Midwest Review Raves About Book as Author Aid

Title: Book Fairs for Authors

Subtitle: How to Leverage Book Fairs to Build Your Author Platform
Authors: Larry DeKay with Peggy DeKay
Authors' Website: www.tbowt.com
Genre/Category: Writing – Reference – How-To
ISBN: 9780983414438
Journal Published: Small Press Bookwatch: January 2015

 

 

 

Reviewed by Jim Cox originally for Midwest Book Review and for MidWest Book Review Newsletter 

Synopsis: Dozens of book fair links are included in "The Author's Guide to Book Fairs", an essential resource and reference for all authors, both traditionally published and self-published, who want to learn how to leverage book fairs to build their platform and sell more books. "Book Fairs For Authors" covers  why you go to a book fair; who can be in a book fair; where to find book fairs; applying to be in a book fair; preparing to go to the book fair; tips on engaging buyers at the book fair; post book fair marketing; and book fair traps and pitfalls. "Book Fairs For Authors" is enhanced with the inclusion of a list of book fairs by state; a list of book festivals by state; resources for authors; book expos and trade shows.

Critique: Informed, informative, exceptionally well organized and presented, as well as thoroughly 'user friendly' from beginning to end, "Book Fairs For Authors" should be considered mandatory reading for authors and publishers who hope to expand the audience for their books -- and the financial revenues that expanded readership would engender.

Available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Fairs-Authors-Peggy-DeKay/dp/0983414432

 

 

-----

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z
Subtitle: How to understand crazy American culture, people, govenment, business, language and more
By Lance Johnson
ISBN: 9781468172362
Author's Web site: http://AmericaAtoZ.com
Available as e-book and paperback on Amazon and on Amazon worlwide and at Vroman's Pasadena, CA,  and other fine bookstores

 

Book Review

Reviewed by Alice D. originally for Readers Favorite

Knowledgeable author Lance Johnson has written "What Foreigners Need to Know about America from A to Z", primarily to help the foreign-born visitor or immigrant to function effectively and easily in the United States. There are four sections to this invaluable reference tool: American Heritage, American Culture, American Business and American Language. The twenty-six chapters which comprise these four sections tell in detail of how the United States is a country of diversity and change. The author states correctly, over and over, that countries of the world must learn about each other's culture and that citizens of the United States must understand that the world is uncomfortable with our dominance in economics and our political outreach. People around the world see us as not caring about other countries, and conclude that we come off as self-righteous and having a superiority complex in world affairs. However, citizens of the United States are honest, fair, kind and grateful as expressed in our actions which appeal to other countries of the world.

"What Foreigners Need to Know about American from A to Z" should be given to every person immigrating to or even just visiting this country. Author Lance Johnson is well-versed in world-wide protocols and tells of how WalMart has to close down its stores in Germany as it didn't research how to serve German customers. The author tells of how to participate in many everyday things in the United States but also reminds the reader that flashing the soles of your feet in Thailand is a big "no-no" and that in Bulgaria head nods of "yes" and "no" are the opposite of ours in the United States. The author gives lengthy descriptions in the sections on American business and American language, making "What Foreigners need to Know about America from A to Z" useful for anyone, including Americans themselves. The table of contents, the quizes, the many lists of interesting facts, and the accompanying colored photographs make this book one that should be available worldwide. It is a gem and treasure trove of valuable information that will help the foreign-born and American-born navigate their world without making serious or offensive mistakes.

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Audio Book on Publishing for Authors

Jumpstart Your Dreams
By Terry Whalin
Audio Book
Genre: Nonfiction: Publishing/ Writing/Business
Order info: http://bit.ly/RxJcfa

 

Terry Whalin and I often appear at writers' conferences together and I've read his books and recommend them. But I'd never attended one of his presentations because they conflicted with my own. At the last conference we attended, Terry said he had repurposed one of his seminars to an audio CD and graciously presented me with one. I just listened to it as I drove the California freeways. It is Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and I love, love, love it! Terry comes at helping other authors through experience and he loads his talks with anecdotes that make his advice entertaining, understandable, and memorable. Even though this audio is recorded live at a seminar, the recording is clear and professional. All I can say is "Wow!" I could tell you all the points he covers, but I won't. You might be tempted to think you know that stuff. But this audio is so much more than the sum of its parts.

