Great Books

The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher (expanded and updated)  

Proven book marketing info

Want to know how to do what publishers can’t or won’t do—and how you can do your own book promotion well? Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter features nitty-gritty how-tos for getting “nearly free” publicity.  

An instructor for UCLA’s Writers’ Program and former publicist and journalist, Carolyn shares practical tips gleaned from the successes of her own book campaigns.  

As self-publishing guru Dan Poynter said, “The most expensive parts of book promotion are the mistakes. This book will save you time and money.”  

Check out this up-to-date award-winning book today at http://howtodoitfrugally.com 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a multi award-winning author of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Her How To Do It Frugally series of books has helped writers and retailers worldwide over the past two decades.  

Neverisms for Word Lovers

If your favorite high school teacher advised you to “never be satisfied with less than your best,” what would you do?

Dr. Mardy Grothe took this advice literally and, over the decades, compiled 2,000 quotations that begin with the never. From there, he coined the phrase Neverism and wrote a book for word lovers like you and me.

Borrowing neverisms from writers ranging from Aesop to Erma Bombeck, Dr. Mardy’s new book Neverisms:A Quotation Lover’s Guide to Things You Should Never Do, Never Say, or Never Forget (HarperCollins) was released May 10, 2011.

Dr. Mardy kindly shared a preview edition with me and his neverisms have entertained me before sleep at night for weeks.

Organized into 18 chapters on such topics as sex, politics, sports, stage and screen, and the literary life, this book tickles my funny bone every time I open it. As he’s done in previous books (e.g., Ifferisms, Oxymoronica, I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like), he tells the fascinating “back stories” on many of the quotations he’s so lovingly researched. These yummy back stories enrich the neverisms like creamy butter.

My challenge? To select my favorites—a hugely difficult choice because he offers such a witty Neverland of language and history. I just know that I’m a big fan of Dr. Mardy’s ezine, Quotes of the Week (sign up at www.drmardy.com), and a humungous fan of Dr. Mardy himself.

So let me randomly pick one from the Advice chapter and let it suffice for now.

Never hurry and never worry! E.B. WHITE, Charlotte’s Web (1952)

This is one of the best-known pieces of advice that Charlotte gave to her friend Wilbur, a small pig who feared he was going to become the main dish for Christmas dinner.

How to Write a Nonfiction BookHow to Write a Nonfiction Book by Bobbi Linkemer

When I read Bobbi Linkemer’s new book How to Write a Nonfiction Book,
I had three burning questions in mind:

1. Is this overview up to speed in our ever-changing world of
   authorship?
2. Does it include meaningful descriptions of the specialties I deal
   with—editing book proposals and manuscripts—when working
   with nonfiction authors?
3. Would I recommend it to new authors of nonfiction books and
   prospective clients?

This book surpassed my expectations in all three aspects. Without
getting bogged down in the infinite details of Internet marketing,
Bobbi addresses the role of ebooks, blogs, Print-on-Demand, and more.
She notes the emergence of publishing options including independent
publishers and digital publishing, including instructions on how to
upload to Kindle (p.118). 

Bobbi’s impressive recommended reading list features four pages of
books and ebooks. However, I wanted to see publication dates to help
me select the most recently created options. 

I’m big on thoroughly researching and planning your book before
writing it—and Bobbi is, too. I especially liked the segment Ten
Questions to Test Your Book Idea—all questions to take into
consideration sooner rather than later. Answers to these questions
lead right into instructions on how to write a book proposal. She has
left spaces to write lists in the book itself, even writing in your
own deadlines (p. 67). Cool. 

New authors will appreciate Bobbi’s focus, clarity, and easy-to-follow
approach to the book-writing process. How to Write a Nonfiction Book
features loads of content for veterans as well.

Most valuable of all, Bobbi draws a picture of what the entire process
requires—a guide that softens the intimidation factor with well-
written explanations and helpful examples.

