The Childhood Obesity Dilemma’s crusade against overeating among children
The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council has released a new report that suggests ways of fighting childhood obesity in the United States.
The report recommends that government tax junk food and soft drinks, give tax breaks to grocery stores that serve in desolate areas.
The independent research findings also point out other suggestions such as the limitation of television and video games in after-school programs, the requirement of a calorie count list on restaurant menus, and the accessibility of school playgrounds and athletic fields to communities. 
As these and other solutions to the problem of obesity are being mapped out to make it easier for children to eat healthfully, the weight issue continues to plague many of America’s younger population. This is something author T. Alan Brenner understands very well.
In the self-published release, The Childhood Obesity Dilemma, Brenner defines the factors that have contributed to the creation, sustenance, and proliferation of the childhood obesity problem as well as provides the reader with the realistic solutions society has failed to recognize. His approach to the weight dilemma is detailed in steps that anyone can take to reverse the childhood obesity trend.
The Childhood Obesity Dilemma is more than a self-help book it is a long overdue and critical look at the growing childhood affliction currently being suffered by nearly one-third of all school-aged children in the United States.
Parents, community leaders, and educational policy makers will find Brenner’s work a must-read especially if they are to win the battle against childhood obesity.
The Childhood Obesity Dilemma is published by Xlibris.
About the Author
T. Alan Brenner holds a Master of Arts in Education and has taught health and physical education at both the elementary and secondary school levels. A former competitive amateur athlete, coach, and fitness counselor, Brenner currently teaches k-8 physical education and is a high school athletic official in Chicago, Illinois, where he resides with his family.
About Xlibris
Xlibris was founded in 1997 and, as the leading publishing services provider for authors, has helped to publish more than 20,000 titles. Xlibris is based in Bloomington, IN and provides authors with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound, and full-color formats.
For more information, please visit the book publisher’s website, e-mail publishtoday@xlibris.com or call at 1-888-795-4247, to receive a free publishing guide.
Avoiding Self-Publishing Mistakes
by Business Editor on December 21st, 2009
Even if this is your first time self-publishing, there is no excuse for you to commit mistakes. Committing mistakes with your self-published book can project the perception that your work is made in an unprofessional way and this can significantly hinder your success.
Here are some mistakes which you can easily avoid:
Poor Writing
Whenever we write, it is natural to miss a punctuation, or make a spelling and other typographical mistakes. But to allow these mistakes to appear on your book, will make your appear very unprofessional. Just imagine readers reading the blurb page and finding mistakes which could have been avoided if you only had somebody review it for you before printing and distribution.
Another thing that you have to consider is the flow of organization and thought. If your book is disorganized then it can be difficult from someone to read and understand it. You have to make sure that you have a good detailed outline to help you with the writing. If you are having difficulties writing and think that you need somebody to help you out, then you can get a co-writer or an editor to check your work.
If you are writing a story or novel, remember that continuity is important. There are some writers that would miss this out, for example, if your protagonist has hazel eyes, then make sure that his or her eyes stay the same color throughout the story unless it is significant for the story to change it. Avoid giving incorrect information and details. Also, avoid putting wrong captions in pictures and graphs, if you decide to use these.
Inadequate Book Editing, Formatting And Layout
You have to invest on the formatting of the book. Book sales can be significantly affected by a bad cover or a bad title. You may need to get a book designer to do your book layout and your cover. Booksellers recognize that jackets and covers are very important in clinching sales. So do not sacrifice in getting a professional to do the cover design.
Aside from the cover, another thing that can affect book sales is the format of its contents. There are different formats, you can check books from your shelf or you can go to the library to look at some. Things that you need to take note of are page distribution among the title pages, copyright pages, dedication pages and the start of the first chapter.
Lack Of Promotion, Marketing And Distribution Plan
Okay, so let’s say you have produced a good book. It has been checked for mistakes, wrong spellings and typographical errors. Now, you have to come up with a good marketing plan. It is important not to miss this important point. Some self-published authors have overlooked this thinking that having a good book on their hands would be good enough. But how will a book sell if readers do not even know it exists?
You have to make sure that you have a well-planned advertising, marketing and launching plan. If you think you cannot pull it off, then do not hesitate to get an experienced person to help you out.
