KILLER IN A WHITE COAT: The True Story of New York’s Deadliest Pill Pusher and the Team that Brought Him to Justice (Formerly Entitled BAD MEDICINE) by Charlotte Bismuth

(One Signal, July 2024)

A taut exploration of America’s deadly battle with opioid addiction—an unnerving and inspirational firecracker of a book.” —Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author

For fans of Dopesick and Bad Blood, the shocking story of New York’s most infamous pill-pushing doctor, written by the prosecutor who brought him down.

In 2010, a brave whistleblower alerted the police to Dr. Stan Li’s corrupt pain management clinic in Queens, New York. Li spent years supplying more than seventy patients a day with oxycodone and Xanax, trading prescriptions for cash. Emergency room doctors, psychiatrists, and desperate family members warned him that his patients were at risk of death but he would not stop.

In Killer in a White Coat, former prosecutor Charlotte Bismuth meticulously recounts the jaw-dropping details of this criminal case that would span four years, culminating in a landmark trial. As a new assistant district attorney and single mother, Bismuth worked tirelessly with her team to bring Dr. Li to justice. Killer in a White Coat is a chilling story of corruption and greed and an important look at the role individual doctors play in America’s opioid epidemic.

Charlotte Bismuth started her legal career at the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP, and joined the New York County District Attorney’s Office in 2008 as an appellate attorney. In 2010, she transferred into the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, which prosecutes felony narcotics crimes within the City’s five boroughs. She is a graduate of Columbia University, Columbia Law School, and the Instituts d’etudes politiques in Paris. She lives in New York with her husband and children. For more on Bismuth, please visit charlottebismuth.com.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

SLOW NOODLES: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon with Kim Green

(Algonquin, February 2024)

Take a well-fed nine-year-old with a big family and a fancy education. Fold in 2 revolutions, 2 civil wars, and one wholesale extermination. Subtract a reliable source of food, life savings, and family members, until all are gone. Shave down childhood dreams for approximately two decades, until only subsistence remains.

In Slow Noodles, Chantha Nguon recounts her life as a Cambodia refugee who lost everything and everyone—her house, her country, her parents, her siblings, her friends—everything but the memories of her mother’s kitchen, the tastes and aromas of the foods her mother made before the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart in the 1970s, killing millions of her compatriots. Nguon’s irrepressible spirit and determination come through in this emotional and poignant but also lyrical and magical memoir that includes over 20 recipes for Khmer dishes like chicken lime soup, banh sung noodles, pâté de foie, curries, spring rolls, and stir-fries. For Nguon, recreating these dishes becomes an act of resistance, of reclaiming her place in the world, of upholding the values the Khmer Rouge sought to destroy, and of honoring the memory of her beloved mother.

From her idyllic early years in Battambang to hiding as a young girl in Phnom Penh as the country purges ethnic Vietnamese like Nguon and her family, from her escape to Saigon to the deaths of mother and sister there, from the poverty and devastation she experiences in a war-ravaged Vietnam to her decision to flee the country. We follow Chantha on a harrowing river crossing into Thailand—part of the exodus that gave rise to the name “boat people”—and her decades in a refugee camp there, until finally, denied passage to the West, she returns to a forever changed Cambodia. Nguon survives by cooking in a brothel, serving drinks in a nightclub, making and selling street food, becoming a suture-nurse treating refugees abused by Thai authorities, and weaving silk. Through it all, Nguon relies on her mother’s “slow noodles” approach to healing and to cooking, one that prioritizes time and care over expediency. Haunting and evocative, Slow Noodles is a testament to the power of culinary heritage to spark the rebirth of a young woman’s hopes for a beautiful life.

Chantha Nguon was born in Cambodia, was a refugee for two decades until she was finally able to return to her homeland. Today she is the co-founder of the Stung Treng Women’s Development Center (SWDC), a social enterprise that offers a living wage, education, and social services to women and their families in rural northeastern Cambodia. A gifted public speaker, she has appeared at universities and on radio and TV news programs, including NPR’s Morning Edition. She cooks often for friends and family. For more on Chantha, please visit slownoodles.com.

Kim Green is an award-winning journalist, essayist, public radio producer, and editor of Pursuit Magazine. Her work has appeared on NPR, the New Yorker Radio Hour, and Marketplace, and in Fast Company, the New York Times, Roads & Kingdoms, UAL Hemispheres, and the Nashville Scene. As co-translator and editor of RED SKY, BLACK DEATH: A Soviet Woman Pilot’s Memoir of the Eastern Front by Anna Yegorova, Kim has spoken at Emory University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, conferences for female pilots (including Women in Aviation, International, and 99s) and at bookstores, festivals, and book clubs. Kim is a longtime contributor to Nashville Public Radio. For more on Kim, please visit aviatrixkim.com.

