• General author biography
• Devastation on the Delaware biography
Download a PDF of any of these biographies here.
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Mary A. Shafer – Author Bio
When Mary Shafer was born in June of 1961, not only was her sun sign in Gemini, so was the moon and Gemini’s ruling planet, Mercury. Since none of her homies were into astrology at the time, Mary was unaware she was doomed. Blissfully ignorant, she turned her natural inclinations toward attention deficit disorder and taking mechanical objects apart into a varied and interesting career path with more twists than an elephant’s intestine.
Always possessed of an artful side, she first tried her hand at illustration, doing her first paid freelance job at 14. (Thanks, Dad.) Since art directors weren’t exactly beating down the door, she also got a fast food job. Steadfastly refusing the pedantic, she never asked, “Do you want fries with that?” Especially after witnessing how those fries were made. (You don’t wanna know.) Throughout these trials, she served as a reporter and layout editor of her high school newspaper.
Following graduation, Mary suffered the inertia common to all liberal arts students, and decided she was sick of school for awhile. She worked several different jobs that included picture framer, auto mechanic, electronics salesperson and deputy sheriff in undercover narcotics. Yes, really.
Tired of putting her life at risk for six bucks an hour, she decided to attend the University of Wisconsin system as an art student. Quickly realizing that was the fast lane to starvation and chronic fashion faux pas (with which she needs no help), she left school in 1981. She took a job as a production artist at a newspaper group in a Milwaukee suburb, later moving to a small weekly on the city’s south side. Through it all, she continued to write ad copy and the occasional feature story for the papers.
After striking out on her own as a freelance graphic designer, Mary got a job as art director for NorthWord Press, a small nature book publisher. She went back out on her own when the company moved away from books toward producing music cassettes, CDs and videos, but never got books out of her system. In fact, she wrote her first book, “Wisconsin: The Way Were Were, 1845-1945” for Heartland Press, a NorthWord imprint. The book came out in 1993 and she was hooked forever. She knew she’d always be an author in one form or another.
A second book, “Rural America: A Pictorial Folk Memory” came out in 1995, and won an award from the MidAmerica Publishers Association. Mary did a small tour of New England and the MidAtlantic region in support of it, and decided she missed the east coast. In February 1997, the day after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl, she got in her loaded van and moved back to her home state of Pennsylvania.
She settled in Bucks County, where she mainly freelanced until realizing she was competing with every high school kid who had a computer and a layout program. By June 2001, she had become thoroughly disenchanted with the ad agency life. She resigned her job as president of a small agency in Lambertville, New Jersey and again struck out on her own. This time, though, she left graphics behind to follow the path she realized she’d always been on: that of a writer.
Mary now splits her time between freelance writing for magazines and books, consulting with small and microbusinesses on their marketing needs, and publishing books. Ever unable to focus too long on any one thing, she also dabbles in drawing, painting, teaching, metal detecting and blacksmithing. She’s frequently tired but never bored.
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Mary Shafer's Speaking Biography
Mary Shafer is an award-winning author, full-time freelance writer and professional speaker. On the side, she serves as publisher of Word Forge Books, an independent micro-publisher of books that celebrate what’s wondrous about the world.
Mary grew up around her father’s advertising agency and performed her first freelance job at 14. She served in various capacities in several other agencies and design studios until 2001, when she launched her writing firm, The Word Forge. As owner of this business, Mary does editorial writing, commercial copywriting and serves as a marketing consultant to small and micro-businesses.
Involved in the book publishing world since 1990, Mary had experience in most facets of the industry. In 2004, faced with the financial dissolution of a publisher with whom she had a contract, two months before her book was to go to press, she took matters into her own hands. Not wanting to let three years of her life go down the drain, she formed Word Forge Books, secured a sponsor for her book’s first printing, and became an independent publisher.
Using the principles she recommends to her marketing clients, Mary promoted her new book. With a bit of help from Mother Nature, “Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955” sold out its entire first run of 2,500 copies in 42 days. It has sold nearly 5,000 copies to date and will go into a second, updated edition in August, 2010.
Recognizing that many authors don’t understand the critical connection between savvy marketing and their books’ success, Mary began speaking in publishing circles in 2006. She believes that, despite all the structural and economic upheaval, this is the most exciting time to be a small, independent publisher. She hopes her presentations help authors and small publishers recognize the great potential for success in the new “wild west” of publishing brought on by technological innovations and changes in the marketplace.
Mary speaks with authority, enthusiasm and humor on the following topics:
- Freelance Writing
- Independent Book Publishing in the 21st Century
- How to Leverage the Power of Social Media for Your Business
- Marketing and Promotion for
- Publishers
- Authors
- Artists
- Small Business Owners
- The Deadly Flood of 1955 in the Delaware River Valley
- Adopting, Rescuing and Living With Disabled Pets
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DEVASTATION ON THE DELAWARE:
Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955
Award-Winning Author Mary A. Shafer
- Weather Coordinator, Nockamixon Twp. Emergency Management Agency
- Certified SkyWarn Weather Spotter #LKD-001
Mary Shafer is a full time freelance writer living and working in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She spent three years researching and writing Devastation on the Delaware before publishing it in 2005.
