That's our Eric, ne Taft. Add an extra star if you're from the New Jersey/New York metro area:

Product Description
Lakehurst, NJ is best known as the site of the Hindenburg disaster and the unofficial ''Airship Capital of the World,'' a place where rigid airships were once common and where one of the most iconic events in history took place. But there is much more to the story than one notable disaster. Located on the northern fringes of New Jersey's Pine Barrens, Lakehurst boasts a past filled with visionary railroad barons, innovative military advances, and quirky residents. For the first time ever, a comprehensive history of this fascinating community is gathered between two covers. From its days as a bog iron community making cannonballs for the American Revolution to its modern status as a bedroom community nestled outside one of the East Coast's largest military bases, Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons offers a story of New Jersey triumph and tragedy as told by the people who lived it. Featuring dozens of photos and based in part on a slew of interviews, Barrens, Blimps & Barons will delight railroad aficionados, students of military history, and anyone who has ever had a connection to Lakehurst, Manchester, Toms River, Whiting, or the Pine Barrens.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1467913901/?tag=imwan-20

That Taft, always up to something...

Congrats, Eric!

I love this sort of book. I also love the name "Pine Barrens".

Yay, Eric!

Thank you, Linda! Very kind of you to start a thread.

I'm pretty happy with this one. My first foray into self-publishing (not counting Pitched!, of course), and a pretty good history book if I do say so myself. The subject is pretty close to me. Spent years interviewing people and doing research. Talking to people who were at the scene of the cover photo, for instance, was a great experience.

IMWAN's very own Stephen Strange helped me along on that cover, by the way.

If all goes well, this will be the first of several s/p books to come.

Congrats Eric!

Yay!!! Congrats!!!

Awesome.

Make sure to get an ISBN and try and get on AmazWAN. Your books will perform a lot better and you'll keep more of the money than you would have at a small press publisher.

It is on Amazon, and has an ISBN number listed on the product page. It's not his first rodeo, either.

The cover *alone* is worth the purchase! Everything else----bonus frosting!

Well, it's just that he used ComiXpress before now, so I was hoping he found a better self-publishing route now.

Looking forward to reading it, dude.

I just look forward to finally casting it out into the world. I was still revising and adding on Sunday, uploading revised files, etc. I finally said, "Enough!"

Because let's face it, you could keep doing that forever if you allowed yourself to*. But the text is 99% clean (I'm sure something will have slipped through, but it got three sets of eyes), the info is good, and the stories are, I think, interesting.

We'll see.

The real work starts now: getting the word out. Most of that has to come locally, in my area, via local papers and websites. Doing a presentation in front of my entire elementary school in January. Also workshopping with their 7th and 8th grade classes. Should be interesting.

Anyway, this is the part I hate.




*Started a file for additional sources and info. Figure 10 years from now I can use the material for a second addition. I want this to be a definitive work that outlasts me by many, many years.

Wow, this book looks great!

Looks interesting, congrats, Eric!

If Imwankers are interested in this type of stuff, my brother Alan did an illustrated study of Ipswich, MA that you might also enjoy - American Town: the history of Ipswich, MA:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BK9D5K/?tag=imwan-20

Those illustrations are lovely, Ross.

+1

Does this book have the Predator in it? If so, I might just have to get it.

It needs a murder mystery interweaved with the history.

And the killer turns out to be the Predator.

Please, no spoilers. It's not fair to the people who haven't read the book.

Dammit!

Hmmm, this is a great item to add to your AmazWAN Secret Santa Wish List!