INSPIRATION for

ritersW

A Note from Your Publisher

A N E X C L U S I V E M O N T H L Y C O M M U N I Q U É F O R O U R W R I T E R S

INNER CIRCLEthe

~Dottie Walters

I’m not sure why, but we seem to be paying a lot of attention to brains these days!

Last year we published Chicken Soup for the Soul: Boost Your Brain Power!, written by Harvard Medical School neurologist Marie Pasinski. That book is about how to keep your brain youthful and agile, with many easy-to-implement tips that will fend off dementia, maintain your memory, and keep you energetic and productive.

Earlier this year we published Chicken Soup for the Soul: Raising Kids on the Spectrum with three experts from the autism and Asperger’s community, including Dr. Rebecca Landa of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. That book provides emotional support and useful tips for parents of children who have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

And next year, we have two brain-oriented books on the schedule.

In April, we plan to publish Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living with Alzheimer’s and Other Forms of Dementia. We’re going to have a coauthor from the Alzheimer’s Association and include stories from Alzheimer’s Association chapters across the nation. The book will provide emotional support and great advice to caregivers and family members of people diagnosed with dementia, as well as support for people who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s or other diseases. We hope to include stories from some of these people as well, so that we can understand how they are coping with their diagnoses, their plans, and their expectations.

We’re also going to cover an important topic in July, in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injuries. TBIs affect millions of people in the U.S. and Canada, not only in returning soldiers but also in the general population, where people have been injured in accidents or as a result of crime. You’d be surprised how many of our regular contributors are actually TBI survivors. Our coauthor for that book will be Carolyn Bornstein, MD, who is one of our regular contributors and is also the author of a book about her own son’s TBI incurred when a drunk driver hit him as he walked his girlfriend home one night.

We do important work here, and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to publish these books and make a difference to many people affected by brain and neurological issues. Your publisher, Amy Newmark @amynewmark

A U G U S T 2 0 1 3

Failure? I never encountered it.

All I ever met were temporary setbacks.

Changing your life one story at a time®

Editor’s Tips

Devotional Stories in Jamaica

Contributor Sandra Stout made a very special mission trip to Highgate, Jamaica, taking copies of her most recent book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Tough Times. Sandra tells us that everyone was grateful for their books, and she plans on going back in two years, hopefully with more Chicken Soup for the Soul books!

We have an exciting contest for you, inspired by a contributor!Contributor Linda Perkins wrote to us to share how she used her copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reader’s Choice 20th Anniversary Edition to market the book in a new and exciting way:

“I’ve taken a different approach to promoting this book. I went to two public libraries in Sedalia, Missouri and gave them each one copy. The library directors couldn’t have been more excited if I had given them a million dollars. By keeping the book in circulation, I think it creates continuous publicity and some people will order their own copies. I’ve donated

copies to my dentist and eye doctors. I’m giving each one of the fourteen members of my book club a copy because they are so supportive of my writing. I donated one copy for a drawing at my Alpha Delta Kappa (teacher) Sorority and I will be donating one copy to the quilt guild where I belong. Thus, I think this is why I’ve been contacted by two organizations to speak. My favorite adage is ‘what goes around comes around.’”

We want to know: How do you use your 10 free copies of the book? Send your answers to the webmaster at webmaster@chickensoupforthesoul.com by August 21. Three winners chosen at random will receive their choice of five Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

For example, if your heart broke into a million pieces and you are still alive to write about it, we will give you your own book! If your stomach really did jump into your throat, or your heart really did sink into your stomach, again we will help make you famous. And if your heart was waiting for good news, please excuse us if we edit it to “I was waiting for good news.”

For those of you whose eyes touched on an accident, we are indeed sorry. It would have been better for your eyes if you had just looked at the accident, especially if you have those eyes that danced around the room. We wouldn’t want to lose those talented eyes.

We’ve seen hands calling out to people, emotions dangling from hearts, and lightning bolts traveling up and down spines. Your writing is already so moving that we go ahead and delete these phrases, so that we can focus the readers on what’s really important in your fabulous stories.

Why we edit those amazing anatomy tricks

We all get passionate while writing our stories and sometimes that causes some pretty flowery language concerning our emotions. Here at Chicken Soup for the Soul we generally edit or delete some of the more egregious examples of what we call “amazing anatomy tricks.”

Show us where the magic happens!Last month, we asked you to show us where you

write. We were so impressed by all of your entries and entertained by the various sizes and shapes of your offices... not to mention your piles of Chicken Soup for the Soul books! Here are the five winners,

chosen at random. They will receive Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reader’s Choice, Chicken Soup for the Soul 20th Anniversary Edition, and an advance copy of Chicken

Soup for the Soul: From Lemons to Lemonade. Congratulations!

Nancy GeigerPatricia Lorenz

Timothy Ramsey

Sandra Stout

Jim Magruder

Does Chicken Soup for the Soul make donations to charities or give books away?

We are often asked for donations of books or money to various worthwhile causes. You can imagine that we would just plain go out of business if we said yes to everyone! The fact is that we have an active charitable giving program

underway — we just can’t add new causes to our list. We have been contributing to non-profit organizations for our entire twenty-year history and we are both proud and fortunate to have been able to assist many organizations in the areas of healthcare, disease

prevention, research,and treatment, education, literacy, world peace, and poverty solutions, among other

worthwhile endeavors.Every year, we provide thousands of books to charities, schools, churches, temples, and religious organizations for fundraising purposes and we also donate a portion of the proceeds from our books to charities.Of course, we also allow our contributors to purchase books at greatly reduced prices to use for non-profit fundraising. Just ask Assistant Publisher D’ette Corona for details at: dcorona@chickensoupforthesoul.com

FUNFACTS

Your Book Coming Out Soon...

Yes, that’s right. We’ve been taste testing and cooking with our new products and we’re excited that they are coming your way. As we write this, four of our pasta sauces are on the shelves at H-E-B in Texas. And you’ll see our pasta sauces, soups, broths, and gravies starting to appear on store shelves by the end of September, including at Giant Eagle, Stop&Shop, Giant, Topps, and Winn-Dixie. We’re just in the U.S. for now, but don’t worry, we’re on our way to Canada too!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels Among Us was a big hit! People love hearing about angel encounters and it can be cathartic to write about such an

experience. We read so many great stories about guardian angels that we decided to make a whole book about them, for sale in time for Christmas 2014. You’ll see our new title, Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Guardian Angel, on our website by clicking:http://www.chickensoup.com/form.asp?cid=possible_books

The deadline for story and poem submissions is December 31, 2013. We’re excited about reading your submissions.

Do you know that our comfort food line is rolling out across the country?

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Wives

101 Daily Devotions to Comfort, Encourage,

and Inspire You

On Sale: 9/10/2013