Ronald Gray is the author of the fiction novel, “My Call.” The book was released on March 17th 2013 by Gray’s personal publishing company, My Provider Productions, LLC. When Ronald started researching book printers, he came across Gasch. We recently interviewed Ronald to learn more about his short run book printing experience and to learn what he has to say to aspiring authors who are thinking, “I’m ready to print my book.”
How long did you have the idea for your book, “My Call,” before you started writing it?
Actually, I wrote the movie first some years ago. Along the way, many people came to me and said,
“Look, you need to put the book out first.” I wasn’t feeling it, so I just delayed that for couple years. But it just hit me one day. It was like God kept sending people my way to tell me I need to put the book out first.
That’s when I did it. I just had to reformat everything, because it’s a totally different writing style between writing for a screenplay and a book. A book, you have to be very descriptive. So once I did that, it took me about four weeks actually to just change it over, but that was the easy part. It’s been edited and edited and edited and edited since then. So it was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it.
What did you do to select the right book printing company for your book?
Research. I cannot emphasize that enough. I’m seriously a person who’s big on research. When you get tired of doing research, guess what? You do some more. Most of the companies I had researched were not in this state. Many were not even in this country. I did not want that. I wanted something that was more hands-on for me. So in the process of doing research, I came across Gasch Printing, and approached their company to do business to print my book. The fact that they were not that far from where I live, made it even better.
If you had one thing to share with aspiring authors who have not yet published their book, what would that be?
Know what you’re getting into before you get into it. It’s like you’re going swimming, you want to know what’s in the water before you jump in. Unfortunately, I have discovered, things have changed considerably between 10 years ago. A lot of people get into this business because they haven’t done the research, or they listen to other people, and just think they can write a book and it’s going to sell itself. It does not work that way.
So my number one suggestion to anyone that’s considering getting a book done, do your research.
What did it feel like to see your book in print for the first time?
I will never forget that day. I’ll tell you. Like I said, I don’t live that far from where your printing company is located. A buddy of mine rode with me. I walked in and saw the boxes. I was going to wait to just look at it when I got home. My buddy, he was very excited, said, “Look man, I want to see this now.” So we opened one of the boxes while we were still there. I’m a reader, when you’re looking at somebody else’s book and holding somebody else’s book, that’s one thing. But when you’re holding your own book, your work in your hands, it’s a combination of things. It’s a blessing. It’s motivating. It can be somewhat emotional even if you hold it all in. It’s satisfaction. It’s like I did it. There’s nothing else. I started something and I finished it. Yes, that’s just the beginning of that stage, and you have the ending of that stage, but you have another one. But no matter what, that’s something that no one can ever take away from you.
That book felt great. The way it looked, I was very impressed. No question of quality, and that made it just icing on the cake. I’ve seen a lot of books, and some of the quality, the printing has just been bad. But I was really impressed. I was touched. Very emotional, although I may not have shown that day on my face, but on the inside, it was basically an answered prayer and a dream come true.
My book is now in Prince Georges County Library system, Anne Arundel County Library, Enoch Pratt free Library in Baltimore City Maryland, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library. It is on Amazon on paperback and it will be on Kindle very soon. The company and the book was featured in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper.
A special thank you to Ronald Gray for making this interview possible, and sharing your experience with future authors.