San Juan Books Presents Its Special Authors: Meet Bertha Cooper

 

San Juan Books is the hybrid division of MSI Press LLC. It allows first-time writers to become published in a traditional way through the reduction of risk by sharing publication costs. All other publishing features are traditional in nature, and most SJB authors go on to be offered traditional contracts for their subsequent books. SJB publications are available as paperback, hard cover, and e-book versions.

SJB authors' books very much hold their own against their contemporaries in the traditional publishing division. Indeed, a number of them have outsold their traditional compatriots.

Today, San Juan Books presents author Bertha Cooper. 

Bertha earned a BSN degree in nursing (University of Washington) and entered the profession the same year as Medicare, a coincidence destined to define her career in non-traditional ways.

She began her career in public health and moved into a management position early in her career - the beginning of a long career in management and administration in an expanding array of health care delivery innovations. She worked in public health, home health, long-term care, hospice, and acute care. Every one of these positions involved quality, safety, and effective health care for the elderly. She became a reasonable voice and passionate advocate for patient-centered services across the continuum of care. 

Writing was part of each of Bertha’s professional roles; she wrote to inform, educate and persuade.  When she started into her own experience with aging, she realized she had questions about natural aging compared to pathological aging which dominated her professional work.  She combined her curiosity about aging and passion for writing in an on-and-off ten-year quest that resulted in the book, Women, We’re Only Old Once, Keep What You Can, Let Go of What You Can’t, Enjoy What You Have!

Women, We're Only Old Once has caught the attention of those who look for quality writing. This past year, the book earned the Best Indie Book Award, and Bertha earned the Phoenix Award as "best new voice in health and fitness."

Based on the quality of her writing, Bertha was subsequently offered a traditional contract for Old and On Hold: Aging in Place during the Pandemic, which actually made it into print right before her first book as part of the MSI Press pandemic series of books, which were fast-tracked to meet a crisis of the moment. 

Bertha has been a featured columnist for The Sequim Gazette, a local weekly newspaper published by Sound Publishing for over seven years. Her column appears every other week. 

You can find Bertha on Face Book. 

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