ON A GOOD STORY IS A GOOD STORY - NOVEMBER 5 -

Friday, October 11, 2013

Denise Zarrella, author of Not Even the SKY is the Limit!

Denise Zarrella is an Emmy award-winning Reporter and Anchor for the CBS affiliate, WOIO in Cleveland, Ohio.  She's spent the last two decades moving from city to city, covering everything from crime to politics to human interest stories.  She began her career as a Production Assistant for Fox Television's, "America's Most Wanted."  She's had the opportunity to cover Presidents, Rock Stars and All-Star athletes, but the people she loves reporting on the most are those who may feel like they don't have a voice, like victims of crime and those who live in poverty.  She also has a special place in her heart for stories that involve people with disabilities.  Zarrella lives with her husband, Tony, their children, Anthony and Gianna, and their two crazy dogs, Buddy and Skoobie on Cleveland's West Side.

Tell us about your book?

"Not even the Sky is the Limit," is a book that showcases the abilities of children and adults with Down Syndrome.  It is meant to show the world that there are no limits for people living with this chromosomal disorder.  Life for people with Down Syndrome is just as fulfilling and exciting as it is for someone who does not have this disability.

What inspired you to write the book?

My daughter Gianna is the inspiration for what my husband calls, "my love letter to Gianna."  When I found out I would be having a child with Down Syndrome and after she was born, what I connected the most with other parents about was what their child was doing.  Did he or she play sports?  Did they like going to the movies?  Did they have fun together?  I just yearned to know that Gianna would have the same opportunities to enjoy her life and grow up having the fun that other kids do. It sounds so basic, but this need was so overwhelming for me when Gianna was having trouble meeting basic milestones.  It turns out that children and adults with Down Syndrome lead very normal lives and are often doing more and getting more out of life than people who don't live with disabilities.  How many of us can truly live in the moment and appreciate what we have and the people in our lives for who they are?  Not many.  Most of us just strive for this level of happiness and satisfaction.  Anyone I talk to who has a child with Down Syndrome or knows someone with Downs always lights up as they describe that person.  As one very wise man behind a deli counter said to me, "People with Down Syndrome are the closest to God that we can get here on earth."  Amen to that. 

Talk about the writing process.  Do you have a writing routine?

As a reporter and anchor, I have written for television for the past two decades.  I usually sketch out my story on a piece of notebook paper first, and then I type it on a computer.  I can usually hear the story in my head.  I write a story the way I would find it most interesting to be told to me.  I leave out the boring details and cut to the chase very quickly.  I hate it when people are long winded.  As someone once said to me, just say it!  Stop talking around it.  Just get to the point.  Say what you want to say.

What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?

I hope they are inspired and enlightened.  I am hoping this book, in particular, gets into doctor's offices where women are finding out for the first time that they will give birth to a child with Down Syndrome.  Unfortunately, the abortion rate is very high for people who are told they will have a child with Down Syndrome.  That is so devastating to me. I think people are guided largely by fear.  If my book was in their hands at some point following that diagnosis, I firmly believe they will chose life. 

Excerpt from book:  This is a toddler book, so the writing is very simple.  

  

Where can we go to buy your book?

Go to Halo Publishing's website: Halopublishing.com

A portion of the proceeds of this book goes to organizations that help people who have Down Syndrome. 

1 comment:

marsha casper cookOctober 16, 2013 at 6:26 PM

Good interview -
Good Luck and Best Wishes
Marsha Cook

ReplyDelete

Look what Willow found !

Home| About IBPPG| What is Indie?| Indie Book Awards| Membership

What Is Indie Book Publishing?

In an article at CNN.com titled "If it's cool, creative, and different, it's indie," journalist Catherine Andrews wrote:
"The term 'indie' traditionally refers to independent art -- music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture -- created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing."
Although many independent book publishing companies are incorporated, they are independent of the major conglomerates that dominate the book publishing industry. Independent book publishers include small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.
Like other independent artists, many indie book publishers face challenges that the industry giants don't experience. We typically have to work a lot harder to get our books into retail stores (or our authors onto Oprah) and ultimately into the hands of readers. As Chris Anderson reports in his bestselling business book The Long Tail:
"More than 99 percent of music albums on the market today are not available in Wal-Mart. ... Same for any other leading retailer and practically any other commodity [including] books... The vast majority of products are not available at a store near you."
Yet independent book publishing is thriving in spite of the challenges.
According to Bowker's Books in Print, their preliminary estimates indicate that the number of books published in 2010 jumped from just over 1.3 milion in 2009 to over 3.1 million in 2010! Of these, 2.776 million were "non-traditionally" published books, including print-on-demand and self-published titles although this number doesn't even take into account any books published without ISBNs or most e-books.

