Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood — In 1998 Sue Robishaw wanted to publish her own book. She discovered it was not such an easy thing to do and figured she was probably not alone.
She took out an advertisement, invited people interested in publishing their works to come, and then waited until the date arrived.
Robishaw expected three or four people, but 30 showed up. She realized the group of authors could navigate the publishing world and learn from each other’s mistakes and gain experience as a group.
The Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association was formed and Robishaw was its first president. The group has blossomed to about 75 and Tyler Tichelaar is the current president. The group puts out about 20 books a year and of the 75 members, 40 to 50 have at least one book under their belts.
The are books about the Upper Peninsula or books written by people living here. There are more than 100 known authors living in the U.P., according to Tichelaar.
A member has even won a prestigious Purple Dragon Fly award for children’s books.
Almost everyone has a story to tell and almost everyone dies without leaving it behind. The UPPAA was founded to help people get their stories out, published, and part of the historical record.
The UPPAA wants to help its members create professional looking and feeling books. It assists in the design of book covers to include prices, bar codes and ISDN numbers.
Interested Yoopers with a story to tell can contact the UPPAA at uppaa.org and inquire about becoming a member or just pick their brains regarding publishing.