Aside from marketing, some self-published authors also tend to make mistakes in distribution. Make sure that your target audience gets to have a chance to buy your book. Some authors overlook online distribution. There are cost-efficient online distribution channels where you can have your book made widely available to a targeted and hungry audience. the internet is becoming a convenient place for people to buy stuff that they want and need, so don’t overlook the online sales and distribution channel for your product.
Another thing that self-publishing authors should not forget is getting ISBN numbers. Actually, this is an easy thing to do. There are several websites that can give you instructions on how to buy ISBNs from RR Bowker, the U.S. ISBN agency.
Self-publishing requires a balance between all aspects of the project, from conception to success. To be successful with your book, you do not have to just only write an excellent book but make sure you maximize opportunities for your potential readers to be able to get acquainted with it and buy it.
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More on self-publishing here. Download your free publishing guide.
Twitter Tips for Book Publishers
36 Twitter Tips for Book Publishers
How to tweet your way to successful title and author promotions. Plus, 5 ways your company can benefit from Twitter (and 6 tips to help you maximize your following) By Noelle Skodzinski from this site.
For better or worse, Twitter has become part of our culture. While some people still may not see the value in engaging on the online social networking tool, many do. According to ComScore Media Metrix’s October figures, Twitter had more than 20 million unique visitors in the United States in September. Many businesses find Twitter useful for connecting with customers, and book publishers in UK are no exception.
“If you are a good Twitterer, people will trust you—even if you are a brand—and will trust your recommendations. And word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool,” says Malle Vallik, director of digital content and social media at Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Vallik says that, for Harlequin, there is no doubt about Twitter’s value. “We track clicks through a tool like bit.ly [see tip No. 24], and when you see the numbers increase dramatically, it is more than worthwhile.”
Another benefit, she says, is that it’s “fast and friendly. [It’s] not a big investment of resources, although it’s addictive.” Here are Book Business’ 36 tips for using Twitter effectively from those who have quite a few tweets under their belt.
1. After signing up for Twitter, cruise through WeFollow.com, Twit-Dir.com and the new Twitter Lists to find and follow folks in your niche.
2. Create several Twitter accounts based on the niches in which you publish your book.
3. Avoid the temptation to automate. It is important that you are on Twitter to respond to the community.
4. Sell books by adding substantive information from your books and authors to the conversation. No hard sales pitches, please.
5. Have fun. Invent new … ways to engage your Twitter community—contests, polls, jokes, raffles, giveaways, etc.
6. Be strategically self-promoting. … Enter conversations tied to your book’s topic, and be engaged enough so that when you do bring up your own work and post a link to your site, it seems relevant to the conversation and not just like a sales pitch.
… Really engage the space: … Post frequently and understand that the shelf life of a tweet is about 1 minute. … RT (retweet), and use @ (replies and mentions) and # (hashtags) in your tweets as often as possible. If you don’t know what those [Twitter] symbols are, or have never been on Twitter, it takes just a few minutes to figure it all out. Sign up and join the conversation. (Editor’s note: Check out the sidebar for more Twitter tips and basics [such as hashtags], and visit Help.Twitter.com for a quick Twitter education.)
Overall, you want to bring some humor and wit to your tweets, be seen as a resource (by tweeting links and comments about interesting stuff), and show people that you are paying attention to their tweets by posting regular RTs.”
7. Tweet in a manner that is aligned with your brand identity. At Quirk, we aim to entertain and inform. Our Twitter (and entire social media) philosophy is rooted in that ideal. Your fans expect it.
8. Make the tweet compelling enough that others will want to pass it along. Provide a snippet of useful or interesting content from the book. Announce a contest or giveaway. Promote a media event or article. Offer an exclusive discount on products.
9. Use Twitter as a piece of the story, but reinforce the message in other platforms. Recently, we had a month-long initiative on our blog (Irreference.com) celebrating Quirktober. We had blog posts about making candy corn, carving a pumpkin, choosing a Halloween costume—all pulled from our various books. Not only did we post the blog teasers to Twitter, but we also blasted it out via Facebook and our other social media platforms.
10. Use Twitter to create and continue conversations. When “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” launched to huge success, a fan created a hashtag called #ppzripoffs to allow others to post their own mash-up ideas. We caught wind of it, pushed this out to our fans and contributed our own ideas to the conversation. We picked up a lot of new followers from this.
11. Make timely and appropriate tweets. Our Web site is full of great content. When the “Lost” season finale aired in May, we tweeted with links to our content about surviving a plane crash or surviving a nuclear fall-out. And, of course, we used the #lost hashtag.
