October , 2006: Sharing with Writers:



October xx 2006 Sharing with Writers:

From the Desks

Of Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Authors' Coalition Friends

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"Sharing with Writers" is the official newsletter of Authors' Coalition,



an organization of writers who help writers.

To read this newsletter at Authors Den go to:



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Note from Carolyn:

Dear Subscribers and Authors' Coalition Members:

I want you to use Amazon to improve your ratings. Yes, that's tantamount to saying I want you to improve your sales and you know, I rarely talk sales when I can talk more important things like cross promotion and branding.. Still, that's where I'm going today because we can all help one another this way.

A drop in the bucket can move those Amazon ratings drastically! Here are some ways to do that:

 

1. Use Listmanias on Amazon and, along with your own book, sprinkle in the titles of your author-friends and fellow subscribers to Authors' Coalition. Let these authors know you did it. That's a way to make a new promotion friend. There is a chapter in The Frugal Book Promoter that tells you how to use this free promotional perk along with a lot of other free tools on Amazon.

 

2. When you read a book by an author you know (or even one you don't) do yourself and them a favor by adding a review to Amazon. It takes but a minute and YOU and your book get exposed if you use a promotion-savvy signature.

 

3. Offer to review a fellow subscriber's book. Post it on Amazon or offer it elsewhere. The author should be willing to send the book to you at no charge. Go to Authors' Coalition () to find some new, good books or watch this newsletter. By the way, the AC site is under construction but new, good things are coming.

 

4. Tell other people about this newsletter and about your fellow authors' books in your Amazon plog. Another name for it is AuthorConnect ™. You do have one don't you? Ask them to pass on the word. This is known as viral marketing and it works.

 

6.  Wanna know more?  Check out Janet Elaine Smith's PromPaks, The Frugal Book Promoter and Book Marketing from A to Z. Janet, Fran and I all love Amazon for promoting.

 

7. Check out audio classes I coproduce including the F r ^e ^e one, A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Promoting Easy and Cheap! which includes other Amazon tips.

They are at .

8. Flesh out your book's page on Amazon. Use the Wiki to add info on awards or other publishing you've done.

9. If you have a book suited to it, you can even add pictures to your book's page. Check out my "Promote or Perish" picture on The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't page.

10. Don't get caught up in sales to the detriment of exposure on Amazon and other online stores. You may make less per book, but the Amazon publicity is invaluable.

11. See the "Thank You" below to a subscriber who used Amazon's search engine feature to recommend Frugal. I've given information that will help you use it to benefit your own book.

If anyone wants to volunteer to build a list using their own titles and some AC members' titles, I'll run that in my next letter. Those of you who want to participate can then send your ISBNs to the volunteer; he or she can build a list and voila! An instant free ad for all of you on Amazon.

Best,

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

HoJoNews@



and a blog focused on book fairs at



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No part of this newsletter is paid advertising.

====================================*Letters to the Editor:

"Your Frugal tome is sensational--it may drive professional PR people out of business, but that's okay...some of us charge too much, anyhow."

Irwin Zucker, founder and President of Promotion in Motion

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Tip: Use Op-Ed pieces published in newspapers to increase your exposure and to brand yourself. Op-Ed articles are the ones you find opposite the editorial page in your newspaper. They don't have to be political. The LA Times ran an article explaining them on their opinion pages on Monday, Oct. 23, page A23. The article said the editors look for balance and have recently run articles on "whether fish feel pain, what it's like to be a baseball fan growing up in Hong King, …the banning of transfats…" So you see, you should be able to find something to say in an Op-Ed piece that ties in to the subject of your book. You might mention your book in the article or merely in the tagline you attach to the bottom of the article. Unlike Letters-to-the-Editor, many authors may be paid for Op-Ed articles.

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Please pass this letter on to others. Unlike many others, I do not mind if you use only portions of it as long as you credit the writers and include this subscribe information. "To subscribe to 'Sharing with Writers' send an e-mail to HoJoNews@ with 'subscribe' in the subject line."

