About Timothy Remus

Who is Timothy Remus?


The answer to that question is both simple and complex.

The simple answer would state: Timothy Remus is the owner of Wolfgang Publications, publisher of a variety of books and calendars. Of course there's a bit more to it than that.

The first books we published run the gamut from Motorcycle Assembly titles to Airbrushing and Tattoo books. How we ended up with this rather diverse series of titles begins with my youthful obsession with anything mechanical. I was fixing broken lawnmowers and cars long before I had a driver's license. That fascination led me to Dunwoody Industrial Institute after high school, which in turn led me to employment in long list of shops both large and small scattered all over the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.

After trade school I started taking classes part-time at the University of Minnesota. And in only twelve years I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and a strong interest in writing and photography. In the early 1980s, my oldest friend, Mikey Urseth, and I took over the publication of a small local motorcycle newsletter, which we eventually grew to a state-wide publication called Midwest Rider.

>


It wasn't until 1984 that I took the plunge however. A nagging back injury combined with boredom prompted me to lay down my wrenches and try full-time writing and photography. In addition to working harder on Midwest Rider, I began to do more free-lance work with various magazines and a certain book publisher by the name of Motorbooks International (now owned by a company named Quayside).

After writing a number of books for Motorbooks I realized that the publisher stands to make more money on a book than the author working on a 12% royalty. So in the mid-1990s I began to publish nearly all the books I wrote. Being the publisher means the company is responsible for the layout, the printing and the marketing. After everyone else gets paid, whatever’s left is our profit. The early Ultimate V-Twin series, and the Jon Kosmoski Kustom Painting Secrets book, were our own publications and really laid the foundation for Wolfgang. Today, we do everything from the auto and motorcycle how-to books we are best known for, to a group of Composite Materials books and a bigger group of Tattoo Books.

Because the Tattoo books and some of the Airbrushing titles are so far afield from our typical motorhead books, we’ve begun to publish those under a separate imprint: ArtKulture. More information on ArtKulture can be found at a separate web site, artkulture.com.

For 2012 look for more typical Wolfgang titles like the NEW Kustom Painting Secrets and Custom Bike Building Basics, as well as Composite Materials Book 3 and The Big Book of Triumph. And of course we continue to produce our Classic Triumph Motorcycle calendar, which started in 1996.

In closing I have to say it's been one hell of a ride. We started out publishing a few motorcycle books - and look at us now - apparently the ride ain't over yet.