From: Jim Cox
Subject: Jim Cox Report: January 2007
The Midwest Book Review is now beginning its 31st year. I think that means
we have entered the corporate equivalent of middle age. But it's never too late
to learn something new in the book review/book promotion game.
For example:
We permit folks to contribute postage stamps to the Midwest Book Review as a
way of expressing their support and appreciation for what we try to do here
in behalf of authors and the small press community. In the mails came a
postage stamp contribution from Jack Eadon, an author who wanted to say 'thank you'
for our having reviewed his book "Latent Image". Enclosed with his letter
were two sheets of 39 cent postage stamps.
Those two sheets of stamps stopped me dead in my tracks and made call in my
staff to look at what Jack had done.
Using something called 'Photo Stamps' from Stamps.com, Jack had created two
sheets of twenty stamps. One sheet of stamps has each stamp announcing 'Jack
Eadon', 'Out To Make It', 'Based on a True Story', 'New!! Collectors'
Edition', all against what I'm assuming is the dust jacket illustration for his next
book.
The second sheet of 20 stamps has 'Jack Eadon'; 'A Consequence of Greed",
against a blue background and what looks to be the top of a pen and which must
serve as the cover art of that particular book.
My staff (and Jack's letter) assured me that the postage stamps were
legitimate and accepted by the post office just like any other American postage
stamp.
What a terrific way to get a bit of promotion for an author's book!
Especially since authors and publishers must (even in this day of the email)
occasionally use postage stamps -- if only to pay their bills! And why not use a
stamp that advertises your book! Jack included the Stamps.com website address:
http://photo.stamps.com/store
My advice (and I have no connection to Stamps.com -- I'd never even heard of
them prior to getting Jack's letter) is to go to this website and check it
out as a possible addition to your own resource collection for book promotion
ideas.
If you do try your own hand at it -- send me an example of your book
promotion postage stamp. I think I might start a collection of them!
Now for the latest batch of "how to" books for authors and publishers in a
section I call:
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
MBR: Internet Bookwatch, January 2007:
"The Writing/Publishing Shelf"
The Writing Game
W. A. Harbinson
BookSurge Publishing
1419644378 $19.99 www.waharbinson.eu.com www.booksurge.com 1-886-308-6235
W. A. Harbinson's 'The Writing Game: Recollections Of An Occasional Bestselling Author' isn't simply another instruction manual on how to write better or how to get published. It is instead, a candid autobiographical account of being a professional writer with more than thirty years of experience at making a living in the highly competitive and volatile publishing industry. That experience includes the writing of more than fifty novels, as well as a wealth of short stories, magazine articles, screenplay adaptations, and radio plays. This is a graphic and detailed account of living a life and pursuing a career fraught with the possibilities of artistic and financial failure. Enhanced with superbly articulated accounts of his dealings with editors, other authors, and showbusiness celebrities, 'The Writing Game' is as entertaining as it is engaging, and a 'must read' memoir for anyone who contemplates embarking upon a professional writing career for themselves.
Cite It Right
Julia Johns & Sarah Silvia
Source Aid
1284 A Main Street, Osterville, MA 02655
0977195708 $26.99 www.sourceaid.com
Now in an updated second edition, Cite It Right: The Source Aid Guide to Citation, Research, and Avoiding Plagiarism is a guide written especially for students and researchers. Cite It Right spells out exactly how to give credit where credit is due in circles where being 'by the book' in one's references and citations is absolutely critical to earning good grades, furthering one's career, creating a professional-quality paper, and avoiding even the slightest possibility of unintentional plagiarism. Chapters briefly refresh the reader about the basics of researching and writing papers, but the four main chapters of Cite It Right are particularly devoted to the express guidelines required by four different professional organizations: the Modern Language Association, the American Psychological Association, Chicago Manual of Style, and Council of Science Editors. Though not sponsored or endorsed by any of these groups, Cite It Right meticulously spells out each group's precise format guidelines, including their individual terminologies, specific examples, and the format expected for different types of citations. A 'must-have' for anyone preparing a scholarly work, especially if for one of these big four writing styles."
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Note from Uncle Dave
Midwest Book Review website is http://www.midwestbookreview.com All of the monthly Jim Cox Reports are archived there.