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

I like to read even though most of it is done here on the H.A.M.B. but another post made me wonder, how many published authors frequent the H.A.M.B. ? Can you share experiences or stories?

 

Mike Bishop is one here once in a while..

 

Have two books on T-bird history published by Motorbooks International: "American Classics-Thunderbird 1955-1966" (1996) and "Thunderbird 50 Years" (2004). Both are out of print: have no extra copies of the first one, but I have 9 cases of the latter in my basement. It took me 2 years to write the first one, which was well-received thanks to the time spent in research and the interviews I had with designers and engineers, along with digging through places like the Detroit Public Library, Ford Industrial Archives and Ford Photomedia in Dearborn, and attending many T-bird shows around the country (also helped that I edited and wrote Vintage Thunderbird Club International's magazine for almost a decade and still help research/write their judging standards); the second I was given less than 6 months to write and was paired with a photographer who got the better end of the deal; it still hasn't earned me any beer money after nearly 10 years. I swore after the first one I wouldn't do another, but couldn't resist the temptation to take on the challenge. I think my next book will be on something other than cars, though.

 

My wife and I did three books for Motorbooks International. "Diamonds In the Rust", "Fat Fenders" and "How to Paint Flames" All are currently out of print. "Diamonds In the Rust was reprinted three times and "Fat Fenders' twice.

 

"blownflathead" (Joe Abbin) has written a couple of very good flathead performance books.

 

Dan Greenberg has published books with his car photos, and no surf(Jay Sweet) has a book titled "Grandpa's Hotrod".
Holly Felsen Welch is republishing her dad's ( Henry Gregor Felsen) Hotrod books 5+books.
Uncle Scooby(Ron Garrett) wrote "Almost:a true story".
And as Prime mentioned Jim Bishop/Vern Tardel's How to build a Model A.


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I have 2 books going to print now, 1 is non auto related and 1 is about Stovebolt Performance. I am going to self publish mine. I have read a lot of pros and cons about doing it that way vs. having a publisher do it. The self publishing route seems to be the more lucrative choice because there is no middle man, and the books never go out of print since you control how and when they get printed. I look to do many more as time allows.

 

I have heard the same about self publishing.

 

It definately involves more legwork since you have to find your own distribution network, but you remain in control of your own work and determine how long it stays in print, and a bigger chunk of change goes in your pocket for each book you sell. I doubt any of us will get rich doing it, but its fun doing all the photo editting and cover design and putting it into a ready to print document.

 

It sure would be interesting to know how an automotive book is put together. The photo collecting, research, all the stuff you need before the story is writen. Bob

 

40studedude....Roger Jetter, is an author with several books under his belt.
He also does magazine articles and writes a column for "Goodguys" besides!
Builds a fine custom as well...

 

Rockerhead has published several books and is a wealth of info!

 

One of my all time favorite writers is on here , his moniker is pgan. Always awesome books.

 

Workin' on one now. Very time consuming. Would like to be remembered ,as the Quickchange 'Leo Santucci'.

 

Ryan Cochran, Jeff Norwell and I self published "The Jalopy Journal" (book 2) in 2012 and we are nearing completion on book 3. It is a lot of work, expensive as hell to print but enough fun enough to do it again. Look for it in 2014.

 

can't say as i've ever "written" a book, but i have illustrated one.

 

Its too bad this thread didn't start a week ago. A local car club member passed away on December 27th this year. He was a car guy who owned a cool 55 Chev with a hopped up 261 truck six and a four speed. His name is Allen Bickhous, he wrote two novels. "Mystic ring", and "Full circle". He checked in to the Hamb regularly.
I had 35 MM pictures printed in the old Rodders Digest. I admire what young guys are doing with digital camera's.

 

Rikster has a great book out about the Jack Stewart '41 Ford (and a lot of other related cars and history). I got my copy just before Xmas, spent the holidays reading it cover to cover. He did a great job...