Filed Under: Food & Wine, Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: , ,

PEOPLE NOT THINGS: Love Poems and Paintings for Humanity by Genesis Be

(Andrews McMeel, November 2023)

In People Not Things: Love Poems for Humanity, Genesis Be offers a strikingly honest yet hopeful snapshot of her journey as a queer Black woman in America fighting for the humanity of her community.

Poignant and moving, this debut collection of poetry from Genesis Be bravely examines what it means to stay hopeful on the arduous journey to freedom.

Drawing on her activism and antiracist work as covered by the New York Times and VICE, Be examines tools of division and challenges our notion of freedom in an effort to combat racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Equal parts delicate and unapologetic, People Not Things is a powerful debut that will speak to the hearts of readers from all walks of life.

Genesis Be is a critically acclaimed poet, peace activist, and artist from Biloxi, Mississippi. Her work has been featured in the Associated Press, New York Times, NY Daily News, Soledad O’Brien, and VICE. She often uses theatrical protest during her live performances to bring attention to both global and localized issues surrounding racial justice, peace movement, queer visibility and gender equity. She creates original paintings, poetry, and music under her ever-growing collection, People Not Things. As a Cultural Ambassador for the Government funded Meridian International Center, Be works to promote understanding and conflict transformation on a Global level. She is the subject of the documentary Mississippi Turning (unreleased) and continues the fight to improve race relations in her home state Mississippi. For more on Genesis, please visit genesisbe.com.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

SALSA MAGIC by Letisha Marrero

Levine Querido (August, 2023)

Thirteen-year-old Maya Beatriz Montenegro Calderon has vivid recurring dreams where she hears the ocean calling her. Mami’s side of the family is known as “Los Locos,” so maybe she actually is going crazy. But no time for that; the family business is where it’s at. Whenever Maya, her sister Salma, and her three cousins, Ini, Mini, and Mo, aren’t at school, you can usually find three generations of Calderones at CaféTaza, serving up sandwiches de pernil, mofongo, and the best cafés con leche in all of Brooklyn.

One day, an unexpected visit from the estranged Titi Yaya from Puerto Rico changes everything. Because Yaya practices santeria, Abuela tells Maya and the other Calderon children are told to stay away from her. But If la viejita is indeed estranged from the family, why does Maya feel so connected to this woman she has never met before? And who is this orisha named Yemaya? On top of figuring all this out, Maya has a budding soccer career to consider, while fending off the local bully, and dealing with nascent feelings toward her teammate. But through it all, there’s that alluring connection to a forbidden ancient practice–filled with a pantheon of Yoruban gods and goddesses–that keeps tugging at her, offering her a new perspective in life, tying her past to her present and future. Which path will Maya choose to fulfill her destiny?

Letisha Marrero has been a writer and editor for more than 20 years across all media and genres. As a culture critic and entertainment journalist, she has written for Latina magazine,The Source, Vibe, NBC, Nickelodeon, and more. Of Puerto Rican and Black Dominican descent, Letisha hails from New York City by way of Southern California. Mom to a super dope human teenager and a majestic but moody blue-eyed dog, Letisha currently lives in Maryland. This is her first novel.

Filed Under: Fiction & Humor, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

The Self-Healing Mind by Gregory Scott Brown, MD

An Essential Five-Step Practice for Overcoming Anxiety and Depression, and Revitalizing Your Life
(Harper Wave, 2022)

Self-care is a powerful, evidence-based medicine for the mind.

Mental health is the driving force behind every decision we make—how we live, work, and love. Many of us suffer from depression and anxiety, impeding our choices and quality of life, and the numbers are growing across the globe despite the proliferation of prescription drugs. But there is another, proven, way to achieve mental wellness beyond antidepressants and talk therapy. Practicing psychiatrist Gregory Scott Brown believes that mental health begins with actionable self-care.

The Self-Healing Mind is a holistic approach to emotional and psychological healing that focuses on how evidence-based self-care strategies can be used to improve and sustain mental health. Dr. Brown challenges the current state of mental health care and the messaging around it, showing us how to move past outdated notions of “broken” brains and chemical imbalances. While he agrees that prescription drugs and talk therapy in many cases are important for healing, his personal and professional experience has taught him that lifestyle interventions are also key to sustainable mental wellness.

