Announcing the Self Publishing News premiere of the book video trailer for A Quest for Survival (published by Outskirts Press, July 2021), by Robert Perrin.
The Galaxy is Cursed
In the far future, mankind is faced with its greatest threat, an alien empire known as the Pyorian Domain. But they are guarding a secret; a curse, its knowledge buried in the past. Does this supposed curse actually exist? And how can it be used to finally bring the Pyorian Domain to an end?
Robert Perrin
I have been writing in several different mediums for my entire life. This is the second novel that I have finished. I try and use my writing to focus on a moral or life lesson, and this one is no exception. I am currently residing in the small town of Everett, PA.
The truth of one of the world’s most beautiful yet untold love stories!
The whole world knows the legend of Santa Claus, but few people realize that he wouldn’t be able to do what he does without the help of his beloved wife. If you don’t know the truth about Santa and Mrs. Claus, I’d say it’s time you learned.
Robert Canter
Robert Chad Canter is a man passionate about two things: writing fictional stories and ensuring the survival of true Christian values.
If you are one of the many writers around the world finding themselves at home with more time to write, you may be one of the many children’s book authors who are thinking about writing a new book for kids in celebration of Children’s Book Week (May 3-19).
Writing a book for children never grows old because there are SO many possibilities! And nowadays, children’s books are more popular than ever, with more lucky parents spending more time at home with their children.
Let’s look at six things to keep in mind when writing and publishing children’s books:
Mind your length. As any preschool teacher or children’s librarian can confirm, reading with children is most enjoyable for both parties when the book in question contains just enough text to carry the story along without exhausting a child’s attention.
Pick a timely subject. Picture books are more likely to be picked up by parents, teachers, and librarians on the prowl if they tackle subjects which these adults want to prepare their children to face. Take advantage! Talk about a perfect time to write about the “boogy monster” or “having cooties!”
Don’t dumb it down. You heard right—baby talk doesn’t carry as compelling of a story as a book which treats its younger audiences with a rich vocabulary and age-appropriate but sophisticated sentence structure. Kids who are learning to read are much more accepting of new information than when they become kids who are reading to learn.
Voice morals carefully, and cleverly. Few will argue against picture books as prime tools for teaching sound decision-making skills, but most of these success stories find clever, quiet ways to do so without alienating readers by being too “preachy.” Use subtle metaphors for larger issues (ahem, like boogy monsters and cooties, for example).
Think about those end materials! Many of today’s best picture books include a few pages at the end which include notes for adults on how to make best use of the book in teaching a skill or an idea to young readers. Hint: this is especially useful to parents grappling with becoming educators as a result of stay-home directives.
Humor them! Children have a keen sense of humor, and often embrace farce and comedy with both zeal and a squeal. While the story itself can’t always be humorous, more often than not, the illustrations can be.
At Outskirts Press, we are here to support you during every stage of the publishing process, whether you’re using our One-Click Publishing suite to publish your next children’s book, or if you need custom-drawn full-color illustrations. We offer a comprehensive list of services which we hope you’ll take advantage of as you work to translate your vision to the page! Your kids, grand kids (and even their friends and family) will thank you!
Announcing the Self Publishing News premiere of the book video trailer for Water Wars (published by Outskirts Press, June 2019), by Bruce J. Carter, Ph.D., and Douglas Winslow Cooper, Ph.D.
Water Scarcity Threatens the U.S. West
In this independently funded study, the authors address the future of the world’s supplies of clean water, exploring in depth the U.S.A.’s Colorado River Basin, where a variety of approaches have been used and proposed to manage provision and allocation of the Colorado River water. Increases in population and water usage, along with uncertainties associated with climate change, put the future availability of adequate water supplies in doubt. Rules and regulations are traditional approaches to handling common resource maintenance and usage. With no rules, the tendency to use the resource inefficiently and not to maintain it produces the free-rider problem sometimes called the “tragedy of the commons,” a phrase popularized by Garrett Hardin in 1968. An alternative to rule-setting and enforcement is to establish market rights to water supply, with the higher-value uses commanding higher prices and receiving more investment. The pros and cons of this approach are discussed in a chapter of this book. The book discusses the various policy options, describes the recent crisis in supplying Flint, Michigan, with safe, potable water, explains the water cycle, discusses cyber security issues, surveys the threat from waterborne illnesses, and calls attention to one of the most recent sophisticated mathematical approaches to predicting droughts and floods, the use of Bayes’s theorem.
