My Success Story I am a 78 year old man living in Santa Rosa, California. I was a teacher/school administrator and family counselor for over 55 years. I was also a husband and father to three children. I have had a good life filled with much love and hard work. In 1999 my health deteriorated and I had to retire. Arthritis settled in my spine and legs and I developed heart failure. My son began caring for me. I found myself a widower, in poor health, and with nothing to do. I began writing, something I always wanted to do. One year later I had written a collection of short stories called God Must Be Laughing. I then wrote a collection of two Novellas called Ancient Dreams. A local newspaper hired me to write a monthly column for senior citizens on how to deal with senior life in our modern world. Within just a little more than a year I was completely caught up in the world of writing. I wrote every morning and early afternoon. Arthritis kept me from walking so I got a Scooter and went around my neighbor hood talking with seniors gathering information for the newspaper columns and for a book on senior living that I planned to write. From talks with other seniors it soon became obvious that there was an opportunity to help those who were going though the same kinds of health and emotional problems I experienced myself when I lost my independence. I had already dealt with common problems seniors have such as living with pain, depression, chronic illness, loneliness, self image and the inability to dress ourselves. I also learned to listen to and respect what seniors were saying. I collected ideas and stories from my friends and used the Internet to research problems common to the aging. It took six months to write my first book on senior living, Senior Moments, Getting the Most Out of Your Golden Years. There were marketing problems that came with the publishing of the book that I was unaware existed. The first problem was that no agent or editor was interested in even looking at Senior Moments. I had a professional proposal written and sent it out to 32 agents and book companies. They either ignored the proposal or returned it with the statement, “We are not taking self-help books at this time.” No one asked to see a manuscript. The second problem was that few book stores carry self published books It is difficult to sell books if you can’t place them in a store. Newspapers were also not receptive to self published books. Our local newspaper would not write a review of my book. I went to the San Francisco Writer’s Conference and the same thing happened there. Every agent and editor I talked with first asked me how old I was, and then asked if I could go on the road to promote a book. I sat in my wheel chair and answered the questions honestly. The next statement was always the same. “I’m sorry, but we are not taking more self-help books at this time. Try us again in six months.” The writing world has changed considerably. Agents and editors now want the writer to go on the road and promote their own books. This is fine for the famous and those with money, but difficult for someone like me. I talked with one of the conference speakers who told me I should publish the book myself and forget about agents and publishers. I was a “nobody” and no publisher would be interested in me. I came home discouraged. But I realized there was nothing else for me to do but publish the book myself. I looked up information on every self-publishing company I could find. After comparing the cost and what I would receive from each publisher, I chose to go with Outskirts Press. They gave me the most for my money, and produced my first book, Senior Moments in about four months. I began saving money from my pension each month until I had enough to pay for the publishing of the book. I did the same for all four books that I have self-published. I did not write these books to make a lot of money although that would be nice. I wrote them to satisfy my need to be useful. All my life I had served others and fortunately have now found a way to continue to do that in my senior years. The response to Senior Moments was a complete surprise. I did not expect this first book to be so well received. I was immediately asked to talk to senior groups in different senior facilities. People asked me to write on other topics such as family strife, grief, depression, and sexual matters not covered in Senior Moments, so I wrote another book called More Senior Moments which discusses the requested topics. This book was well received and I went to work and completed Years Of A Million Dreams, Seniors Look At Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow. It will be on sale in January 2008. The reviews on the Senior Moments books have been very good. Some of these are posted on Amazon.com and on my web site, seniormomentsbooks.com. I tried to create my own web site, but finally had to ask a friend for help putting it together. We are still trying to get all the bugs out of the site. I am learning more and more about promoting books, but unfortunately my pension does not provide money for expensive promotion programs. Most of the promotion projects I find on the Internet cost anywhere from $300 to $1200 so I have to be very careful. One fellow promised to promote my first book and I paid him $50 for nothing. He never has done what he said he would do. I learned to be careful where I spend money. If the deal sounds too good to be true , it probably is a scam. There is a lot more to writing and publishing a book than I realized. The really good thing is that I am still out in the world doing something constructive rather than sitting in front of the TV every day. At one time I thought my days of being productive and useful were over, but my self image would not allow me to vegetate. I had to be doing something constructive. Helping other seniors has led me to an honor beyond my wildest dreams. In an attempt to promote my writing I entered the More Senior Moments book in the National Best Books 2007 Award. Much to my surprise, I received word from Outskirts Press that out of the many books entered in the contest my book was a finalist in the awards. Every More Senior Moments book published from now on will have the award seal on the cover. No money was involved with this award. The honor of the award was enough for me. This is my success story, a small success for some, but a huge triumph for me. I have been able to over come many physical problems. I accomplished this one step at a time. I have published four books, and have helped a lot of my senior friends overcome serious mental and health problems. I still have my aches and pains and I still have to use a wheel chair, but I am a happy and very proud man.