Melanie Bragg, Author
Melanie is a lifelong writer and the author of Crosstown Park, her debut novel published by Koehler Books. In 2012 she was the subject of Rick Frishman’s Author 101 University “Success Story.” Subsequently, Melanie met her publisher and the rest is history.
 
Crosstown Park is the first Alex Stockton thriller. Melanie is currently writing the sequel, All One Blood. Crosstown Park has a social conscience and a spiritual component that sets it apart from your typical thriller.  Melanie brings her vast experience from the inner workings of the legal system to her books, especially when it involves the members of our culture that do not typically have a voice – children, the elderly, and the mentally disadvantaged. Her writing explores issues that are relevant to the social culture of today's world.
Melanie's upcoming non-fiction book, Defining Moments: Insights into the Lawyer's Soul, to be published by the American Bar Association Flagship Division, is a culmination of almost a decade of work. The book is a compilation of leadership stories culled from interviews of lawyers from all over the country. Melanie trained under Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles™ and the co-creator of the NY Times #1 Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul Series. Canfield has endorsed Crosstown Park and is writing the forward to Defining Moments: Insights into the Lawyer’s Soul. 
 
Melanie is also the author of HIPAA for the General Practitioner, published by the American Bar Association (ABA.)
Her chapters in How to Capture and Keep Clients, 2nd Ed. published by the ABA are titled The Conscious Lawyer: How the Practice of Mindfulness Will Increase Your Bottom Line and Effortless Marketing: Putting Your Unique Qualities to Work, both of which serve as the foundation for her keynote trainings and speeches to a variety of audiences. She also publishes chapters and articles on a variety of topics. 
Melanie writes columns for the ABA Solo, Small Firm & General Practice Division (GP Solo) eReport on leadership and mindfulness. 
For fifteen years, she was a member of the board and for three years she served as Chair of the GP Solo’s Book Publications Board, which publishes 8-10 books a year and has 40 authors. 
Melanie shares her "best practices" and experiences in becoming an author in chapter 14, Maximizing Your Author Experience, of Will the R.E.A.L. Authorpreneur Please Stand Up? – a unique compilation, featuring award-winning and bestselling authors.
Melanie is heavily involved in coaching and supporting authors from proposal through publication.
She currently serves as Chair of the ABA Solo, Small Firm & General Practice Division where she is leading author appreciation programs and serving a three-year term on the ABA Standing Committee on Publishing Oversight (SCOPO) which oversees ABA Publishing and the hundreds of ABA authors.