Carolyn Howard-Johnson talks books

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for writers, including USA Book News' award winners:
The Frugal Editor http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870/
The Frugal Book Promoter http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/
Squidooing at: http://www.squidoo.com/HowToDoItFrugallyforAuthors
Her iFOGO Page:
http://www.ifogo.com/1Authors/Carolyn%20Howard-Johnson/howard-johnson.html

Blogs:
http://www.SharingWithWriters.blogspot.com
http://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com http://www.AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com
http://www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com

Now blogging on War. Peace. Tolerance and Our Soldiers at: http://warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com



Q. Why are books so important?

A. Historically books are the repository of all the cultures of mankind, all the learning. They contain all the stuff we learn. Times are changing with the advent of the Internet but at one time people worried that microfilm would take the place of books in libraries and you can see that didn't happen. There is just something special about a book. Books touch the senses. We can feel them, smell them, hold them. Because we are human and those things are important to us, there will always be a place for books.



Q. How have books helped you in your career as a writer?

I don't think any writer would be a writer without them. There is no past history for writers and no future without books.



Q. Please name one of the most influential books you've ever read and why/how it impacted you so much.

I'm going to name two. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee influenced me because at its roote it is about the courage it takes to be tolerant in the face of bigotry. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy affected me because at its root it is the story of the affects of repression (one of byproducts of intolerance.)



Q. With changing technology, we see books coming out in new formats. Do you think print books are here to stay? Why or why not?

I think I answered that. So I will speak to the opposite. Are e-books here to stay? Emphatically yes. They are good for the environment and you can carry 300 of them on a Kindle when you travel.



Q. Please share with me an experience you've had where you found a great or autographed or priceless book to purchase in an unexpected place.

I have a huge dictionary, truly a doorstop. It's about a foot high. It has those little thumb cutouts as alphabet guides. Publishers don't use those anymore. Too expensive, I guess. And it has color plates of all kinds including one of all the flags in the world (the world was quite different when it was published). It has little etchings of plants and flowers and certain machinery and the page edges are gilt. My grandfather worked at a high school in Utah and when the library updated its copy from this 1949 edition, he brought it home. I don't remember exactly how I inherited it, but it is mine. It is a an amazing record of English from my childhood and a great example of how extensive the English language is. And our language keeps growing! Experts suggest that English will soon reach one million words. Compare that to less than 500,000 for both Spanish and French, and you'll get an idea of how versatile English is and how hard it is to master. As you can see, I could go on and on and let one thing lead to another with this question!