Although I normally feature middle grade or young adult books and authors, every once in awhile I find another author whose work I want to share with you.
Joan Y. Edwards is a NC author who recently published
Joan's Elder Care Guide drawing from her own life experience caring for her mother, Ethel D. Meyer. It is my privilege to have her answer some questions about her new book.
How did you get the idea for writing the Elder Guide?
When I was taking care of my mother, the substitute caregivers told me that the plans I left for them made it easier for them to care for her. I thought if it helped them, it might help others to better care for their elders and enable them to relax while someone else cared for their loved one.
Can you give a synopsis?
Joan's Elder Care Guide: Empowering You and Your Elder to Survive gives you, the caregiver, ways to meet your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social needs and those of your elder to promote healing, well-being, and survival.
Based on the my research and fourteen years of
experience caring for my mother, this book provides
many resources to find the right place for your elder to
live, explains ways to improve communication to help
find solutions to problems, and gives organization ideas
for medical, financial, insurance, and legal documents.
It offers ways for a caregiver to get time away from
caregiving responsibilities and contains information
substitute caregivers must have to keep their elders
safe.
Along with all this, the book explains the signs of the
end of life, ways to celebrate an elder's life, and gives
duties of an executor of an estate. It also includes ten
useful charts to assist in assessing and recording an
elder's needs and capabilities.
What is the intent for your book?
My intention in writing this book is to empower the
caregiver and her elder to survive by finding ways to
meet their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and
social needs. I want them to have a sense of well-being.
How is it different from other books on the subject?
It’s the only elder care guide that focuses on meeting
the needs of both the caregiver and the elder. My book
has techniques for getting answers you need from
health care professionals to care for your elder. My
book shows how to use a routine to bring about
calmness for you, the caregiver and your elder. My
book has charts and lists to help organize information
needed for taking care of personal, health, legal,
and financial affairs of your elder. My book tells how
updating your elder’s needs assessment and organizing
information in a notebook strengthens your ability and
the health care professionals’ ability to meet your
elder’s needs.
Tell us about your path to publication. I know it
hasn’t been easy!
I submitted my manuscript to three publishers. I submitted
to 4RV Publishing and received a contract
from them in 2011 for the book to be published in June,
2015. Waiting such a long time was difficult.
Therefore, in the summer of 2013, I asked if there was a
way to speed up the publishing process. They said if I
bought the first 100 copies of the book, they would start
the editing process. Since one editor wasn’t able to
continue editing, they assigned a second editor. It took
over two and one half years for the complete edit.
What is 4RV Publishing’s market plan and yours?
My plan is to have book signings, seminars, and
workshops at book stores, libraries, medical centers,
churches, or community centers.
4RV Publishing’s plan is to offer to create paperback,
hardback, and eBooks, if I wished. One was free, I paid
extra for the ISBN number and for the formatting for
the other two. The eBook will come out in 6 months to
a year. 4RV attends writing conferences and local book
festivals and takes copies of its books to sell. They
announce their new books on their blog.
Why is this book needed?
In 2000 during the U.S. Census they counted 35.0
million people 65 years of age and over in the United
States. As health continues to improve many of these
will make it to their eighties and even many will live to
be over 100 years old. Unless doctors are able to find
cures for dementia and Alzheimer’s, these 35 million
people may need someone to care for them. The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate
that one out of five workers balances work and elderly
caregiving responsibilities. This means that as many as
7 million people might want help caring for their
parents. Middle-aged adults in the next 20 years may
end up caring for parents and grandparents. My book
will help these people find a less stressful way to meet
their own needs and care for their elders, too.
Thanks for all this helpful information, Joan. I could have used a book like this when I was helping to care for my mother. I hope that it helps many individuals as they care for their elders. Best wishes for its success!
You can order Joan's book through any of these stores:
To celebrate her book's debut, Joan is giving away a 1000 word, pitch, and query letter critique. Leave me a comment by May 12 when I will pick a winner. Make sure you leave your contact information if you are new to my blog!
Joan Y. Edwards is an author, illustrator, and retired teacher in North Carolina.
Joan's Elder Care Guide: Empowering You and Your Elder to Survive is published by 4RV Publishing. She wrote and illustrated picture book,
Flip Flap Floodle, and self-published it with BookSurge in 2004. She is currently working on illustrations to self-publish her chapter book,
Larry, the Terrifying Turkey.
