Tuesday, December 1, 2009

All About Carolyn Howard-Johnson




Today, it is my honor to be hosting Carolyn Howard-Johnson! Carolyn is such a prolific and talented writer that it will be a challenge to only host her on one day. 

Carolyn's writing history: 

As a college freshman she was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for the Salt Lake Tribune, where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige.

Later, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List, where she wrote releases for celebrity designers of the time including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich and Christian Dior. She was also a consultant for the Oak Park Press in the Chicago area.

Her nonfiction and humor have been seen in national magazines and her fiction and poetry appear regularly in anthologies and review journals. She has been a columnist for The Pasadena Star News and is now a columnist for Home Décor Buyer, a trade magazine, and Myshelf.com and others. She writes movie and theatre reviews for The Glendale News-Press.

She studied at the University of Utah, graduated from USC and has done postgraduate work in writing at UCLA. She also studied writing at Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University in Prague. 

The author’s first novel, This Is The Place, and her book of creative nonfiction are award-winners. She also wrote a screenplay, The Killing Ground. Her book The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't was named USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004 and won Book Publicists of southern California's Irwin award.

The second book in the HowToDoItFrugally series is The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success which also won a USA Book News Best Book nod. It is also the winner of Reader Views Literary Award and a finalist in the New Generation Indie Best Book Awards. Her marketing campaign for that book took top honors for marketing.
 
Howard-Johnson’s stories have appeared in anthologies like: Pass/Fail, edited by Rose A. O. Kleidon, PhD; Calliope’s Mousepad  in review journals like California State University at Stanislaus's Penumbra and the Mochila Review.

She was honored as Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award by California Legislature members, Carol Liu, Dario Frommer and Jack Scott. She is the recipient of her community's Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance. She was honored by her city's Character and Ethics committee for promoting tolerance with her writing and was named to Pasadena Weekly's list of 14 women of "San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen"

Whew! What a list of accomplishments! I'm exhausted just reading about them. 
Carolyne truly is someone who can teach writers a lot about their craft and marketing. 
To learn more about Carolyne Howard-Johnson:

E-mail: HoJoNews@aol.com 
or see her blog http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/ 

10 comments:

Darcía Helle said...

Great post, Crystalee!
Carolyn, wow! Is there anything you can't do? You are an inspiration!

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I have found the Frugal Book Promoter extremely helpful and I've added the Frugal Editor to my Santa Claus wish list.

Vivian Zabel said...

Thanks, Crys, for giving us an in depth look at Carolyn.

Vivian

Unknown said...

Great post. It's an honor to know Carolyn. She's had a positive impact on many many people. Thanks for all you do, Carolyn.

Nancy Famolari said...

Great post about Carolyn. She's one of my heros!

Anonymous said...

Carolyn is awesome and brings so much value to the VBT group. Her book is on my list of books to read for December.

Stephen Tremp

Martha said...

I know what I want for Christmas.
Thanks for the post, Crystalee.
Martha

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

Oh, all you dears. I am on vacation, just got back from an amazing tour of Manta, Equador. But had to drop in to thank you for all your good words, recommendations for my books and to you, Crystalee--both the post and the sweet tweet.
Best,
Carolyn

The Old Silly said...

Yep, quite the amazing gal, that HoJo. Never stops impressing me the more I read and find out. Nicely done feature, Crystalee!

Marvin D Wilson

Karen Cioffi said...

I have both the Frugal Editor and The Frugal Promoter. I keep them handy and use them often. The are both filled with great advice and tips.

Carolyn is an amazing woman, and a very giving one also!

Thanks, Crystalee, for a wonderful post.

Karen