Interview with Andrew Beattie

Today I'm excited to introduce to you Andrew Beattie, author of Sleeping Around in America: Revisiting the Roadside Motel. Curious about the title? Read on to see how Andrew combines his love of motorcycles and historic motels to create a book that provides a unique perspective on the American road trip.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Ottawa and spent my formative teenage years living in Santiago, Chile. Living in capital cities and overseas inspired an interest in people, places and politics of the world. Wanting to fulfill my desire to learn, meet new people and understand the world around me, I started my career in the hospitality sector with the convention center in Ottawa. There I could be a part of the global meetings and events industry. I quickly rose through the ranks and moved on to various chain hotels living in Toronto, Winnipeg and Houston, Texas.

I returned to Ottawa and was fortunate to be offered the opportunity to serve as Vice President Marketing, Sales and Business Development for the construction of a new convention center - effectively closing the building I began my career in 20 years earlier and reopening it again. This brought my hospitality career full circle.

After, I applied my experience in the events sector and transferred my skills to begin a new career in public affairs journalism events. So, for my day job I host and produce a public affairs events series streamed live from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa that deals with the intersection of issues affecting Canadians and public policy.

What prompted you to write Sleeping Around in America?

Sleeping Around in America is my attempt to marry two of my interests: retro roadside motels and motorcycling. In the book I tell the stories of American roadside motels that have been fueling the American Dream for almost a century — both for the motor tourists seeking independence and freedom on road trips, and the family-run businesses that operate the motels. The independent roadside motels form an important part of Americana but have almost fallen into extinction. I wanted to travel and document the stories of these icons along the highway, and of the places and the people that own them, with the dual goals of finding out what the future holds for motels in general and encouraging Americans to get out and travel again. And as for doing it by motorcycle — it just made the journey more fun and is a cool way to travel. 

What was your favorite thing about the whole geographical and literary journey (if you can pick one)?

John Steinbeck famously wrote in 1960 that he wanted to travel America and write Travels with Charley because he feared that with the construction of the Interstate system you would be able to travel from New York to California without seeing a thing. On my journey around America (and though unplanned, my route looked eerily similar to Steinbeck’s), I travelled both on and off the Interstates of America and can say there is an awful lot to see and experience. America is a beautiful country with a vast geography and one that deserves exploring.

And for the literary journey? I had the most fun researching and tying disparate facts and pop-culture history about the places I visited to the motel stories and people behind them while weaving them all together in an interesting narrative.

Of all the motels you visited and people you talked with, does one particular person or place stand out?

I would be lying if I singled out just one person. And that is what made the journey so much fun. I met people from all backgrounds, all walks of life and each with an interesting story. Same for the motels. They reflected the personality of the owners. I suppose that is what makes it unique. I hopefully tried to convey that in the book.

What was your approach when you talked with people? Did you conduct interviews or just take notes after more informal conversations?

For the more formal interviews I conducted with moteliers I would record them using my iPhone. And for everything else I would take notes pulling out a pen and travel diary from my jacket pocket. My sons gave me the travel diary before I left and I kept it on me the entire time. When it came time to writing I would reference it often.

Did you write each chapter on the road?

Mostly. But not the day of. I would always be two or three days behind. It would take me that time to formulate the narrative for the motel and destination and match that to what I witnessed, researched and the people I met. But by doing it this way, at the end of the journey I had a near rough draft complete.

How long of a process was it from the initial concept to publication?

Twenty months. However, the first year was spent in preparation for the journey. This was sourcing motels, mapping the journey, making reservations and...saving money! Following the fifty day journey, the book took seven months to the day to publish.

What are you glad you’ve done this time around, and what might you do differently the next time you publish?

I am glad I gave myself a deadline for completion and spent time with audience building. I feel that making public promises to deliver kept my feet to the fire to ensure I completed the book and avoid procrastination. As for the next time, I may consider separating the services instead of a bundled offering from a single publisher. By that I mean, I would have liked to have more control in working directly with the layout designer (like I did with the cover design) both to push the project faster and make quick adjustments. This would have also given me more opportunity to show a near finished project to others for more beta readers to elicit their feedback. The way I did it, and despite having a content and copy editing, I didn’t have the opportunity to show it to enough people in near finished form. This would have allowed me to make changes but also to solicit blurbs that can help market the book.

How have you approached marketing and audience building?

When I started this project, I worked hard to build an audience on Facebook and subscribers to my newsletter on my website. I knew that this book would appeal to a primary market of motorcyclists that enjoy overnight travel and road trips. So, all my audience building activities were geared there. For the year leading up to the journey, I would share in my blog and Facebook posts the preparations and my research. So, when I started the journey I had almost 10,000 Facebook followers.

To reach a broader market of individuals who have an interest in travel, and specifically retro travel, I would promote my posts to other Facebook audiences to reach a broader Gen Xer and Boomer audience while using Instagram to share cool photos from the journey to reach millennials. By the time my book was published, I was nearing 25,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and my website subscribers combined.

Where can people find your book and connect with you?

Sleeping Around in America: Revisiting the Roadside Motel is distributed through Ingram and is available today by online retailers like Barnes & Noble, Amazon and through the FriesenPress bookstore. Soon I anticipate it to be available in select bookstores and most online retailers worldwide.

And if you are interested in connecting with me please reach out by: email andrew@motelorcycle.com; on Facebook @TheMotelorcyclist-Andrew Beattie; Instagram @motelorcyclist; and, on Twitter @motelorcycle. I promise to respond quickly.

Lastly, these are strange and difficult times, to say the least. How are you staying connected with your audience and community? And what are you doing to stay encouraged as a writer?

These are interesting times indeed. During this period of self-isolation and self-distancing, I am streaming a half-hour ‘program’ using Facebook Live on my Facebook page called Bedtime Stories with The Motelorcyclist. I am playing up on the tongue and cheek title of the book and telling stories of the journey from my bedroom. Hopefully we can all come together as community. I go live on Sunday and Wednesday nights at 8pm. It’s just a fun way to stay connected as we all self-isolate.