Dr. Brown’s clinical philosophy supports an integrative approach that utilizes a combination of conventional treatments (medication and psychotherapy) with what he calls the Five Pillars of Self-Care: breathing mindfully, sleep, spirituality, nutrition, and movement. These purposeful lifestyle practices, backed by science and proven in his clinical practice, can be adopted by everyone. Dr. Brown’s advice and insight puts the power of healing back in your control.

Gregory Scott Brown, MD @gregorysbrownmd is a psychiatrist and mental health writer. His commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, Psychology Today, on the Today Show, and on NPR. He is an advisory board member for Men’s Health magazine, where he regularly contributes content for mental health stories.

Learn more at gregoryscottbrown.com

Filed Under: Portfolio, Self-Help & Health Tagged With: ,

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith

(One Signal an imprint of Atria, 2020)

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
INDIE BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER

For fans of Anne Lamott and Cleo Wade, a collection of quotes and essays on facing life’s challenges with creativity, courage, and resilience.

When Maggie Smith, the award-winning author of the viral poem “Good Bones,” started writing daily Twitter posts in the wake of her divorce, they unexpectedly caught fire. In this deeply moving book of quotes and essays, Maggie writes about new beginnings as opportunities for transformation. Like kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, Keep Moving celebrates the beauty and strength on the other side of loss. This is a book for anyone who has gone through a difficult time and is wondering: What comes next?

Maggie Smith is the award-winning author of several books of poetry including Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, The List of Dangers, and Nesting Dolls. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received several Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, two Academy of American Poets Prizes, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New York Times, Tin House, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, and more.

For more on Maggie Smith, please visit maggiesmithpoet.com.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio, Self-Help & Health Tagged With: ,

GOODBYE, SWEET GIRL by Kelly Sundberg

(HarperCollins, 2018)

When Kelly Sundberg’s piece about domestic violence, “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” was published by Guernica magazine in 2014 it was heralded as the must-read piece to explain why women stay and one of the most read pieces in Guernica’s history. A movingly portrait about the see-saw of love/violence that is symptomatic of abusive relationships, one reviewer said, “We come out of her essay believing that a partner can be both loving and dangerous. Warm and monstrous. A good father and a frightening husband.”

In her memoir, Sundberg delves deeper, chronicling the anatomy of marriage, once a love story, and examining why she endured years of physical and emotional abuse. Along the way she’ll reckon with her family and childhood by telling the story of Salmon, a small, isolated mountain town known as the most redneck town in Idaho. Like her marriage, Salmon too is a place of deep contradictions, where Mormon ranchers and hippie back-to-landers live side-by-side; a place of magical beauty riven by secret brutality; a place that takes pride in its individualism yet acceptance is sought and attained via the approval of the church and community, at all costs. While Sundberg will often return to this Idaho wilderness to seek healing, it is through its unrelenting nature that she’ll find the resolve to abandon her marriage for good and make peace with her family.

Kelly Sundberg’s essays have appeared in Guernica, Slice, Quarterly West, The Los Angeles Review, Mid-American Review, PANK, and others. Most recently, her essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” was selected by Ariel Levy for publication in the 2015 Best American Essays anthology. An activist and speaker, Sundberg was the 2015 A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Courage Fellow, which is awarded biannually to a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault. Sundberg also works as a resource guide for the domestic violence and sexual assault section of the website ESME (Empowering Solo Moms Everywhere). For more on Sundberg please visit kellysundberg.com.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio

Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson

Ice GhostsIce Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition by Paul Watson (March 2017, W.W. Norton)

“Engaging… A keen, entertaining chronicle of the various attempts to locate a sensationally doomed expedition.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“Riveting… An engrossing chronicle of a legendary doomed naval voyage and the nearly 200-year effort to bring the Franklin Expedition to a close.”—Booklist

The true story of the greatest mystery of Arctic exploration―and the rare mix of marine science and Inuit knowledge that led to the shipwreck’s recent discovery.

Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the Lost Franklin Expedition of 1845―whose two ships and crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice―with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the incredible discovery of the flagship’s wreck in 2014. Paul Watson, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was on the icebreaker that led the discovery expedition, tells a fast-paced historical adventure story: Sir John Franklin and the crew of the HMS Erebus and Terror setting off in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, the hazards they encountered and the reasons they were forced to abandon ship hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost of Western civilization, and the decades of searching that turned up only rumors of cannibalism and a few scattered papers and bones―until a combination of faith in Inuit lore and the latest science yielded a discovery for the ages.

