Independent Publisher
Finding Joy and Life Lessons in Loss
Jim Barnes

When the battle against a disease like Alzheimer's is over and the loved one dies, many people have trouble getting on with their lives. One such person had an experience that inspired a new book on the topic:

Debbie Gisonni thought she had it all. A loving husband, a lucrative career, a big house...

But that was before her mother got a brain tumor and her sister committed suicide. That was before her father got bone cancer and her favorite aunt got breast cancer. "Then everything I had fell apart. And when it came back together again, it looked very different. Between 1990 and 1994, I lost four family members in four years. My mother Vita was the last one to go after a ten-year battle with chronic illness and disability."

Four years after her mom died, Gisonni decided to leave her career and stock options behind and "do something more meaningful with my life." What emerged was her first book, Vita's Will: Real Life Lessons about Life, Death & Moving On.

"It's a story about my family experiences and the most important life lessons I learned in the process. The discoveries I made changed my life forever and I decided to share them with readers. I hope they will help people deal serenely -- or at least sanely -- with their own life challenges, from the tragic to the trivial."

"What started out to be a book about death, became a book about life," says Gisonni. "What's important in it and why it's worth living no matter what difficulties we face. Alongside the narrative of the events are my nightly chats with God, and then a one sentence "real life lesson" at the end of each chapter. Having a business persona for so many years, I never imagined that I would be including my prayers in the book, but I realized that in order to help people in the way I intended, I needed to expose all of my emotions. The prayers ended up becoming the inner struggles we all have but are afraid to show, such as vulnerability, anger, guilt, and helplessness."

In this time of grieving over our nation's recent tragedy, Gisonni's 44 real life lessons are refreshing daily reminders for us all. Here are a few of them:

"Your connection to others, inside and outside the family, gives your life its meaning."

"You can't always save the people who are most precious to you."

"The anger you project onto others can destroy you."

"Real strength is sometimes the acceptance of unavoidable loss."

"Sometimes you need to be face to face with life and death to realize we are all more alike than different."

Gisonni self-published Vita's Will at iUniverse, and it has received good reviews and considerable media attention. One reviewer wrote, "Besides a skillfully written, compelling narrative, what elevates Vita's Will above the ego-tripping triteness often found in self-published memoirs is Gisonni's remarkable candor about her own emotional torment."

It is likely that the book's excellent design features help it get noticed. Hers is one of a number of print-on-demand titles being published these days with a trade-quality look and feel. Previously ignored or snubbed by industry pundits, the merits of POD are starting to get traditional publishers to take notice, according to Gisonni.

"Print-on-demand has swiftly become part of the new publishing paradigm. The cost per book for traditional printing causes a problem for books that don't fly off the shelves -- and most don't. POD provides many benefits, especially if they're not in that very small percentage chosen by the publishing 'powers that be'. But just as with self-publishing, the author needs to create the demand for his or her book and name. Authors are starting to recognize the need to market their books and themselves as 'brands' regardless of how they get published."

Of course it helps to have some experience and skill in areas like graphics and web design when undertaking such a project. "I actually did the cover for Vita's Will on my own working with a graphic artist," says Gisonni. "Since I had magazine publishing experience, I knew exactly what I wanted so I didn't use iUniverse's services for that. Also, having been in the high tech market and having overseen many site designs, I was involved in putting my site together with a Web company."

Besides her lists of Real Life Lessons, the website has many helpful areas to help those coping with tragedies of their own. There's a place for visitors to write about "an experience or event that changed your life and taught you a real life lesson?" Also listed are the charitable foundations she supports with proceeds from her books, along with contact information for these and other helpful resources. She also includes all of her press material on the site.

Gisonni is planning to create more informational projects in the areas of books, articles and film to support her Real Life Lessons mantra: "Live, Learn, Inspire." She is also President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Women's National Book Association and volunteers her time to organizations that teach teen girls business and life skills.

October 2001