Promo opp from Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Traveling makes my pen happy.

I’ll admit. I’m addicted to travel. My writing is addicted to travel. And I’m not even a travel writer. So, I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to do this (keep reading!). Sometimes we just need a little help from our friends.

That’s where Eve Caram comes in. She was my first teacher when I was refining my novel-writing craft back in about 2000. She rented a villa in Italy last year and had access to one in Rome when we started talking about how convenient and inspirational time in Italy would be for writers.

Then, once we had settled into the idea, I remembered that Jo Linsdell lives in Rome. I had worked with her on her f r ^ ^ seminar day that focuses on book promotion. Excuse me if I say, we were an instant hit, The Three Writing Musketeers. Jo will be giving a couple seminars, too.

We are ready to go at this full steam. We are arranging for attendees to get hundreds of dollars in free e-books on writing. Dawn Colclasure’s self-help book for writers, 365 TIPS FOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to Turbo Charge Your Creativity, is one of them. If you have one, we can use it as a way to talk about "free" as a marketing engine, about cross-promotion and to encourage attendees to recommend ones they like to their critique partners, online groups, and more. We're also accepting paperback but they'd have to be sent to Jo by ship well in advance and that can be costly. Reach me at HoJoNews@aol.com.

No, we won’t limit our offers to how-to books only. No matter what you offer, your job is to send fliers with a pitch on what it’s about and the link for free access. Contact me at hojonews@aol.com for information on where to send your fliers.

We are also planning to have a welcome dinner (no host) at the restaurant where Jo’s husband works--right in the heart of Rome. And we may have a table at the restaurant to display (and sell?) our books.

Keep in mind this is not a conference. It is a casual retreat. Very small. Full of love and inspiration. There are few if any requirements other than sharing with expenses and an interest in writing. And that sharing thing is a frugal way to go.

You should see the gorgeous town house we’ll be staying in! My gawd! A dream come true with a roof garden for getting together to talk writing and for some seminars. We’ll even be tailoring the seminars to the interests of those attending. Go to http://www.budurl.com/RomanRetreat to see pictures of "our place." We only have a couple more spots left so please hurry. We want you with us!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal".

Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

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