 

First off, I want to say that I was CHEATED out of being credited in the bibliography, Check the Oil by Scott Anderson . It was me that did the research for this book. My photos were simply scanned in and I was to have been given a credit in the bibliography . I wasn't . I still have the negatives Mr. Anderson so I can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that MOST of the pictures in that book are mine .

Aside from that , I also did a Political Science book, Contains lead . I may re publish this book on my own because certain facts need to be shared even today about some rather unscrupulous practices by oil companies . scrubba

 

Tom Isbell "Southern Cross" is on here I think, out of Washington state

 

Does a screenplay count? It is in review by a studio for a movie.
I have written articles for Stock Car Racing Mag.
I have a novel and another screenplay in the works. None auto related.

The37kid: research and more research, time and patience. Three years working on one screenplay. The articles took about 5 months to gather the right info, another 6 months to get published. Stick with one theme, use alternate sources.

 

Me to ,Did a screenplay.Never did anything with it.Just had to get on paper and put it away. Did a TV pilot ,The producer made it so bad , I walked .In talks again .And Iam thinking of doing a coffee table book.A friend left me all of his photos from the 50s on. Bonneville ,Drag racing ,Road racing , Reno Air races .1000's of them.

 

Writing a book is never easy but I think everyone with an idea or a story should write one of for nothing do it for yourself. It will teach you humility and honesty. Hot rodders are a tenacious, emotional and informed group so most will make good writers.

Be prepared for a long-term investment in time, research, composition, and above all, yourself. For me it wasn't so much the long hours but commitment and self-assurance.

I wrote my first booklet in 1983 called "101 Automotive Businesses You can Start." Sold it through mail order and it did quite well. Then I wrote "How to Start a Hot Rod & Custom Shop" in 1990 and sold a bunch by mail. That's the hard method now, but it was the only way to get your words in front of eyeballs before Internet.

Now I sell my self-published pubs on Amazon as eBooks. Selling your books through the large marketers is easier and less expensive than having hard copies published and doing all that hustling yourself. But some books like the ones mentioned on this thread are better published hard copy. Mine are business and self-improvement related so selling as them eBooks works well.

My books are not professionally edited at this time but they get the message across. I am forming a publishing company right now and hope to have some of my books published hard copy soon. You can find a link to them on my website. Now go write.

 

i self published the book in my avitar WAY back in the 80's. it's never been a pretty book, but over the years it's proven to be over 95% accurate. have copies in 4 countries that i know of.......and yes capital letters are not my friend, LOL.

 

I've never written a book but have read many....does that count?

 

I wrote a history of the home town back about 10 years or so.

Guthrie: A History of the Capital City.

Published by our Thirty Seconds Press here in Oklahoma. We are now in our second printing.
Took several years to research and write it. Lot of hard work but worth it....

 

Good question and I have written and self-published two: "Motorized Bicycles" and "Motor Wheels and Flyers". Both books were the result of building projects that I enjoyed, and so I took the progress pictures and build records to create a book. Because my subjects were so limited, I don't think any publisher would have been interested. Self-publishing is really the way to go for some authors; both my books are currently selling on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and are offered either in print form or e-book form. I was interested to find that the e-books outsell the print books about two to one, and the author royalties for e-books are three times higher (and the e-book is much cheaper)!

 

Didn't we all write the book?

 

Seriously, I read this here the other day. This guy can write. He should do a book.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9440932#post9440932

 

There are so many talented people on here! When we built a new engine for Vern Tardel's old Salt 'n' Peppers Nash, Joe Abbin's book proved very helpful. And anything by Don Montgomery is golden.

I'm working on my fifth book for CarTech Inc. right now. I also work for SourceInterlink magazines. And my first independently published book just came out just this week: "Racing to America" - inspired by a late-night discussion right here on the magical HAMB.

Lots more about my writing on my blog (link below)...

I'm very honored to be among the HAMB scribes.

Scotty