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Excerpt
from
Carolyn's Favorite Audio
on
Winning Contests, Avoiding Scams
And
Using Your Wins to Best Advantage
To better use contests
to gain exposure and expand your credentials:
- Set a goal based on the kind of
writing you do and the size of your pocketbook. No-fee contests work
well until you refine your contest IQ. Pick contests that impose
fees at least as carefully as you might select a tomato from the
produce department at your market.
- Consider less popular contests
as well as those that carry names like Hemingway and Faulkner. On a
slow day, editors won't care how big the name and on any given day,
most reporters who are generally journalists not novelists after
all, won't know the difference between a small contest and a
blockbuster.
- Choose contests that match your
needs. Short story contests for someone with a published book of
short stories, for an example, may be more accessible than a contest
that judges complete books.
- Pay attention to the contest’s
guidelines. Don’t enter a competition that seeks experimental
fiction if your book is a mystery. It wastes your time and theirs
even if no fee is involved.
- Ask your publisher to enter
your book in contests that require a publisher, rather than the
author, to nominate a book. Many publishers won't do this without a
nudge.
- To increase your chances and to
keep you from worrying about each entry, submit work to several
contests at a time.
- Don't neglect community
contests and awards for individuals rather than books. I've found
one given by members of the California State Legislature for woman
of the Year in Arts and Entertainment one of the most valuable
awards for promotion. There is a relationship between arts and
entertainment, of course, but the award isn't specifically for one
of my books. Another award given for literary activism by the
Pasadena Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Pasadena, offered me
many promotional opportunities that awards on my writing alone could
have offered because it was community-centered and that's a broader
demographic than readers alone.
All
the audios the Divas produce are packed with practical information you
can't afford not to know. Why struggle on your own when you can
know what the Divas took years to learn! Order yours now at
Tri-Studio
.
Here's a podcast (clip) from (including a
bit on understanding some of the limitations of dialogue!) from the
audio on Dialogue.
Here's a podcast from
Getting Reviews and Advance
Praise for your book!
To
see reviews of audios and more,
click here.
To return to the main Audio page,
click here. |
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Buy Links for
Carolyn's Books |
"Careers
that are not fed die as readily
as any living organism
given no sustenance."
~
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
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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
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Carolyn's Blogs |
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Sharing with Writers
All things publishing with
an emphasis on book
promotion. Named to
Writer's Digest
101 Best Website list.
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The New Book Review
Great way for readers, authors, reviewers and publicists to get more
mileage out of
a great review.
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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.
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Tip |
Don't wait
till you absolutely must have information on writing and
publishing. You know what they say about stress! The Audio
Divas share the kind of information both seasoned and new
authors need, much of very valuable before you need it!
If you are in a hurry, you can download an audio in
short order and learn on the fly!
Find tips on writing, promotion or
tech on every page of this Web site.
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Carolyn's Awards |
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Awards for Carolyn's Books, Blogs and More The New Book Review
Named to
Online Universities'
101 Book Blogs
You Need to Read
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.
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.
And more than a dozen other awards for Carolyn's novel, short story collection and poetry.
See the awards page on this site.
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