12. Think of tweets in the same way you would think about publicity hits. It’s an endorsement of your book. Whether it’s a consumer or a member of the media, share that endorsement with your followers by retweeting their post. It’s a nice way of saying thank you … and it opens the originator’s message up to your followers who may now follow that person and/or retweet the message.
13. Know who your big retweeters are. … If you have a relationship with them, send tweets you know they will be interested in with @username at the end to make sure they see it and hopefully retweet.
14. Have a personality/human associated with the brand, even if [it’s] just a line in the bio about who’s working on it. We’ve all accidentally posted to Harlequin Books instead of our own accounts at this point, and we get personal responses back, so they know we’re human. Read the rest of this entry »
Print On Demand may be the future of book publishing
I found this interesting post in the web today. Please read below. I edited some parts to generalize it.
“The Cure For Jet Lag” was published more than a quarter-century ago. Yet it could well represent the future of book publishing in New Zealand or any other continent.
A Springs trio teamed up this year to issue an updated version of the book using the print on demand—or POD—process. Indeed, with a growing number of writers making use of the POD method, Publishers Row may be moving from Manhattan to the East End, which for many years has already seen its share of writers, editors, and agents.
“This area is a hothouse of creative types, from writers to artists who can benefit from print on demand books,” stated Lynne Scanlon, the co-author of “The Cure For Jet Lag.”
“These folks will gravitate to POD not only because it is the most expedient way to produce a book, but because literary agents and editors could care less about un-established writers these days.”
But don’t the authors of books published in non-traditional ways in New Zealand risk acquiring a sort of stigma as not really being professional writers, thus giving agents a reason to steer clear? “Good luck finding an agent if you don’t already have one,” Ms. Scanlon said. “That’s the Catch-22 of publishing.”
Her career in publishing has included being a marketing executive with Barnes & Noble and a book publishing consultant in addition to an author. In 1983, she collaborated with Charles Ehret, who had been conducting research underwritten by the U.S. government to reduce the problems associated with long-distance air travel. The original goal was to make the U.S. Army’s rapid deployment forces more effective.
Dr. Ehret himself served in the Army’s 87th Infantry Division and won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in the Battle of the Bulge. With Ms. Scanlon doing the writing for lay readers of the results of Dr. Ehret’s research, “Overcoming Jet Lag” (the original title) was published.
It was a success when issued by the Berkley Publishing Group, selling more than 200,000 copies worldwide and remaining in print for more than 20 years. Sales eventually faded, but problems with jet lag did not. Last year, Ms. Scanlon wanted to release an updated edition of the book but did not want to wait the 18 months or more it would take a traditional publisher to have new books on shelves. There was also a financial incentive: After publishers and agents and book wholesalers get their slices of the pie from a $20 book, the author’s slice may be as thin as $3.
Ms. Scanlon worked out an arrangement with Dr. Ehret’s estate and founded Back2Press Books, which specializes in republishing titles that have sold in excess of 100,000 copies. Naturally, “The Cure for Jet Lag” would be the company’s first effort. There would be no long editing and production process nor any danger of printing thousands of copies that might not sell. The new edition would be printed on demand and be readily available on the internet (www.thecureforjetlag.com) as well as at the major chain bookstores and selected shops.
What is POD, other than the dreaded form of the infestation in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”? The plain language answer is that it is a digital printing technology that allows a complete book to be printed and bound in minutes. This makes it easy and cost-effective to produce books in small lots rather than in large print runs. What has long bedeviled traditional book publishers is the practice of “guestimating” how much a title will sell: if the prediction is wrong, a publisher has to warehouse or even destroy tens of thousands of already-printed books. Read the rest of this entry »
Self-Publishing – Necessity Rather Than Choice?
By Janet Shaw (EzineArticles)
Only good writing is published. The rest is self-published.
How fair is this assessment?
Is every book you’ve plucked off the shelf tightly written, well structured with gripping beginnings and endings? How
many times have you slammed a book shut in disgust after slogging through the first ten pages of absolute rubbish? And do some books get the nod just because of an author’s name?
The belief that self-published books are below standard is a myth. Many top authors and writers have resorted to this option, either at the beginning or during their careers. Take Matthew Riley, for instance, whose first book was self-published.
Today, publishers are more wary of taking on new books because of the possibility of declining sales. But writers passionate about their craft don’t want to put down their pens. Self-publishing, therefore, just might become more popular.
