grammar and one on accent reduction.

Available on Amazon bookstores worldwide, at Vroman's in Pasadena and other fine bookstores.



Find Carolyn on the Web

  writers retailers