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Tip: June Casagrande's column, "A Word, Please" never fails to fascinate. I wish it were nationally syndicated but because it is not, I shall continue to give you tips from it.

I will also be quoting her in my coming book The Frugal Editor. Just love that girl! So here is this week's tidbit:

"Here's a little-known fact about dictionaries: They're extremely controversial." She tells us that Miriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is disdained by Robert Hartwell Fiske for promoting the misuse of the English language which he calls a "marketing strategy."

Then Casagrande, author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, says, "It's hard to disagree with (Fiske's) examples which include 'def,' 'funplex,'' 'McJob,' and 'tho' as a variant spelling of 'though.''"

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At the request of a subscriber or two I am reducing the size of this newsletter but only a tad. I will be running only a few of the reciprocal links (even though all of them may be useful to you.) They will rotate. Once my new site is up they will all transfer to that site on a permanent basis. I'll give you the link then.) Those of you who are on this link exchange, please be patient. (-:

If it takes more than a few weeks for me to get this site up, I shall begin to rotate the links, a few in every newsletter.

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Feature:

BLOGGING FOR INCOME

By Mary Emma Allen

When I first heard of blogs, I considered them online journals where people recorded their thoughts and daily happenings for others to read. Gradually these became more topical with the journalists posting more information than their thoughts.

Sometimes one writer will write about a topic that interests them or one they’re involved in such as a career or hobby. (For instance, my daughter writes a blog on her fiber arts projects .)

In other instances, a blog will be more general. As a writer, I have what I call a personal author blogs ( and ) where I write about my writing life. Another concerns a quilting and writing project I’m working on ( )

However, I’ve discovered you can write for blog networks or companies and receive payment. The income may not be much at first, but as your blog becomes known, the income from advertising and page views should increase. Or you might write a blog for a company/manufacturer on their web site about their products/services. For this, you generally will be paid a specified amount per blog or week for an agreed upon number of blogs.

Blogging for

Originally, Shai Coggins in Australia asked me to provide a blog about quiltmaking for a network she was starting. I’d written articles and taught online classes for Shai’s website. I thought this blog would be fun since I once operated a home based quiltmaking business. I never realized a goal was to be paid for the blogging. Shai’s blog network, , was so popular that b5media ( ) asked Shai, along with her bloggers, to join forces with them.

Therefore, I began writing the quilting blog for b5media’s Arts and Crafts Channel ( ), and then started another blog about Alzheimer’s ( ) for the Science and Health Channel. Because I’ve been a caregiver for my mom and have written extensively on Alzheimer’s, this seemed a natural blog for me.

Soon I shall be writing a blog about home businesses ( ) for b5media’s Business Channel and co-authoring another about children’s books (title to be determined) with Melissa Atienza-Petri of Frankfurt, Germany for the Literature Channel.

There are many blog networks out there…they seem to be the trend of the future. Some tend toward special topics, such as Science, Technology, Crafts, Women’s Issues, and Politics. Others, such as b5media offer many channels or categories.

Payment depends on the blog network. Each seems different. Sometimes you may receive payment per click on the ad, sometimes you may receive a portion of the ad rate, sometimes a base fee for your blogging or fee per article (especially when blogging for a company) or a combination. One advantage of blogging for a network is that they usually take care of the advertising. If advertisers approach for you, they probably won’t be refused. The network usually does the negotiating. (Although with one network I wrote for, the bloggers found and placed the ads.) However, when the blog network handles advertising, domain name purchase, blog design and other items, it's only logical the owners receive some of the income. If you’re considering blogging for income, check with the specific network to see what their payment arrangement is. Since I haven’t placed ads on what I call my "personal" blogs, I haven’t looked into fee structures there.

