SPARREW ISSUE TWO
Welcome to the SPARREW Newsletter!
The newsletter for Self-Publishers, Authors, Readers, Reviewers, Editors and Writers!
Welcome to the very first issue of the newsletter! This newsletter is just for writers, book reviewers, self-publishers, editors and authors. So glad to have you on board!
Whenever I get an idea for a nonfiction book, the first thing I ask myself is this question: Am I the right person to write it? As someone who has ghostwritten nonfiction books on a variety of subjects, I don’t doubt my abilities to be able to write a book on a topic I am not familiar with. What I doubt is the kind of response it will get from readers. For this reason, when it’s my name listed as the author of a nonfiction book, I am more selective with the books I choose to write.
As far as what writers SHOULD be writing about compared to what writers CAN write about, there are mixed signals. One side says to write whatever you want to write, while the other says to just “write what you know.” But I feel that limiting ourselves to just writing about what we know will mean that our careers as nonfiction writers will only go so far. We should not have a limit on what we can write about! Broaden your horizons! Learn new things and expose yourself to new ideas. As writers, we are constantly hungry for knowledge. We can incorporate the knowledge we have learned into our writing, thereby making our voice the one of authority which readers demand of a nonfiction author.
But as far as writing about writing is concerned? I feel any writer, no matter their experience, should be able to write about writing. If they feel compelled to write about writing, and their work is something that offers value to readers, then let them write about writing! When I first started writing my book, 365 Tips for Writers, I did not doubt my ability to write the book. I actually had some solid information to share with other writers – in fact, 366+ bits of information. And when I took on the task to revise and update this book, those bits of information have stood the test of time in the 15+ years since the first edition came out.
Now, with the new edition hot off the press, I’m confident I did well in authoring a book for writers, as a writer myself with even more years of experience under my belt. I gave this book my best effort. And if that’s what you do the next time you decide to write a nonfiction book, then that’s all readers can really ask for.
In this issue, you’ll get to meet author Anne Petzer. I was first made aware of Anne’s work when I joined the Gypsy Shadow Publishing family. Anne has written numerous books inspired by her cat, Zvonek. Read all about Anne’s journey as an author below!
You’ll also get to read an article discussing an issue that is hotly debated among several groups of nonfiction authors: Who is the right person to author a nonfiction book? I explore this issue in greater detail below.
Meanwhile, check out my latest posts:
Dawn Colclasure’s Blog:
“A Deaf Writer with Hearing Characters”
It Got Cut
I welcome submissions from subscribers!
Are you a booklover who wants to have your book blog featured?
Are you a writer with news?
Are you an author looking for reviewers of your latest book?
Are you a book reviewer whose review just went live?
Are you a self-publisher with a new release?
Are you an editor who wants to share your thoughts on editing, complete with a bio advertising your business?
Please feel free to submit any of these notes to me at DMCWriter@gmail.com for the next issue of the newsletter!
SELF-PUBLISHER CORNER
New Releases
I almost didn't make it, but thanks to my editor being so fast when things go wrong and KDP being so fast in getting it out there, my February KU ebook, True Ghost Stories, is OUT NOW and it is LIVE on Amazon! Check it out here
Coming Soon!
Got an idea but don’t know what to do with it? Or are you chock full of ideas but not sure ho to put them to use? My next ebook, THE IDEA WORKBOOK: How to Choose and Use Your Ideas, will help you out in solving that problem, as well as how to come up with more ideas! Available in March on Kindle Unlimited.
News in Self-Publishing
A Merger in Self-Publishing: Draft2Digital’s Acquisition of Smashwords by Porter Anderson
The Road Less Traveled: The Self-Publishing Option for Equestrian Authors by Anna Sochocky
Telling your own story: The highs and lows of self-publishing by Sofia Gallus
Author Interview
Interview with Anne Petzer
1. When did you start writing?
I have always written something. As a child, it was poems for Father’s or Mother’s Day. Then essay writing at school. While doing a correspondence writing course during my teen years I really connected with this form of expression. As they say, ‘paper is patient.’
2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?
My high school dream was to live in Europe, have two cats and be a published author. However, it was not something that I actively worked towards. After being retrenched in South Africa I came to the Czech Republic to teach English as foreign language. I ‘inherited’ a tomcat, Zvonek. He was hit by car a few months after I got him and it took quite a few months for him to recover. During this time Zvonek 08 was conceived. I did try to find a publisher here in Prague but was told my book would never be published. An online friend recommended a publishing company in Austin and Gypsy Publishing gave me my first chance and the rest is history.
