The Frugal Book Promoter - 3rd Edition: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher

by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Overview

Assure your book gets the best possible start in life, whether your publisher assigns zero dollars or thousands to your book's marketing campaign. A former publicist, the author provides no-nonsense basics to build the essentials you need to build a time-saving social media campaign and knock'em dead lists of influencers which is pure gold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615994687
Publisher:	Modern History Press
Publication date:	09/01/2019
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has nearly three decades of retail experience plus oodles more in the fields of journalism, public relations, publishing, and marketing. She consults in the three Ps: publishing, promotion, and publicity and is the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and one for retailers. Her how-to books are multi award-winners including awards from USA Book News, Next Generation Award, Reader Views Award and many others. The marketing she has done for her award-winning fiction and poetry puts her in a unique position to advise other authors with The Frugal Book Book Promoter, second edition. Howard-Johnson was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature. The American Business Women's Association (ABWA) Impact Council also named her Woman of the Year. Her community's Arts and Culture committee gave her their coveted Diamond Award and the culture committee named her Woman of the Year. Pasadena Weekly honored her for literary activism. Her Web site is www.HowToDoItFrugally.com where she offers a free book marketing focused newsletter along with a free gift for subscribing. She blogs on all-things-writing at www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements iii

Why a Third Edition of The Frugal Book Promoter? iv

Before We Get Started v

Section I – Getting Started and Getting on with It 1

Chapter 1 – Excuse me I have to do what? 3

Chapter 2 – Marketing Basics: The Short Course 13

Chapter 3 – To Hire or Not to Hire a Publicist 19

Chapter 4 – Promoting Ethically 23

Section II – Plunging In: Publicity Basics Now 25

Chapter 5 - The Three Ps and Your Writing Career 27

Chapter 6 - Public Relations: The Granddaddy of Great Publicity 29

Chapter 7 – Free Publicity Isn't Really Free 35

Chapter 8 – Branding: Publicity's Cornerstone 37

Chapter 9 – Advertising: The Weak Partner 41

Chapter 10 – Your Now and Forever PR Skills 43

Section III – Do-It-Yourself and Partner Publicity 63

Chapter 12 – The Media Release 69

Chapter 13 – The Rest of Your Media Kit 79

Chapter 14 – Your Query and Cover Letters 95

Chapter 15 – Your Reviews 99

Section IV – Promote Your Book by Doing What You Love 111

Chapter 16 – Loving Writing and Recycling 113

Chapter 17 – Learning to Love What You Thought You Couldn't 131

Chapter 18 – Publishing Dreams vs. Marketing Needs 145

Section V – You and the Media: What’s New, Old, and In Between? 165

Chapter 19 – Radio and TV: The Ageless Pair 167

Chapter 20 – The Old Internet 177

Chapter 21 – Game Changers 185

Chapter 22 – Using Social Networks 199

Chapter 23 – The Dangers of Online Promotion 203

Section VI – Well Traveled, Oft Forgotten 205

Chapter 24 – Reading Groups 207

Chapter 25 – Catalog Sales 209

Chapter 26 – Corporate Sales 213

Chapter 27 – Retail is More than Bookstores 215

Chapter 28 – Library Saes 217

Chapter 29 – Postcards 219

Chapter 30 – Get Quoted 223

Section VII – Onward and Upward 225

Chapter 31 – Success as a Motivator 227

Chapter 32 – Book Sales Getting Musty 229

Appendices 235

Appendix 1 – Sample Query Letters 236

Appendix 2 – Sample Media Release 240

Appendix 3 – Sample Blog Entry 244

Appendix 4 – Sample Invitation for Tradeshow Appearance 247

Appendix 5 – Sample Script for Phone Pitch 249

Appendix 6 – Automated E-Mail Signatures 250

Appendix 7 – Sample Tip Sheet 252

About the Author 253

Bibliography 255

References 261

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

"I want to tell you how remarkably useful and efficient your HowToDoItFrugally Series is... Ms. Ho-Jo, you rock! Millions of thanks for the care and effort you have invested, and for your fabulous sense of organization. My media kit is all set up and being filled in. Whew!"
-- Deborah Hicks Midanek (Bailey), author

"I think all THREE HowToDoItFrugally books for... authors and novice publishers would make excellent, comprehensive textbooks for college courses on writing and publishing."
-- Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review

"While brainstorming marketing ideas with one of my authors, she informed me she had just purchased the book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't [1^st Ed.]. My immediate reaction was an internal 'oh no.' Then I clicked to Amazon to order it and read up on what it was I wasn't going to be doing! When the book arrived, I devoured it. By the time I was done there was neon-highlighter everywhere and, as a fan of Post-its, I made the book look like a yellow-feathered peacock! Carolyn Howard-Johnson has been there, done that in marketing her own books and she packed all her hard-earned wisdom into this HowToDoItFrugally series."
-- Nancy Cleary, publisher, Wyatt-MacKenzie

"Carolyn Howard-Johnson started me on this whole journey of book publishing with her book The Frugal Book Promoter. I've hit best-seller status on Amazon several times since. I'm forever grateful to her."
-- Christopher Meeks, author and writing instructor at USC and other colleges.

"At last--a solid, sensible, systematic guide to the ins and outs of promotion and publicity... Carolyn Howard-Johnson proves that she's not only an accomplished poet, essayist, and novelist, but also a marketing maestro!"
-- JayCe Crawford, Cup of Comfort author, copyright professional

"...until now I didn't have many other staples to recommend to new authors looking for publicity."
-- Jenna Glatzer, author of Make a Real Living as a Freelance Author (Writer's Digest)

"...chock full of ideas that even seasoned book promoters will not have tried...."
-- Dallas Hodder Franklin, writer

"The Frugal Book Promoter! I love it. Most authors don't have deep pockets for publicity, promotion, and marketing. The chapter on perks offered by Amazon is a perfect example of the kind of practical advice offered--the kind that took me months to discover."
-- Rolf Gompertz, author, veteran publicist for NBC, and UCLA instructor

From the Publisher