Congratulations to the author of the 53rd book in our series, Nick D. Anderson. His book, Six-Word Lessons for Middle Managers addresses the challenging paradigm of middle management in corporate America. Middle Managers are responsible for the work of others, responsible to executive managers and responsible to peer colleagues--often at the same time.  This requires a special blend of bold authority, vision, persuasion, patience, negotiation and a whole lot more! Middle managers will find quick insight and wisdom in these 100 short lessons which can be applied in real-time.

Nick has 25 years of experience in banking, leading teams through mergers, acquisitions, failures, rapid growth and more. He believes leaders are chosen by those who follow them. He founded Chosen Leader where he coaches and helps leaders to be the best they can be. 

​Check out Nick's book on Amazon in paperback and kindle, and let us know if you'd like to write your own book!

We are thrilled to announce book 51 in the Six-Word Lessons Series, Six-Word Lessons for Writing Your Community's Story by Jennifer Lader! Jennifer spent a dozen years researching her community in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and shares the lessons learned so that you can write your story in a fraction of that time. She is an award-winning writer who has penned hundreds of personal profiles, human interest stories, and letters or stories for her newspaper columns. 

The book has everything you need to know in short, step-by-step lessons to shine a light on your community's past and present.

We are happy to have Jennifer as part of our series! Let us know if you would like to learn more about writing a Six-Word Lessons book. 

Patty, Lonnie and Trevor Pacelli 
 

We are now 2 weeks into 2022 and we hope you are having a happy, healthy, productive start to your new year.

What have we been up to?

In September, we added our son, Trevor, to our team as Chief Storyteller. You may know Trevor as the author of Six-Word Lessons on Growing Up Autistic. He wrote and published it almost 10 years ago and it remains our top seller. Now, as our in-house author, he is working on a book about various disabilities and what we can learn about them from movies. He also works on social media and design and is learning all aspects of the publishing business. Trevor has a Bachelor's degree in film and media studies and has produced a movie-review blog, Trevor's View on Hollywood, since 2014. 

We are currently working with an author in Pennsylvania on a Six-Word Lessons book about how to tell your community's story, and we are in discussion with several authors about their books, including a memoir from someone born in the early 1930s.

As a family company, Lonnie, Trevor and I are here to edit, design, and publish your book--whether it's a Six-Word Lessons templated book, a  Tell Your Story book about your company or life, or any custom book you have in mind. And we can work with authors from anywhere.

We are always happy to talk by phone, on-screen or in-person to give you more information about how the publishing process works, whether it's with us or another publisher or avenue.

Thank you for your support and we hope you have a wonderful 2022. Please let us know how we can help with your book-writing and publishing goals.

​Patty, Lonnie and Trevor Pacelli

P.S. We would love it if you would follow us on Instagram and Facebook! 



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​Tracey is also the author of Six-Word Lessons for Successful Social Media, published in 2013. Both books are available in paperback and kindle.

Because the drone industry has had changes in regulations since her first two books were published, our author, Dr. Tulinda Larsen, licensed drone pilot, decided to update her books, Six-Word Lessons for the Drone Hobbyist and Six-Word Lessons for a Trustworthy Drone Business. They are both now available in second editions, with an additional co-author, Ruth Blomquist, who has been working as an intern with Dr. Larsen.

Because our books are printed on demand, if you have updates to your book due to industry changes, we can submit a changed manuscript to Kindle Direct Publishing, and the new version will be available for sale right away. 

Memoirs and biographies have always been popular genres. There is fascination in someone else's story, whether it's personally relatable or vastly different from one's own life. Biography usually refers to someone famous, while memoir is an unknown person. 

As publishers of memoirs in our Tell Your Story series, we have learned a few things to keep in mind as you write your memoir or life story.

Protecting Privacy. Your story will feature other real people, who may or may not want to be named or even written about. But you can't tell an honest, compelling story without them. To avoid libel claims, think about changing names, which means you have to keep track of everyone with a table or spreadsheet. Or write the story with the real names, and go back and change them all before it's published. Either way, you'll need a system to keep track of who's who.

Permissions. Getting permission from everyone in your story is ideal, but that's not always desirable or possible. It's best to keep them unrecognizable, change the names, and not say anything in the book about them that isn't true and isn't derogatory. You may need legal advice if you're not sure if you're being libelous.

Decide whether to use pictures. You should get permission from anyone in a picture before using it, as well as permission from any professional photographers, and give them credit.

Poems, songs or other quotes should be thoroughly cited and permission granted, unless in the public domain. Internet and website searches usually give you this information, or your editor can help direct you.

Book Structure. Plan out your structure in advance, such as time sequencing. Will the book jump among several time periods, or tell the story from beginning to end? Book coaches and developmental editors can help with this. 

