Its great that there seems to be quite a few books now written or being written about driving to places near and far, back in the day. VCCs books are well known on here, Jazzandy also wrote a book I believe and then there is Ashley Coghill`s book about Astran, Euromat wrote one about Transhaul and I believe our very own Uncle Bob has also put pen to paper a few times.
Now the question… how difficult is it to get a book published nowadays? Old Pond seem to be the publisher of choice for transport orientated books and then I think you can also self publish to Kindle, but did you have to fight for a book deal? Do you tell them what you want or do they tell you what you are going to get?? (Haulage all over again! 
)
I will confess an interest here as I have been meaning to write a book about a memorable part of my life and have written a chapter concerning a specific time and event and it was well received by those who read it and who were also there. It is transport orientated and would be of interest Im sure. Im just curious as to how, after I have got my arse into gear and actually got around to writing the manuscript, it would actually get published!
Cheers, 
bullitt:
Its great that there seems to be quite a few books now written or being written about driving to places near and far, back in the day. VCCs books are well known on here, Jazzandy also wrote a book I believe and then there is Ashley Coghill`s book about Astran, Euromat wrote one about Transhaul and I believe our very own Uncle Bob has also put pen to paper a few times.
Now the question, how difficult is it to get a book published nowadays? Old Pond seem to be the publisher of choice for transport orientated books and then I think you can self publish to Kindle, but did you have to fight for a book deal? Do you tell them what you want or do they tell you what you are going to get?? (Haulage all over again!
I will confess an interest here as I have been meaning to write a book about a memorable part of my life and have written a chapter concerning a specific time and event and it was well received by those who read it. It is transport orientated and would be of interest Im sure. Im just curious as to how, after I have got my arse into gear and actually got around to writing the manuscript, it would actually get published!
Cheers,
Hi Bullit. Yes, there are the two routes that you can go down to get published. You can approach Old Pond to try to get them to publish it for you or you can publish it yourself. I have used both methods. Of course there are pros and cons to both options.
If you approach Old Pond and they are interested in your idea for the book, you send them the manuscript and the Commissioning Editor would read it. They would suggest any changes that they thought should be made. If they are happy with it then they would send it out to three reviewers who would read it and then make comments on its appeal and suitability. They would also point out anything that they felt was wrong with it.
If Old Pond decided to still go ahead then they would ask you to change it to cover any criticism that the reviewers had made.
Once that was done they would then decide at an editorial meeting whether to proceed with it. If they did, then you would be sent a contract to sign and the process of getting it printed would begin.
Basically, because their books are printed in India, the time between getting the go ahead and the actual book coming out is around 6 months.
For using Old Pond, the advantages are that you can submit your narrative as an A4 Word doc. Once it is accepted they do everything, like having it proof read, designing the cover, publishing it and promoting it. You do not need to do anything and it does not cost you a penny.
To me and other authors the downside of using Old Pond is that they generally cut down the length of the manuscript to fit their purpose. This is due to printing cost which reflects in the R.R.P. of the book. The fewer words then the cheaper it is to produce, basically. However, in saying that most people write their stories and they contain too many words any way. You need to be strict during the writing process to limit the word count while still making the story realistic. (That is where good proof reading and editing comes into play).
My first book, “The Vodka Cola Cowboy”, was published by Old Pond and this taught me some very valuable lessons. My second book, “Trucking Magic” and the new one that is just about to come out, “The Champagne Truckers” are self published through Createspace.
With Createspace the cost of getting the book published are minimal. You can pay for their help but if you are anywhere near reasonable at using a computer then you do not need it. Once you have got your book uploaded you buy a print copy paperback to make sure that it is fit to be published. This comes from the States and will cost you around $20. If you are not happy with the finished article, you alter anything that you need to in your manuscript and go through the procedure again, for another $20. If you are then satisfied that it is ready to go you press the button and launch it.
It will come out virtually straight away on Amazon, as the paperback. Createspace then convert it to Kindle for you and it then comes out on Amazon as the Kindle version.
I will write another post explaining using the Createspace system, so that this one does not go on for ever.
Mick
If you decide to publish a book yourself through Createspace, what you have to remember is that you have to do all of the work that Old Pond would have done. However, to my mind there are advantages to doing this which I will come to later.
