Pool players life stories

Fast Davie NC

Fast Davie NC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I wish the players would write some memoirs, Like tennis stars have done like Sampras, Blake, Mcenroe etc. This could be good for pool. I respect the Lassitter/Mosconi Days but wouldnt it be nice for people that appreciate the generation of players that I grew up with? I would PAY FOR THIS!!! I would love to know the mental-side of alot of players that were dominant in the 70s-80-s. It could also follow up with the modern players, What do you think? narrated by Grady or Jay? It would have to include The Keither, Earl, Sigel, Hall, Reyes, Rempe, Howard, Hopkins, Wade Crane, Louie Roberts, Dilieberto, The beard, Liscotti, The Miz. Anyway, You know where I am going with this! Publishers? Speak Up! What Do You Think?
 
The truth is that bio's of pool players don't sell very well. Only a small percentage of pool players buy them new and almost no non-pool players buy them at all. If they were big sellers you'd see book agents and publishers reps at pool tournaments.

You need to have a hook for the book. Yes let them know it's the life of a famous pool player, but you also need to have done some other interesting things in your life. I put this to a test with a 17 page Short Story on Amazon. I was or am in anyway famous for my pool hustling days. What made the story go to #1 in sports on Amazon Shorts for over a year and still is #1 was I slipped in a little of my life of crime and how to make money hustling pool in bars.

If just pool players read this story it would have MAYBE spiked to #1 for a few weeks and then a fast drop down to the basement. I was following it up with a book on my life of pool, crime, family and famous crime figures I hung with. After reading the outline my wife asked me not to publish it for my three daughters sake. They have all heard stories about things I was into before and in the early years of my mairrage.
I always kid her that she just didn't want people to know about the three jobs I got her. She was an ER nurse and an ICU nurse for a private hospital on Long Island. She took care Gambino's (the godfather) wife in the penthouse on top of the hospital and one of his relitives a year later. And yes they DO make the staff taste the food before they bring it into the patient.

She also took care of the author of the Godfather twice ...Puzzo. Johnnyt
 
There are some pretty good podcasts with the following people available on our site www.theactionreport.com

Buddy Hall
Keith McCready
Joe Rogan
Scotty Townsend

They are all between 45 minutes and hour or so. Just click on the podcast button in the top menu and then right click on the name you want to listen to and save the file to your computer. After it downloads you can listen to it with Windows Media Player or iTunes or whatever you like. You get to hear them tell their story in their own voice. Pretty cool.
 
All those podcasts were good. I'd like to see some famous pro/road player make an audio book. A lot of them have the gift of gab anyway and they wouldn't have to worry about writing, spelling, grammar, and formatting. They aren't cheap to make, but it might just sell big. Johnnyt
 
Is it hard to record a book dvd at home and what would I need? Thank you. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Is it hard to record a book dvd at home and what would I need? Thank you. Johnnyt
Click to expand...
All you need is a mic that plugs into your computer via the stero mic plug in or USB. You can use Audacity to record and then just save to an MP3. It is how we do our podcasts.

Once you have the voice track you can layer music or sound effects over top or underneath it. Audacity is free and mics cost anywhere from $30 to whatever you want to spend.

I have no idea what a real audio book production would entail but I am pretty sure it is way more involved than what I wrote above :D However if you want to self publish I think it would do the trick.
 
JCIN said:
All you need is a mic that plugs into your computer via the stero mic plug in or USB. You can use Audacity to record and then just save to an MP3. It is how we do our podcasts.

Once you have the voice track you can layer music or sound effects over top or underneath it. Audacity is free and mics cost anywhere from $30 to whatever you want to spend.

I have no idea what a real audio book production would entail but I am pretty sure it is way more involved than what I wrote above :D However if you want to self publish I think it would do the trick.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the above. I think I'll play around with one of my published short stories. Sounds like something I can really piss myself off with:D . Johnnyt
 
Sorry for the non-pool related. Does it matter what kind or what quality CD blanks I buy? Thank you. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Sorry for the non-pool related. Does it matter what kind or what quality CD blanks I buy? Thank you. Johnnyt
Click to expand...
If you mean the CD's that people will actually buy I doubt it. Just buy a name brand CD-R and I am pretty sure you should have no problems. The only issue you will run into is that if you burn them as an audio CD that will play in any standard CD player you are limited in length (I think 74 minutes???)

If you simply burn the MP3 as a data disc that people would have to transfer to a computer or iPod/MP3 player/MP3 compatible CD Player you can get much more on a disc. I guess to make it simple you would just have to burn them as audio discs and have more discs.

We buy our blank DVD's from www.meritline.com You can find blank CD-R's very cheap there or just about anywhere online. Of course then you have to buy a printer for the discs($100-$3000), ribbons for the printer (our last ribbon order was $245) and cases (cheap), shipping supplies(cheap) and if they sell well a duplicator ($400-$1000) so you dont spend all day burning discs one at a time. Oh yeah and cover art which has to be designed and formatted for printing and costs more than what you think to have printed and cut. Then you get to assemble them all and ship them out.

