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Butler County's great daily newspaper

Area authors offer insight, entertainment

Books examine news industry, children's story

Two more books by area authors are available for readers' perusal.

Author Andy Andrews has witnessed much in his four decades in the newspaper industry, having worked in both editorial and advertising departments.In 2020, he noticed massive changes coalescing and wrote the book “Deemed Nonessential” in about five months.What does the downsizing in the industry mean, and what is the formula for success?As a result of the COVID-19 business and work lockdowns in 2020, why were many journalists suddenly deemed “nonessential?”Why have some newspapers closed down?These and other questions Andrews deals with in “Deemed Nonessential,” a semi-autobiographical study with many anecdotes about the author's own career in journalism.“Deemed Nonessential” examines how newspapers went from pay-for-print editions to free news online to paywall websites, and how the internet has single-handedly played a critical role, he said.Andrews has worked for several major community newspapers, including the Harrisburg Patriot-News and the Reading Eagle, in addition to a large trade newspaper at LNP Weeklies in Ephrata, Pa. He works now as special sections editor at the Butler Eagle.In the book, he shares his experiences and thoughts about the print and digital newspaper industry, and why both can work in tandem to deliver the news.The 264-page book is available online from Bookstand Publishing in paperback format.

Freeport author T.C. Spangler has published a children's book, “Rian's Lair.”The 74-year-old Spangler said her inspiration for her books are her granddaughters, Rian and Quinn.Spangler has also written “Quinn's Cow,” which has not yet been released.“Everything in the books pertains to what they were into at the time,” Spangler said.At the time of “Rian's Lair,” Spangler said her granddaughter was into magic, so the story is about a young witch and her favorite animal at the zoo: red pandas.“Both books were birthday gifts,” Spangler said.“They came to me quickly,” she said of the stories. “They just rolled off my tongue. I don't know where that came from.”Since the books were written as gifts, Spangler said she never intended to share them with anyone except her granddaughters.“I never thought they were good enough to publish,” she said.A friend who was a professor encouraged her to release the books to the public.Spangler also does the illustrations for her books.This 17-page “Rian's Lair” is her first out, though she is finishing writing her fourth, she said, and plans to publish the other three.Besides “Rian's Lair” and “Quinn's Cow,” Spangler's other two books will be related to each other and deal with adventures of characters “Ribelle and Q,” she said.“Rian's Lair” has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co. of Pittsburgh. The book is available in paperback, hard cover and digital formats.Spangler said she is donating a copy of “Rian's Lair” to the Freeport Area Public Library, to the South Buffalo Elementary School library where her granddaughter goes to school and maybe to other libraries.

“Deemed Nonessential”
“Rian’s Lair”

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