Bruce J. Carter, Ph.D. (pictured left), an officer serving in the U.S. Army, is a graduate of the U.S. Army General Staff College. Carter received his B.B.A., from Savannah State University, his M.A. from Webster University, and his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University.
Douglas Winslow Cooper, Ph.D., a retired environmental physicist, earned his A.B. in physics at Cornell, his M.S. in physics at Penn State and his Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard. He published over 100 peer-reviewed technical articles. A former Harvard faculty member, he was elected Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Sciences in 1995.
Announcing the Self-Publishing News premier of the book video trailer for A More Perfect Union (published by Outskirts Press, 2020, by David Gottstein.
A More Perfect Union- Unifying Ideas for a Divided America
We are a divided country, but we don’t have to be. A More Perfect Union-Unifying Ideas for a Divided America is the essential guide for a polarized country. Author David Gottstein has identified the most pressing issues that Americans must address to prosper at home and abroad. More importantly, he offers common sense solutions that will unite Americans regardless of their politics. Imagine solutions that provide enough water and energy for generations, leaving a cleaner planet in return. Imagine a way to end unemployment and welfare as we know it. Gottstein shares a vision of America where success is based on how hard you work and not where you were born. If you are looking to be inspired by an America that can be, you have found the right book. Read it, share it, and add your voice to A More Perfect Union.
David Gottstein
David Gottstein is President of Dynamic Capital Management with a degree in Economics and Finance from the Wharton School. He has been a political activist working behind the scenes, in a bi-partisan role for more than 40 years. He was the founder of Backbone, a political action alliance of Republicans and Democrats, dedicated to finding common ground.
Steven Orenstein, Ph.D. is self-publishing a book with Outskirts Press, and he wants your help deciding his upcoming book cover.
Book Summary:
Unstuck
Unstuck is a fresh look at what’s really been getting in your way. With honesty, humor, and the insights gained from more than thirty years on the leading edge of psychology, Dr. Orenstein offers a unique perspective on the mind-body relationship and the keys to breaking out of old destructive patterns. Unstuck is a revelatory journey into healing and personal growth that offers therapists a powerful new way to understand their clients and everyone an opportunity to find greater balance, joy, and aliveness.
About the Author:
Dr. Steve Orenstein is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Hawaii. He is licensed in both Colorado and Hawaii. Long on the leading edge of psychology, his professional journey has included psychodynamic psychotherapy, Radix, Gestalt, neuropsychology, Tragerwork, somatic therapy, pain management, and the treatment of eating disorders.
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Glenn Ickler is self-publishing a book with Outskirts Press, and he wants your help deciding his upcoming book cover.
Book Summary:
Louie’s Last Story: A Mitch and Al mystery
Louie Stein has a story to tell—a story so special that Louie believes newspaper reporter Warren “Mitch” Mitchell will want to write a story about the story for the St. Paul Daily Dispatch. Mitch and his photographer buddy, Alan Jeffrey, are vacationing with their wives, Martha Todd and Carol Jeffrey, in the historic little town of Jonesborough, Tennessee, where they are attending the annual National Storytelling Festival. The foursome has been lured to the festival by Louie Stein, an 82-year-old master storyteller from southern Minnesota. They are waiting in eager anticipation for Louie’s special story in one of the festival’s huge tents on Sunday afternoon when the audience is told that, “due to circumstances beyond our control,” Louie will not be appearing. The two couples hurry out of the tent and rush to Louie’s motorhome, where they had joined a group of storytellers at a party the previous evening. To their astonishment, the vehicle is surrounded by yellow police tape, and Al is recruited by the police to enter the motorhome and photograph the bloody body of Louie Stein, who has been slashed and stabbed during the night. A week later, another storyteller, who calls herself Thumbelina, says in her blog that she thinks she knows who killed Louie. Hours later, Thumbelina is also fatally slashed and stabbed, and Mitch and Al find themselves on the trail of a shadowy two-time killer.
About the Author:
Glenn Ickler has had a long career in newspapers as a reporter, feature writer, theater critic, columnist and editor in Minnesota and Massachusetts. He was the leader of an editorial page staff that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has won numerous awards for his writing. A native of Minnesota, he now resides in the tiny town of Hopedale, Massachusetts, somewhere west of Boston, and spends the summer months in a tiny cottage on the tiny island of Martha’s Vineyard.