Paul Watson is the author of Where War Lives and the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Headliner Award, the George Polk Award, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal. He lives in Vancouver.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

Notes on a Banana by David Leite

Notes on a BananaNotes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression by David Leite (April 2017, Dey Street, an imprint of HarperCollins)

The stunning and long-awaited memoir from the beloved founder of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite’s Culinaria—a candid, courageous, and at times laugh-out-loud funny story of family, food, mental illness, and sexual identity.

Born into a family of Azorean immigrants, David Leite grew up in the 1960s in a devoutly Catholic, blue-collar, food-crazed Portuguese home in Fall River, Massachusetts. A clever and determined dreamer with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic, “Banana” as his mother endearingly called him, obsessed over proper hair care, yearned to live in a middle-class house with a swinging kitchen door like the ones on television, and fell in love with everything French, thanks to his Portuguese and French-Canadian godmother. But David also struggled with the emotional devastation of bipolar disorder. Until he was diagnosed in his mid-thirties, David found relief from his wild mood swings in cooking, Julia Child, and a Viking stove he named “Thor.”

Notes on a Banana is his heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, yet tender memoir of growing up, accepting himself, and turning his love of food into an award-winning career. Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life: from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to “turn straight” through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his twenty-three-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David’s readers as “The One,” which began with (what else?) food. Woven throughout these stories are the dishes David loves—the tastes that led him to happiness, health, and success.

A blend of Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, the food memoirs of Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Gabrielle Hamilton, and the character-rich storytelling of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Jenny Lawson, Notes on a Banana is a feast that dazzles, delights, and, ultimately, heals.

For more on David Leite please visit LeitesCulinaria.com.

Filed Under: Food & Wine, Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

Staying True by Jenny Sanford

In this candid and compelling memoir, the first lady of South Carolina reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal—and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life’s most trying times.

She’s been a successful investment banker, a mother of four, and the campaign manager for one of American politics’ rising stars—her husband, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, once widely hailed as a possible candidate for president in 2012. Yet to most Americans, Jenny Sanford is best known for the one role she refused to play—that of conventional political spouse standing silently by while her husband went before the media and confessed his infidelity. Instead, she stayed true—to herself, to her faith, and to her highest ideals of parenthood and public service. She chose to let Mark Sanford deal with the embarrassment and political fallout from his own actions while focusing her own efforts privately on raising their children to be men of character, even in the face of the lies their father has told.

In Staying True, Jenny Sanford recalls her shock and anguish upon discovering that her husband was having an affair with a woman in Argentina, and the further pain when she learned—just a day ahead of most Americans—that he had not ended the affair when she believed he had. She reveals the source of her determination to be honest and forthright instead of the victim in the tabloid passion play that gripped the nation in June 2009.

But her story neither begins nor ends with Mark Sanford’s astounding fall from grace. Writing with uncommon candor from a deep well of spiritual strength, Sanford shares personal stories and life lessons from before and after she stepped into the public realm. She recounts the many stresses—as well as the myriad joys—that she experienced on a daily basis while living in the governmental spotlight. (Just try keeping four young boys out of mischief in the governor’s mansion!) And she describes the many ways that the seductions of power can drive apart even the most committed couples.

At every step along her journey, Jenny Sanford has made choices: She gave up her career, moved far from her home state of Illinois, even changed her religious practices. Every choice was a glad concession to harmonious married life and, in some cases, to the support of her husband’s political aspirations. But the one thing she never gave up was her sense of self, her inner moral compass. Her remarkable poise and decency make her a role model for men and women alike. Her story will empower anyone who has fought to maintain independence and integrity—within a marriage or elsewhere in life.

Published in February 2010, Jenny Sanford’s memoir, Staying True, was an instant national bestseller. She is now focused on spending time with her four teenage sons—Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake at their home on Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

The Bird Market of Paris by Nikki Moustaki

birdmarketTHE BIRD MARKET OF PARIS, a memoir by Nikki Moustaki, is a story about birdsong, drunken antics and the promise of Paris. In her youth, Rhode Island reds, Japanese silkies, golden pheasants, homing pigeons and lovebirds were just a few species populating the fantastical world the author shared with her grandfather in their South Miami paradise. Yet by college, Nikki’s obsession with birds, pills and booze would leave her living on the fringe, where blackouts, overdoses, and trips to the emergency room became routine.

In the tradition of Susan Orlean’s THE ORCHID THIEF, THE BIRD MARKET OF PARIS is a sometimes whimsical, sometimes dark look at the world of aviculture. Like Augusten Burroughs’ DRY, she offers up a raw, twisted tale of addiction. In this unforgettable story, Nikki would ultimately find salvation in a childhood pledge, an injured pigeon, and a spectacular aviary within a Willy Wonka-esque Parisian brothel.

