Carole Marsh is the amazingly prolific author of the Carole Marsh Mysteries, with over 100 books to her credit. She’s also the founder of Gallopede International, am education curriculum organization. She graciously took the time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions about her career and what she’s up to next. Enjoy!

1. When did you begin writing? 

I started writing before I was a born!  Read my NINE MONTHS IN MY MOMMY:  AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN UNBORN BABY

I wrote before I could read, won a jingle writing contest when I was very young, wrote all my life; told God if I could be a writer, I would not worry about money or fame, I just wanted to make my living as a writer; I did!

2. What drew you to children’s literature in particular?

I wanted to write for kids because books meant so much to me as a child.  I did not read my first book, I ate it!  Really; I just loved the look and feel of a book and chewed an entire corner off and ate it.  Books saved my life.

In the turmoil of home and the stress of having awful eyesight, my only focal length was from my eye to the page of a book. When I was young I thought every book I loved had been written just for me.  And that’s how I approach my writing. I’m writing for that one reader.  

I know what a difference a book can make in an hour, a day, a time of fear, boredom, loneliness, etc. Books saved my life and I believe that I save kids’ lives by writing books to give them hope, joy, belief, understanding, relief, and more.  It’s not just a career, it’s a lifetime passion; I am 80 and still writing!

3. What is your typical writing schedule like? Is there a formula to your mysteries? 

There is no formula except giving kids what they want; a book they can imagine themselves as a character in, characters they love, an adventure, fun, a bit of scary, a view into a world or place they may not know but might can visit someday, and most especially with short, chilff-hanging chapters, the proof that they can read a whole book, often in one sitting.  

Kids who “hated” to read are often thrilled to find that they love to read my mysteries and can breeze through them and read the entire book.  

4. Since your mysteries take place all nationally and internationally, do you do any travel research for your books?

My husband and I traveled our entire lives.  I realized I could not write legitimately unless I went to see what I was writing about, especially different geography, cultures, etc.

But I also love research and found I could write a book and THEN go there, when necessary in that order, and the book be spot on.

5. If it’s possible, do you have a book that you’re particularly fond of? 
I love all my books like they are my babies!  But the ones I love best are not the mysteries.  I love them because I based my own kids as characters, their friends, later my grandchildren, even my husband and I ended up in the books; they seem as real to me as they do to my readers.  

But I love my HELLO IN THERE:  POETRY TO READ TO TH EUNBORN BABY.  It’s my all time best-seller.  I love it because reading to a baby before it is even born is a great head start to literacy, bonding, love of the sound of the word.  

I also love FIRST AID FOR IGNORANCE, a book that tells teens and young adults the facts of real business, job, career life.  

We teach them a lot in school, but not al the insider info often only learned through making mistakes. I don’t think it’s fair to not equip them with all the knowledge they need to go forth into the world. I get letters saying this book made them cry, that “No one ever told me all this!”  

I could name a bunch more books I love best, LOL.

6. How has your background in education prepared you for your turn into the publishing realm? 

Publishing has evolved so much over the last 50 years; it has been a constant process to keep up, to invent, actually.  I did publishing on demand when no one else was; when no one believed that was possible.  

You have to adapt to stay in publishing; in some ways, it’s pretty cutthroat, but readers don’t care about that they just want a good, but sincere customer service. We work for our customers, not the big box stores or Amazon or etc.  We have a tight focus.

And now the AI challenge.  Someone asked if I was going to use AI.  I said, “I AM AI!”  I don’t need any help from AI and I sure don’t need it stealing my books and saying it wrote them!”

7. What is Gallopade International, and what pushed you to create it? Gallopade International today is a family-owned and operated business that mainly produces high-stakes social studies and science curriculum for K-12 for many states; we often beat out much larger competitors.  It’s hard work but we love it; same tight focus on the reader to help them not just learn facts but make sense of the past, present, and future.

Carole Marsh Books is now a separate entity and I am working it digitally global so Sam in Siberia can read my mysteries!  I’m really excited about that!

8. How does it improve or add to the educational landscape?  

Good question!  I think we add to the educational landscape by being honest, fair, accurate.

Teachers say they love that they have no idea if Carole Marsh is black, white, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Jew, etc.  I try to be unbiased and not inert my opinions into books, fiction or non-fiction.  

We call it the “Carole Marsh question”—“What do YOU think?” Because kids are too influenced by so many things, but what they need is to sort that out for themselves and determine what they believe. That’s how you become an adult and effective citizen. That’s more important now than ever.  

I do like when reviewers call my books “wholesome”, an old-fashioned word, but yes, I pretty much like to see my characters get along and help one another, not always what we see in schools, etc. today, alas.

9. How has Gallopade evolved since its founding?

Gallopade has grown very organically from me at the kitchen table with a typewriter and a rotary telephone to a high-tech, much larger company.  But we still operate with that same “We can do that for you” goal, we can write that book you need, we can help with that attitude.  

We are close to our customers.  They love us and we love them. We are happy for our success, but out goal is of a forever relationship with our readers (I get fan mail from kids of kids of kids, these days!  We even have people come to work for us because they once loved the Carole Marsh Mysteries and want to be part of that. It’s humbling. It’s beautiful.

 It’s the reason, I think, Gallopade is almost 50 years old today, rare for a small start up business, rare in publishing.  

10. What is coming next for you?

Next is my new company VISION EPIC which will produce my books in digital form, book and audio book, often including sound and video, animation, etc to bring them even more to life; instantly deliverable digitally and auto-tranlation if a customer wants it in French or Farsi, let’s say.

Just direct to the customer us to them, skip all the middlemen, and paid for with a token or whatever is the viable digital currency by that time.

This way I can keep my books “in print” forever.  I”m also writing new books built for this exciting new way.  So I am very busy!

On a personal note, if you care, my beloved husband Bob (called Papa the cowboy pilot in many of the mysteries) passed away 9 years ago from Parkinson’s Disease. He was such a big part of my life and Gallopade’s kids loved to meet him at school visits and shout “”HOWDY PAPA!” At the top of their lungs!  

So it’s just me and my dog Coconut, a rescue who is also the star of my new Haunted Library Mysteries.  I don’t do many school visits anymore but when I do and Coco comes along, it’s quite the riot!  You could say I’ve lived my life through books and it has made for a great story, with many more chapters I hope!