Art & Inspiration How many H.A.M.B.ers are book authors?

Scotty's being too modest. He forgot to mention his best book: America's Coolest Station Wagons!

 

I've written 18 books. Most of which are my own personal journals. I have my entire life through Dec 31 2012 on the book shelf all hard bound color illustrated books and 2013 is at the printer being printed, most of which are daily journals illustrated with photographs. My kids know exactly what their dad has done pretty much day by day his whole life which is kind of neat. The early years are photos from my parents and a summary of my early life from my mother as I sat with her and captured it all then printed it. I also have several pictoral books around photography, fly fishing and the only car book I have done was called "A California Special Way of Life" for the members of the GT/CS Mustang group, it's available on line if you do a search if it interests anyone. It's a photo book of California Special Mustangs with each owners personal story on their car.

Cory

 

I have written and self-published ten "e-books;" seven of which deal with racing history

 

I'll be checking this one out, sounds like fun.

 

Jim Lindsay's novel should be a kick in the ass! Can't wait to read it. Marty Strode has some chops, too...

All this talent on here, and none of us have been on Oprah? WTF?!

Scotty

 

Hell Jangle, let's start our own,
somebody call Denise!
Neilsen ratings...here we come!

 

I've written a couple of books on Markets, Fairs and Fetes in Australia.

I've also sold online plans for a chainsaw saw mill which I call The Wombat Saw Mill.
It has about 80 A4(letter) size pages.

I'm now considering writing a short series of hardcopy kids books, the first one will be called... "Please Be Nice -- by Poppa Bob" I might publish them under the name Wombat Publishing

 

Hmmm... With Denise driving, anything is possible...

 

Few TV shows hold my attention anymore. Some of the shows about cars are O.K. but leave the drama out. Ryan, Denise, and Pat could put together a show that would be interesting without being an infomercial. There's a lot more talent on here to add to that.

 

I wrote this book and it was published in the mid 1970's. Sold pretty well.

It's still selling on the internet, been out of print for over 35 years.

http://www.abebooks.com/Fire-Apparatus-Pictorial-History-Angeles-Department/1312840414/bd

http://www.alibris.com/Fire-apparat...les-Fire-Department-George-Klass/book/2330692

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=George Klass&page=1&rh=n:283155,p_27:George Klass

It sold new for $5.00.

 

I have looked into e-publishing but have been slowed down by the confusing format requirements. I use a PC and have Microsoft office and Photo shop. I am interested in doing a photo rich how-to book.

What software, final format do you all use?

Eventually I would like to be able to create something as nice as the online versions of print magazines.

Really enjoying this thread!

 

For a printed book, you have to convert your Word document to a PDF and make sure you embed your fonts. Your cover also has to be in a PDF format as well with the fonts embedded. Its not hard at all to do. My printer can convert my written book format to an ebook for a small fee and get it into Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc, as part of their services.
Ebooks and written books each have their own pros and cons. My printer has advised, that while ebooks are the current trend, the online sources for them like Amazon and Barnes & Noble literally receive 10's of thousands of new ebooks daily into their system. With some writers adding several at a time. So what this does is overwhelms persons searching for a particular genre of books and makes it easy for some books to get overlooked when people do searches. They also do nothing for you as far as marketing your ebook either, just a place to sell it. One pro for ebooks is that they take little out of pocket money to do one, and its quick and easy.
One of several advantages to a written book is you are in control of its distribution if you choose to be. If you take 200 of them to a car show, you will sell all of them in one day more than likely. It will take a long time for 200 ebooks to sell. Its also been said that the written word lasts forever. Look at all the civilizations of the world that are several thousands of years old, and the various manuscripts from them that has also endured time.
What happens when your computer crashes with all the ebooks on it you downloaded? Its still very common to have computers crash. But short of a fire or flood, that's about the only way written books get lost.
I prefer creating written books personally, and others like and prefer ebooks for their reasons. Both have pros and cons.

 

Correct CNC-Dude...e-books and written books both have their pros and cons...however, and this is the very large 'however,' finding an agent (and consequently a publisher) for your written book these days is near impossible (I spent over five years contacting agents with well-written query letters and never even got to send out sample chapters). Your book, should you decide to go that way and do the printed version, had better be at the very top of the BEST written books out there. E-books have made agents "gun-shy" so to speak and there's a huge debate on which way "books" will go in the future. Our own Ryan thinks written books/magazines/etc. are all going away in the future...I don't agree.

