In This Issue:

• From the Heart: 2024 Recap
• A Divine Calling Answered
• Pre-Order: Bella Brown's Messier Than Messy Room
• Happiness Hack #2: I Am Enough
• Behind the Scenes: Meet Pip
• Author's Education Corner
• Reviews & Industry Updates

Figure 1 - A visual representation of the year's journey

Wow – 2024 was a tough year.

 I lost my step-mother, my older brother, my favorite uncle, two sibling girls ages 9 ½ and 10, and my best friend of 40+ years. And losing my 9½ little girl Tiger Lilly broke my heart and shattered my soul.

For clarification, the sibling girls Tiger Lilly and Dusty, were sister cats my mother gave me ten years ago, I raised these cats since they were four-month-old kittens, and working from home since the Pandemic, Tiger Lilly was my little shadow forever following me wherever I’d go. Folks who’ve think of animals in their lives as family understand this.

A surprise, unplanned near-death hospital stay in July and August, forever changed the direction my life headed. And if it weren’t for my wife telling me to go to the emergency room, I wouldn’t be here today. Thank you Alicia.

*** Disclaimer: For all of my female readers and fans--you can finally tell everyone: Here’s a man who actually listens to his wife.

A Divine Calling Answered

Why I say this event changed me is an understatement. Life is way too short, and can be over in the blink of an eye, and you may have a never-ending bucket list of things you want to do that never get done. All because you never started or attempted to pursued that goal or dream you always had.

This incident inspired me to revisit a picture book manuscript sat in a drawer over two years. Okay, it was sitting in a folder on my laptop, and remained untouched all the same.

Back in twenty-twenty, I woke up with a divine calling to write a book for children about butterflies, resulted in a zany cross-country drive across America visiting butterfly farms from Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona.

This resulted in that manuscript that sat for two years evolving into  the first two books in a fun-whimsical eight-book picture book series for children ages four to eight I didn’t know I would write between July and December 2024.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, 
   I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
   Or cool one pain,
Or help one lonely person
   Into happiness again
I shall not live in vain.

                                       - Emily Dickinson

Before my best friend passed away, they asked me when I came out of the hospital how come I don’t retire like him and focus on my health. And I told him it’s crazy, but I answered a divine calling back in 2020, and there’s still more to do.

And that’s why I’m so hopeful about 2025.

The first book Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room is finished and available for pre-sale on Amazon and Ingram Sparks, and it’s scheduled to launch September 03, 2025, with the rest of the books in the series to follow. So, I’ll continue to work because it pays the bills. But I’ll also focus available funding I can put towards editing, illustrations, marketing and promotions for all the books.

And I’ll be like many other authors who work full-time and write, and once book sales and revenue generated meets or exceeds my annual income, can I retire and write full-time, and visit kids in schools and other organizations to share and show them how to instantly boost their self-confidence, incorporate play into their boring routine chores, write their own book, and so much more.

Pre-Order Now Available - Bella Brown's Messier Messy Room

• Launch Date: September 03, 2025
• Available through:
  • Amazon [https://amzn.to/4inVEz3]
  • Local Bookstores:
    • Hardback ISBN-13: 978-1-7364013-7-8
    • Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-7364013-6-1
    • eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-7364013-8-5

Happiness Hack # 2 – I Am Enough

I am enough.

This phrase is found in the dedication section of every children’s book I’ve written as well as one of the happiness hacks I share in bestseller The Happiness Code, I co-authored.

Too many of us walk through life without anyone ever saying or telling us these words so many of need to hear and be told. Well, you are enough. And as you repeat and say these words aloud and too yourself enough times,

Daily Practice: Every time you wake up, look in a mirror, and before you go to sleep, think and say aloud:

I am enough

Figure 2 - Meme courtesy of FRABZ.com

Call to Action

Here's how you can help authors:

1. Buy the books you're drawn to and like and love best.
2. Read and post reviews on Amazon, Good Reads, and wherever else reviews can be posted.
3. Share your favorite reads on social media using #BellaBookClub.

Author’s Education Corner

Know Your Audience

Excerpt from When Small Details Matter: A Lesson in Knowing Your Audience (Blog Post on jwzarek.com):

As authors, we live and breathe by the mantra "know your audience." While this might seem obvious, it's the subtle cultural differences that often catch us by surprise. Let me share a personal experience that taught me just how much these small details matter.

What’s most important is getting all the little detail in the content you write correct. Such as when I found my illustrator created a storyboard that shows a draft illustration with the word Post on a mailbox. While this word is common throughout the word regarding mail, Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room was written for a U.S. Based audience where the word Mail and not Post is found on mailboxes. While the detail may appear insignificant, you never want anything to appear in your stories that unintentionally pulls your readers out of the story. Thankfully, this detail was caught with their original colorized illustrations, so I was able to have the illustrator modify what they created so the mailbox in the illustration resembled a United States (U.S.) Mailbox instead of a United Kingdom (UK) Postbox.

Key Takeaway: Small details matter enormously in maintaining reader immersion.

Behind the Scene – Meet Pip the Domovoi

Fun Fact: In Slavic mythology, domovoi are house spirits living behind the stove. While traditionally depicted as grey-bearded men of knee height, our Pip brings a colorful modern twist with his blue hair and light-orange hue.

Here’s some images of Pip the Domovoi how he appears in the first book in the eight-book Bella Brown picture book series for children ages four to eight:

Here's the original Illustrations I shared with the illustrator:

And here’s the first draft they created for the Bella Brown Series:

While this illustration was very cute, it was not the look or feel I wanted Pip to have. So, below is what the illustrator final version Pip looks like:

And based on this illustration I was able to have Budsies create the 16” stuffed animal version you can check out below showing the front and back of Pip:

Question for Readers

Question for Readers: If you could ask a children's book author one question -- what would you ask them? Share your questions using #AskJWZarek

Reviews

I appreciate folks who make time to read my stories and share one or two things they think will benefit other readers. Here’s the very first editorial review of Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room:

*** Five-Stars *** Bella can't wait to visit a new butterfly garden, but in Bella Brown's Messier Than Messy Room by J.W. Zarek, she has to tidy up some overwhelming clutter first. This colorful, comforting book will help young readers keep their spaces clean and take on other challenges. With pages full of energy and fanciful illustrations provides both useful examples to follow and an engaging little tale.

 - Chanticleer Reviews

Writer Facts, News, and Metrics

Top Publishing Insights for 2025

Three key statistics that matter for authors

1. Print book sales continue strong growth (750.89M units)
2. Authors with 3+ books see significantly higher per-book sales
3. Cross-platform promotion increases sales by 23%

J.W. Zarek is a Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of "Writer's Success Secrets" and "The Happiness Code." His latest works include the Golden Book Award Finalist "Bella Brown's Messier Than Messy Room" and the 41-award winning novel "The Devil Pulls the Strings."

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