With so many stories to tell, a book should be easy

“When are you going to write a book?”

I get asked that question often. Perhaps it’s from reading this column or simply that many friends know my passion for reading and libraries and books in general.

I suppose the answer is, “Maybe one of these days.”

My name is on the cover of several books as co-author, but to date none has me listed as lead author.

I have edited a number of books for friends and family. Even did one for a complete stranger who then asked me to write an extended chapter about racing in Baja in his next book. And of course do the edit as well.

My mother wrote a book when she was in her mid 80s. It was a history of the area in Central Washington where she grew up and featured our extended family’s role in the region’s development of the region. My daughter Alisa helped her with technical details, but Mom wrote the whole thing and then they did a very nice self-publishing job and distributed the book to family and friends. The local library where she grew up requested several copies.

Alisa wrote a compelling history of how her husband’s grandfather escaped from a Nazi prison and came to the U.S. She self published in a slick-paper, hard-cover edition that was very professionally done. She also wrote a novel she has chosen not to publish but I have it in “e” form and it’s excellent.

My friend Frank Clark, one of the real characters of Oakdale, has just published his life story, a book called “Pinky.” While most self studies are pretty boring, this one was a fast and interesting read, largely because he did an excellent job of weaving local history and names into the narrative.

I asked Frank for some details on what it cost to self publish a book. He said he had to provide the edited manuscript as a Word document. The publisher provided him 300 initial copies for $5,000, which he has already recouped by selling the book for $20. They have a standing offer to provide additional copies at $6 each, minimum of 50 in the order and he has reordered several times because sales have been brisk.

This is a far cry from the traditional way publishers have operated. In the past you were required to make minimum orders numbering in the thousands and, as a result, most self-published authors ended up with entire rooms filled with unsold books. My Baja author friend died suddenly last year. His widow told me he had written and published six books, and she had a room with nearly 10,000 unsold books.

Some 20 years ago Jack McCoy, the Modesto stock car racing champion, asked me to help him create a history of racing in the West. We worked on the book for about a year. I did a number of edits and wrote a good portion of the book.

It was a very serious and successful publication, running some 550 pages, 900 photographs, high quality paper and copy. He paid about $18 per copy with a minimum order of 3,500, which meant he had to sell about half of the books at $40 to break even. We reached that number. Sadly, Jack died a few years ago and his wife Peggy still has a room full of very expensive books. (A couple years ago they were going on eBay for $300! Peggy would gladly sell you a stack of them for a lot less.)

Clearly I have not answered the initial question. But as I look back on the 150 of these monthly columns (to date), I calculate I have already written the equivalent of a full novel. Perhaps someday someone can collect these and publish them in my memory.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "With so many stories to tell, a book should be easy."