A father’s battle, a daughter’s story

Barnum student gets story of father’s cancer fight published

BY MADELEINE SURGES

Tiffany Lonetto is like every other soon-to-be senior in high school. The Barnum teen enjoys camping, kayaking, hanging out with friends, and is a published author. Yes, a published author. At age 17, she wrote her first book, “No Ordinary Summer.” It is inspired by her experiences and emotions after finding out her dad had stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma this past November, and how she handled everything moving forward.

“It all started with a creative writing class,” Tiffany said. “I had always enjoyed writing and reading as a kid, but never thought my hobby would go as far as it has.”

Her English teacher at Moose Lake Community School, Sarah Haasis, has been an encouragement over the past four years.

“The final project for the class was a 20-page story, and my teacher told me to use my emotions as a fuel for this assignment,” Tiffany said.

Haasis encouraged Tiffany to extend her story length and send it in for publishing consideration.

“I wasn’t even contemplating it, but I could get an extra 10 points for the assignment if I sent it in, so I did,” Tiffany said.

When she received the email that publishing company Sigma’s Bookshelf wanted to move forward, she and her family were shocked.

“I couldn’t believe it!” Tiffany said, smiling ear to ear. “I had no expectations after I sent it in. In fact, I didn’t really want to be in my creative writing class to begin with. I gave it a little bit of time and discovered I really enjoyed it.”

When asked about her writing process, Tiffany laughed.

“I don’t really have a specific one,” she said. “I throw in my earbuds, put on some Post Malone and if I am inspired, I write.”

As a published author, she offered advice to future teenage writers.

“Go for it. You’ll always wonder, if you don’t. I didn’t think this would happen to me, and now I am working on a sequel to my first book. Anything can happen,” she said. “If there is one thing I want from this experience, it is to help someone out there that may have lost someone to cancer or is going through something similar. I want them to be able to be comforted through the emotions I experienced, and not feel alone.”

Although e-books and digital readers are becoming the primary reading source for many people, Tiffany chose to publish a paperback, which is available on Amazon for $8.99.

“I like the feel of books,” she said. “It’s refreshing to read something that isn’t on a screen after using my computer for school all day.”

Tiffany Lonetto holds a copy of her book, “No Ordinary Summer,” which was published by Sigma's Bookshelf, a company that works only with teen authors.

The people who made her book publishing dreams a reality were Rachel Anderson and her son, Justin Anderson. It was Justin who came up with the idea for starting up Sigma’s Bookshelf in April 2017 after enjoying tremendous success with his first published book. His parents helped him self-publish “Saving Stripes: A Kitty’s Story” when he was 14. Since its release in the summer of 2015, almost 350 copies of the book have been sold for $10 each, with 100 percent of the profits being donated to S.O.S Rescue Relief Inc., which helps prevent euthanasia in adoptable animals.

“The success of the ‘Stripes’ book led to the idea of creating Sigma’s Bookshelf. I didn’t want to be the only person my age I knew of with a published book,” Justin said. “I wanted others to be able to do the same thing.”

Among the 10 authors Sigma’s Bookshelf has published, the company has sold more than 530 copies, with 60 percent of the profits going directly back to the kids and the other 40 percent staying at Sigma’s Bookshelf to help fund the next project.

“The reason it’s not an even 50-50 is because writing a book is really hard, and we want the kids to know we understand that,” Justin said.

All of the services the company offers, which include manuscript review, editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting and marketing, are 100 percent free for the authors whose books are selected for publication.

The company is intertwined with family. Rachel does most of the editing and proofreading, while Justin reads every book that is submitted and gives his opinions as to what many teens may want to read. Justin’s dad, Jamie, does the graphic design work. The company has had 60 submissions and accepted 11.

“The most common reasons we do not accept submissions is lack of backstory/context or historical incorrectness,” Rachel said. “Just because it’s a fiction book doesn’t mean it can be historically inaccurate. Readers will call you on that.”

With every rejected submission, the teen receives a personal email as to what they can do to improve their book and are given words of encouragement to pursue their writing careers.

Rachel and Justin were fans of Tiffany’s book from the beginning. When Rachel started editing it, she said, “it really didn’t need too many changes.” She worked with Tiffany to bring more dialogue into the other characters in the book and used her Floridian background to give Tiffany geographical accuracy for the story.

“This is really about giving a kid a book they can be proud of,” Rachel said.

Sigma’s Bookshelf can make a huge difference in the lives of many teenagers who feel they must be older to successfully publish their books. Rachel really wanted to drive home what Sigma’s foundation was built upon.

“We are all about empowering kids,” she said. “You don’t have to wait until you turn 18 to get a book out there. We’re not just publishing anything that comes through the door, either. We are bringing really good books from young authors to the market.”

A majority of these books are in school libraries around Minnesota to show teens it is possible to be published while still in school. If you are interested in helping other teens become published authors, you can make a tax-deductible donation to Sigma’s Bookshelf via their GiveMN page, which can be accessed at sigmasbookshelf.com/donate. — MDT