For people who don’t know what a blog is, I compare it to writing a column for print or online publication, something I’ve done for years. Blogs usually are shorter and often link to other blogs and web sites as resources. You usually are requested to post a minimum number of blogs per week. I consider my blogs at b5media ways to help others with information, inspiration, and encouragement, as well as to earn income.

Whether you’re writing your own personal blog for fun and to promote your books or write for a blogging network/corporation to earn income, you’ll find blogging is the wave of the future and very enjoyable.

©2006 Mary Emma Allen

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(In addition to blogging, Mary Emma writes books and a weekly newspaper column. She also speaks and teaches. E-mail: me.allen@

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Tip: After Fran Silverman, editor of the Book Promotion Newsletter struggled with a .pdf problem she told me in an e-mail, "The .pdf situation has been resolved. Michelle True sent me the website and in less than a minute I turned my document into a pdf file - for fr^e^e.

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Opportunities:

Time to Apply for Your BEA Speaking Gig

It is time to apply for BookExpo America's (BEA) roster of presenters. This huge event will be May 31 to June 3, 2007, in New York City. Check out the educational panels and forums at (). before you query. Email Mark Dressler at mhdressler@ for more information. The deadline is December 15th.

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Long Story Short School of Writing and E-zine

Long Story Short is offering a free mini course sampler each week.  The week of 10/27-11/2, we feature Janet Wellington's  Pitch Perfect Course Sampler: html How to  present your story ideas within query letters, synopses, and during frightening agent and editor appointments at writing conferences  – there is no obligation, it’s all for fun.  – it's at the top of the page.  Sign up and write up your best response to her assignment – you might win an autographed copy of her latest novel!  And you'll improve your writing skills!  Next Week:  Quintessential Queries and Savvy Synopses – same link.

We are also offering classes as e-books now – downloadable .pdf files for $18.95-$39.95 each. The e-books offer no teacher contact or feedback, but you’ll own the course to study at your leisure and return to again and again!  You will have the option at anytime of purchasing the interactive course for the difference in cost. Click here to get the E-Courses.

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LA Area Only: Women Writers' Lunch Club Now Forming

 

Are you a full-time, professional author, screenwriter or freelancer who finds the life a little isolating? Would you like to get out one afternoon a week to lunch with other women writers in the Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank area?

The Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank Women Writers' Lunch Club is forming for professional women writers of all ages and genres. Tentatively, we'll be meeting at 1 p.m. on Thursdays at a local restaurant, but the day, time and place(s) are still negotiable. Interested: Contact june@.

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Tip: For those interested in producing audios or podcasts, an audio-editing software designed for those with limp tech skills is Propaganda. $49.95.

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"AC is the current that propels your writing career."

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Authors' Coalition Founder

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Tip:

Here is where you mystery writers can get promotion ideas geared specifically to your needs from a mystery writer. Of course, there is general promotion information in it, too. P.M. Terrell has a newsletter and site for you! Take the Mystery Out of Promoting Your Book, Webmaster and author P.M. Terrell,

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Tip: Not too late to go to Kenya to learn more about writing this December: . Or check out the site for a summer seminar in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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New members will help Authors' Coalition serve all its members better! Ask your writing friends to join at . Paid members get a favorite review posted, consideration for an interview or review in Yarnspinners and Wordweavers. Membership is reasonable, too. We're even planning a speakers' bureau.

Tell friends to visit our blog, too. There they'll learn how to spark generally insipid book fairs by using value-added promotions: .

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Authors Successes:

(All author successes are an inspiration but are often also a possible lead to a success of your own. Revel in the success of others but ask yourself how that author's success might be promulgated into one for you.)

