September Book News

Reading a book is a simple pleasure. All children love to read books.

We all want to tear our children away from television, computers, and all of the distractions that do little to help their minds grow in a proper and healthy manner. Why not have them do what we did when we were kids? Read a book!

Getting children to read more is one of the reasons I decided to take a break from historical automotive writing to write and publish Blue Bug. It's a story about a young girl named Aimée and her adoring father Emile, who is a mechanic and chauffeur for the cantankerous Count and his lovely wife, the Countess. The story also involves a famous racing driver, Hellé Nice, who encourages Aimée to follow her dreams no matter how impossible they seem to be.

This what we all need to be doing with our children: listening to them, encouraging them, supporting them in their hopes and wishes. Out of these efforts we grow great people, and good books help us to help them. Don't neglect to read a book with your children...

Book News

Blue Bug is off to the printers! Nathan Moehlmann at GoosePen Press did a wonderful job of preparing it, and we have planned a few different pricing options to fit everyone's need and budget. Check out the bookstore on this website, which should be up and running around mid-September. We will be selling the books come November 1, but you may reserve a copy ahead of time. Details will be on the sales page.

My Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and meet new reading fans will begin on September 10, and I'm excited to see what happens with that. Kickstarter is a famous fund-raising platform that has helped many an author get their books launched, and I hope that it will help me find new readers as well. Please visit and leave a comment, or pledge support for my effort. All pledges will receive some version of Blue Bug for their donation; please visit the site for details on September 10! That site address is:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronalddsieber/the-importance-of-dreaming-big

Hats off to...

I wouldn't have been able to convey the story of Blue Bug without the help of my illustrator, Alex Wakefield. He did a wonderful job with bring Aimée and the characters in her story to life. This image below shows how grumpy the Count could be, but also the love that existed between Aimée and her papa, Emile. A picture can be worth a thousand words...

The Count being cantankerous, while Aimée admires her father's work.

I'll check back with you later this month with more news of Blue Bug.

Until then...

Happy roads,

=rds

Book News from Author Ronald Sieber

August 18, 2025

The dog days of summer are definitely with us here in the southeast! August: humid, or what? And I won't complain about the almost daily rain that visits, especially when I see what other parts of our country are experiencing right now, what with droughts and forest fires. My sympathies to those who have been affected by these calamities...

I hope that you, my readers, are somewhere safe and cool while reading this. And so, on with the news!

Book Progress for Blue Bug

The front and back covers are edited and ready to join with the interior when that is done and done. Nathan the book designer is close on that. Below is what the front cover will look like.

I hope you like it as much as I do. It's been a team effort, with initial drawings by illustrator Alex, lettering and labelling by designer Nathan, more ideas by artist Amalia, and feedback by my "street readers," as I like to call them.

Below are some more details about the book printing that I mentioned in my July post.

1. I'm going to get a limited run of offset press copies made by Friesens Publishing in Canada. They did an awesome job of my Classic Speedsters book; every one of my readers who have a copy of that have remarked about the beautiful print quality. Definitely top drawer.

The Friesens edition will be 9.75" x 9.75", offset printed, hardcover with 102 lb. paper for the text pages. I'm calling this my deluxe edition, and I will sell these exclusively from my website at BlueBugBook.com.

2. We will also use the services of Amazon KDP and Ingram Spark to produce and sell their editions of the book. They will be 8.5" x 8.5", an industry-standard size for quality children's books (in case you were wondering), and they will be digitally printed on 80 lb. paper.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) will produce the softcover version, while Ingram will do the hardcover version; both will be sold through Amazon's website. I will have links on my website to those editions if you would prefer that option; you can also go straight to Amazon to purchase those versions.

3. I'm also offering an e-book version, which will be available from my website as well as found on Amazon. This will be for those who prefer to read their book on their e-reader device. Purchase a digital copy, download to one's reading device, and read away!

As for me? I'm old-fashioned; I love the feel of a book in my hands, and I cherish the books in my library. Some books I still have from my student days, along with my memories of lugging them across this campus or that. They also made great headrests when I would park myself on the campus green to lay back and watch the clouds roll by. Those were the days, my friend...

Kickstarter News

As I mentioned in my July edition, I'm planning to roll out a short campaign on Kickstarter to help get the news out about Blue Bug.  Rather than repeat all of that information, you can just go review the details in the July edition, which should be linked below this post.

In case you'd like to visit the Kickstarter site, the link to that Kickstarter campaign is:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronalddsieber/the-importance-of-dreaming-big.

I'll send out a quick email note to everyone when it goes live, which should be soon. I appreciate your interest and support.

Until that note and my announcement,

Happy reading!

=rds

Book News from author Ronald Sieber: On to the Book Designer!

July 21, 2025

Hello, fellow readers:

July, July, just flying by! We've had a hot, wet summer on the eastern U.S. coast. When I dare step outside into the muggy soup we call "July air," I can't walk five feet before spying a weed that I just have bend over and pick. May is for flowers, but July? It's time to weed, and everywhere, it seems, are weeds...yuk!

Book Progress

Recently the manuscript and the completed illustrations went to Nathan Moehlmann of Goosepen Press. Nathan is now assembling the book interior and helping me decide on the this-n-that of making a professionally prepared, beautiful book. Below is Nathan's current idea for an inside title page:

This would serve as the first image as one opens the book. The exterior cover will be different.

We are making some changes to the wording, pagination, and even names! But there's no gnashing of my teeth going on, as it is all being done to make a better book for you, the reader.

If things go as planned, we should have a ready-to-print work in August. Then for me, it will be time to begin my Kickstarter fund-raiser!

Kickstarter Campaign

I'm planning to hold a Kickstarter campaign during the month of August (2025) to help defray costs associated with rolling out Blue Bug. The rewards will be guaranteed copies of the book. You can observe or even follow my campaign efforts by signing up for a free Kickstarter account and then typing in my campaign identifier, which is:

  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronalddsieber/the-importance-of-dreaming-big.

You'll be able to follow progress and even comment if you like. I hope to get the attention of and support from new readers who frequent Kickstarter, those folks who are looking for good projects to back. But I'd like for you to check it out as well, so please sign up and look for my campaign! Completely free to sign up for an account and look in on Blue Bug's progress...

Those who donate toward my cause will be able to secure a guaranteed copy of the book, which will be available in several formats and price ranges. You'll see all of the choices available if you visit my campaign, so please do!

Publishing Date

November 1st is my drop-dead must-be-published date at this point. Please refer to previous blog posts for more details; they should be linked to this current post.

Blue Bug will be sold on my website, www.BlueBugBook.com, but it will also be offered on Amazon KDP. However, a limited edition of the book (larger and deluxe) will only be offered on my website, along with other options. So, if you want a copy of the deluxe edition, visit www.BlueBugBook.com when they come on market and get your copy there. I'll let you know when we are ready to sell.

We'll share more news each month as we make progress, so stay tuned to this channel!

And don't forget:

If you'd like to read great stories about America's first sports cars, with over 100 articles on the topic, go visit my other website, https://www.classicspeedsters.com/ and click "Speedster Journal" on the task bar at the top. Or recommend it to a car-loving friend, whatever!

And, in case you have someone special who's looking for an awesome summer read on that topic, why - you are already right where there's a great book on that subject. Go check it out!

Happy roads,

=rds

Ali was my boat captain on an adventure in the South China Sea. I was in the bow, we hit a big wave, and I got soaked. What a blast!