Using Createspace many of the choices are yours and not dictated to you by a publisher. You design your own cover. You decide how many words will be in the book. You decide upon the style of the written layout.
When you start to write your book you need to decide what size the book will be. I go for 5.25 inches by 8 inches. Then you change your word doc on the P.C. to that size, from A4. You can then see accurately how the book fits into the size. If you have already written it at A4 size, it will be out of shape at the new size and you then change it to fit. You then pre-set your page margins.
When you upload the interior (the written section) you get a virtual interior reader. You go through that to ensure that all of the words are inside the allowable margins. Also that any photo’s are aligned correctly. If not you go back to the word doc and alter the margins etc. Once you actually use the system you get to know how to do this first time and Createspace also provide written advice on all of these issues.
You create your cover yourself and I find it best to use a Createspace template and then convert that to what I actually want. (This stops there being problems with the print on the cover, which will blur if uploaded from a word doc.)
You then have other things to do such as writing the book description which shows on the Amazon page. Setting the price of the book, within Amazon guidelines and choosing the distribution channels.
Once this is all done you submit the book for checking and once Creatspace are happy with that you then send off for your proof copy. If you are then perfectly happy you push the button and launch the book on Amazon.
Mick.
Hi Mick very interesting,i previously sent my [manuscript] "story "to old pond, a i emailed you this year and thanks for your reply,i was put off by old ponds comments ,no doubt they were correct in saying it need editing ,however i have no idea who would do it, does “createspace” manage the grammar.i do relise that attempting to write a book is ambitious, having minor basic english grammar skills, that leads me to believe that most of the “trucking” books are written by men who have been well educated, and driving was not their first choice of employment where as men like my self and thousands of others it was their neash, we fitted in, we did not need education ,up untill now.
Not having the finances to publish ,“createspace” seems a very good road to try to go down, so thanks for the heads up… i will let you know next year how it went for me D.B.P.
peggydeckboy:
Hi Mick very interesting,i previously sent my [manuscript] "story "to old pond, a i emailed you this year and thanks for your reply,i was put off by old ponds comments ,no doubt they were correct in saying it need editing ,however i have no idea who would do it, does “createspace” manage the grammar.i do relise that attempting to write a book is ambitious, having minor basic english grammar skills, that leads me to believe that most of the “trucking” books are written by men who have been well educated, and driving was not their first choice of employment where as men like my self and thousands of others it was their neash, we fitted in, we did not need education ,up untill now.Not having the finances to publish ,“createspace” seems a very good road to try to go down, so thanks for the heads up… i will let you know next year how it went for me D.B.P.
Hi DBP, No. Createspace print exactly what you have written. They do not change any spelling or grammar. The best bet is to get someone to go through your book for you and sort out those issues. The question is did Old Pond mean that it needed editing because it was too long?
One thing that I would advise against when it comes to publishing your book is using one of these companies
that say that they will publish you for £2,000 etc. You do not need to spend money getting published.
That is vanity publishing and they will not put themselves out to promote your book.
Once they have your money that is it.
Other than the marginal costs of buying your proof copies from Createspace, you do not need to spend anything.
Having used both Old Pond and publishing myself, on Createspace, I would not go back to Old Pond again.
Other authors would and to be honest it is a personal choice. Whatever suits the individual.
For me the points that go against using Old Pond are that;-
They publish a wide variety of books on a wide variety of subjects and it is their choice as to if
and when they will fit you into their programme. You and your readers want your book to come out
and not be waiting for a year.
Although they promote the book, I and other authors think that they do not necessarily do a good job of that.
Payment of royalties is twice a year. You are paid for the period July to December in March.
And January to June in September.
By publishing with them, they take complete control and your book is not likely to end up
being what you envisaged. For example they would like the book to contain around 60,000 words.
If, as happened to me it is around 90,000 they want you to hack it down to their limits.
You are then discarding a third of your book. You then have to jettison great stories to fit their standards
and juggle the rest of the content to keep the story coherent.
However, by using Createspace, you have complete control. The new book “The Champagne Truckers”
comes home at over 93.000 words which to my mind gives the reader, who has bought the book
with their hard earned money, better value for that money.
Where Old Pond will not give you figures for books sold, on Createspace you are kept fully informed.