Marilyn Meredith's Wishing Makes It So was a finalist in the Horror Category of USA Book News, Best Books 2006 and also a finalist in the DIY (Do It Yourself) Book Festival . Learn more about Marilyn at:

Visit her blog at:

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Betty Dobson's first poetry collection, Paper Wings, is now available for sale at . The 56-page book may be purchased in print or e-book format. Betty is the editor of InkSpotter Publishing,

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Mary Terzian shares with us all that she "received an announcement from that my book, The Immigrants' Daughter, was an award-winner in the multicultural non-fiction category of the Best Books 2006 National Book Awards. I had run across the contest in Sharing with Writers and hesitated about submitting my book. And now? Was this a joke? If so, a bad one. I checked again. Maybe there were few entrants. Maybe the judges were drunk. Maybe I read it wrong? I still speak English with a foreign accent. Was this beginner's luck?

 

Not really! There it was in black and white. My first book, an award-winner. Yes, of course! Why not? I'd better get busy writing the next one. Success can be inebriating... "That's a story to inspire. Rarely do we achieve anything without putting something of ourselves on the line.

 

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Tip

In Fran Silverman's newsletter on book promotion ( ) I found this note about a Sharing with Writer subscriber (SWW) Walter Brasch. He will be on Wade Taylor's new radio show, "A Liberal Dose of Reality," on WS Radio, ( ) from 6-7 p.m., on October 30th. “It'll be a Halloween scare show--what is the government NOW doing to you?” says Walter. The new show is your tip but so is Walt's example of how to sculpt an angle from your book to appeal to a season or current event

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Feature:

Article summary:

This article explains the elements of interior book design and typesetting. It describes the importance of a professional book design and outlines how a well-designed book can help increase your book sales.

Interior Book Design and Typesetting

by Jill Ronsley

What Are Interior Book Design and Typesetting?

You have typed your book in a word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word or Word Perfect. Why not justify the margins, check for typos, and print?

Interior book design—the art of laying out a manuscript—is just that: an art. It is also a science. Interior book design is a skill that improves with experience. Right away, "the difference between doing it yourself and hiring a professional”—that oft-repeated phrase—is clear.

The layout and design of a book should suit the content. A book for children will have a larger font than a collection of academic articles. Screenplays, picture books, text books, travel guides, and cookbooks all require careful design. The design of a novel or self-help book should allow the reader to flow through the pages. Why? So he or she fully enjoys reading or easily gains knowledge from the book.

A well-designed book is pleasing to the eye. People may go to the bookstore, pick up a book whose cover and title appeal, open to any page, and immediately decide that the font is too small or the words are too cramped for them ever to read the book, even if they might delight in the content.

These are some of the elements that an interior book designer considers when determining a book design:

• page and margin size

• font selection

• paragraph and line spacing

• title page and table of contents

• headers, footers and page numbers (perhaps with a graphic)

• chapter titles or section headings

• graphics placement & design (illustrations, photos, charts)

• layout of special material (such as tables, front matter and back matter)

• use of white space

• hyphenation control

• orphan and widow control

• special touches in the design that make your book unique

Some books contain text boxes that need to stand out. Perhaps the box would look good with a border or a background tint. All elements must be carefully placed in the layout. Sometimes, the main body of text has to wrap around a chart or an illustration or a paragraph needs a drop cap. The book designer makes this possible.

Typesetting is done after the design is finished. It is the application of the design to your book as a whole. Typesetting includes tweaking the spacing between letters, between words, and between lines, as well as hyphenation, orphan, and widow control. Good typesetting can make a book look great.

Why Hire a Professional Book Designer?

The content of a book must be reflected in the interior design. An ornate design with borders and script fonts is suitable for some books, while a simple, clean layout is appropriate to others. The design of a children's book should enable a child to read without difficulty. Your book will look as though it was produced professionally if every part of your production—text, graphics, book design, and printing—demonstrates quality and the touch of experience.

A book designer's experience and familiarity with the features available in professional desktop publishing software make all the difference to the final product—your book! In addition to being able to place all the elements of your manuscript together in a pleasing layout, the designer will design a book whose production is as cost-effective as possible. A book that looks wonderful when you open it required skill, time, and careful attention to detail to get it that way.

