Lake Shelbyville Living & Mattoon-Charleston Area Living

08/13/2025

Lake Shelbyville neighbors--here are the 3 summer families we featured. All unique, all community-oriented, all beautiful! It has been so fun getting their stories out to you all.

Please let us know if there are any families that you would like to see featured.

08/13/2025

EXCITING NEWS!!

As I post the 3 summer families we featured in Mattoon-Charleston Area Living, I wanted to share that the publication is in the process of being taken over by the beautiful, adorable, and talented Kee Dixon. She is born and raised in Mattoon, and I know she will do an amazing job!

I have been so blessed to work with and get to know so many of you over the last 3 years, but my life is headed in a different direction. As I prepare to move on with my next chapter, it was VERY important to me to find the perfect person to take YOUR neighborhood magazine over. And I have. Keisha is that person, so please welcome her into your businesses and into your homes. You will be very happy that you did.

04/23/2025

In the past three months we have shown the diversity of our featured people we put on the cover: a young man with a big role in the new multisport complex, a family with legacy in the Mattoon-Charleston area, and a younger family making their own mark in the area. All exciting stories, and more coming each month.

Also exciting times for local business owners as my role shifts from a publisher to a marketing partner.

If you’re a business owner and you want to know the best way to capture the attention of the thousands of people visiting M-C for the new multi sport complex, Lakeland activities, or events at EIU, shoot me a message. In addition to supporting your communities by sponsoring in the publication, I can show you how to blanket the area with digital versions of your ad.

If anyone searches for your business, make sure you have me help you get your business to show up first and accurately across all search engines.

Let us help you grow.

04/23/2025

We’ve gotten Lake Shelbyville surrounded with fabulous feature families from Shelbyville, Findlay and Windsor. Who will we have in the lake’s busiest months of June, July, and August?? You won’t want to miss out.

If you’re a business owner and want to hear about how we are helping businesses grow with digital marketing as we have thousands of visitors to the lake every month, shoot me a message.

If you want to know how we can help make your business the top found on all online search engines, hit me up.

I’m not just a publisher anymore; I’m a marketing partner!! And I love it!

03/31/2025

I love the great people that work at this valuable place in Coles County.

With state and federal grants getting cut, and the costs of groceries rising, could the residents of Coles County agree to each donate $20 to the pantry to help keep them in operation?

In doing so, you will not only feel good about yourself, you will be helping to feed the ones that can’t provide for themselves.

02/17/2025

Look at these beautiful families we had the pleasure of getting to know this winter. Love it!

If you have a family you would like to nominate in the Mattoon-Charleston area, shoot me a text:

217-620-9348
Becky Clayton-Anderson

02/17/2025

Loving our awesome families!! Here were the ones we featured this winter.

If you have a Lake Shelbyville-area family you would like to nominate, shoot me an email.

[email protected]

10/16/2024

Every once in a while we get a family that impacts the area so much that we want to put them in both Lake Shelbyville Living as well as Mattoon-Charleston Area Living. The England family is one of those families. A staple of the Sullivan community, both Jon and Renee are also owners of Mattoon businesses and look to see that area thrive.
For October we had two families that each make a big impact in their respective neighborhoods. Great communities are made that way because of the great families in them.

10/16/2024

We want to share YOUR sports stories. Please click on this link and submit your ideas for a team, coach, ref, athlete of any sport that we can do a story on. Remember, our publications are popular because they are about you and your neighbors.

Local sports powered by the local community. Have a story that needs to be shared? We want to help you tell it. It only takes 5 minutes.

09/06/2024

With the Fighting Illini game tomorrow, we thought it was a good time to share our sports story of our very own Illinois football player.
Enjoy reading about a young man from our neighborhood who’s making big waves in college football.

08/20/2024

I have decided I want to share some of the information that I present to business owners. Why? I feel it’s very important that everyone in our communities understand how these publications are different than anything our area has ever seen…..

Social media has consumed us all. It keeps us connected, it keeps us educated, and it keeps us informed. My two publications are social media IN PRINT! The readership rate is so high because we make sure the content is useful. The content is positive, encouraging, motivating, and it’s all about YOU! Nothing about this presidential campaign, COVID, people arguing, economies struggling. We do not need more negativity in our lives. I LOVE when I hear you all look so forward to receiving your issue each month.

Another thing to know—the businesses I want in my publications are the ones that are community first. Businesses that love the people they serve. Businesses that look at them as people and not just customers. Small, local businesses that see the value in being a part of my publications see the value in sponsoring our communities. It’s no longer traditional advertising. Our hometowns are ALL about trust and relationships. It’s our backbone. No business person in Chicago can tell us how to run and grow our businesses because they simply do not know.

Two pictures show the distribution areas. If you’re a home owner in these red circles, you will receive the publications in the mail for free every month. These areas are set by the Best Version Media home office in WI. To “blanket” the area, digital marketing needs to be discussed. One picture below shows the different digital packages we offer. THOUSANDS of eyes will see your ad every month if you chose to add digital to your print. All research shows combining the two increases your exposure by 400%!!

Sevenia and I are THRILLED and PROUD to bring our hometowns these publications. We work hard to keep them what we promise them to be…..not always perfect, but always positive and peppy. PLEASE let us know if there’s any community submitted articles that you would like to include. We’d love to have it to share with your neighbors.

08/06/2024

Lake Shelbyville Living—-so many new and exciting things happening around our area!! How can we capture the attention of thousands that travel to and through the Lake Shelbyville area? DIGITAL!! The most powerful current marketing method is community-sponsored print to build the relationships w the communities, and blanket the area w a digital campaign. Not sure how it works, I’d love to meet w you and explain. Let’s meet in August or September so we roll into 2025 w a solid marketing plan. As a fellow business owner, growing your business and focusing on local business is my priority!
Enjoy our summer feature fams!! Both families are HUGE staples in the Shelbyville area.