Find  Carolyn's Individual Books and Audios Here:   Retailers looking for help with editing their blogs, their Web sites, and their business letters will find The Frugal Editor a fine companion to A Retailer's Guide To Frugal In-Store Promotion. Just substitute the word "book" for "my store" and retailers will find most editing helps will work for store owners and their staffs! The Frugal Editor will help retailers with their blog posts, Web site and advertising copy, business letters and more. Order it and other marketing and writing aids here: Just hover and click: Endorsement "Nothing demonstrates professionalism like a well-edited submission. Follow Carolyn Howard-Johnson's clear, step-by-step self-editing approach for Putting Your Best Book Forward and you'll submit like a pro." ~ Gregory A. Kompes, conference coordinator, Las Vegas Writer's Conference ~ You will find at least one promotion, writing or tech tip on every page on this site. Sometimes you'll find, two or three! Happy browsing and collecting! ~ Endorsements "Carolyn Howard-Johnson has done it again! Whether you're writing your first book or tenth, The Frugal Editor, Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success is a must-read." ~ Tim Bete, director, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and author, In The Beginning ... There Were No Diapers  ~ "Congratulations on the release of The Frugal Editor. . . .Keep up the good work. You're an inspiration to many." Kim Wilson, editor Write From Home  ~ "I am a writer, and definitely NOT an editor, but I believe that with this book as a guide, my books have great advantage over the other books that hit the shelves.  After EDITING properly and then PROMOTING properly with the help of your book series, I truly believe that any book can increase their profits by 100%!!!  By reading this as an author, I feel like my books are definitely better presented as a COMPLETE package!!! ~ Epstein LaRue, RN, BS, author of Highway Hypodermics:  Travel Nursing 2007: Highway Hypodermics:  Your Road Map To Travel Nursing; Love At First Type, and Crazy Thoughts of Passion.         Tip Think of in-store events as part of your advertising budget as well as a loyalty budget. Few will be great income producers on their own, though A Retailer's Guide will help with frugal ways to make them work for you at many levels.     Find tips on writing, promotion or tech on every page of this Web site.     All Carolyn's Frugal Books Are Available on Kindle:	For You: An Excerpt from A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion: How-To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns Using Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques Cover Design by John Quinn, www.designsolution360.com         A Retailer's Guide is now available on Amazon. Click Here for a retail-focused author biography. Click Here for list of contents. Click Here for reviews. Click Here to arrange for a signed copy directly from Carolyn. Click Here for a copy of  the introduction to A Retailer's Guide.   Endorsement: “As a columnist for Home Décor Buyer, Carolyn’s no-nonsense approach to retailing and her easy-to-read writing style made her a coach to thousands of retailers.” ~ Jim Carper, founding editor of Home Décor Buyer     Excerpt:   2 h List Building: Your In-Store Promotion Campaign’s Major Goal. Here’s a retail riddle: Which of your assets never shows up on your inventory list or your general ledger? Which asset do we often praise but then neglect to utilize in our business building plans? Of course, the answer I’m after is “my customers.” You may protest, “But I do recognize the importance of my customers!” Of course you do. But you may not treat their names, addresses and preferences like collectibles—each a mini treasure—in your quest for building a better business. BUILDING YOUR CONTACT LIST is the single most important thing you can do to assure your future success. So, if “my customers” is at the top of the list you made when you were reading the last chapter, then building that customer list (and yes, other kinds of contacts is the single most important reason for you to have an event. So now, you’ll want to move that contact list to the top of the list and keep it mind as you plan. There is a way you can put almost every idea in this book to work as part of your list-building effort. Even if you believe you are already doing a good job of collecting your customers’ names, check your techniques against this list: I keep a list of my customers’ vital statistics, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Preferably even birthdates and anniversaries. I know exactly what aspects of my business interests each one. In other words, I categorize them by something more than their zip codes and/or how much they spend with me each year. I can tell from my list precisely where my business can grow to meet their needs. I stay in regular contact with this list—in