Let’s look at the benefits of self-publishing.
1. Full Control
The choice is yours. It’s your book and you have control over what goes in it. Everything from text content to cover art, illustrations, paper type and font size rests with you, the author. No-one is going to chop your favourite scenes or insist on a cover that makes you cringe.
But don’t become complacent, think you know it all. Even the best writers seek out another pair of eyes to go over their work. You want to produce a high quality piece of writing. Advice from a professional editor/manuscript assessor should be sought.
2. Increased Income
If you go down the traditional publishing route, you can expect an average return of ten percent from each book sale. For a thirty-dollar book, then, you pocket the princely sum of three dollars. Not so if you self-publish. The only loss incurred is the printing cost. So for that thirty-dollar book, which might have cost ten dollars to print, you skip away with a twenty-dollar profit.
3. Pride of Ownership
Clasping a newly printed book in your hand, created solely by you from start to finish, is a spine-tingling experience. When people comment on what they love about your book, the kudos is all yours. Why? Because you’ve done all the hard slog.
4. Freedom to Sell
Did you know that under some contracts with publishers, authors are not entitled to sell their books privately? Why is this important? When presenting at author talks, you aren’t at liberty to sell copies of your books. All you can do is direct people to bookshops, fingers crossed that the stock hasn’t run out.
But the bigger danger is that the prospective buyer might lose interest, or even forget your name and book title. With your own self-published books, you can sell signed copies at all your author appearances.
A personal website is another way of selling your books. If you’re not game to host your own site, you can display your book on websites devoted to selling self-published books. These are growing in number.
Overall, self-publishing offers more fulfillment and financial reward. It’s true that one of the downsides is the dreaded ‘M’ word. Marketing.
I don’t know many authors who enjoy this aspect of book publication. But even with a publisher behind you, there’s no escape from self-marketing. It’s an ongoing process kicked off by the publisher. You, the author, must carry it on.
In the days to come, the choice of whether to embark on the self-publishing trail might not exist. What it comes down to is just how much you want to see your book in print.
Janet Shaw is a ghost writer, manuscript assessor, and published author. She writes for children, young adults and adults in both fiction and non-fiction.
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Local authors self-publish for a variety of reasons
By Lee B. Roberts (The Journal Times.com)
Marvin Lindberg writes first in longhand in spiral notebooks, and then on his laptop computer. (Photo by Mark Hertzberg, mhertzberg@journaltimes.com)
Everyone’s got a book inside them, or so it has been said. And, with the increased access to self-publishing that the Internet has provided in recent years, more and more people are bringing those books to the surface.
Marvin Lindberg, for example, took up writing in 2003 after selling his assisted living business, Loving Care Homes, which he had run in Racine County for many years. He has since written several fiction books which he had published through print-on-demand companies online.
Two of Lindberg’s books, “Final Justice” (Trafford Publishing) and “Saving Vegas” (Xlibris), are thriller/adventure stories based on themes from current events. His most recent effort, “Four Square,” (Xlibris) is aimed at the tween market with its story of two 12-year-olds dealing with divorce, with a little adventure thrown in.
No matter what the subject matter, producing books is something Lindberg says gives him a great sense of accomplishment.
“I really enjoy the writing process – especially creating characters and giving them personality.”
Figuring out the self-publishing process seemed difficult at first, he said, but once he went through it, it seemed like “a piece of cake.”
Virginia Burlingame decided to give self-publishing a try for her first attempt at a novel, “A Window Bed,” which follows a mother/daughter relationship as it evolves in the last year of the mother’s life. A local gerontologist, Burlingame had gone through traditional publishing companies with her previous professional books, but decided self-publishing was the best route for her first fiction venture.
Armed with advice she’d gotten through both a self-publishing class and from fellow authors in a couple writing 
groups she belongs to, she chose to publish her novel through lulu.com, a print-on-demand publishing house.
“It was one of the best deals I found,” she said.
The process, which Burlingame is still going through, can be a complicated one involving everything from formatting to marketing, she said. But, there is help available along the way.
“I hired someone to do the formatting for me,” she said.
“The biggest problem with self-publishing is that you have to market the book yourself,” Lindberg said. “I haven’t had huge sales, but that hasn’t stopped me from writing.”
Doing, not being
It is true that sales and marketing are important aspects of self publishing – ones that often give writers pause when considering self publishing – says Peter Bowerman, author of “The Well-Fed Self-Publisher” and “The Well-Fed Writer.” But, in today’s oversaturated book publishing market, even authors who go through traditional publishing companies are required to do most of their own marketing, said Bowerman.