- 1966: Just before her 5th birthday, got caught at Beach Haven, NJ (Long Beach Island) in the remnants of Hurricane Alma, which had once been a rare early-season Category 3 storm. Never forgot her terror, standing in the wind and driving rain, watching the waves crash up almost to her family’s car as they loaded to escape the storm. Credits this as beginning of her weather obsession.
- 1968: Moved to a Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb in the tornado-prone Midwest. Remembers the vague fear of going to bed on hot, humid summer nights while a tornado watch was in effect.
- 1980-81: Attended University of Wisconsin campuses at Stout and Milwaukee, studies concentrated in art, history and English composition; holds Associate of Applied Science degree in Commercial Art and Communications from Milwaukee Area Technical College.
- Mid-1980s: Began freelancing as reviewer of films, books and B&Bs for alternative publications.
- 1990-91: Art director for NorthWord Press book publisher in Minocqua, WI
- Sept. 15, 1991: Woke from uneasy sleep to the screaming wind of a tornado as two twisters passed on either side of her northern Wisconsin property – the most frightening night of her life.
- 1991: Went back to freelancing. Researched and wrote her first historical nonfiction book, Wisconsin: The Way We Were; published August 1993 by Heartland Press.
- 1993: Returned to Milwaukee. Resumed freelance writing and design work.
- 1994-1996: Taught commercial art and copywriting at her alma mater, MATC.
- 1995: Second book, Rural America: A Pictorial Folk Memory, released in July by Willow Creek Press. Won Best Book Award from Mid-America Publishers Assn.
- 1997: Returned to home state of Pennsylvania and continued freelancing.
- 1998: Her work appeared in the anthology A Place To Which We Belong, published by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin to commemorate state’s sesquicentenary.
- 1998: Her essay “A Reluctant Maturity” garnered an Honorable Mention in the Potomac Review’s Annual Short Story/Essay Contest.
- 2001: Begins pursuing writing full time, running The Word Forge, a full-service communications firm in Ferndale, Pennsylvania. Specializes in: history; weather; emergency management/disaster preparedness; light construction & related fields. Has edited more than 30 trade books, mostly nonfiction and nature titles.
- 1999-Present: Teaches adult evening classes in writing at the Community Schools of New Hope-Solebury and the Palisades School District.
- 2002: Certified by the Sterling Institute as a SkyWarn Severe Weather Spotter.
- 2003: Joins Nockamixon Township Emergency Management Agency as Weather & Communications Coordinator
- Latest book, Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955 is the first comprehensive documentary of the record-setting flood n the Delaware Valley.
- October 7, 2005: The book was published by Word Forge Books, and sold out its entire first printing of 2,500 copies within 42 days. By 2010, it had sold 5,000 copies, an average of 1,000 copies per year. Mary is in the process of updating the book for release in August, 2010—the 55th anniversary of the 55 flood.
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Almost Perfect Biography
Mary A. Shafer
Mary A. Shafer grew up around cats. First, it was an endless succession of gray tigers at her grandparents’ farm in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, her home state. At first, they were all named Turpentine, or—more affectionately—simply, “Turp.” Later on, the look remained the same, but the name changed at some point to “Tim.” After all those years of hard work, her grandparents were tired and the monosyllabic name just seemed easier.
Then it was her first family cat, a long-haired orange tabby named Puff, after the little kitten in the Dick, Jane and Sally readers. Poor, long-suffering Puff, who knew the terrors of life with three small children. She was followed by Muffin, an adventurous, black-and-white magpie who delighted in chattering to the birds for hours through the family room picture window. During these tumultuous years leading up to Mary’s parents’ divorce, she learned how much comfort a cat can be.
She sorely missed that comfort during a lonely year at a far-off university. When she returned home and moved out on her own, Mary made her first two adoptions: a brother-and-sister pair of black kittens she named Waylon and Jessie. Next came Anais, a caramel-colored tabby who lived up to her literary name when she would lie across Mary’s shoulders as she read.
Then, for several years, change in jobs and living conditions prevented Mary from having cats. She found a loving home for Anais and vowed never again to find herself in a situation where she couldn’t keep her tiny, furry family members with her. When things settled down, Casper—an all-white domestic shorthair with loads of personality and two different-colored eyes—wandered into her life after a thunderstorm. He was soon joined by another stray, a tuxedo hellion named Leo.
Mary later created a family that included Tigger, a gray tiger with immense green eyes and a cinnamon nose. He was joined by Weaver, another tuxedo, scraped up off the highway after being hit by a car. Soon, Idgie came along, a long-haired gray domestic with a white bib, white paws and no eyes. She was a rescue from a pet store adoption program. Just a few years later, Winkie joined the clan, a handsome domestic shorthair with one eye. And the latest addition to the family is Boo Kitty, a small gray tiger with a spinal cord injury, rescued from euthanasia at a local SPCA.
Through it all, Mary has been a writer; sometimes casually, sometimes as a part-time career, and most recently, full-time. In 2005, she also became an independent book publisher.
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