Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's several careers prepared her for promoting her own books and those of others and for editing many genres from nonfiction to poetry. She was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for The Salt Lake Tribune-"A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper"-where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige. That gave her insight into the needs of editors, the very people authors must work with to get free ink and the ones likely to...See more

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's several careers prepared her for promoting her own books and those of others and for editing many genres from nonfiction to poetry. She was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for The Salt Lake Tribune-"A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper"-where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige. That gave her insight into the needs of editors, the very people authors must work with to get free ink and the ones likely to spot unprofessional editing when they see it. Being familiar with the way news is handled helps her see how different books fit into different news cycles.Later in New York, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. In the Big Apple she also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List. There she started writing media releases (then called press releases) for celebrity designers of the day including Pauline Trigere, Rudy Gernreich, and Christian Dior instead of being one of those dreaded gatekeepers of releases who get to say yay or nay. She also produced photo shoots for Lambert's clients.Carolyn has worked as columnist, reviewer, and staff writer for the Pasadena Star-News, Home Décor Buyer, the Glendale News-Press (an affiliate of the LA Times), and others.She learned marketing skills both in college (University of Utah, and University of Southern California) and as founder and operator of a chain of retail stores. That molded her understanding of how authors might best collaborate with retailers to affect both of their bottom lines.Carolyn's experience in journalism and as a poet and author of fiction and nonfiction helped the multi award-winning author understand how different marketing techniques might be used for each genre. She was an instructor for UCLA Extension's renowned Writers' Program for nearly a decade and earned an instructor's certificate from that school. She studied writing at Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University in Prague.The author turned her knowledge toward helping other writers with her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Her marketing campaign for the first edition of this book won Reader Views Award, USA Book News Award, and the marketing campaign for it won the Next Generation Indie Award for marketing. An earlier edition of this The Frugal Editor has a Next Generation Award for e-books.Howard-Johnson was honored as Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by California Legislature members Carol Liu, Dario Frommer, and Jack Scott. She received her community's Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing and the Diamond Award in Arts and Culture. She was named to Pasadena Weekly's list of fourteen "San Gabriel Valley Women Who Make Life Happen" and Delta Gamma, a national fraternity of women, honored her with their Oxford Award.Carolyn is an actor who has appeared in ads for the likes of Apple, Lenscrafters, Time-Life CDs, Disney Cruises (Japan), and Blue Shield and has presented at writers' conferences and tradeshows in industries as varied as retailing, publishing, and psychoanalysis across the US. See less