Finally, the book designer will send your book to your printer in a problem-free format. The designer knows what questions to ask the printer, understands his guidelines and submission requirements, and knows what kind of paper is appropriate for a particular job. He or she will preflight the file and provide any technical information that the printer needs. A file that is not prepared according to the printer's specifications might end up looking very different from what you see on your computer screen, and the printer is likely to add extra charges to make corrective changes.

One more thing! A good designer takes pride in his or her work. No designer wants someone to pick up a book and say, “That was done by an amateur.” The professional designer will do his best to make your book a pleasure to read, captivating to the eye, and even admired and emulated by other designers.

Good Book Design Helps Increase Your Book Sales

A well-designed book tells a bookseller or reader that you value your book. People are more likely to buy it if they find it visually appealing. If your book has no eyesores, editorial errors or design flaws, nothing will jump out to make the book buyer think, “This book is not for me.” You want people to say, “Yes, I want to read this book!”

Therefore, make sure your book is well-designed and typeset. This will benefit you and help your book attain success. You have already put valuable time and energy into writing the manuscript. Produce an excellent book from start to finish. Your book is worth it!

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Jill Ronsley, director of Sun Editing and Book Design, provides book design, typesetting, book cover design and editing services. She has produced self-help and nonfiction books, novels, poetry books, children’s picture books, screenplays, and so on. Visit for more information.

Copyright © 2006 Jill Ronsley. All rights reserved.

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Fun and F r * *: If you purchased The Frugal Book Promoter in the past, I'd love for you to review it on Amazon or , perhaps just tell what part of it you found most valuable. If you do, send me the review link (URL) and I will send you an excerpt from my soon-to-be-released The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success that includes some sidebars from the book that will help you with some tricky grammar. As a thank you, of course. HoJoNews@

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Authors' Coalition members! For credibility, use the AC logo on your promotional materials. Ask for it by sending an e-mail to HoJoNews@ or download it with a click from the AC site .

Be sure to link it to the AC site, too!

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Tip: The American Grants and Loans Book is now available. It contains more than 1800 financial programs, subsidies, scholarships, grants and loans offered by the United States federal government. Not all will be of interest to writers, of course, but many will.

The Canadian Subsidy Directory is also available

for Canada. CD version: $69.95. Printed version: $149.95. To order call: 819-322-7533

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Carolyn's Appearances and Teaching:

( Carolyn Howard-Johnson; June Casagrande, author of "Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies"; and Kerry Madden, author of "Gentle's Holler," will discuss "The Many Paths to Publishing." at Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101, Saturday, Dec. 2. at 5 pm. May all of you in Southern California come, enjoy and publish.

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( Carolyn will be speaking on promotion at the AML Writers Conference to be held on the Utah Valley State College campus in Orem, UT, November 4, 2006. There is still time to be there. Check the AML website at

And here's a list of this year's presenters:

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( Carolyn will read from her chapbook Tracings, for Delta Gamma fraternity at a meeting to benefit their charity, the Blind Children's Center on Nov. 13, at 7 pm. Contact her if you are interested in attending. HoJoNews@ .

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( Paulette Ensign, board member of Publishers and Writers of San Diego, a SPAN and PMA affiliate, has invited Carolyn Howard-Johnson to speak on "Marketing Your Book or Published Product" from Unknown to Best-Seller Sat., Jan 27, 2007 in Encinitas, CA. Learn more about the organization and their programs at:

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New for 2007! ( Coming Saturday April 21, 2007 at 10 am. Led by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Poetry! Don't Let It Molder in a Drawer, Publish It! A seminar and poetry reading at the Glendale City Central Library in the auditorium.

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New for 2007! ( Mark April 28th and 29, 2007, for the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books. More to come soon in this newsletter.