Nikki Moustaki is the author of twenty-five books on exotic birds, and has been writing for bird magazines such as Bird Talk and Birds USA for over fifteen years. Her bird books have sold more than 350,000 copies, and her pet magazine articles, columns, and blogs reach over two million readers a month. She is a renowned avian care and behavior consultant and speaker. In the early nineties, Nikki became aware of the bird overpopulation problem, stopped breeding birds, and began helping in rescue efforts. Today, she lives in New York City and hosts several websites including Good Bird (www.goodbird.com) and The Pet Postcard Project (www.petpostcardproject.com), a popular grassroots charity project that raises pet food for animal shelters. As you will
see in the proposal, Nikki is incredibly media savvy and has a dynamic social media presence.

Nikki has MA in creative writing and a MFA in fiction from New York University as well as a MFA in creative writing from Indiana University. She is recipient of a 2001 National Endowment for the Arts Grant in poetry, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times, and has been awarded many national prizes for her writing.

Advance Praise for The Bird Market of Paris

“This may be the most original cross-species love story I’ve ever read. Part travelogue, part recovery memoir, and one hundred percent compelling, The Bird Market of Paris is a gorgeously realized exploration of the ineffable bond that links humans and animals.”
—Gwen Cooper, author of New York Times bestselling Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat

“I’ve long been a devotee of Nikki Moustaki’s poetry. Now, her keen eye, deft language, and startling voice shine just as brilliantly in her memoir, The Bird Market of Paris, a work of remarkable honesty, proving the power and exuberance of her prose. The wisdom of an exceptional grandfather, a passion for birds, and the darkness of addiction—all spun together by Moustaki’s gift for finding just the right words, at the right time—give life to this epiphany-provoking gem of a story, skillfully crafted, vivid and rich with feeling.”
—Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet and author of The Prince of los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood

“I’ll tell you what’s so good about The Bird Market of Paris, what distinguishes it from the long catalogue of naval-gazing memoirs lining our bookstore shelves. I’ll tell you why it matters. The governing artistic value here is honesty. Nikki Moustaki may want to tell us about her love for and devotion to her Poppy and to her avian friends, and she does a marvelous job at just that, but she tells us something much more important. She tells us about herself and her struggle with alcoholism, her struggle and ultimate victory, and in so doing she tells us all we need to know about courage, dignity, and heroism.”
—John Dufresne, author of No Regrets, Coyote

“Through breathtaking, lyrical prose, Nikki Moustaki bares herself on the page, and renders her coming of age and its uncontainable desires through the surprising metaphor of birds. This debut narrative is a stunning, inspiring, honest, break-your-heart recovery memoir with wings, a triumphant story of the brick-by-brick building of sobriety and of family love.”
—Christa Parravani, author of Her: A Memoir

“No one writes better about birds than Nikki Moustaki. To her, the smallest beating bird heart is full of the same strength and longing that is her own. This astonishing book is the story of Nikki’s growth, fall, and triumph, as she seeks to protect every bird in her path, often while not protecting herself.”
—Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation and Revolution

“Nikki Moustaki’s The Bird Market of Paris is a terrific book, a beautiful memoir of a child’s love of birds, instilled in her by a loving grandfather. The love he gave her helps to save her from the oblivion of alcohol.”
—Dan Wakefield, author of the memoirs Returning: A Spiritual Journey and New York in the Fifties

“The Bird Market of Paris is a stunning, exceptional memoir from a woman who truly understands and appreciates birds—who could not resist the warmth of a baby lovebird in her hand, or the poetry in watching eggs turn to baby birds—and who found strength in them to carry her through addiction and heartache. A captivating, heart-warming tale and a delightful, inspiring read.”
—Joanna Burger, author of The Parrot Who Owns Me: The Story of a Relationship

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: ,

Bringing in Finn by Sara Connell

In February 2011, sixty-one-year old Kristine Casey delivered to her daughter, Sara Connell, the greatest gift of all—Sara’s son, Finnean. For years Sara and her husband Bill had been trying to have a baby and had suffered through a miscarriage and stillborn twins. Sara and Bill had started to give up hope of bringing a baby to term. Nevertheless, a little over a year ago when Kristine approached her daughter about being a surrogate she didn’t know what Sara would say. But Kristine felt she must try. The happiest moments in her life were when she gave birth to her three daughters. She felt the vision to surrogate for her daughter was a calling. IN BRINGING IN FINN, Sara tells the remarkable story about how their family came together to create a life.

