Save Money to Make Money ^ Carolyn Howard-Johnson knows a thing or two about book promotion. Having published many books, columns, and articles across many genres, she tends to know what she's talking about. Even though some of the information and website links are now dated, the number one thing I loved about this book was that it didn't talk down to you.
While in the process of publishing my humor book, I read as many self-marketing resources as I could get my hands on. I kept running across positive reviews ...more Carolyn Howard-Johnson knows a thing or two about book promotion. Having published many books, columns, and articles across many genres, she tends to know what she's talking about. Even though some of the information and website links are now dated, the number one thing I loved about this book was that it didn't talk down to you.
While in the process of publishing my humor book, I read as many self-marketing resources as I could get my hands on. I kept running across positive reviews of The Frugal Book Promoter so I knew I had to pick it up.
It's not one of those books that tells you to go out and find an agent and promises you all the success in the world. It tells you the steps that you can take all by yourself in order to achieve the success you desire... you just have to be willing to do the hard work. Sure, it gives you the knowledge to find an agent who might help you reach your goals, but doesn't recognize it as the only option.
I tabbed sections of this book as I went along so that after finishing it I could easily go back and find techniques that I wanted to try. By the time I finished the book, I easily had over 50 tabs stuffed into the pages. I've been working my way back through and putting some of her ideas into practice. While I haven't made a million dollars and I'm not yet rubbing elbows with Oprah, I have seen some promotional campaigns turn into book sales.
There were a couple of other marketing/promotion books that I read prior to this one and in retrospect, I wish this had been the first thing I read since some of those other books assume you are working in a particular genre, or assume that you have a couple thousand dollars to drop on making posters and bookmarks. This book is completely focused on how to save money and requires no previous knowledge or experience.
If you're serious about your book's future, then you won't regret picking up Carolyn's book. She wants to help you. She wants you to succeed. She doesn't see you as competition. She knows we're all in this together.
Disorganized help horrid appearance. ^ This book fairly shouts self published, from its gaudy cover to its even gaudier interior. Mystique Design and Editorial is T.C McMullen, another author who presents herself as a designer. Nearly half the books she designs are her own. She is a decent painter but a terrible book designer. The best of her designs reach the mediocre level (I checked her site.)
Beyond the offputting design add in the very bad advice about copyrights and the generally loose organization. The index is also a bit amateurish, with 20 references to the word "gift" with no subordinate headings. A reference to "Internet Radio" on page 183 is followed by a separate reference to "internet radio" on page 172. This is just sloppy. Indexes, like other parts of a book, deserve some attention and editing by someone who knows a bit about indexing.
Is there some helpful information in this book? Probably. But there are better books aplenty, with more recent publishing dates and fewer instances of really bad advice. Frankly I bought this book just to see how bad it was. Yes, it really is that bad.
It won't make my shortlist of publishing books on [...] and my amateur cover designs on [...] suddenly don't look so bad.
John Culleton Able Indexers and Typesetters[...]
Uncover the Realities of Book Promotion! ^ The Frugal Book Promotor is an eye-opener to the realities of book promotion. Every aspiring author should read this book before beginning a proposal or manuscript, for a "be careful what you wish for" reality check. The real work lies in the promotion, the writing is just the beginning.
The only thing I would change about this book is the sub-title. It hints that publishers leave all of the book promotion responsibility to the author. In many cases this is true, however some publishers offer more support than others. I have been blessed with generous support from my publisher, although there is still plenty of work for me! It's a team effort.
Book promotion opportunities are infinite, and Carolyn Howard-Johnson does a great job of covering every idea imaginable - from media kits to web design to radio and television publicity and everything in between. I especially like the creative ideas such as corporate sales and amazon perks.
Full of practical advice ^ This book by Howard-Johnson is not writers' fluff; neither are the principles she advocates always easy to apply. However, the title does not promise that it's easy to promote and sell your book. It only claims to tell how.
It's very sad that the vast majority of writers don't know how to promote their own book, yet publishers seem to expect them to know it all. I also feel it's a shame that many writers (including myself) are not gifted salespeople and, indeed, may even hate selling with a passion. However, in almost every case, the writer is the one chiefly responsible for making sure his or her book sells.
In essence, to make a good living from writing, most need to be salespeople who write rather than writers who try to sell. This may mean that some really fine writers do not sell nearly as many copies of their book as salespeople who happen to write.
Nonetheless, this book can even help the writer who is struggling mightily with trying to beat the streets with a new book. So read the book, do your best at promoting, and just hope that, if the book is really good, word will begin to spread and the book will take on a life of its own.
book marketing ^ This book gave me some good ideas that helped to promote my book about being happy (Life In A Week) and I still have it on my desk to open and reference it while doing some marketing. I would recommend it to all writers who intend on selling lot's of books.
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