Next Generation Publishing - Article by Imogen Reed

There has never been a better time to be an indie book author.
The number of books published "non-traditionally" has increased exponentially in recent times. Whether you're a non-fiction writer burning to share your expertise on a particular subject, or a novelist keen to beguile readers with your imaginative creations, you have a larger range of options available today to you than ever before. The Next Generation Indie Book Awards celebrates this diversity and vitality by recognising and rewarding the best.
Publishing is changing at a bewildering pace, with new technologies and new players coming into the market and shaking up the book world from top to bottom. For those who find it all a little confusing, here's a brief overview.
Publishing Independently
The larger publishing conglomerates - the Big Six, as their often called, - may find it hard to take a risk on an unknown author or a work without obvious blockbuster potential, especially in these tough economic times. This is where small and medium-sized independent publishing companies come in, as they're often willing to sign authors who might not fit the mold in mainstream publishing. Many indie publishers specialise in particular areas such as genre fiction, poetry, niche non-fiction or academic publishing. They can prepare your work to be read and enjoyed - that is, take on the editing, book design, printing, etc. - and, crucially, get your book to the right readership and make sure they know about it.
Printing on Demand (POD)
Printing a quality product used to be an expensive business necessitating large print runs. All that changed with the advent of digital printing and the development of Print on Demand technology. Suddenly it was possible to produce high quality books at much lower cost, and it's now become economically viable to print off single copies of a title when an order is actually received. This is the ideal system for many smaller publishers - university presses, for example - and many indies have converted from traditional printing systems to POD.
Reading Electronically
If you've travelled on public transport over the last decade, you'll have noticed the dramatic increase in the number of commuters with their noses buried in tablet reading devices - Kindles, iPads, Sony Readers, Kobo eReaders and the like - instead of paper-based books and newspapers. There's more to electronic publishing than e-readers, however: for quite some time now, people have been able to access books on websites or as PDFs on personal computers.
Electronic booksellers such as Amazon, with its Kindle bookstore, and Apple, with its iBooks store, have been luring book buyers into the online environment in ever larger numbers. With the arrival of tablet reading devices, gone is that terrible fear experienced by many booklovers that they could be left without anything to read after the stores are closed. Kindles and iPads have a marvellous inbuilt home delivery network that pings a new book into your device in an instant. No surprise then that e-books are a huge growth area for independent publishers.
The mainstream publishers are also cashing in on the power of online, producing e-versions of their traditionally published books enriched with video, author interviews and other extras. For some bestselling authors, the e-book version of their work accounts for as much as 50% of their overall sales.
Publishing yourself
Some authors choose to publish their work themselves. This means they are responsible for the entire process including book design, formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR. There are many companies offering services to self-publishers who can assist with all or part of this process.
Authors today can make use of the Internet's unique distribution and marketing mechanisms - the search engine; bloggers and website curators who may review your book; the e-bookstore and its suggestion algorithms (recommendations of the "people who bought this also bought..." variety). If a self-published writer is very, very lucky, his or her work may get puffed by a popular blogger or lauded by a high-ranked tweeter. If the book "goes viral" it may even be picked up by a mainstream publisher.
Winning over the readers
There's no guarantee this will happen, however, no matter how good the book is, which is why the Next Generation Indie Book Awards are so important. Firstly, winners in a wide range of categories receive the validation and recognition they deserve from the experts on the judging panel. Secondly, by celebrating and publicising the independent publishing sector, the Awards help put indie books into the hands of a greater number of readers, which is a big win for everyone, authors and booklovers alike.

Amy Sue Nathan - guest on A Good Story Is A Good Story

 Link to the show
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork/2013/10/23/a-good-story-is-a-good-story-host-marsha-casper-cook

Please join Marsha Casper Cook and fellow World Of Ink host, RJ Jeffreys on Tuesday October 22 at 8 PM CST/ 9 PM EST/ 6 PM PST when they welcome author, Amy Sue Nathan.  Her book The Glass Wives is published by St.Martin Griffin Press.

In 2006, Amy launched the Women’s Fiction Writers blog in March 2011. In addition to blogging, her stories and essays have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times online, The Washington Post online, The Huffington Post, Chicago Parent, Grey Sparrow Journal, Rose and Thorn Journal, Scribblers On The Roof, The Verb, Hospital Drive Journal and The Stone Hobo.
Find out more about Amy at:http://amysuenathan.com/blog/
more about the shows

http://www.worldofinknetwork
http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com