I’ve done it. As more of an experiment than anything else, I’ve gone and self-published a book of a few dozen of my old Maui Time Weekly feature stories. The book, printed on demand by Cafe Press and retails for $14.95, is about 180 pages long, contains 33 stories and an original cover illustration by my friend and current Maui Time cartoonist Ron Pitts. Each story is prefaced by a brief note adding context and updates, and the book has an introduction I wrote where I satirically compare the book to that of other, far more famous writers like Mark Twain and Hunter S. Thompson.
You can find the book here.
Strangely enough, though I’m exhausted, doing the book wasn’t as difficult as I imagined. I received full cooperation from Maui Time to rummage through their photo files. I set up the whole thing on Word, which though crude, was effective (book pages aren’t very sophisticated, after all). I even managed to get a couple great back-of-the-book review quotes from Ellen Peterson, the acting head of the Maui Community College Library, and Erin Smith, the lead singer of the popular local rock band The Throwdowns.
So that’s that. It should be all the way I want. If not, because it’s print on demand, I can make changes relatively simply. As of now, it’s only available at Cafe Press, though I’m exploring other options.
If you’re a fan of this blog and my writing, please consider purchasing a copy. And thanks for reading.
Anthony Pignataro 
It is a contradiction of terms to say you typeset a book on a word processor even using the euphemism “set up”. Lucky you are a journalist, because otherwise I’d say you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Congrats on your book!
LikeLike
congratulations!!
LikeLike