Self-publishing a written book can be very expensive...finding a printer that will accept it is also fraught with 'danger' (as in $$$), they are called "vanity" presses for a reason.

To answer CNC-Dude's concern about computer crashes, I just went thru that...and my computer was only two years old, but I didn't lose a thing, thanx to a back-up unit that sits alongside my computer...didn't lose one word of any of my manuscripts or any pictures. Better to be safe than sorry and my latest book -"Arsenal Code R.E.D" is now an e-book....!!! Self promotion is next...!!!

R-

 

Gahrajmahal; I learned that InDesign is Adobe's big $ layout program. It can easily perform all the layout commands, once you know how, that is.
CNC and 40Stude Dudes: The agent system of old, sounds daunting to say the least!
Thanks guys, the knowledge shared is appreciated.

 

I have InDesign CS2 that I use, I got it off of ebay new for a fraction of the store bought price. Its pretty awesome and helpful for doing cover layouts as well as your page layouts. Photoshop is the only other software I use, and together that will provide all your needs just fine.
Self publishing and self promotion on a few car forums will reach a bigger target audience than having to go through a publisher. IMHO

 

Joe Alig and I did a book. Probably never do another one. East Vs. West Showdown- Rods Rails and Customs- Cartech.

Spike

 

We have one!

Social Group : HAMB Book Club

ya'll stop in and share what kinda things you've been reading.

-W

 

When I was looking for a printer for my jalopy book my thought was to select a local "Mom & Pop" printer shop in So-Cal, then I got the quote. WOW!, what a jolt! The price was huge. Then I was told to get a national printer who ONLY prints 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I selected Central Plains Book(s), now known as Sun Graphic Books in Kansas. I saved 50% from the local printer quote and the quality is fantastic. They stuck with me for years until I was finally ready. Becky Pate in their Sales Dept. is the best person to talk to if your going to have a book printed. Sun Graphic Books recently printed a high-end Bugatti book and they use it to promote the printing company.

 

I like to support the home town companies when its practical too, but online printers are so competitive its no always conducive when the margins are that far apart. I'm getting my newest book printed for less than $5 each. It should be pretty easy to at least sell them for $8-$10 each. Not many investments today bring that kind of return for the effort required.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Pinky-Jay-Carnine/dp/1592861830



For those who do not know, Jay Carnine also wrote "Pinky." He was a great guy and always willing to offer helpful advice...

 

Wow great thread. I'll have to check out some of these books.

I'll just mention that I've written for a few magazines over the years, GM High Tech Performance and Camaro Now, both put out by Source Interlink.

John Ryan

 

Jangleguy can do some awesome book writin'. Of course I'm a bit partial to Scotty's prose since he included me in his Wagon book. Hey Scotty, you doing a follow up on that book?

 

av8 = Mike Bishop ...

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Agreed! ... Rockerhead = Don Montgomery:

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Someone will correct me if I'm wrong ... but I'm pretty sure that Pat Ganahl (pgan) is the only HAMBer/author that has twice been a guest on Leno's "Jay's Book Club":

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Lost Hot Rods interview (December 15, 2010)


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Lost Hot Rods II interview (November 28, 2012)​

 

Andy Southard Jr. (AndySS) has been known to lurk on the HAMB ...

click thumbnails to enlarge​

 

Hemi32: Thanks for posting the covers and video. Pat and Andy are always safe bets for your print dollars.

Mikey: No plans for another wagon book yet.

 

Might as well show my covers, too. All are available at amazon.com. Racing to America (inspired on the HAMB) is on Kindle, too.

Special thanks to Lance "Jumpstart" Sorchik, who nailed the cover art, and Cole Coonce, who sets the tone with a badass Foreword!

Scotty

 

Might be about time to think about a sequel book on station wagons..

Cody Walls wagon is over the top,Roger Jetter wagon is cool and Chaz '53 Ford chopped top soon to be a woodie and several others going together..HRP

 

Not a book author, but I do have a technical paper published...does that count?