Yup, How to Write a Nonfiction Book is a keeper! Bobbi delivers on her
promise of taking the mystery out of the book-writing process. For
more information, go to www.WriteANonfictionBook.com.  

For Barbara McNichol’s Quick Start Planner, email a request to editor@barbaramcnichol.com

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Award Winner SOULWISE: How to Create a Conspiracy of Hope, Health and Harmony (edited by Barbara McNichol)

SOULWISE

Congratulations to Dr. Phil Johnson, founder of Soulwise International. His book, SOULWISE, tells you how to tap into your passion to make a world of difference and it recently won some awards.

National Indie Excellence 2010 Book Awards chose SOULWISE as a finalist in its Self-Help category. It also won the Sponsor’s Choice Prize: The “10 Million Eyeballs Internet Marketing Course” presented by Joh n Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.

Every time Phil sends me a postcard from Kenya, I know he’s fulfilling the African proverb, “When you pray, move your feet.” He travels there to coordinate Kibera Kids Kitchen, a feeding program in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. He’s also helping Daystar University in Kenya launch a Global Leadership Center to inspire and teach servant-leaders in Africa.

Get to know more about this award-winning book and its kind-hearted author at http://livesoulwisenow.com

Ifferisms–They’re Everywhere!

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” -from Ifferisms by Dr. Mardy Grothe

He’s made it fun and inviting, this book of aphorisms all marked with a common beginning—the word “if.”

Dr. Mardy Grothe has gathered 1800 or so “ifferisms” like the famous one above to provide entertaining mental twists best appreciated a few at a time. These gems—also known as epigrams, maxims, and truisms—offer brief observations that tell a kind of truth about the human experience.

I totally agree with these words from Dr. Mardy in his Introduction: “Whatever they’re called, succinctly phrased sayings have a honorable place in intellectual history.” Well, they certainly found a place with me and fellow writer Patricia Katz when we took time to get acquainted with them. For the benefit of all writers, here are three gems we picked out.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” – Elmore Leonard

 “If you have that unconquerable urge to write, nothing will stop you from writing.” – Theodore Dreiser

 “If you force yourself to think clearly you will write clearly. It’s as simple as that. The hard part isn’t the writing; the hard part is the thinking.” – William Zinsser

Feel free to persuse the book, pluck out your favorites, and savor every gem. Ifferisms: An Anthology of Aphorisms that Begin with the Word If, available at www.drmardy.com and at www.amazon.com

 What is a Deliberate Pause and Why Should You Care About It?

 A deliberate pause is a conscious moment in which you might ask “why are things the way they are?” followed by “how could life be better?”

Larry Robertson has identified this natural inclination to pause as the critical factor that sparks truly fresh ideas. In his consulting work with entrepreneurs, he has analyzed how they seize a series of deliberate pauses to catalyze seismic changes—ones that allow humanity itself to progress.

Robertson’s A Deliberate Pause (the book) reveals the power of a deliberate pause (the action) while unveiling surprising truths about entrepreneurship itself. Through example, exploration, and analysis of more than 200 entrepreneurial leaders, the author shows how you can adopt a deliberate pause in your life.

 He shows how you, too, can develop an entrepreneurial mindset to better your own life and the world itself.

 Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and a featured contributor, summarized it this way: “What distinguishes humans from other life forms, one thing at least, is entrepreneurship. It is in every human being and everything human.”

 That’s why you should care!

 A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its Moment in Human Progress by Larry Robertson

 Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble and www.adeliberatepause.com

How to Sell to Men Without Wearing a Low-Cut Dress Delivers in a Dynamic Way

Deborah Gardner has trained hundreds of salespeople in how to present themselves well to get results in a sales situation. In How to Sell to Men Without Wearing a Low-Cut Dress, she delivers hard-hitting, effective ideas to women who sell to male buyers—ones that don’t require applying the old “low-cut dress” strategy and risking their reputations.

