Category Archives: Regional Books

From Mark Twain to Tyler R. Tichelaar, America has a centuries old tradition of regional writers.

Nancy Barr – Writing Regional Mysteries

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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

Nancy Barr

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

Page One: Hit and Run
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Donna Winters – Writing Regional Historical Romances

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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

Donna Winters

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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Tyler R. Tichelaar – Creating a Local Historical Book

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UPDATE: due to the overwhelming popularity of this podcast, which has become our most popular download in 2012, we have released an eBook and printed book transcript of this show. The book that this episode created,  Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres can be found on Amazon Kindle, BN Nook, Kobo NOOK, and everywhere else quality eBooks are found.  Special thanks to Tyler for helping us create such an amazing episode for the ages.

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with local historian, professional editor, and entrepreneur Tyler R. Tichelaar about the ins and outs of producing books on local history, from research to marketing and distribution. Tyler R. Tichelaar,a 7th generation Marquette resident, has written five novels with more to come, all set in Upper Michigan including The Marquette Trilogy, the award winning Narrow Lives, and the recently published history of Marquette, My Marquette: Explore the Queen City of the North, Its History, People, and Places. We covered a wide range of issues, including:

  • What made you decide to write a local history book?
  • What makes your book stand out from other local history books?
  • How did you arrange the book and decide what to leave out and what to include?
  • What was the most difficult part of the research and writing process?
  • Beyond the writing, what other decisions had to be made, such as in acquiring photographs or the layout of the book?
  • What have you done to market the book?
  • What kind of response have you received so far

Tyler R. Tichelaar

Tyler R. Tichelaar
Tyler has a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University, and Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Northern Michigan University. He has lectured on writing and literature at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of London.Tyler is the regular guest host of Authors Access Internet Radio and the President of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association. He is the owner of Marquette Fiction and Superior Book Promotions, a professional book review, editing, and proofreading service. Besides writing about Upper Michigan, he is interested in the Arthurian legend and recently published King Arthur’s Children, a study of treatments of King Arthur’s children in literature from medieval times to twenty-first century novels. Tyler lives in Marquette, Michigan where the roar of Lake Superior, mountains of snow, and sandstone architecture inspire his writing.

Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres

Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres
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Tweed Scott – Turn Your Book into a Speaking Career & Sell Your Book at the Back of the Room

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On June 21st, 2009  Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with professional speaker, humorist, and author Tweed Scott about how to profitably combine speaking and sales events. Tweed is an award winning speaker and the author of the 3-time national award-winning book, Texas In Her Own Words.  He has sold nearly 5,000 copies of his book almost exclusively by hand selling in the back of the room after one of his presentations. He’s here to share with you how he does it and how you can do it too. Tweed shared about what went into developing his marketing plan that led to the back of the room sales and a speaking career.  Key points include

  • A system for selling in the back of the room
  • Three ideas that will lead to moving more products in the back of the room
  • How this approach changes your business model
  • How to promote and grow your speaking business
 Tweed Scott
Tweed Scott is the owner of Tejas Communications, a writing and public speaking company.  His book is sold at some remarkable places including the Alamo, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, both of the State capitol building gift shops, San Jacinto Monument & Battleground, the Sam Houston Statue & Park in Huntsville and even at the general store in Luckenbach.He is also the president of the board of the Writers’ League of Texas. He speaks statewide about Texas and the Texan character. Tweed loves spreading what he calls the ‘Gospel of Texas.’ He speaks nationally on Attitude, Leadership and Change.

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Irene Watson – Targeting Your Website Marketing to Personas

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On May 14th, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with Internet marketing entrepreneur Irene Watson on how to effectively engage the persona (or archetype) of the visitors to your website. She has been effective in online marketing since 2004, learning and implementing various techniques to promote her books and businesses. We talked about

  • The importance of website presence,
  • Making the site about your visitor (not you),
  • Designing your site to fit a specific purpose and pattern of interaction, and
  • Tailoring your site to improve response to specific Myers-Briggs typed personas.
Irene Watson is the managing editor of Reader Views, Reader Views Kids, and Inside Scoop Live. She also maintains BloggingAuthors.com. She is the author of The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, and co-editor of A Story That Must Be Told and Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers.During this interview, we mentioned the following essential books:

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