Alum become Amazon authors

Avondale Libraries course helps seniors share their stories

Three alumni have become self-published Amazon authors after attending a free ebook course presented by Avondale Libraries to help seniors share their life stories.

Wendy Cox published her family history, Michelle Down a children’s book and Ruth Webster some of her father’s books over the six-week course with help from presenter Bruce Thompson, a publisher of four Kindle books. “It usually takes two to three years for a book to be published through traditional methods,” says Down, Chair of the Friends of the Library Committee, “so seeing our work published so quickly is great.”

Avondale Libraries offered the course after receiving a $2000 grant to help those over the age of 55 develop digital skills. Twenty-nine members of the community attended. While not all chose to publish, the course provided motivation to write, as Magaret Petrie found. “The trouble taken in giving detailed instruction for each class was ever so helpful,” she says.

Down applied for the grant in part because she enjoys listening to older people talk about their lives. “They have such rich stories to tell, but once they die, those stories are lost forever. We need to preserve the memoirs of our older citizens. Writing an ebook is an easy way to do this.” She has successfully applied for a second grant to advertise another course next year.

The grants are part of Be Connected, a $20-million Australian Government program to increase the confidence, skills and online safety of older Australians when they use the internet. It comes from program partner Good Things Foundation, which is recruiting and developing a Be Connected network.

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