Throughout this book, Gardner instills skills and knowledge for women to win the business and the big bucks—and be proud of their accomplishments along the way. Filled with findings, stories, and information gleaned from interviews, it ultimately succeeds in inspiring better working relationships between the genders. More practical than seductive, How to Sell to Men Without Wearing a Low-Cut Dress keeps its promises in a dynamic way!

George Ferris Biography Circles in the Sky Inspires!

A biography written to spark innovation and pride among America’s future engineers, Circles in he Sky: The Life and Times of George Ferris  has boldly achieved that and more.

Its author Richard Weingardt, an accomplished engineer in his own right, applies his research skills, engineering knowledge, and genuine interest in humanity to this easy-to-read chronicle about George Ferris—the man who designed, constructed, erected and operated the Ferris wheel.

More than a century later, this young man’s genius has instructed the building of massive Ferris wheels worldwide. The original built in 1893 and demolished 13 years later has been replicated in forms large and small. (Appendix C provides full details of how Ferris’s original wheel was constructed.)

Amazingly, though, the 265-foot-high wheel that debuted at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition still holds the record for accommodating the most passengers, 2,160, in one revolution. Only the 682-foot-high Beijing Great Wheel (to open in 2009 or 2010) comes close to that capacity at 1,920 people.

I especially like this biography for how it weaves in the influences of Ferris’s colleagues, family members, even his nemesis Daniel Burnham, who’d challenged American civil engineers to come up with a structure that would rival Paris’s Eiffel Tower. Captivating photographs throughout bring Ferris’s engineering marvel into visual focus. How appropriate that author Weingardt himself is photographed in front of the London Eye Observation Wheel—a structure revealing how its inventor’s influence has soared beyond the heights of even Ferris’s lofty imagination. Ferris’s family has called it the “definitive biography of George W. Gale Ferris, Jr.”

Circles in the Sky—it’s an enjoyable, informative read filled with glory, mystery, tragedy and most of all, inspiration!

Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation by Jane Stanfield

It makes my heart sing when one of “my” authors gives birth to a book I edited. Jane Stanfield’s practical workbook, Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation, encourages people to combine philanthropy and personal interests with vacation time and world travel.

  Jane took a year off to volunteer in several locales. She not only came back with great experiences, arranged through volunteer agencies, but with data for her step-by-step planning book that saves megahours of research for volunteer vacationers.

Want to know more about doing good for others while mixing it up with people in other countries? Follow this link to a wealth of fresh information on volunteer vacations. FYI – Jane submitted Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation to an award contest sponsored by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (on whose board of directors I used to serve). It placed in four categories: 2nd Place in Travel, Workbook, and Layout and Design, and 3rd place in Printing. Congratulations!

Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal

I’m especially proud to promote Karen Saunders’ book Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal. Why? Because I edited it, so I know it’s loaded with solid, practical information designed to support marketing your books and your business.
  

Embrace Your Rights by Karen Gridley

As authors and editors, we have to be conscientious about our audiences so they’ll want to read what we labor to write. Sometimes, however, we can lose sight of ourselves in our attempts to influence others.

How can we remain true to our own ideas, beliefs, and feelings as we serve our readers and audience members?

For guidance in answering that question, turn to Embrace Your Rights by speaker, author, and coach Karen Gridley.

I had the pleasure of editing this wonderful book, which (as the subtitle says) spells out 50 Self-Empowering Rights That Create Joy, Freedom, and Purpose. My two favorites are:

#16 – I have the right to have a different opinion and still be liked, loved, and treated with respect.

 #20 – I have the right to risk new territory, stretch my comfort zone, and feel scared doing so.

In Karen’s beautifully designed book, each Right is supported by thought-provoking quotations from top authors and speakers – Stephen R. Covey, Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy, and Larry Winget to name a few.

Taken to heart, these 50 Rights will guide you to be true to yourself, your message, and your audience.