Author: Angel Ackerman

• from the publisher reflection

  While in Yemen…

  If you saw my post yesterday, I talked about my travels in Tunisia, Yemen and Somalia. In Yemen, I had tea at one of the “coffee houses” in the suq. I originally lingered outside because women in Yemen do not frequent the same social spaces as men, but as a traveler/guest, I was invited…

  21 Jan 2025
• from the publisher reflection

  Censorship & Social Media

  I have a very dear friend whom I call ‘M’ in my public-facing writing. (And for the record, M calls me ‘CB,’ an abbreviation for the loving nickname “crazy b*tch.”) In January 2012, we had planned a trip to Algeria so I could do research for my thesis on stereotypes…

  20 Jan 2025
• coming soon nonfiction

  Sex

  Our next new release is Sex: Everything You Didn’t Know You Need to Know by M.Christian and Ralph Greco Jr. debuting on February 10, in case you need the book for Valentine’s Day. This nonfiction collection of essays broaches a variety of sexy and interpersonal topics.

  19 Jan 2025
• from the publisher reflection

  Why I don’t share my opinions on some topics

  As a journalist, I learned to observe. I learned to listen and treat different people with different opinions the same and then evaluate what they told me via more sources and research. What I thought, what I felt, nobody cares about that. A journalist— a good journalist— seeks “truth” and serves…

  18 Jan 2025
• from the publisher

  Random resources

  Random Art Class So, I ended up on an artist’s newsletter list— and I think I discovered her on Substack but I have no idea really. She has an online, self-directed sketching class for beginnings. Now, I know writers sometimes relieve writer’s block by exercising other art forms or trying…

  17 Jan 2025
• from the publisher review

  Update on Writing Craft Books

  Writing Craft Books In 2025, I hope to read or reread one writing craft book per month and add a review of it to this newsletter and to the curated, annotated bibliography available to my paid Substack subscribers. I have finished The People’s Guide to Publishing by Joe Biel of Microcosm Publishing. But the…

  15 Jan 2025
• reflection

  Year of the Sandwich

  New Year. Plotting goals. Absorbing information and moving forward. I have proclaimed 2025 “THE YEAR OF THE SANDWICH.” Maybe I’m just hungry. But as I discussed in my goal setting for writers workshop this week, a sandwich offers a pretty good mental image of individual goal setting. We choose the…

  13 Jan 2025
• fiction reflection

  Inspiration at Your Fingertips

  There is so much inspiration available on the Substack platform. On the same day of my last newsletter, Amy Suto sent out a newsletter offering a list of ways you could earn $100,000 as a writer in 2025, see that list here. And somehow I ended up perusing Austin Kleon’s posts about notebooks, taste some of…

  11 Jan 2025
• coming soon fiction from the publisher new releases news nonfiction parisian phoenix author

  Titles in Production

  I have read so many manuscripts in the last six weeks. We released M.Christian’s In Control, a collection of erotic short stories. After I finish this newsletter, I will be doing a final pass on Christian’s and Ralph Greco Jr.’s manuscript, Sex: Everything You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know. This nonfiction collection of essays will release…

  9 Jan 2025
• events from the publisher

  Workshop: Setting Goals

  I give a monthly writers workshop as a volunteer at Easton Area Public Library (main branch, downtown Easton, Pa.) on the second Thursday of the month. So, even if we haven’t announced a formal topic, you can mark your calendar and know that something is happening for writers at the library. January’s workshop will…

  7 Jan 2025