Category Archives: Genres
On January 19th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with award-winning children’s author, marketing expert, and entrepreneur Ellen Feld about how to target-market your children”s books. Her first book, Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse, went on to win a coveted “Children’s Choices” award, co-sponsored by The International Reading Association and The Children’s Book Council. The book was then picked up by an international toy company and packaged with a toy horse made to resemble Blackjack, the star of the series. Blackjack continues to sell well and to date has sold over 30,000 copies. Ellen shared her lessons learned and hard won experience with us on a variety of topics including:
- on-line advertising: where/when it works/doesn’t work
- Selling at regional events, shows, and other public venues outside the bookstore
- Why you need to think in terms of a series
- Importance of author selling/marketing, the personal touch
- Book signings – what works, what to have at your booth
- Finding and keeping an illustrator
- Cultivating your reputation as an expert
- The importance of professional help with your project.
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 Ellen Feld with Annie |
| Award-winning author Ellen Feld began writing about horses more than twenty years ago. Her first writing jobs were for horse magazines. At first, she wrote for small, regional publications, but within a few short years her work began to appear regularly in large, national publications. Her articles have appeared in publications such as The Morgan Horse, Stable Management, Equestrian, Young Rider, Just About Horses, Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar, Tri-State Horse, and The Appaloosa Journal.One day, back in 2001, while waiting for her next assignment to come in, Ellen wrote a short story about a Morgan Horse. Several of her friends encouraged her to expand on the story and try writing a book. That short story became the first chapter of “Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse.” |
 Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse |
On January 4th, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with regional mystery maven Nancy Barr. Nancy served as news editor at the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton for three years and now works at Michigan Technological University, where she recently earned a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Her novels include Page One: Hit and Run(July 2006), “Page One: Vanished” (May 2007), and “Page One: Whiteout” (November 2009), all from Arbutus Press. She spoke with us on all the particulars of regional mystery writing including:
- Challenges of writing about real locations in rural areas
- Character development — deciding who deserves a repeat appearance and who is a one-book wonder
- Plotting versus characterization. Each book has been different for me.
- Other mysteries worth reading that feature the rural upper Midwest.
- The pros and cons of small, regional publishing houses.
- Marketing
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 Nancy Barr |
| A transplant to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at the age of 9, Nancy Barr grew up in the tiny town of Rapid River nestled at the top of Little Bay de Noc. She earned an associate’s degree with honors from Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba, Mich., and graduated cum laude from Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., with a bachelor’s degree. Her love of reading and writing led her to a career in newspaper journalism where she spent several years covering police, courts, schools and local governments for the Daily Press in Escanaba. An animal aficionado, she lives on the Keweenaw Peninsula with two demanding, but lovable, cats. When not writing, Nancy enjoys hiking and photographing the natural beauty that abounds in the Upper Peninsula. |
 Page One: Hit and Run |
On December 14th, 2011 Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with romance author, publisher, and entrepreneur Donna Winters about writing regional historical romances. Donna Winters and her husband Fred Winters are the owners of Bigwater Publishing. Since 1989 they have released 15 of Donna’s historical romances for ages 12 and up under the Great Lakes Romances imprint. We covered a wide-range of topics from writing to marketing, including:
- Historical romances vs. contemporary romances
- Research methods
- Historical characters
- Images
- Names
- Character development
- Historical dialog
- Historical costumes
- Historical transportation
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 Donna Winters |
| Donna adopted Michigan as her home state in 1971 when she moved from a small town outside of Rochester, New York. She began penning novels in 1982 while working full time for an electronics firm in Grand Rapids.She resigned from her job in 1984 following a contract offer for her first book. Since then, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Zondervan Publishing House, Guideposts, and Bigwater Publishing have published her novels. Her husband, Fred, a former American History teacher, shares her enthusiasm for history. Together, they visit historical sites, restored villages, museums, and lake ports, purchasing books and reference materials for use in Donna’s research.
Donna has lived all of her life in states bordering on the Great Lakes. Her familiarity and fascination with these remarkable inland waters and her residence in the heart of Great Lakes Country in Upper Michigan, make her the perfect candidate for writing Great Lakes Romances®. |
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On October 20th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with children’s author and publisher Karl Beckstrand. Since 2004 he has run his own publishing company Premio Publishing and a Spanish language imprint Gozo Books—producing captivating stories, ads, and scripts. Beckstrand has experience in high tech, TV/radio broadcasting, film, and public policy. Karl shared with us key points on writing and producing children’s activity books, including:
- How do you market activity books?
- How do you distribute them?
- Do parents/educators prefer physical books for kids?
- Why activity books/Why not just picture story books?
- What kinds of activities engage children?
- Are activities with adults more beneficial?
- Bilingual books
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 Karl Beckstrand |
| Karl Beckstrand has written 5 books that have versions in English, Spanish, and Bi-lingual for a total of 21 editions. Raised in San Jose, California, USA, he is pursuing an MA in international relations from American Public University. He has lived abroad, been a Spanish/English interpreter, and he enjoys volleyball and kayaking (usually not at the same time). Beckstrand’s activity books, Spanish & bilingual books, ebook mysteries, and nonfiction stories feature minority characters and have been lauded by national reviews. His work has appeared in diverse places such as: Children’s Miracle Network, BioPhotonics Magazine, Papercrafts Magazine, LDS Film Festival and various broadcasts. He hope readers will get from his books–LAUGHS, learning and family fun |
 Bad Bananas: A Story Cookbook for Kids |