 

If your publishing career is lagging or if you'd like to change that path you've been taking (or if you just need a review and a big shot in the arm of energy and ideas!), this is an audio workshop worth the money—even for frugal me. Find it at: http://bit.ly/RxJcfa. Think of it this way. The CD is maybe 1/8 the cost of a real live conference. And you can play it any old time you have the time.

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Award-Winning Author Reviews Nonfiction Book on Culture

Title: What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z

Written by: Lance Johnson

Pages: 614

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-13: 9781468172362

Published: June 2012

Reviewed by Donna McDine

Whether you are a world traveler or not Lance Johnson’s book, What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z provides an insightful first person account of his extensive world travels and experience. Cultures across our vast world often times clash because of our diverse differences and lack of understanding of one another’s customs.

Through Johnson’s willingness and openness to communicate with people throughout the world he begins with a direct and simple question, “What would you like to know about America you were always afraid of asking for fear of offending?” Intuitive conversation ensued practically every time, providing an inspiring opportunity for Johnson to learn about cultures outside his own as well as explaining American culture. Intrigued by the misconceptions foreigners have of America whether abroad or in their own travels to the United States, Johnson documented his extensive conversations resulting in the compilation of What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z.

Lance Johnson’s one-on-one conversational writing style welcomes the reader from the onset. A natural born teacher, Johnson does not preach and keeps it simple with real life examples how the American culture operates. What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z goes well beyond the misdemeanor of personal culture. For to understanding all the components of this extensive guide will educate the reader well beyond their expectations, creating an opportunity to simulate into American culture seamlessly.

What Foreigners Need to Know About America from A to Z is the perfect guide that does not need to be read from start to finish, but rather consumed by section of interest. Get your pen, paper, and highlighter ready for I’m sure any reader will make their own notations, highlight and earmark the pages for future reference for years to come.

About The Reviewer: 

Donna McDine is an award-winning children's author, Honorable Mention in the 77th and two Honorable Mentions in the 78^th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions, Literary Classics Silver Award & Seal of Approval Recipient Picture Book Early Reader, Global eBook Awards Finalist Children’s Picture Book Fiction, and Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2010 Top Ten Children’s Books ~ The Golden Pathway.

Her interest in history resulted in writing and publishing Powder Monkey. Donna has three more books under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing, Hockey Agony, A Sandy Grave, and Dee and Deb, Off They Go. She writes, moms, and is the Editor-in-Chief for Guardian Angel Kids and owner of Author PR Services from her home in the historical hamlet Tappan, NY. McDine is a member of the SCBWI, Children’s Literature Network, and Family Reading Partnership. Visit www.donnamcdine.com.

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Award-Winning Novelist Reviews Book Aimed at Emigrants and Foreigners

What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z
Subtitle: How to Understand Crazy American Culture, People, Government, Business, Language and More
By Lance Johnson
Author's Web Site
Amazon  Paperback: http://Amzn.to/ForeignersAmericaUS

 

 

Reviewed by Leora Skolkin Smith originally for Amazon

As the daughter of a foreign-born mother who had to struggle to assimilate into American culture, reading Lance Johnson's book was an occasion for me to rejoice. Literate but accessible and undidactic, it defines American icons and expressions while providing brass tacks definitions and down-to-earth suggestions.

It's sometimes hard for Americans to realize that our culture needs to be demystified and made available to others without stress and/or giving them a feeling of remaining a perpetual outsider. Lance Johnson invites everyone to enjoy and penetrate some of the unique American mysteries we take for granted. A spectacular, important book and a toolbox full of relevant resources for all.