3. What can you tell me about your latest book?
I am very excited by my latest book. It is the fifth in the Zvonek 08 spy series. I have just finished it and currently doing the edits. Zvonek leaves Prague for the first time and goes to the Amalfi Coast to work with the Italian Feline Intel. It was inspired by my recent trip to Positano and fascination with a group of islands off the coast called Li Galli. These islands have a long a rich history covered in mythology.
It also has a little surprise, which I won’t spoil here.
4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?
Book promotion hasn’t been easy for me as I had to learn, still learning, about online promotion. Fortunately, I have precious friends who help me. So, have used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram mostly. I used to write a blog, which I plan to restart. Around Christmas, I will order a bundle of my paperback and sell them as presents.
I use special days such as National Japanese Cat Day.
Just recently, a very exciting way of promotion as materialized. Zvonek 08 merchandize! Follow the link. www.annehpetzer.cz
5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?
Well, my cats are my inspiration and are the main characters in the Zvonek 08 series. My ideas kind of come from everywhere and anywhere I guess. For example, Zvonek’s accident turned into Cat on Thin Ice, which actually had nothing to do with the accident, and led to the series. Purrristano, the latest in the series was inspired while sitting on the terrace of the pension I was staying at while in Positano looking out to sea with the islands in the distance. Came home and did some research on the islands and it turned into a book.
My other, non-cat, potential books: from films, series, groups of people or my weird imagination.
6. What are you working on right now?
My books so far have been collections of short stories. My next challenge is to write a full-length novel. As it deals with real people, it is quite different from writing where animals are the characters and the entire story is fantasy. With actual people involved there has to be, some reality attached to the fantasy, no?
This story is set in Prague and about a group of close friends that are living in the States and Iran. They come back to Prague to help solve a pressing problem that affects them all.
Of course, the next in Zvonek 08 series is in the works too.
7. Any advice for other authors?
Keep at it. The hardest for me is pushing through writer’s block and I haven’t found any miracle cure. A friend and fellow author wrote a Facebook profile that has stayed with me, which I have found to be absolutely true, and I quote: ‘Writing is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
For me the best method is to write something every day even if it is one sentence.
Anne’s bio: “All my details and profile can be found at: www.annehpetzer.cz
Please follow the link for Zvonek 08 merchandize on the website.”
REVIEWER CORNER
Other Book Reviews
"A Shipwreck Leads to a Reckoning" by By W. Caleb McDaniel,
"A Smart, Playful Book About the Underappreciated Index" by Jennifer Szalai
"Ambitions and Emotions Run Hot in ‘The Founders,’ a History of PayPal" by Alexandra Jacobs
‘The Invisible Kingdom’ Review: Malady Unknown by Brandy Schillace
"In Margaret Atwood’s Essays and Speeches, Some Hazards of the Trade" by Dwight Garner
"Roddy Doyle’s Stories of Life in Lockdown" by Daphne Merkin
Calls for Reviews
I’d love to find reviewers for my latest release, True Ghost Stories. Available only as an ebook. Contact me at DMCWriter@gmail.com if interested.
READER CORNER
Book Blogs
Book News:
"Banned: Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools in recordnumbers" by Mike Hixenbaugh
"10 New Books We Recommend This Week"
"Best Dyslexia-Friendly Books for Kids" by Rachel Rosenberg
"Titles Take a Spiritual Account of Social Media" by Ann Byle
“The Problem With the Pandemic Plot” by Alexandra Alter
New Books:
Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade
Historical Novel
Life Without Children: Stories by Roddy Doyle
Short Stories
The Verifiers by Jane Pek
Mystery
This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel
Thriller
The Justice of Kings: Empire of the Wolf #1 by Richard Swan
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction/Alternate History
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
Biography/Memoir
Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the ConservativeEstablishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman
History/Current Affairs/Religion
Life Between the Tides by Adam Nicolson
Science, Health and the Environment
Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses
by Jackie Higgins
Science, Health and the Environment
Wakers: The Side Step Trilogy #1
By Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction
by Tahereh Mafi
Fantasy
by Laura Sebastian
Young Adult
by Kate Marchant
Romance
by Kelly McWilliams
Young Adult
War with Myself: Achieving Victory in the Battle with Bulimia
By Shani-Lee Wallis
Biography/Memoir
EDITOR CORNER
News in the World of Editing
Australian Survivor: Why Blood V Water's Editing Is Getting Criticism by Lee Whitten
Feature Article
Who is the Best Person to Give Advice to Writers?