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New for 2007! ( Carolyn will speak on "Your Media Release: You Write So You Can Do It! September 8, 2007 at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Sherman Oaks, CA

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Feature:

AMAZON SHORTS

By Chris Meeks

(From his newsletter, The Maplewoods Mirror)

A little over a year ago, introduced Amazon Shorts, exclusive pieces of short fiction and short essays that sell for next to nothing: 49 cents each.  I heard about it early, and soon I learned firsthand how it works for both authors and readers.

 

At first, I kept putting off trying Amazon Shorts as a reader.  I use all the time and, in fact, discovered that buying used books there has been wonderful.  Sometimes used books are only a few bucks and as little as a penny, and with $3.50 in shipping, a used book can be extremely affordable and convenient: in my mailbox in about a week, which is usually sooner than my getting to a bookstore. 

Amazon Shorts, in contrast, are not delivered by mail but by computer.  It's instant.  Even so, I haven't been a fan of reading anything long on screen. I hesitated.  I bought books instead.

 

In some of my searches on authors, however, I'd run into an Amazon Short.  For instance, I teach contemporary novels in my English classes at Santa Monica College, and I decided to teach The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  When I brought the book up on Amazon, I saw three things: new, the book was 40% off at $8.40, used was $3.50, and Niffenegger had an Amazon Short, a story called "Jakob Wywialowski and the Angels."  Forty-nine cents.  I bought her book used and threw in the short story—and loved both.

 

I've since learned there are many contemporary authors' short stories and essays on Amazon.  I found "Faces" by David McCullough (author of 1776), who says of his Short, "I strongly believe all of us should know and remember how great were the hardships endured by the very real-life men and women of America's founding time and how much of our way of life and our freedoms we owe to their sacrifices and steadfastness." Tama Janowitz (Slaves of New York), has a Short, as do Caroline Leavitt (Girls in Trouble), Grant Jarrett (More Towels), Robin Cook (Fever), James Lee Burke (Last Car to Elysian

Fields), and many more authors.  In fact, one of the requirements for having a Short is that you have a book selling on .  The next big requirement is that it is interesting enough to be accepted by the people who run Amazon Shorts.

 

I discovered that Shorts are delivered three ways: downloaded to your computer as a PDF file, downloaded to your e-mail as plain text, or you can simply read it online (HTML format).  Any story you buy is in an Amazon file forever, available for you to retrieve forever, even if you download the stories as I do.  The first time you buy a story, you have to fill in your credit card information, billing address and more.  Amazon can keep the information, encoded, so that future stories are a mere click away.  After you read one or two, you'll see how easy—and often wonderful—these shorts are.

 

I happen to like the PDF version of stories because it's formatted as if in a book with a big and readable font, and, if you choose as I do, you can print it out.  Niffenegger's story, for

instance, prints to six pages.  It's a hilarious story about a man who finds angels living in his attic, and they're becoming a bother.  He wants them exterminated.

To get a sense of all the offerings, go to , and near the top of the screen is a tab marked "See All Product Categories."  Click on the tab, and at the bottom of the first left column is Amazon Shorts.  Click there.  Or just click here: . 

 

Once you're there, notice the many categories of shorts.  I happen to like "Literature and Fiction," where I found and loved Warren Alder's "Good Neighbors."  He is author of War of the Roses, which was turned into the memorable movie with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.  Click on the sports category, and you'll find "My Year of Skiing Dangerously" by Robert Westbrook.

 

Early on, I wanted to get a short story on Amazon Shorts. I found information on it at .  I'm happy to say my story "Dracula Slinks Into the Night" is an Amazon Editors' Pick right now.  You can see it at .

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Tips: I just returned from an inspiring retreat for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program instructors. I have paraphrased some tips I learned at a couple of the seminars they presented us for us. I would credit them but many of the ideas were borrowed from other writers anyway. Just know that there is a lot of wisdom out there waiting for you when you need to improve any part of your writing career--on campuses or online.