ways that will arrest their attention. (Yes, that’s where in-store promotion comes in!) My list is so detailed and organized that I can filter and focus a specific promotion effort on the customer each would most appeal to. (This is a great way to save mailing costs when indicated.) Though I may keep a list handy in an index card box, I also capture the data on a program like Excel so that I can use its power to reach exactly the right customers at the right time. Media contacts are an important way to get the word out about your in-store events. They should be on your list specially coded in your database as to media type. It should include feature editors, business editors, TV producers, radio and TV hosts, and even bloggers and editors of related Web sites. Your contact list should also include networks other than customers and media. They might be advertising department contacts, community leaders, and even resources including your vendors They can be kept on separate lists. If you use one database for all your lists, code each name as to the kind of network it fits in. That way you can easily filter your list by category. Caveat: If your store isn’t computerized so that you can keep detailed lists, don’t let that derail this effort. You can design an effective system that lets you manipulate lists by hand. It won’t be as time efficient as a computer, but it will work in most, if not all, other ways.   MORE ON THIS SUBJECT AND OTHERS IN A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions... Is Now Available in Paperback on Amazon.   USA Book News Best Book Finalist for poetry for She Wore Emerald Then and A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion, both 2009.   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0021AEXU0/                     And for Your Kindle at only $7.96!                       http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441467246/ If you don't have Kindle, order it with the widget in the left column on this page.   Here are links on this site where you will learn more about Carolyn Howard-Johnson's books, audios, and more: Audios I coproduced to share the ins 'n' outs of writing, book promotion and marketing on the net. Other publishing including shorter works. The Frugal Book Promoter, my way to share the pitfalls of publishing with other authors in hope they won't fall into the same potholes I did. The Frugal Editor, second in the HowToDoItFrugally series, sharing my system for keep editing gremlins at bay. The Great First Impression Book Proposal: How to Sell Your Book in 20 Minutes or Less (An Amazon Short).     Tip Use coupons to drive in-store traffic--unlike events, the results are traceable, Well, the sales results are--but there are still other things to consider.  Find at least one tip on writing, promotion or tech on every page of this Web site.        Purchase THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER as a thick, full-size e-book priced to accommodate the budgets of starving students and authors at Star Publish and for your Kindle at Amazon. Purchase THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER and THE FRUGAL EDITOR in trade paperback at Amazon. Purchase THIS IS THE PLACE, HARKENING and TRACINGS at Amazon. Purchase CHERISHED PULSE at the Compulsive Reader. Purchase and find all the audios for writers at Tri-Studio.   "Careers that are not fed die as readily as any living organism given no sustenance." ~ Carolyn Howard-Johnson     Cover of A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions  by John Quinn of Design Solution 360º (www.designsolution360.com) Published by HowToDoItFrugally Publishing in conjunction with THINKING STONE PRESS Studio photography and cover photo by Uriah Carr Logo by Lloyd King      Future Plans for How To Do It Frugally Series:    The Frugal Amazon  Promoter,  The Frugal Retailer Promotes,   The Frugal Author Builds an Agent-Friendly Package    Books and Audios on Writing Carolyn has Written,   Edited or Contributed to:     Awards for Carolyn's Books, Blogs,  and More   For The New Book Review and Sharing with Writers blog. Nominated by Nikki Leigh. and Jewel Sample respectively.       Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Sharing with Writers blog.   Best Book Award for The Frugal Book Promoter (2004) and The Frugal Editor (2008).       USA Book News Best Book Finalist for poetry for She Wore Emerald Then and A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion, both 2009.        Reader Views Literary Award for The Frugal Editor   New Generation Award for Marketing and Finalist for The Frugal Editor       Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award   Military Writers Award of Excellence for Tracings, A Chapbook of Poetry.   And more than a dozen other awards for Carolyn's novel, short story collection and poetry. See the awards page on this site.   ~~~           Copyright ©2006 Carolyn Howard-Johnson