I can see every day exactly how many paperbacks I have sold that day. Also how many Kindles I have sold
and they also show me immediately how much I have earned in Royalties.
Createspace royalty payments are made at the end of the month after the sales month.
Therefore, what I sell in August is paid at the end of September etc.
Also, Old Pond do not make their books available on Kindle Unlimited. This denies the book to people
who would use K.U.
I will admit that it is much easier to sit back and let Old Pond do all of the work
but, I prefer the challenge of doing it myself and letting my readers reap the benefit.
I think that we need to encourage everybody who wants to write to be able to do so.
Many of my old friends have passed away taking with them interesting tales that we can no longer hear.
That is why, if I can I will help anybody to get ther stories published
Hopefully now some of the other authors such as Jazzandy, Robert and Euromat will contribute to this debate.
Very interesting thread and what has been said already is also very helpful, I have also considered publishing a book not on transport in this case but having written a history of my old Regiment, which was an Artillery unit dating back to the mid 1800’s, I was intending to find out the correct course to have the written work and attached photo’s published into book form and did envisage contacting one or two of the publishers that deal mainly in military books. VCC’s info about Createspace is definitely worth looking into as the work I’ve done is saved on Word document and CD. I have to say the interest for me was the research involved, which was quite a lot and time consuming, and putting down a readable and hopefully interesting account, primarily for ex members of my unit that keep in touch on social media sites, rather than any financial gain. Having written articles in the past for hobby magazines I have always found this an interesting and satisfying process. Thanks for the input those that replied to Bullitt’s post and to him for asking in the first place, hopefully this thread will create more response. Cheers Franky.
I wrote a manuscript in 1997 and spent five years sending it to publishers and agents. I rewrote it four times after having it appraised and taking note of their comments. Everybody rejected it but in 2009, I heard of Createspace and self-published with them. I was really pleased with the results and thankful to have something to show for all my work. I reckon I’ve sold about 100 copies so it’s not been a big earner but probably wouldn’t have been for Old Pond either.
Frankydobo:
Very interesting thread and what has been said already is also very helpful, I have also considered publishing a book not on transport in this case but having written a history of my old Regiment, which was an Artillery unit dating back to the mid 1800’s, I was intending to find out the correct course to have the written work and attached photo’s published into book form and did envisage contacting one or two of the publishers that deal mainly in military books. VCC’s info about Createspace is definitely worth looking into as the work I’ve done is saved on Word document and CD. I have to say the interest for me was the research involved, which was quite a lot and time consuming, and putting down a readable and hopefully interesting account, primarily for ex members of my unit that keep in touch on social media sites, rather than any financial gain. Having written articles in the past for hobby magazines I have always found this an interesting and satisfying process. Thanks for the input those that replied to Bullitt’s post and to him for asking in the first place, hopefully this thread will create more response. Cheers Franky.
Hi Franky. As I said Createspace is not for everybody but I have found it ideal for my purposes.
I do not think that anybody writes a book expecting it to make a lot of money.
The pleasure for me is in holding the finished article in my hand and of course
the positive feedback that I get from people who have read and enjoyed it.
One tip if you go down the Createspace route, when you upload your word doc to Createspace, save it as a PDF and upload that. Especially if you are including photo’s with the text.
Good luck with publishing your book
Mick
ChrisArbon:
I wrote a manuscript in 1997 and spent five years sending it to publishers and agents. I rewrote it four times after having it appraised and taking note of their comments. Everybody rejected it but in 2009, I heard of Createspace and self-published with them. I was really pleased with the results and thankful to have something to show for all my work. I reckon I’ve sold about 100 copies so it’s not been a big earner but probably wouldn’t have been for Old Pond either.
Hi Chris. As I said to Franky I don’t think that any of us go into it thinking we will become millionaires.
As your story illustrates, the amount of time that you spend writing, re-writing, editing etc means
that you are probably not even earning the minimum wage for your efforts.
But it is the pleasure of creating the book that matters.
Mick
Hi Chris Arbon, I read your book “Road Trip Ramatuelle” in paperback and really enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time and effort, firstly to write it and secondly persisting in getting it published for us to read. I would say that after reading Mick’s comments, I think that the Createspace way seems to be the way to go, as it gives you more control over the finished product and how it is marketed. The Kindle and Kindle Unlimited should also open it up to a larger market as it reduces the price to the reader benefitting all round.