When I first started writing my book, 365 Tips for Writers: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat the Block Tips to Turbo Charge Your Creativity, I had not been a working writer for too long. However, at that time in my writing career, I was not interested in deciding whether or not I was the best person to be telling writers everything I knew about being a writer, the business of writing or the creative process. The only thing I focused on were all of these ideas that I had for this new book I was inspired to write.
Before I even started writing this book, however, I was a member of an online community of writers. Writers young and old, seasoned and new, were dishing out bits of advice and suggestions to other writers from left to right. And nobody was judged for it, either. Why? Because there were people on one side who knew quite a bit about writing, no matter how long they had been at it, and people on the other side who didn’t know what the other people knew, and found their advice to be helpful.
With this in mind, I still felt that I could contribute something valuable to the writing community. And since there was no other book like this out on the market (yet), I decided to just go for it! I ran with that idea and started writing the book anyway, not even caring that I was only a writer with ten years of experience under my belt. I just wanted to write the book! So I wrote it.
Ever since its publication, sales were mediocre. The book got rave reviews and talked up on the Internet, but it still did not sell very well. I started to wonder if the lack of sales was due to disinterest rather than the entire writing community demanding, “Who do you think you are to write such a book?!”
Well, now we’re going to find out what was the real cause of those small sales numbers. These days, I now have 20+ years of experience as a working writer, and I had the privilege of bringing that expertise and that experience to the book all over again when my publisher suggested we write a new edition of this book. Not only was the suggestion to add new material on the table, but also a new cover for the book as well as a new marketing strategy. Since the first edition of the book came out over 16 years ago, it made sense to release a new edition. Some nonfiction books could require an upgrade, especially when it comes to a trade where there are always new things to learn, new tricks and new kinds of software made available. That said, I agreed to take this on! The new material just poured right out of me and I fell in love with the book all over again. Plus, it was a great opportunity to include some new authors I had met since the book’s original publication, and they welcomed the chance to share their wisdom in the new book.
But the question remained: Was I still the right person to author such a book? I grappled with this during the revision process. I was coming to this process as someone who went through a dry spell that lasted for a long time. I was not yet published in a major magazine. At the time, my only gig was as a ghostwriter. (I have taken on others since then.) And, alas, I was still not yet a bestselling novelist, as I hoped to one day be. But I WAS still the original author of this book, and I DID have new information to share. It’s not like I dropped out of the writing world altogether. I was still in it, and I still had more information to pass on to readers. Perhaps this is enough to make me the “right” person to author such a book.
When it comes to a nonfiction book, however, a lot of times, readers will want to know if the author of the book is the right person to be authoring such a book. For example, I don’t think a person who is not trained in psychology or without any experience as a psychologist should write a book about psychology. Likewise, a person who doesn’t know the first thing about Komodo dragons should not write a book about Komodo dragons.
Even so, with a topic such as writing, there is some leeway. If you’ve got the experience, have had some success and really know your stuff, then by all means, write a book on writing. As a ghostwriter, I had to do some serious research on topics in order to write certain books, and I have brought that research to my own work when it comes to writing a nonfiction book. I write about writing, the paranormal and parenting – things that I know about and have experience with. This way, no one can fault me for writing about them. But there are some topics we can still write about if we research it well enough, such as astronomy. I recently wrote a book on self-care, and even though I am not a therapist, I felt I could still write this book if I did enough research on it. That worked out and I felt I did a good enough job on it. And that, at least, is all we can hope for.
Writers of nonfiction are not trying to be some “hack” doling out numerous articles and books on things we know nothing about. We genuinely want to contribute something meaningful, important and helpful to readers. We want to get this great idea for our nonfiction topic turned into an article or book then release it into the world hoping it will be accepted and useful. And as writers with quite a bit of experience, as well as a certain number of years as a working writer, we want to share our knowledge with other writers too. Books can do that. It’s up to the writing community to decide whether or not our offerings of these writing books are worth their money to buy, and their time to read.
Thanks for Reading! See you next month.
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