Sara Connell is a writer, life coach, and speaker specializing in women’s health, empowerment, and The Power of the Feminine. Sara lives in Chicago where she has a private practice, teaches, and leads workshops and retreats both locally and around the world. She has been both a speaker and workshop leader for a variety of companies including: Avon, Estee Lauder, Origins, GE, The Leo Burnett Company, Jones Lang LaSalle, The Chicago Center for Spiritual Living, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Prentice Hospital for Women, Unilever, and Johnson & Johnson. Sara appears frequently in the media, including as a regular contributor on FOX News Chicago as their sexuality/relationship/lifestyle expert. Sara, Kristine, and Finn appeared on one of Oprah’s final episodes to tell their extraordinary story.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio Tagged With: , ,

The Caning: The Assault That Drove America to Civil War by Stephen Puleo

A Turning Point in American History, the Beating of U.S. Senator Charles Sumner and the Beginning of the War Over Slavery

Early in the afternoon of May 22, 1856, ardent pro-slavery Congressman Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina strode into the United States Senate Chamber in Washington, D.C., and began beating renowned anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner with a gold-topped walking cane. Brooks struck again and again—more than thirty times across Sumner’s head, face, and shoulders—until his cane splintered into pieces and the helpless Massachusetts senator, having nearly wrenched his desk from its fixed base, lay unconscious and covered in blood. It was a retaliatory attack. Forty-eight hours earlier, Sumner had concluded a speech on the Senate floor that had spanned two days, during which he vilified Southern slaveowners for violence occurring in Kansas, called Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois a “noise-some, squat, and nameless animal,” and famously charged Brooks’s second cousin, South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, as having “a mistress. . . who ugly to others, is always lovely to him. . . . I mean, the harlot, Slavery.” Brooks not only shattered his cane during the beating, but also destroyed any pretense of civility between North and South.

One of the most shocking and provocative events in American history, the caning convinced each side that the gulf between them was unbridgeable and that they could no longer discuss their vast differences of opinion regarding slavery on any reasonable level.The Caning: The Assault That Drove America to Civil War tells the incredible story of this transformative event. While Sumner eventually recovered after a lengthy convalescence, compromise had suffered a mortal blow. Moderate voices were drowned out completely; extremist views accelerated, became intractable, and locked both sides on a tragic collision course.

The caning had an enormous impact on the events that followed over the next four years: the meteoric rise of the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln; the Dred Scott decision; the increasing militancy of abolitionists, notably John Brown’s actions; and the secession of the Southern states and the founding of the Confederacy. As a result of the caning, the country was pushed, inexorably and unstoppably, to war. Many factors conspired to cause the Civil War, but it was the caning that made conflict and disunion unavoidable five years later.

STEPHEN PULEO is the author of five books, including the bestselling Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 and Due to Enemy Action: The True World War II Story of the USS Eagle 56. A former award-winning newspaper reporter and contributor to American History and other publications, he holds a master’s degree in history and teaches at Suffolk University in Boston.

Filed Under: Narrative Non-Fiction & Memoir, Portfolio

Non-Fiction Proposal Guidelines

The goal of your proposal is to create a document that is persuasive, dynamic, and as fully representative of the book you want to write as it can be. The better our understanding of how the book will unfold here, the more enthusiastic publishers will be, and the easier the book will be for you to write.

The proposal should be double spaced, paginated, and include your name and the title of the book in the header or footer. Each section should start on a new page.

1. Contents
After a title page that includes your contact information, provide a table of contents of the proposal, outlining the names of the sections and the pages on which each section begins.

2. The Sales Handle
The sales handle is a one- to two-sentence statement that sums up the book’s uniqueness in a kind of “hook.” It may not end up appearing in the actual proposal, but in the pitch letter, and helps to crystallize the unique selling proposition of the book.

3. The Overview
The overview is probably the most important section of the proposal as it introduces your thesis, describes the concept behind the book and the approach you intend to take, and basically answers the deceivingly generic question: what is the book?

In writing this section, it may help to think about it as though you were writing the book’s jacket copy. This section should describe the content of the book in detail, highlighting its features, its selling points (who would buy it and why would they want it?), where the information will originate (five years of original data, twenty years of consulting, original case studies), and what perspective you as an author uniquely bring to the topic.

In writing your overview, let the following questions guide you:

– What is the concept of the book?
– What is your intended approach? (Practical, how-to? Self-improvement? Historical? Reference?)
– What is your thesis/point of view?
– Where will the information in the book come from?
– What unique perspective do you as an author bring to the subject?
– What’s the promise of the book? (What will the reader gain from reading it? Even if it is a narrative there needs to be something gained—even if it’s entertainment—in order for a reader to justify spending the money and the time.)
– What do you intend to accomplish with the book?
– Is there any special content that could be incorporated for an enhanced e-book?