Les
Vodka-cola-cowboy talks complete common sense in his comments above. I have tried both ‘vanity’ publishing and straight publishing.
Mick is right: ‘vanity’ publishing costs silly money and then doesn’t bother to market your book for you unless you pay even more silly money.
Mick is right: Straight publishing is perhaps the best if your command of English is good because the book will be well marketed for you and you’ll earn small royalties.
Mick is right: Createspace is an ideal third way if your written English is good or you have access to a good editor. As he says, most of us write about transport for fun not dosh.
I’ve found Old Pond ideal for my recent books and I hope to continued working with them. If my next book were to be rejected, however, I wouldn’t hesitate to give Createspace a try!
One downside of submitting something to an outfit like Creatspace is that authors may be tempted to write to the best of their ability even though the text is incomprehensible. Badly written English is damned hard work to read after the first paragraph! I used to mark school essays so I am perhaps more patient than most, and I do persevere with some of the quirkier offerings on this forum, for example. I can often tell if the poster is just dyslexic, hasn’t mastered the rules of spelling and grammar, or is just lazy. If the post begins ‘OK lol gr8 m8’, for instance, I move on: if the writer can’t be arsed to write in his own language, I can’t be arsed to read it!
The hard truth is that readers vote with their feet and if the text isn’t easy to read, no one will read it. I was paid to read kids essays so I persevered, but I now read about transport for pleasure and if it requires translating into proper English I lose interest fast. To test your own tolerance of this, just go on the UK Forum for twenty minutes. You will find beautifully constructed English on one hand and completely random, meaningless twaddle on the other – see how long you last with the latter!
Hope my opinions help. Robert
VCC, firstly WOW!!! 
Thank you for taking the time to post all that information, you have definitely opened my (and others`) eyes in regard to the world of book writing and publishing. I agree with what you say about preferring to maintain control over the length of a book in words and its contents. I think if I was to hack a third of a story to suit a publisher, then the whole point of the story, its meat and bones, could well be lost.
Creatspace is well worth looking into. If it lets you remain in control of the content of your book then that, to my mind, is what its all about. If it turns out (zb) then you only have yourself to blame but im sure I would make a good go of it.
I agree with ERF (Uncle Bob), with regard to writing for enjoyment and not to become a millionaire, although im sure a certain Mr McNabb may have a different opinion on the subject!! 
I really want to do it as memoir for my son and also because no one else has done it yet!
Anyway, thank you once again VCC for taking the time to post all the info, it has definitely given me some food for thought. When I finally get myself sorted and start actually writing I will let you know. Many thanks once again, top man.
“Lulu” is another company similar to Creatspace and might be worth a look if you want colour pictures in your book. They have more options and might be better for someone like Franky and his not-for-profit Regiment book.
I published an A4 size full colour book with Creatspace which was very expensive and the quality of the colour pictures and maps was very poor. It would have been Ok for illustrations in a children’s book but disappointing for detailed shots of lorries. Lulu offered great quality colour but was even more expensive. In the end I did it in just black and white.
I think Jelliot was going to publish with Lulu before he became a film star. Now he probably has a cute little publisher’s intern riding shotgun and ghost-writing his stories.
Robert is right when he says that it is maybe too easy to get your typing published into book-form. With a bit of time and effort a lot of stuff could be vastly improved. But writers like Deckboypeggy should not be deterred from writing in their own unique style and publishing. Reading DBP posts always reminds me of a Hunter Thompson sports report and his bizarre style did him no harm.
And thanks to Kickstart for buying a book; glad you liked it.
Well thank you chris, i have no idea what you mean by my own style,i am not being sarcastic, i genuinely have no idea what you mean ,i write the truth,as if i am talking to you in the pub i did not relise there were other ways to write ,i read continually but it is the story i read ,not how it is written because ,i would have no idea what is right or wrong …
To me a book is a book,the rest is ■■■■■■■■,what i did not relise in january this year i did my own profile on createspace no really knowing what i was doing and low and behold today i have a reply “who likes my profile” now to me, suspicious ,“riyamisras” is his cover…i will continue at a later date , off on a trip? maybe come back wiser ,lol sorry lads this is not truck media…but you could be buying my masterpiece next year ,on the top shelf with the other trash lol,d.b.p.