Purpose. What is the purpose of telling your story? For your own catharsis? To leave a legacy? To help or inspire others in similar situations? To make money or create a platform and name for yourself or a related business or cause? It will help to know your purpose before you start writing and marketing the book.

We are here to answer any questions about memoir writing and publishing.

Patty and Lonnie 

Congratulations to author and speaker Todd Morrison on writing and publishing his memoir, A Profound Mercy: Finding Redemption in the Despair of Our Own Doing. 

Todd grew up as a missionary kid in Copenhagen, Denmark. Then his family unraveled; his parents abandoned him; his father came out as gay; he became a high-end cocaine dealer; and nearly lost everything to addiction.  Todd has found unexpected mercy in the depths of despair, every time. He has written his story with a personal, compelling voice that will give anyone hope. 

The cover was designed by Rachel Ronan of Kiwi Creative and Todd's book is part of our Tell Your Story series. Let us know if you'd like to write the story of your life or the founding of your business or company.

by Patty Pacelli

You've finished your book manuscript! Fantastic! Now what? You probably know you need some type of editing, but do you know about the 3 main types of editing, and what they mean? The following descriptions of Developmental Editing, Copy/Line Editing, and Proofreading will help you get started in finding the best editor for you. 

Developmental Editors look at the big picture. This is most commonly used in fiction. The editor will look for any flaws or inconsistencies in characters and their development, check facts, look for plot holes or things that just don't work or make sense. They will look for anachronisms, such as a mention of a specific building that didn't exist at the time the story takes place, or types of clothing, household gadgets, technology, or other things that are out of place. For example, a woman putting on pantyhose before 1959 when they became available. 

The editor will look at how the manuscript connects with its intended audience, and the language use, whether it's too casual, too formal, not fitting with the characters, etc. They will give feedback about book structure, including how it is divided into chapters, and how time and location jumps are done.

The editor might not mark on the manuscript during this phase, but will provide a report or letter giving overall feedback and findings. It's best if this is the first step in the process, 

Copy or Line Editing - The editor reads the manuscript line by line and makes changes as they go in punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage and wording. They will make the manuscript grammatically correct and consistent in formatting. Books, blog posts, articles and social media posts can benefit from this type of editing, and it is a must for a published book. A good editor will maintain the author's voice and personality while improving clarity and re-wording phrases for better flow. Consistency is important too.

The editor should always be asking the question, "Does this make sense?" If it doesn't make sense to the editor, it probably won't to the readers. The editor should use one dictionary edition and one style guide, such as Chicago Manual of Style, for grammar rules. They should use some form of tracking, such as "Track Changes" in Microsoft Word, so you can see all changes. Remember, any changes are given to you as suggestions, and you can "Accept" each change, or discuss it with the editor.

Proofreading
This is the last step and should be done by someone with good language skills, but preferably not the same person as your line editor or developmental editor. They should be proofing a final PDF or hard copy, and looking for consistency and correctness in all aspects of the finished product. Reading out loud or using a ruler to focus on each line are good proofreading techniques.

Any editor will naturally overlap into all three areas, but should focus on what you are asking for at each stage of your project. It's fine if a copy editor notices something that needs to be changed that a developmental editor would normally catch.

Most cities have Editor Guilds or Associations, such as Northwest Editors Guild here in the Seattle area. They have lists of editors to contact who do different types of editing for various written work.

​We are happy to answer any questions about editing your work and can help you find the right editor for your project. Contact Patty at [email protected] for any questions on writing, editing or publishing.   

Congratulations to Randy Step for writing and publishing his book, Get Your Butt Out the Door: A 365-Day Motivational Runner's Companion! This book will do just that--make your daily run happen, whether you're an Olympic athlete or just trying to break a sweat. 

For each day of the year you'll find a paragraph of motivation, inspiration and education to get out the door. Randy practices what he preaches and is an admitted obsessed runner who has run more than 70 marathons, including several at Boston. He founded a 9-Store Running Fit group, and produced 27 running events in 2019 with RF Events. He lives near Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Kathy. 

Our 4th book in the "Tell Your Story" series is My Life on the Autism Spectrum, by Tracey Cohen. Tracey has written two other books with us, Six-Word Lessons on Female Asperger Syndrome and Six-Word Lessons on the Sport of Running.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with Tracey on this book that tells her inspiring life story of a difficult childhood of misunderstandings and not being properly diagnosed until age 39. The book is brave and honest, and a fascinating read that will help anyone gain a much better understanding of the autism spectrum, especially in girls and women. 

We hope you have managed well during the pandemic and are staying healthy and safe. We are thankful to have been minimally impacted in our business and personal lives and wish you the best in health as we navigate through this season--however long it lasts! 

​We are here to help with any writing, editing or publishing questions or services you need.