Such skills can be learned by anyone, he said, and despite popular thinking, an outgoing personality is not required to be successful in sales and marketing books.
“It is more a matter of things you have to do, than some way you have to be,” said Bowerman, who devotes an entire chapter to sales and marketing (“Learning to love S&M”) in “The Well-Fed Self-Publisher.”
“I want to help people get over what is really an irrational fear of the whole sales and marketing process.”
The whole point of Bowerman’s book is to show writers how they can make a living through self-published writing. And while his expertise is aimed at non-fiction writers like himself, some of his advice can apply to publishing fiction, he said.
His blueprint for self-publishing goes way beyond the print-on-demand option, with a goal of producing a book that the average consumer would not be able to tell apart from a volume published by one of the big publishing houses. His self-publishing methods, he says, not only allow authors to have more control over their finished work than they would through traditional methods, but to keep a larger percent of any profits. For more about Bowerman and his self-publishing success story, go to: http://www.wellfedsp.com
Just us
Not everyone, though, goes the self-publishing route to make money. Donna Peterson is in the process of self-publishing a cookbook of recipes from her late Aunt Dorothy, who she described as “an excellent cook.” Her purpose in doing so is to preserve and share the beloved recipes, as well as humorous anecdotes about growing up in wartime America, with her friends and family.
Peterson’s self-publishing journey is a more low-tech version, as she is having her book produced by a local printing company, Schabel’s in Caledonia, rather than online. Even so, Peterson said she has enlisted a lot of help along the way, having friends and family assist with editing, formatting and general advice.
“I’ve been reaching out in every direction,” she said. “I’ve also had a lot of input from Barb Trentadue at Schabel’s. She’s a wonderful resource. We have a good working relationship.”
Putting the 10 chapters of recipes (the originals of which were all handwritten), her 12 short stories and assorted photos together into a finished product wasn’t easy, Peterson said. But all the effort seemed worthwhile when she recently saw the mock-up of her cookbook.
“It surpassed my expectations,” she said. “I really feel good about it.”
Peterson’s advice for anyone looking to publish a similar piece of their family history: “Don’t be afraid to ask for help. “It’s out there, all you have to do is ask.”
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Unforgettable Naval Adventures With A Sea Dog
A once-in-a-lifetime, unique, and unforgettable naval adventure is sure to amuse readers as innovative author Roger Cooke presents The Cruise of Lazy Daze, an invigorating book inspired by his ardent love for sailing.
The Cruise of Lazy Daze follows the exploits of a middle-aged old sea dog who finds the sailing schooner he has dreamed about and converts it from a cargo vessel to a beautiful passenger cruiser. He takes a number of guests on short cruises around the Gulf of Mexico, until he is approached for a circumnavigating cruise around the Gulf and the Caribbean. He, his first mate, and three couples encounter a variety of adventures, including an encounter with Colombian pirates. They barely escape, only to be chased by a hurricane up to the Yucatan peninsula, where they are forced to ground Lazy Daze in a river estuary.
There they encounter two groups who turn out to be opposing forces, plus an ancient pirate treasure. The latter they load onto their boat with the help of one group whom they have befriended. When they salvaged and repaired Lazy Daze, they attempted to leave the area. They were attacked by the other group, and after a battle for their lives, they barely make it away. From there they headed directly to the United States and to a hospital to treat the injuries they got from the battle. Will they have more pleasant adventures?
Jubilant, strong, and adventurous, The Cruise of Lazy Daze is a wonderful trip to remember. For more information, log on to Xlibris.com.
About the Author
Roger Cooke was born and raised in Galveston, an island off the Gulf coast of Texas. His youth was spent mainly in and around the water, swimming, fishing, playing with, and working on boats. His ardent love, besides girls, was his fascination with sailing. He became a very competitive racing sailor. Mr. Cooke’s freshman year at the University of Texas was interrupted by World War II, when he was trained as an aircraft pilot. After his training, he spent a year in Europe flying Troop Carrier. This experience led him into flying a variety of planes in his manufacturing career following his graduation from the University of Texas.
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Wall Street: Hall of Fame or Shame?
