Writers Tricks of the Trade ISSUE 1, VOLUME 9 | Page 21

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
know what’s working and what
isn’t.
E VALUATE :
One year after your first release, add
up the column inches. Measure the
number of inches any paper gave
you free including headlines and
pictures. If the piece is three col-
umns wide and each column of your
story is six inches long, that is eight-
een column inches. How much does
that newspaper charge per inch for
their ads? Multiply the column inch-
es by that rate to know what the
piece is worth in advertising dollars.
Now add 20% for the additional
trust the reader puts in editorial
material. Now compare the stories


that you pitched that got published
vs. the ideas you pitched that didn’t
and figure out how to make that
work better for you in the coming
year.
S ET GOALS : You now have a total of
what your year’s efforts have
reaped. New publicists should set a
goal to increase that amount by
100% in the next year. If you al-
ready have a track record, aim for
20%.
O BSERVE PROGRESS : Publicity is like
planting bulbs. It proliferates even
when you aren’t trying very hard. By
watching for unintended results,
you learn how to make them happen
in the future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she
gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as
instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. All her books for writers are multi award winners
including both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and her multi award-winning The Frugal
Editor won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation
Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. Her newest book in the series is How To Get Great Book
Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career.
Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment
Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was
also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given
her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts. Her first novel mentioned in this article is out of print
but is still available using Amazon’s New and Used feature (http://bit.ly/ThisIsthePlace) and her agent is shopping
her second, This Land Divided, already a prize winner in WriterAdvice.com’s Scintillating Starts contest.
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
P AGE 16
S PRING 2019