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Gloria Swift is self-publishing a book with Outskirts Press, and she wants your help deciding her upcoming book cover.
Book Summary:
Building for Retirement in Belize – How a Primary School Dropout Conned a Multiple-Degree College Client!
Belize is a thriving Caribbean mecca in Central America with a booming construction business and a plethora of contractors. But without governmental agencies regulating and monitoring these so-called contractors, many prey on unsuspecting, trusting, financially able clients from the U.S., like Ms. Gloria Swift.
What follows is the story of “one of the largest financial blunders and idiotic decisions of my life,” remarked Ms. Swift. When she was told, “You aren’t the first one that this happened to and you won’t be the last,” she wrote Building for Retirement in Belize as a cautionary tale for others—”Because I will be the last.”
About the Author:
Ms. Gloria Swift served in the U.S. Army and was the Distinguished Graduate in the Instructor’s Training Course and the first black female in the Color Guard on Post. She was also the first female officer on a police department where she was not accepted by the majority of men, including the Chief. In Banking, although she had a reputation for cleaning up branches in order for them to pass internal audits, promotions eluded her for years. Ms. Swift pursued multiple degrees and credentials in the field of Education and went back to her first love, Teaching. Her memoir, The True Story of an Illegal Immigrant, details the obstacles she faced…and overcame as a black woman and an immigrant in the U.S.
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W.F. James is self-publishing a book with Outskirts Press, and he wants your help deciding his upcoming book cover.
Book Summary:
Christmas Eve on the Christmas Unit
HELPING THE HEALING POWER OF CHRISTMAS WORK ITS MAGIC!
This suspenseful, touching, quirky little tale of Christmas is a fast-moving, frequently shocking, account of a children’s crisis hospital on one Christmas Eve. This one night of the year has a mysterious power, from millennia of pre-Christian harvest festivals and ancestor worship, when ghosts walked and admonished us to love our neighbor and give to those who suffer most in a time of plenty. Adopted by Christianity, but celebrated by all, this is a time embraced by family, to feel safe and loved, especially for children and teenagers.
The children’s crisis unit and its staff provide a safety net for abused, neglected, and traumatized children and teens. This little novella is a modern look at these issues, at some children’s harsh reality, directly confronting the age-old question of “ if God is good, why are bad things allowed to happen”, on a night when the whole world seems warm and fuzzy, except for some unlucky children and teens, who need the Children’s Unit and staff, and the healing power of Christmas .
About the Author:
The author has first-hand experience with all of the issues in this unusual little Christmas story, including Constitutional Law and efforts to stem the tide of abuse of children and teenagers. The author has been a therapist for children and adolescents in a crisis hospital setting for many years, spending many Christmas Eves there, treating and supporting children, teens and their families, and helping the healing power of Christmas work its magic.
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Nick Weber is self-publishing a book with Outskirts Press, and he wants your help deciding his upcoming book cover.
Book Summary:
Recess Time: When Mind Gets to Play with Memory and Imagination
“A profound, vital and human delight.” —Kevin Curdt, Courtroom Clerk, Santa Clara Co. Superior Court, San Jose, CA
This eloquent collection of 13 loosely connected essays covers topics from God to gifts, with plenty of help along the way from Einstein, Chopin, and Picasso to the great Ringling clown Lou Jacobs. The author’s 80 years of memories—from priestly ministry as a former Jesuit, professional acting, and over two decades of circus performance—visit this playful jaunt, as connections are made bearing on the art of life itself. Nick Weber brings an inquisitive and disciplined mind to this often festive romp through recall and celebration.
“Nick Weber has shown that even the sacred is potentially humorous.”—Daniel Kendall, S.J., Professor of Theology, University of San Francisco, CA
“Words that are dense but accessible, strident but poetic, completely authentic.”—Judith Gillespie, Chair, Theology Department, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, Milwaukee, WI
“A primer for any person serious about becoming.”—Carlo Pellegrini, Co-founder, Amazing Grace Circus, circus producer, director, choreographer, Nyack, NY
About the Author:
Nick Weber brings his playfulness as a professional clown and eight decades of memories to Recess Time. Here he creates a free space allowing new connections between those memories. With graduate degrees in theater and theology, his chief concerns in these essays focus on how his past can serve the future. Mr. Weber is also the author of The Circus that Ran Away with a Jesuit Priest and Shakespeare with Hearing Aids.
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