Having been connected to the investment business as a professional for quite a while, author Robert F. Wiest has
virtually seen every scam and swindle of the stock market. A gripping expose awaits readers as Wiest tells all about The Dirtiest, Filthiest, Rottenest, Crookedest Business in the World: That Cesspool Called WALL STREET, released through Xlibris.
Many who are unaware may consider Wall Street as the pristine chapel of virtue, or the fountain of impeccable integrity. However, for Wiest, it is unquestionably The Dirtiest, Filthiest, Rottenest, Crookedest Business in the World. Based on the author’s experiences, this tell-all account reveals not only the numerous examples of fraud within the stock market, but also the questionable characters of the commodity brokers and regulators who are supposed to enforce the rules.
In this book, readers will uncover the inside stories of how and why a Wall Street brokerage house pleaded guilty to rigging the U.S. Treasury markets and paid a $290 million fine, but no one was prosecuted; a billionaire founder of a giant electronics firm stole $400 million from his firm in 2008, but was never prosecuted; and many others.
Eye opening, The Dirtiest, Filthiest, Rottenest, Crookedest Business in the World: That Cesspool Called WALL STREET helps readers know about how things go within the stock market to help them avoid being victimized. For more information on this book, log on to Xlibris.com.
About the Author
Robert F. Wiest entered the investment business as a professional in 1957. He has served as President of a top-performing mutual fund, founder of California’s first Commodity Pool, Resident Manager of an office of a NYSE firm, mutual fund wholesaler, stock broker, commodity broker, and publisher of a commodity newsletter with one thousand one hundred subscribers. Having worked in every segment of the investment industry, he has seen virtually every scam used in the business. In this book he has described dozens of those scams. By reading this book, one may save a thousand times the cost of the book.
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Uncover Life Through The Book of Sayings
Sometimes we are in the fullness of joy and happiness. At times, we are also showered with disgusting realities that would lead us to do unconstructive things. What is life really all about? How is life being expressed? And what are its battles? Author Jacob Butkiewicz has intertwined numerous lines that would help us see realities of life through The Book of Sayings.
Everyday, we long for something new, something good and something that would bring us to utter contentment. We 
are looking for things that sometimes we do not know. We are seeking for life’s hidden realities, but at times we are unable to see them. What we need is wisdom that will guide us to find what we are looking for. The Book of Sayings will serve as the light that would lift our hearts and minds to be positive about life. Packed with a torrential dose of wisdom, this book will help us find that path to the kind of happiness we long to look for; as we experience the feeling of contentment through the prosperity of our existence. This book is packed with colorful images and deeply woven axioms that radiate important lessons in life. These allegories and metaphors express the occurrences, of love, God, life and various feelings to help us understand the true concept of human existence.
The Book of Sayings will feed us the aphorisms of many themes where morals are injected to help us with our journey through this world. For more information, log on to Xlibris.com.
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McHenry freshman writes, publishes novel
By Crystal Lindell – clindell@nwherald.com (Northwest Herald)
Sara Telesz, 14, said she sees herself as an author when she grows up.
Sara Telesz, 14, a McHenry high school freshman, is working on the sequel to her first published book, "Date Disaster." (Nick Dentamaro – ndentamaro@nwherald.com)
Some might argue that the McHenry East High School freshman already is an author, considering the fact that she’s written a novel that’s for sale on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.
But Telesz insists that doesn’t qualify her for the prestigious title.
“I only wrote one book,” she said humbly.
The nearly 150-page tale “Date Disaster” covers the lives of six teenagers and the enemies that change their lives, she said. Telesz wrote the book while in seventh and eighth grades.
“I knew school would be really adventurous for me, and then I just started writing about these six teenagers,” she said.
When she finished, she shopped it around to publishers with help from her mom and then published with Xlibris Corp., a self-publishing company.
The paperback book now sells for $19.99. Telesz gets to keep $5 from each copy sold. She’s also working to make the book available at local libraries. Telesz said her passions were reading and writing.
“When I come home from school, I do my homework and then right after, I just get on my laptop and write as much as I can,” she said.
It’s that kind of self-discipline that led her to complete a yet-unpublished second novel over the summer. It’s historical fiction about a Polish family in World War II and how their lives change in a concentration camp.
Telesz was inspired to write the story after going to Europe and touring Auschwitz.
“Right after, I just got on my laptop and started writing down the details,” she said.
The teen hasn’t stopped with the two books, though. Telesz is working on a sequel to her debut work, adding that she plans to learn from her experiences.
“I think it might be a bit better,” she said.
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