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

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Chevy Gasser, Dec 29, 2013.

  1. pwschuh
    Joined: Oct 27, 2008
    Posts: 2,827

    pwschuh
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Scotty's being too modest. He forgot to mention his best book: America's Coolest Station Wagons!
     
  2. Hookedtrout
    Joined: Feb 18, 2011
    Posts: 140

    Hookedtrout
    Member
    from East Idaho

    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
     
  3. kevracer58
    Joined: Nov 26, 2008
    Posts: 1

    kevracer58
    Member

    I have written and self-published ten "e-books;" seven of which deal with racing history
     
  4. Hookedtrout
    Joined: Feb 18, 2011
    Posts: 140

    Hookedtrout
    Member
    from East Idaho

    I'll be checking this one out, sounds like fun.
     
  5. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    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
     
  6. pitman
    Joined: May 14, 2006
    Posts: 5,148

    pitman

    Hell Jangle, let's start our own,
    somebody call Denise!
    Neilsen ratings...here we come!
     
  7. echnidna
    Joined: Aug 26, 2009
    Posts: 64

    echnidna
    Member
    from Australia

    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
     
  8. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member


    Hmmm... With Denise driving, anything is possible...
     
  9. Chevy Gasser
    Joined: Jan 23, 2007
    Posts: 718

    Chevy Gasser
    Member

    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.
     
  10. George Klass
    Joined: Dec 31, 2007
    Posts: 1,076

    George Klass
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  11. Gahrajmahal
    Joined: Oct 14, 2008
    Posts: 493

    Gahrajmahal
    Member

    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!
     
  12. CNC-Dude
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 1,031

    CNC-Dude
    Member

    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.
     
  13. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    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-
     
  14. pitman
    Joined: May 14, 2006
    Posts: 5,148

    pitman

    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.
     
  15. CNC-Dude
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 1,031

    CNC-Dude
    Member

    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
     
  16. Spike!
    Joined: Nov 22, 2001
    Posts: 2,733

    Spike!
    Member

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

    Spike
     
  17. Woogeroo
    Joined: Dec 29, 2005
    Posts: 1,226

    Woogeroo
    Member
    from USA

    We have one!

    Social Group : HAMB Book Club

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

    -W
     
  18. toml24
    Joined: Sep 23, 2009
    Posts: 1,620

    toml24
    Member

    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.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2014
  19. CNC-Dude
    Joined: Nov 23, 2007
    Posts: 1,031

    CNC-Dude
    Member

    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.
     
  20. hemi
    Joined: Jul 11, 2001
    Posts: 1,959

    hemi
    Member

  21. 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
     
  22. 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?
     
  23. av8 = Mike Bishop ...

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2014
  24. Agreed! ... Rockerhead = Don Montgomery:

    cover1.jpg cover2.jpg cover3.jpg cover4.jpg
    cover5.jpg cover6.jpg cover7.jpg cover8.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2014
  25. 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":

    <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" id="nbcwidget" width="640" height="360" align="middle"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://video.nbcuni.com/core/6.3.0/DPSWidget.swf?WID=nbcSingleclipWidget&vcmsMedia=1265136&configId=27502&initURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbc.com%2Fvideo%2Finit.xml%3FvideoId%3D%255BVIDEO_ID%255D"/><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://video.nbcuni.com/core/6.3.0/DPSWidget.swf?WID=nbcSingleclipWidget&vcmsMedia=1265136&configId=27502&initURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbc.com%2Fvideo%2Finit.xml%3FvideoId%3D%255BVIDEO_ID%255D" quality="high" width="640" height="360" align="middle" bgcolor="#000000" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>
    Lost Hot Rods interview (December 15, 2010)


    <object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/r29Y1lvjnjE?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/r29Y1lvjnjE?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
    Lost Hot Rods II interview (November 28, 2012)
     
  26. Andy Southard Jr. (AndySS) has been known to lurk on the HAMB ...

    Andy Southard Jr.jpg
    Hot Rods of the 1950s (by Andy Southard Jr.).jpg Custom Cars of the 1950s (by Andy Southard Jr.).jpg
    Hot Rods & Customs of the 1960s (by Andy Southard Jr.).jpg Hot Rods & Customs of the 1970s (by Andy Southard Jr.).jpg The Oakland Roadster Show (by Andy Southard Jr.).jpg
    click thumbnails to enlarge
     
  27. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    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.
     
  28. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    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
     

    Attached Files:

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

    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
     
  30. kscarguy
    Joined: Aug 22, 2007
    Posts: 1,610

    kscarguy
    Member

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

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