It also helps to open the overview with a story or anecdote that illustrates the need for such a book as this.

4. Positioning and Market Potential
The positioning section must ground the idea for the book in the context of the marketplace or the world (for example: many businesses have been started during down economic cycles—provide historical statistics).

In writing this section, let the following questions guide you:

– How does the book you are writing fit into the world?
– What other books can it be compared to?
– Is there a successful model against which to measure it?
– How does it fit into the category/canon of literature on the subject?
– How big is the market?
– What are people currently saying on the subject (whether in your industry or via social and professional networking sites)?
– Is there anything about this idea that is the first, best, or only?
– What are other books in the marketplace being purchased by your intended audience?

5. Author Biography
The author biography is a few paragraphs about you, your current position, occupation, or vocation and experience. This helps to establish you as a qualified expert in the eyes of the publisher. While a copy of your C.V. or resume may be attached to the proposal materials, use the following questions to help you write this bio:

– What is your current profession/position?
– What is your background? How did you become the expert that you are?
– What are your academic and professional credentials?
– Have you authored any previous books or industry publications? If so, provide titles, publishers, dates, sales figures, and copies of reviews and any endorsements.
– Do you have a website that is heavily trafficked? Do you mail or email a newsletter? How many people receive it? Do you blog? Tweet? Instagram? Podcast? TikTok? Youtube.com?
– What kind of metrics can you provide of your individual or professional digital/social media presence? Include all social media accounts/handles/stats.
– Do you have media experience—have you appeared on TV, on radio/podcast, in print? If so, where and when? Have there been any quotes about you in the press worth repeating?
– Have you written any by-lined articles? If so, where did they appear and when? (Also, please provide links/copies.)
– Are you ever called upon as an expert to provide quotes/commentary in newspaper and magazine articles? If so, in which publications, and when? (Please also provide copies.)
– Do you speak on your subject? How frequently? To whom, and how often? Events you will want to include here are major live/digital events and events that occur on some sort of regular schedule. If you are involved in these events, include all details of your involvement. If you are not, describe how you intend to use these events to promote your book’s publication.

Personal information: This is optional, but if you’d like, tell us where you were born and raised, and whether you are married and have any children.

6. Marketing/Promotional Tie-Ins
This section details the ways in which you can maximize book sales from your end via the web/social media, media opportunities, and special tie-in events, which helps the publisher learn more about how it could best capitalize on your built-in audience. This section should include information regarding the following topics:

Professionals. Who is currently benefiting from the information you will reveal in your book? What kinds of individuals, groups, and/or organizations could benefit from the information given in your book? Have any individuals or organizations already employed the techniques or strategies your book covers? Have they been successful? Can that success be quantified?

Digital. Include your website url. What kind of information is on your site? Do you blog? Have a growing Twitter following? Instagram? Facebook? TikTok? Youtube.com channel? Do you have a podcast, or have you been a guest (one-time or regular) on a podcast? How will the information on your site be different from that found in the book? Do you have a newsletter (Founded when? How many subscribers? Frequency of contact with subscriber?)? Are you capturing email addresses? Do visitors have to subscribe (paid/free) to access information? Will you update the site for your book’s launch? Do you sell anything on your site now? Do you have a webinar or participate in one?

Audiences at speeches. Who are they? Provide a list of the associations, organizations, corporations, webinars and educational venues where you speak. Detail how often you speak per year. Estimate about how many people you speak to in a given year. Tell us how they found out about you.

Students. If so, what level: undergraduate, graduate, or professional certification programs? Approximately how many students have heard you speak over the lifetime of courses you’ve taught? Are there venues (conferences, speeches, symposia, your classes) through which you can sell the books?

Satisfied clients. Successful graduates of your classes. Friends in high places. The goal is to create a list of people who can attest to your expert status, your genius, and your influence on their lives. They don’t have to do so here, necessarily. We just want to know who they are—so please provide names and affiliations. And, as you might expect, the more famous, successful, or accomplished they are, the more impressed the publisher will be.

Associations. Are there any tie-in opportunities you can mention—associations, organizations, corporations who’ve expressed interest in buying books or supporting the book in some way? Volunteering to serve on national committees and speak at association conferences and conventions can help you both build your platform and market your book.

Media. Most business associations publish member magazines, newsletters, and online information. Where would your book fit? Do you have media contacts who will cover this book? Please provide the names of those editors, journalists, or producers.