 

About the Reviewer:

Leora Skolkin-Smith’s first published novel, EDGES was edited and published by the late Grace Paley for Ms. Paley's own imprint at Glad Day books. EDGES was nominated for the 2006 PEN/Faulkner Award by Grace Paley. Recently, her novels were selected by Princeton University as part of a series on women writers whose background is from the Middle East and whose work is personal, reflecting the current diaspora. The Princeton Series in funded by The National Endowment of the Humanities and called: "The Fertile Crescent Moon Series."

THE FRAGILE MISTRESS, a feature film based on EDGES, is currently in pre-production, scheduled to begin shooting on location in Jerusalem, Jordan, and New York, produced by Triboro Pictures, directed by Michael Gunther. http://www.thefragilemistress.com  

Articles by Leora Skolkin-Smith have appeared in The Washington Post, Psychology Today, The National Book Critic’s Circle, “Critical Mass”, “Readysteadybook.com”, the Quarterly Review and others. Learn more about her at http://leoraskolkinsmith.com

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

New E-Book Helps Authors Shoot Their Books to Amazon Bestseller Lists

Amazon Categories Create Best Sellers: But That's Not All They Do by Aggie Villanueva
ISBN 13: 978-0-9825914-4-4

Genre: Non-fiction, How-to
Category: Writing, Publishing
Author's Web site
Purchase Link
Book Trailer
Press Page
E-Book

This book was an immediate bestseller in multiple categories and that status for the first seven  weeks of publication, which attests to the effectiveness of this book.

Synopsis:

This e-book is the most comprehensive help you'll find in using the simple techniques offered through Amazon's category choices, leading to your book to not only become a category bestseller but also make many of Amazon's other top-100 lists.

Further, this book discusses background Amazon strategies and controversy affecting authors while attempting to understand and utilize it on many levels. A fellow author's probe into the machinations of Amazon's mega-publicity engine. It attempts to understand Amazon Book Store's multi-leveled promotional core with no legal lingo, no geek speak."

Amazon created an ingenious marketing engine that drills through several layers of free and automated publicity, each layer completely unique, and each layer reaching millions of readers every minute of every day.

They have wisely structured their site for auto-promotion, promotion and more promotion applied to each book without bias. But few authors are aware of the tendrils of opportunity extending from your sales page to your target audience. And those lead to more and those lead to more and...

Even lesser known is that it all starts with categories.

Categories are the inverted pyramid point from which nearly every top-100 list is drawn. Mess up your categories and you'll never rank in most of Amazon's lists, including bestselling.

What people are saying:

"This book is a little jewel. Aggie Villanueva changes your perspective of Amazon from that of an online book store to that of an author publicity machine. Amazon.com like its namesake - is a large, unfathomable, murky river with many secrets and many treasures. This book shines a light on one such secret - using the categories function on Amazon to create best sellers. This little book is essential reading for authors ... even those who hate Amazon!"
Vikram Narayan, CEO BookBuzzr.com.

“I’ve been in the kindle ebook publishing game for a number of years now, have learned a lot, but after reading this Kindle book, it made me realize there is still tons of stuff I don’t know – and need to know. I also already had a basic understanding about Amazon categories – but Villanueva has obviously been combing through Amazons methods and policies – analyzing everything in critical detail, and what she has discovered is significant and important.”
Ken Korczak, Reviewer.

About the Author:

Aggie Villanueva  is a Bestselling, Award-winning Author & Marketing Specialist, and owner of Promotion a la Carte author marketing services. She also owns My Book Marketing Systems where authors get their mobile app affordably.

Aggie Villanueva 575.268.6095 aggie@promotionalacarte.com Skype: myaggie2
Promotion a la Carte, Promotional Menu of Choice: Promoting Authors & Celebrating Books

My Book Marketing Systems: Learn why you need your own author app
SUBSCRIBE TO LEARN ALL ABOUT BOOK PROMOTION & OUR PROMOTIONAL SERVICES

-----

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :