My Books

I write, ghostwrite, and edit books, periodicals, and marketing copy for commercial clients.

I’ve written two books based on my travels, and am at work on a novel, an essay collection, and a nonfiction book.

Author

My first two books are based on my experiences as a long-distance motorcyclist and tour operator. Current projects underway include a historical novel set in the late 1960s, a travel essay collection, and a nonfiction book on the Ohio River region’s racial legacy.

Hit The Road

Hit the Road: A Woman’s Guide to Solo Motorcycle Touring (released January 2018)  

Whether you are a new solo rider or wish you had more confidence hitting the road on your own, I wrote this book for you. Hit The Road includes stories from my travels, plus checklists, tips, and resources for anyone who wants to get the best out of a two-wheeled adventure.

Hit the Road: A Woman's Guide to Solo Motorcycle Touring

The book helps readers:

  1. Identify their Traveler Type
  2. Learn to plan the perfect itinerary for their Traveler Type
  3. Understand their fears and how to overcome them
  4. Choose personal safety devices and strategies best suited to them
  5. Learn money-saving tips that will let them spend more time on the road
  6. Prepare for travel by downloading checklists for packing, mechanical inspections, tools, and emergencies
  7. Understand what to do if something unwelcomed happens on a trip
  8. Experience the joy of traveling solo without feeling lonely

And much more…

Come for the Tips, Stay for the Stories.

Live Full Throttle

Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons From Friends Who Faced Cancer is out of print. I based the book on stories from people I met over two years of riding my motorcycle across the US and Canada for breast cancer causes. Part memoir, part self-help and another part photo essay, this book includes exercises and writing prompts designed to help you apply the eight lessons I learned to your own life:

  • The Healing Power of Joy
  • Gratitude Eases Pain
  • Laughter Lightens Tragedy
  • You’re Terminal Too, Embrace It
  • When to Fight, When to Flow
  • Art Restores
  • Relationships Are Fluid
  • Channel Sorrow Into Service

The Companion Guide to Live Full Throttle includes all the exercises in the book itself, with bonus material and plenty of journaling pages.

Cover of my book, "Live Full Throttle"

Substack

I write about my travels, and the business of writing and publishing. Follow me on Substack and subscribe below.

Editor

Nonfiction books include everything from memoir, self-help, history, personal finance, health and medicine, and cultural criticism, to name but a few topics. Read more about my work on these selected client books.

Two Old Broads

Two Old Broads: What You Need to Know that You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know is a self-help book about aging as an essay collection by Dr. Mary Ellen Hecht and Whoopi Goldberg. This hybrid form is not conventional, but admit it, you’d be disappointed if Whoopi bowed to convention.

Publisher Harper Horizons hired me to assist the authors in shaping the second and third (final) drafts of the book. We combined some essays, deleted others, and wrote new chapters to round out the book’s six parts: Broad Mentality, Broad Life, Broad Bones, Broad Well-Being, Broad Shoulders, and Broad Insights.

Time Square Billboard of Two Old Broads

Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP

Maximum Trading Gains With Anchored VWAP: The Perfect Combination of Price, Time & Volume is a how-to book for traders and investors. Author Brian Shannon, CMT, had written little since his first book in 2008. He hired me to help him finish the first draft on time and then shape the book into two parts. I also managed the publishing project team of designers, a copy editor, and an indexer. His Amazon reviews are 95% FIVE STARS.

Anchored VWAP by Brian Shannon, CMT

Healthy Kids, Happy Moms

After author Sheila Kilbane, MD, wrote the first draft, the publisher, Harper Horizons, engaged me to support the author in a complete rewrite.

Dr. Kilbane asked me continue working with her as part of the launch team, and to produce and direct the eight-hour online companion course to the book. I continue to write her blogs. 

How to Win at B2B Email Marketing: A Guide to Achieving Success is a pioneering work in the field of email marketing. While a great deal has been written about business-to-consumer email practices, author Adam Holden-Bache  broke new ground when he rounded up best practices for business-to-business email marketers.

Adam is a shining example of the rewards of persistent and incremental pursuit of a big goal like a book. How to Win at B2B Email Marketing is the result of Adam consistently blogging about best practices in email marketing.

We began working together when he attended one of my Mastermind Groups for nonfiction writers, and I continued working with his manuscript through the final draft before it went for copy edits.

The book is beautifully illustrated and designed, earning Adam a 2015 MarCom Gold award!

"If you're looking to write a book and don't know where to start, Tamela is your answer. Tamela provides a wide range of services to budding authors including a book writing masterclass, manuscript consultant services and providing developmental edits. In short, she can help you take your book concept from idea to a finished product."
Adam Q. Holden-Bache
Author
book cover for The Collaborative Sale, which I helped develop

My role was to make this book easy to read and understand, by including interviews and writing a parable to illustrate the authors’ key points

The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer-Driven World guides sales professionals toward alignment with buyers. After all, the roles of buyers, sellers, and technology have changed, and collaboration is now the key to success on all sides.
I started my career in sales and sales management, which made working with co-authors Keith Eades and Tim Sullivan more than an intellectual exercise. I was fascinated to learn about the role that technology now plays in every phase of selling—even before a seller knows a buyer is in the market for their product or service.

For my part in the project, I interviewed experts,  wrote what’s called “the story,” which threads throughout the chapters to illustrate the tactics and techniques of the collaborative sale, and edited the book before it was submitted to the publisher, John Wiley & Sons.

"Tamela was instrumental in the successful development of our book...She recommended creative ideas that made the book much more readable and accessible. She is also very good at getting the most out of authors—her coaching and expert advice helped us to write a much better book.

The results have been demonstrable: the reviews for our book have been very positive, from clients and critics alike. I can recommend Tamela highly to anyone who is looking for a capable partner on a writing project."
Timothy Sullivan
Co-author

Retirement GPS

Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to Way to a Secure Financial Future with International Investing was a pleasure to write with expert Aaron Katsman. Aaron has a strong voice that really shines throughout the book, especially in the humorous anecdotes. I provided manuscript development and editing services to Aaron on this project.

"Tamela was instrumental in the successful development of our book...She recommended creative ideas that made the book much more readable and accessible. She is also very good at getting the most out of authors—her coaching and expert advice helped us to write a much better book.

The results have been demonstrable: the reviews for our book have been very positive, from clients and critics alike. I can recommend Tamela highly to anyone who is looking for a capable partner on a writing project."
Aaron Katsman
Author