Happy Christmas!

This holiday season I am reminded how fortunate I am to have faithful cyber friends like you who come back week after week to read the new posts here on A Book Inside. Over the years, many of you have become personal friends as well, and I am grateful for that blessing in my life.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season wherever it might be that you celebrate the season in this beautiful big World we share!

Possibly the Best Book Marketing Tool on the Web!

I always love to share my greatest Internet finds with you. I think I may have found exactly that—the best! While visiting my friends Blog, In His Name, I saw a really cool widget you can put on your site.

Everyone likes to read excerpts from your book before they buy. Amazon and many of the other book sale outlets have “look inside” features which are wonderful, but first you need to get your site visitors to click on to that sales Website. Sometimes we have trouble “hooking” the potential buyer. Try putting this new and “free” widget right on your Website or Blog home page to gain interest in your book.

It takes about 15 minutes to set up and you will need to have your book available in PDF as well as having a quality book cover image to upload. Happy sales!
Here is mine:

Reviews sell books! Here’s an Opportunity

Good reviews do sell books; poor reviews don't. Never post less than a 4 or 5 star review—it kills the author's chances for sales. Just like the old saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Let's get our books reviewed!


I am looking for fresh new reviews on one of my books. Please be willing to post your 4 or 5 star review (only) on Amazon.com.
Keep Your Sanity, Understanding and Coping With Stress in a Changing World. 138 pages. Offered for review as a PDF file only.

It is estimated that as many as 80 percent of physician visits may be stress-related. Without knowing how to reduce stress, we leave ourselves susceptible to life-threatening illness, disease, and just plain unhappiness.

In this book you will discover:
• Why you are susceptible to stress.
• How to apply “quick fixes” and ultimately achieve long term relief.
• How to adjust your lifestyle to permanently take control and live a more stress-free life.

For your free review copy, please e-mail Carol Denbow at chipanugget@gmail.com.
Websites: Author’s Box http://www.authorsbox.com Plain & Simple Book Publishing http://www.plainandsimplebooks.webs.com

The Amazon.com listing on this book can be found HERE.

Now it’s your turn. If you would like your book to be offered up for review, list your book title and contact information in the comment section. Please include whether you will mail a hard copy or PDF (e-book).

Writers, Please Offer Me Your Input

Here’s the story. I’m considering authoring another book, and as per my own advice, as well as bit of personal concern, I’m asking for your feedback.

I always preach that a writer needs to “find their audience” before writing a book, simply to be sure there actually is an audience for their work—I’m no exception. Since all of the visitors to this site are either writers, authors, or want-to-be authors, I would guess this is the best way to explore my own potential audience.

I hadn’t planned on writing another book, but as usual, I thought I sensed a need out there (LOL). Last time I felt this way, I put together 100 Ways to Market Your Book For Free (or really cheap). The book sold, but wasn’t as popular as I had anticipated.

So I’m considering the gamble once again with a book on simple editing; basically punctuation and sentence structure. If completed, Period A Quick-Guide to Basic Editing would be released in 2011. The new book is designed to provide all writers, including students, want-to-be authors, and the common work force, with the tools and information they need to present a more polished and well-written piece of work. Its format is easy-to-follow and presents much of the information we all learned in our high school and college English classes—but forgot! Even educated writers should find this book to be a useful tool. We all make editorial mistakes, but presenting a better manuscript can give us an edge when submitting work to a traditional book publisher or ?. The perfect aid for self-publishers as well.

Okay, so I’m sure your first thought is, “But Carol, you’re not an editor. What’s up?” Yea, yea, I know I’m not—far from it! I will be co-authoring this book with an acquaintance of mine who is a professional editor; and a very good one at that.

So there you have it. E-book ($4?) and paperback ($10?), very inexpensive, and written as a step-by-step guidebook (75-100 pages?). Please give me your thoughts. Is this something that would appeal to you as a writer? Or will I be wasting my time? Please be honest—I can handle it!