Non-Fiction Books

Book by Hicks, Michael R.

You dream of having a full-time career writing novels, but you're not sure how to get there, or if it's even possible. Maybe you've played the lottery with the traditional publishers, submitting your work over and over again to publishers and agents, only to receive a pile of rejection notices. You've looked at self-publishing, but are leery of it, or maybe you've embraced the idea but don't know where to start because you have no background in the publishing industry. Or maybe you're one of the many who's jumped into the self-publishing pool and splashed around, but haven't made the kind of progress you wanted to achieve. If that sounds like you, then you need to read this book. Michael Hicks has been self-publishing since 2008, and through trial and error found his path to success in early 2011 when his books hit the Amazon bestseller lists. A few months later, he kissed goodbye his day job of twenty-five years to write full-time, a move that completely transformed his life. He had never been previously published, and had no background in publishing or marketing. Yet he succeeded. You can, too. This book tells you how he did it. By sharing what he learned from sometimes painful experience, you can avoid many of the pitfalls that self-published authors may encounter, and maximize the potential to achieve your own success.

In Straight from the Heart forty-five students tell a part of their story about when, where and why they lost their way in school. Their honest, and sometimes raw stories are powerful and engaging, both for other students and for adults. Each chapter ends with a series of questions that enable students to reflect and write about the stories they have read. They also provide a launch pad for meaningful conversations about the struggles students may be having in their own lives. Simply using stories like those found in Straight from the Heart can communicate with resounding clarity that a teacher is willing to talk about things more personal. It opens a door to a kind of connection that transcends the teaching of content and offers a pathway to reach students where they need help the most.