As Robert and I have said, the thing with using Createspace is that they print exactly what you submit.
Therefore any errors that are on the file are printed in the book.
It is therefore extremely important to check and double check your work, before you finally submit it for printing.
I have just spent the last 6 hours going through the manuscript for my new book and have just uploaded it.
You would be surprised how you can miss small errors even after a thorough check through.
I think that you get word blindness.
Createspace will not edit the text but check now that it will print correctly in its current form.
When they are satisfied that it meets their criteria they will inform me and I will send off for a proof copy of the paperback.
If I am happy with that then I will press the button and launch the book. Hopefully at the end of next week.
You can pay for their editors to edit the book for you, if you do not know anyone who can do this.
This would be helpful perhaps for those that are worried about their grammar or the layout.
However, they do charge for this service.
Mick
Regarding royalties, I mentioned them because they are a means of seeing how your book is doing.
Createspace give you virtually instant information when a sale is made. So do KDP for your Kindle versions.
That means that for instance you can see how successful your promotion of the book has been.
Trucking Magic and Vodka Cola both have their own facebook pages. When I post on facebook I can see how
successful that post has been by the number of books sold straight after it.
Bearing in mind that you are doing your own marketing, this is an important tool and helps you to shape your strategy.
As I said no-one is likely to become a millionaire through writing a trucking book. The potential number of readers is limited.
However, where the royalties come in handy is in a case like mine.
When I was writing the first book I was using a P.C. This blew up but luckily I had my work saved to disc.
So, I had to buy a laptop and got one for about £300. Then there were expenses that I needed to lay out with regard to using
Createspace. Buying the proof books at $20 each etc.
Although you won’t make a living from writing, the royalties that you do make help to cover these costs.
Mick
Amazing stuff VCC. Maybe now you have explained how things work etc, it may inspire a few other drivers to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard! It has certainly given me a nudge towards pulling my finger out and making it happen.
Im fortunate to have quite a few hours of self shot video diaries and photos so have a fairly accurate record to refer back to. I think anyone who can write totally from memory, going back 20, 30, 40+ years and can still put a good read together deserves their success.
As you say, you wont make millions (if anything at all), but personally, it would be a feeling of satisfaction, an achievement, to write and publish a book. If people actually buy and enjoy it then that’s even more of a bonus!!
Cheers once again for taking the time to post the info.
bullitt:
Amazing stuff VCC. Maybe now you have explained how things work etc, it may inspire a few other drivers to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard! It has certainly given me a nudge towards pulling my finger out and making it happen.
Im fortunate to have quite a few hours of self shot video diaries and photos so have a fairly accurate record to refer back to. I think anyone who can write totally from memory, going back 20, 30, 40+ years and can still put a good read together deserves their success.
As you say, you wont make millions (if anything at all), but personally, it would be a feeling of satisfaction, an achievement, to write and publish a book. If people actually buy and enjoy it then that’s even more of a bonus!!
Cheers once again for taking the time to post the info.
Hi Bullit. Actually, the thing that made me put quill to parchment was my great, great how many times grandfather. He was a British soldier who fought all of the way through the Peninsula War, in Portugal and Spain. He also fought at the battle of Waterloo. He served 36 years in the Army and came out as a Sergeant Major.
I always wished that he had written his story down so that 200 years later we could have known his story.
So, I began to write the Moscow story so that my grandchildren’s grandchildren would know what I had done. As my daughter Margarita is half English and half Russian the future generations will have Russian blood in them and the story lets them know why that is.
I put the book up to Old Pond, only really to have some one look through it and give me an idea whether it was any good. They told me that they wanted to publish it and so I went along with that. However, looking back, although it got me into publishing three books, if I had known about Createspace then I would have gone with them from the start. I had to condense the stories from five years into one book for them. I could not give enough detail to important parts of the stories, such as the 1991 coup. I had enough stories over though to be able to write the second Russian book.
In the end what is done is done but I think that I would advise anyone who can write and edit their own work to a reasonable standard and wants full control of their work to go through Createspace.
Mick