1. Get it wrong, learn it, let it go.

2. Write regularly; even regular letters to your daughter might become a book.

3. Refuse to face facts. (The idea being that that success can only come to those who face down the odds.)

4. From the same author as the author with the advice in #3: Outlive the bastards.

5. Always give your antagonist the best argument (probably originally from Bernard Shaw). That way your protagonist has to overcome more and the conflict is greater.

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Reciprocal Links: Many subscribers are in a position to cross-promote. Let me know if you would like to trade some recommendation or promotion for a permanent spot (or as my list grows, semi-permanent) spot in this newsletter. I use only links that benefit writers

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Tip: This from the Aussie Authors (you didn't know I was Aussie, did you?) It's a great example of how to run a cross promotion that appeals to both authors and readers from Cheryl Wright, editor of and Sarah Cook. Do it before Nov. 11.

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When was the last time you bought a book from an author you know? "Tracings" my new chapbook of poetry is available for that honor at gp/product/1599240173/qid=1141623936/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4692447-2218401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

but any book mentioned in any one of your "Sharing with Writers" newsletters would be a nice gesture. If all of us directed more of our reading to newer authors who write in genres we love or genres we need to stretch into, we would do ourselves and the publishing industry a great favor.

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Tip: This is a personal observation and may or may not be accurate for you but I've found that just deleting S ^P^A^M rather than reporting it helps keep it down. It's also a lot less frustrating and time consuming for me. How do I know? Because when I started reporting it after a long hiatus from ignoring it, I started getting more--and some really yucky stuff. Could S P A M ers be in cahoots and take pleasure in passing around the addresses of people who don't want them in their mailboxes?

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Thank Yous:

(Note: Each thank you may be set with a jewel of a resource for you to plumb for your book. Watch for them! Adapt them to your own publishing and promotion needs!)

To Janet Lane, romance author, , for sending a search suggestion to for those searching for info about media releases. Here’s what she said:

"Wondering about format, fonts, and what to say in your media releases? Carolyn Howard-Johnson makes it so easy, step by step! This chapter, (chapter 3) alone is worth the price of the book.

"This book is also helpful for identifying some of the many activities you may have already done without thinking that can be used in promoting your book."

Obviously another Amazon feature we can utilize to help one another promote our books. When you love a book, pass it on -- on Amazon or elsewhere.

(This is the feature on your book's page that says, Help others find this item

Make a search suggestion | Manage your search suggestions) It is two sections down from the picture of your book cover.)

==============================================If you enjoy "Sharing with Writers" please nominate it for Writer's Digest's 101 Best Newsletters for Writers. We aren't big, we aren't old. So it would take a huge outpouring from subscribers to make a dent. Send an e-mail to writersdig@ with subject line, "101 Best Newsletters for Authors" and let them know what this newsletter does for you!

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Metaphors and Similes to Make You Smile:

(Every year English teachers from across the country submit their collections of analogies and metaphors actually found in high school essays. I can't acknowledge the resource but I thought they might not mind if I published them one at a time. I also thought some of you might have some favorites you could contribute.)

Here is one of the teachers' favorites. Anyone who remembers the old story problems we were given at math time in grade school will appreciate this:

"John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met."

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Essential Book and Record Keeping:

This letter is an entity of Authors' Coalition

Edited and distributed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,



author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, this newsletter lets authors share with each other.

Sharing with Writers does not guarantee entities or information in this newsletter. Subscribers should research resources though I do attempt to verify information used within its pages.

To submit information for consideration in this letter, e-mail Carolyn at HoJoNews@

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Include "Unsubscribe" in the subject line but please, please don't tell me you've given up writing or promoting!

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Order the Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't

at stores like UCLA, Dayton University and San Diego State University's bookstores. Order it as an e-book or paperback at Amazon where it is discounted:

gp/product/193299310X/qid=1149015406/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4692447-2218401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Tracings, a chapbook of poetry, may be ordered at



and at,

gp/product/1599240173/qid=1139084827/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7824821-4156653?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

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