Welcome to PleasantValleyPress.net
PleasantValleyPress.net focuses on providing copyediting, rewrites, print- and ebook interior formatting, and manuscript evaluation and critiques. We may add services as demand requires and time and manpower are available. Or we can refer you to resources that provide services we're unable to offer. Please see the Services page for more information.
We will accept a limited number of manuscript submissions for review and possible publication. Please refer to the Manuscript Guidelines/Requirements before submitting.
Visit our Books & Authors page for information about current authors we're working with. Or follow me on Twitter and Facebook, if you're interested in status updates and new projects. Links are on the right sidebar.
There is a form on the Contact page for your convenience. Please use it to request information and pricing for services, or to post general comments.
NEW SERVICES
JANUARY 1, 2012: As of this morning, Living on the Sunny Side is no longer available on Smashwords, but the Kindle version IS available in the Kindle Bookstore for purchase and available to borrow for Kindle Prime subscribers. PROMOTION January 2-6: Download for free during this promo. Don't have a Kindle? Download the free Kindle for PC software to read my book and any other Kindle book on your PC.
Update: On Smashwords, at least, their manuscript processing software now produces properly formatted MS Word manuscripts for most popular ebook readers. PleasantValleyPress can now provide both Kindle and Smashwords ebook formatting.
Discounts
If you follow me on RedGage and rate or comment on one or more posts, I'll offer a small discount on any services I provide for you. Just remember what you did or wrote so I can verify it. And no, I don't expect 5 stars or good comments all the time. I know that not everyone will agree with me and some may even be mildly offended. Just rate honestly on quality and, if you'd like to, use a comment to tell me (and other readers) what you did or didn't like, or to start a dialog of your own about the post. Please just keep it clean and civil.
Blatent self-promotion, I know. But times are tough and, after all, this is primarily a business Web site and what's a business Web site for if not promotion, advertising, and a chance to sell services, promote our work, and offer discounts to thank both first-time and loyal clients.
Books in Print
UPDATE: The ebook version of Living on the Sunny Side took the Gold in the 1st Annual eLit Awards, in the Autobiography/Memoir genre. See my Author page for more information about the eLit Awards. The updated and lightly edited ebook version is available on Smashwords, along with a 5-star review by Dr. Woody Sears. Follow the link to my profile, then scroll to the bottom of the page. The print version has not yet been updated and reprinted.
eBook Price: $4.99
Living on the Sunny Side: History, Misery, Stories, & Smiles (memoir) Author: Sunny Deuber. Original version available on Amazon.com or search by ISBN: 978-0-9825758-0-2.
Retail: $14.95
Dr. Woody Sears 2011. I should just refer to him as "Woody," since his newest Smashwords ebook has little to do with his credentials as a Human Resources Management expert and consultant.
I really had no idea what to expect when Woody told me the title—before he sent me the manuscript to format. What would you think it was about if all you had was a title like Sh*t City Chronicles?
Here's the Editor's Comment you'll find at the beginning of the book:
If you’ve read any of the dozen Human Resource Development books Woody has published on Smashwords, you’re familiar with his style.
Sh*t City Chronicles is very different from the business books, but the style is the same. It is a both a celebration of the best and an indictment of the worst in American culture in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Woody doesn’t pull punches. He rarely (if ever) beats around the bush to soften a message or forces the reader to try to figure out exactly what he’s trying to say. As a matter of fact, he never tries to say anything. He simply says it!
That he can successfully translate this “totally Woody” work into A Rhyming Narrative without sacrificing his style is yet another testimony to his skill as a writer. The real “Woody” is present in every word: he is a keen observer of the human condition, but equally important, he shares with the reader not just his anger and frustration but also, his heart, his intellect, his own regrets, and his humanity.
Dr. Woody Sears 2010: All of Woody's Human Resource Management "how to" books are now available on Smashwords. in almost every ebook reader format, at very reasonable prices. They are well-written, and of especial use to newly promoted managers/supervisors, or those who haven't been asked to manage a project, for example, for years, or maybe ever!
Woody's style is clear, easy to follow, and doesn't burden the reader with the entire history of management theories that so many business books do. It's what I love most about his professional writing: easy-to-read and easy-to-follow steps to becoming an above average and successful manager!
He has also published two excellent free ebooks—a very moving one about people in his life that have influenced and inspired him: In the Company of Heroes. The second free ebook—Bull Feather Chronicles—is a compilation of conversations Woody had with one outstanding example of what a top-notch manager can and should be.
Woody is an expert in the field of Human Resource Development—see his Author's page for his credentials, a list of the business management/human resource development books we prepared for publication, and a list of six titles published by Human Resources Development Press in 2007-2008.
We're staying busy around here, and it's all good!
Books in the Works...
Update October 2011: Publication of Bill Minugh's book is temporarily delayed due to personal issues. I expect he'll be back to work fairly soon.
Bill Minugh: A collection of short stories: We are in the final stages of editing Bill's stories and should begin the design and formatting process very soon.
The stories themselves are difficult to describe. Bill is an excellent storyteller and has written about growing up in the sometimes very wild west in the 1940s and '50s. Readers from the same era will find lots of nostalgia in his stories—it truly was a great time to be young in Central California.
But younger readers will find plenty to enjoy too: maybe the way we spent our time was somewhat different, but we were pretty much like kids and teenagers of any time period. You'll read about "dragging the main" on the weekends, first love, drag races, strange people and stranger experiences, and even a family's experiences traveling through the west on an evangelical tour.
However, this is not a memoir or autobiography. Bill has written about some of his own experiences, but has fictionalized them and the results are alternatively exciting, mysterious, and surprisingly tender at times.
The two short stories and one novella in the book are but three of the based-in-his-own-experiences stories Bill has to offer. More are in the works. It is for the reader to decide which stories, and which parts of the stories, are events that really happened, and which are the products of a highly creative storyteller.
We'll definitely let you know when both the ebook and printed versions are available. In the meantime, once the edits are done, we'll try to post some excerpts on this site.
Sunny Deuber has temporarily abandoned The Notorious Mrs. Dauber, having encountered an seemingly insurmountable case of writer's block. I've explained on my page on this site, if you're interested. It's complicated and personal.
In the meantime, I'm working on another book. The paranormal was once a subject most normal people didn't discuss openly. That seems to have changed, and more and more are coming out of their paranormal closets. My book will be primarily an account of otherwise inexplicable things that have happened in my own life, with just a touch of what neuroscientists have proven regarding previously unknown or unexplored regions and functions of our amazing brains.
You're welcome to contact me if you have stories of your own to contribute! Use the contact form on this site to contact me and share your stories. Some may be included in my book—with your permission, of course.
For potential readers who would like to try before they buy, excerpts from 'works in progress' may be posted on this site. Excerpts from books in print, where applicable will remain on the site indefinitely.