Dear Fellow Authors:                              1 December 2014

 If you have a moment, I’ll try to describe just how my “book” OUT OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY came about through the auspices of the Preservation Foundation, Inc., and Mr. Richard Loller, a modern “Wizard of OZ” located in Nashville, Tennessee.

I started putting these stories of mine into the Preservation Foundation, Inc. on-line archives about five years ago and there are now twenty-eight (as the Appendix of my book states). Each one was finished (with minimal references to other events) so as to stand on its own. It was a random choice and it was lucky that I decided to do this because it helped years later as I turned each one into a full, stand-alone, CHAPTER in a book.

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My actual book “project” was the result of Mr. Loller of Preservation Foundation, Inc., saying: "Well, now, 28 Stories are just right for a book."

 
I replied, saying: Maybe; but all I would want is just a free souvenir for my former classmates - can you get me a cheaper local Printing Shop there in Nashville, Tennessee, than these expensive ones here in Germany? He was nice enough to gather some estimates for me (they turned out to be rather high).

 
But then he said: "Let me play out my connections to Amazon - they could be the most inexpensive of all . . . better yet, they do all of the covering and layout and guarantee a full, attractive finished Paperback or E-book product which local print shops rarely can do -- if some local Print Shop would do the job it would probably look like a pamphlet ; staples and all. . . . and Amazon doesn't fret if it turns out to be a non-Bestseller. Above all, don’t forget, Amazon is now the biggest Publisher in the world."

 
The following events occurred over a time-period of about two months (after those facts had sunk into my mind).

 
It started me thinking seriously about a more professional product and I actually began investing some overtime into an "exercise" of putting all my stuff into book form. It was lots of work into the midnight hours. I had to cull out all the Stories that were "Editorializing" (such as “Blue-eyed Soul” and “Dueling Banjos”) but I kept the Memoir stuff. A few paragraphs swapped here and there and a few new chapters to create the historical big picture plus describing a rural "setting" and it was done. At my request, Mr. Loller was kind enough to search for and actually locate a satellite image showing the Great Lakes Basin for the cover.

 
I sent it in as an Adobe Reader .pdf file to Mr. Loller and that was it - he and his contact at Create Space Publishing Platform - a subsidiary of Amazon (who operates Printing Plants located in Kentucky and South Carolina) accepted it immediately, all in a few days.

A few corrections (plus adding an Index) and the rest is history. It was issued on     21 November, 2014.  Wow! - Amazon really is BIG and they really spread it around for you and it is now listed at 10 Booksellers:

It is now listed (complete with cover image) in an all Michigan on-line free Ad (www.Mlive.com) and in an all World on-line free Ad (www.freeadstime.org), as well.

To add some “oomph” into the marketing, I put a classified ad (complete with cover image and a LINK to Amazon) into the print version of the Stars and Stripes Newspaper (Europe and Pacific: daily circulation: 350,000) and it was listed there throughout January, 2015, together with a matching on-line listing (also with a LINK to Amazon). 

The Military Officers Association of America Magazine (MOAA Magazine) notified me that it will show a “one-liner” in the April, 2015, issue of their Magazine (monthly circulation: 283,000) and then they will list it permanently in their on-line MEMBER BOOKS database. They said it will include a LINK to Amazon.

The very first copy was purchased by the Kalamazoo, Michigan, Central Public Library from the trade information issued by Amazon. Another went to the Mattawan Consolidated High School Library.  So much for Posterity;  (sort of like my “Star” on the Hollywood walk of fame)

Rather a long story, isn't it? Well, there's really no short version !  I’m getting a big “kick” out of it; this short ride (November 2014 - March 2015) has been, so far, a crowning achievement in my 84 years!

It’s hard to keep your eyes on the original goal and I keep telling myself, it was only printed for myself and my classmates (but, when you’re  having so much fun, it’s hard to ignore those anticipated incoming sales numbers!) My enjoyment started with one little article for READER’S DIGEST Association’s Farm and Ranch Living Magazine. But it grew tenfold with the chance Mr. Loller created for me at Amazon.

And so, my Friends, if you have some stories, just bundle them all together and send them off to Nashville. Probably they’ll not ever be recorded for Posterity if you don’t do it right now. You could find out (just as I have) that: (1) the magical hand of Mr. Richard Loller and (2) the Preservation Foundation, Inc. and (3) the Amazon publishing world are just made for you.

And don’t forget; . . . People are waiting! . . . Posterity is waiting!

Highest Regards,  Dick Bishop, Munich, Germany.