Endorsers. Is there a person (or people) of note who can endorse you (as an authority or writer) now so that we may include that blurb within the proposal? Provide a list of people of note who might be open to receiving the manuscript for a book blurb. Please place an asterisk in front of the name when you have a personal connection to that person.

Influencers. Whether you know these people personally or professionally or not, provide a list of influencers who should receive a galley and/or final copy of the book. Please place an asterisk in front of the name when you have a personal connection to that person. For the people you know, please also include their social media followers by platform.

7. Format. Word Count. Delivery. (This information can be added to the end of the Overview section)

Format
– How will the book look? Will it be just straight text, or will there be boxes and sidebars, photos and line drawings throughout? Will there be quotes interspersed? Assessments? Exercises/lists? Charts? Illustrations? What is your anticipated budget for an illustrator or permissions if you envision including images or non-original materials in the book?

Word Count
– How many pages or words do you anticipate the book will be? (Key: Multiply your estimated number of manuscript pages by 250 words per page.) Look at other titles in the market that are similar to your title and compare page count as well.

Delivery
– How long will it take you to write this book? Please note that it can often take a couple of months from the time the book is sold until a fully executed agreement is in place. Will you need a professional writer? Also note that traditionally it takes 8-12 months (now often longer given the pandemic) from the delivery of a manuscript before the book is launched into the marketplace.

8. Comp Titles
This section helps to educate the publisher on what other books are already in the marketplace that could be compared or contrasted with yours. The idea is to demonstrate that a book exactly like yours isn’t already on shelves, but also to show that there is a healthy market for this type of book. What already exists that directly competes with your book? Was it successful? How is your book going to be different? What is uniquely groundbreaking about it? What will the reader stand to gain from buying your book that isn’t found among the others?
While it may be tempting to criticize the competition, try to stick with the substantive ways that your book will be different (e.g. author point of view, target audience, format). Remember, your proposal may be submitted to the same editors who published some of those comparison titles, so you’ll want to steer clear of negativity.
Be sure to identify the titles and subtitle, author(s), format, price and publisher, month and year of publication for all works you cite. For example, THE CAREER MANIFESTO: Discover Your Calling and Create an Extraordinary Life by Mike Steib (Tarcher Perigee, 2018/Hardcover: $18.00). The agency will look up print sales numbers to help you with this section at a later date.
Also keep in mind direct vs. indirect competition. Direct: books that cover the same subjects you plan to cover in your book. Indirect: books that cover related topics, or focus on one or a few of the topics you plan to address in your book. While it is important to address both, your proposal must emphasize those books that compete with yours directly. Again, focus on what will make your book stand out rather than criticizing the competition.
Where to find competitive books and understand how they are being positioned: bookstores, libraries, online booksellers and publishers’ websites, Goodreads.com, Youtube.com and Tiktok book reviewers, professional and trade associations, college and university libraries, and reviews in business-related periodicals, author websites, popular publishing sites and blogs (Publishersmarketplace.com), and Twitter posts.

9. Outline/Annotated Table of Contents
The outline/annotated table of contents will detail, from the introduction to the conclusion, how many chapters will appear in the book, and what will (roughly) be contained in each of them. It should be no more than a summary of how the book is going to shape up—a few paragraphs for each chapter will suffice. Using bullet points to reinforce that chapter summary is also an effective way of communicating the major topics of each a chapter. The final book will likely vary from the outline, but at this point, it demonstrates for the publisher that you’ve a solid sense of what the book is and what it will include.

10. Sample Chapter(s)
The sample chapter proves to the publisher that you can articulate your ideas into clear, coherent prose and provides a taste of your tone and approach. The sample chapter does not have to be the first chapter, but it should represent the voice and style you intend to take in the book. Please be sure that your chapter summary and sample chapter(s) include the same information.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: The questions any proposal should answer (these overlap):
1) What will the book read like?

2) Who is the audience for this book?

3) How will potential readers find your book?

4) What is your platform?

5) Why are you qualified to write this book (i.e., how can the publisher sell you)?

6) What will make anyone pay $28 for this book?

7) What is the reader’s “takeaway” (i.e., what will they learn or feel as if they’ve learned)?

8) What other successful books can you compare your book to? Where will it be shelved in the bookstore?

9) In 25 words or less, what are you trying to do in this book? What is the hook that will introduce your segment on Fresh Air or the Today Show?

10) What makes your point in Chapter 3 different from the point you make in Chapter 5? In other words, how is your argument progressing and not just repeating itself over the course of the book?

11) What will keep a reader interested in your thesis or story from beginning to end?

12) Why isn’t this just a magazine or internet article?

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