Self Publishing Advisor

PUPPY PAWS AND CAT TAILS

Who doesn’t love their critter companions?  Don’t answer that if you’re “one of those” who don’t get the affection we animal lovers have for our pets.  Please, just smile, and continue putting up with us.  The benefits pets bring to us—calming our nerves and bringing joy to daily living—are also of benefit to you.

PET TALES are among the very top sellers online and in bookstores!  The topics they cover range from the miraculous to the memorable to the money-makers and everything in-between.  If you have had any exposure to animals and/or pets, you have a story to tell!  Here are a few ideas that I hope will inspire you to write and jump into the self-publishing marketplace.

Guard Dogs!

Would you step into the yard where a Doberman slept on the porch?  There are many dog breeds that instantly set off human alarm bells: German Shepherds, the Rottweiler and Bulldogs to name a few others.  What IF a writer could do a little research and tell the stories of these breeds from a different perspective—the viewpoint of the Hero.  Recently, we’ve seen many individual dogs in these breed lines searching rubble after earthquakes, tornados and bombings.  A few stories have been told about them; in my opinion, there are thousands of stories left to tell.  When those “puppy paws” return to handlers, raw, cut and bleeding, we can understand something very human about their efforts to rescue loved ones trapped in very dangerous places.

Big Cats—Little Cats!

Yesterday someone posted a picture on my Facebook page that delighted me to the point of sharing it with everyone I knew.  It captured the moment just after a leopard had curled itself into a too-small empty box.  The expression on its face showed great satisfaction.  The caption read “Cats will be Cats.”  My husband and I have two ordinary tabby cats (now 16 years old).  We instantly understood ALL the moments of laughter the photographer must have enjoyed as he watched that “big cat” circle and settle into place.  The opportunities our feline friends offer us on a daily basis—to write their stories—are endless.  Doing a captioned photo-book is just one possibility; a whole series of gift books could be created and quickly self-published, ready for future holidays.

What Would the World Be Like Without Them?

There are two sad facts about human interaction with the animal/pet population.  Abuse is at the top of that list.  The second is overpopulation.  Humane societies, animal control agencies, veterinarians and rescue groups have long stories to tell about these very big problems.  One of my writer friends (who raised several litters of show dogs) “thought” of writing the stories of the dogs (pure-bred and mutts) that she had rescued.  “If only people knew,” she’d tell me, “these things would happen less often.”  This category of True Stories is wide open.  Certainly, they need to be told to protect the animals.  However, there is another big “truth” behind the actions of humans who mistreat animals.  Law enforcement will tell you that how people treat helpless animals is a main indicator of criminal behaviors.  They are developing programs to “rescue people” who have been identified with these issues from future lives of crime and imprisonment.

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.