Be careful you might just end up spending a ton of time and money along with creating a second job for yourself :D
 
JCIN said:
If you mean the CD's that people will actually buy I doubt it. Just buy a name brand CD-R and I am pretty sure you should have no problems. The only issue you will run into is that if you burn them as an audio CD that will play in any standard CD player you are limited in length (I think 74 minutes???)

If you simply burn the MP3 as a data disc that people would have to transfer to a computer or iPod/MP3 player/MP3 compatible CD Player you can get much more on a disc. I guess to make it simple you would just have to burn them as audio discs and have more discs.

We buy our blank DVD's from www.meritline.com You can find blank CD-R's very cheap there or just about anywhere online. Of course then you have to buy a printer for the discs($100-$3000), ribbons for the printer (our last ribbon order was $245) and cases (cheap), shipping supplies(cheap) and if they sell well a duplicator ($400-$1000) so you dont spend all day burning discs one at a time. Oh yeah and cover art which has to be designed and formatted for printing and costs more than what you think to have printed and cut. Then you get to assemble them all and ship them out.

Be careful you might just end up spending a ton of time and money along with creating a second job for yourself :D
Click to expand...

I use http://www.lulu.com - it takes minutes to upload files - you can do the cover design yourself with MSPAINT or Photoshop - and it's basically no touch publishing.

http://stores.lulu.com/blkjackds12

I was able to make the DCC Straight Pool dvd's in less than 10 minutes.
 
JCIN said:
All you need is a mic that plugs into your computer via the stero mic plug in or USB. You can use Audacity to record and then just save to an MP3. It is how we do our podcasts.

Once you have the voice track you can layer music or sound effects over top or underneath it. Audacity is free and mics cost anywhere from $30 to whatever you want to spend.

I have no idea what a real audio book production would entail but I am pretty sure it is way more involved than what I wrote above :D However if you want to self publish I think it would do the trick.
Click to expand...

I've been eye-balling this little beauty, which also uses Audacity: http://www.radioshack.com/sm-ion-ttusb05-usb-turntable-and-vinyl-archiver--pi-3147757.html

Somebody else referred me to Audacity last year, and I never followed through with it. They said I could dub standard casette tapes into MP3 files. After reading your post, I'm going to read more about it. Looks like a great work tool for me. :)

JAM
 
JCIN said:
If you mean the CD's that people will actually buy I doubt it. Just buy a name brand CD-R and I am pretty sure you should have no problems. The only issue you will run into is that if you burn them as an audio CD that will play in any standard CD player you are limited in length (I think 74 minutes???)

If you simply burn the MP3 as a data disc that people would have to transfer to a computer or iPod/MP3 player/MP3 compatible CD Player you can get much more on a disc. I guess to make it simple you would just have to burn them as audio discs and have more discs.

We buy our blank DVD's from www.meritline.com You can find blank CD-R's very cheap there or just about anywhere online. Of course then you have to buy a printer for the discs($100-$3000), ribbons for the printer (our last ribbon order was $245) and cases (cheap), shipping supplies(cheap) and if they sell well a duplicator ($400-$1000) so you dont spend all day burning discs one at a time. Oh yeah and cover art which has to be designed and formatted for printing and costs more than what you think to have printed and cut. Then you get to assemble them all and ship them out.

Be careful you might just end up spending a ton of time and money along with creating a second job for yourself :D
Click to expand...

I knew this was too cheap and easy up to now:D . I'm still going to try and make a few. I'll give them to friends and family that will say, "oh that was great" while rolling their eyes on the other end of the phone. But all kidding aside thank you for your help and advice. Johnnyt
 
Blackjack said:
I use http://www.lulu.com - it takes minutes to upload files - you can do the cover design yourself with MSPAINT or Photoshop - and it's basically no touch publishing.

http://stores.lulu.com/blkjackds12

I was able to make the DCC Straight Pool dvd's in less than 10 minutes.
Click to expand...
That would work for small runs of single discs but $5.50 cost for a single CD is pretty steep. The plus side is you save time and inventory so I guess it all depends on your goal. Probably would be the best route for Johhny in the beginning. Simply upload the MP3 and see how they sell.

I wonder what they would quote on a 12 disc DVD set? :D
 
JCIN said:
That would work for small runs of single discs but $5.50 cost for a single CD is pretty steep. The plus side is you save time and inventory so I guess it all depends on your goal. Probably would be the best route for Johhny in the beginning. Simply upload the MP3 and see how they sell.

I wonder what they would quote on a 12 disc DVD set? :D
Click to expand...

The costs I am saving on shipping and production - and what I am saving in time is well worth whatever they are charging, trust me. For what I do, it is well worth it.

:p
 
JAM said:
I've been eye-balling this little beauty, which also uses Audacity: http://www.radioshack.com/sm-ion-ttusb05-usb-turntable-and-vinyl-archiver--pi-3147757.html

Somebody else referred me to Audacity last year, and I never followed through with it. They said I could dub standard casette tapes into MP3 files. After reading your post, I'm going to read more about it. Looks like a great work tool for me. :)

JAM
Click to expand...
It really is the nuts. Would work perfect with your link and then you could fit a room full of albums on a thumb drive :D
 
Thank you Blackjack and JCIN. I'm not going to do this for profit. Hell if I don't have enough money now at 67, then I'm sorry for my kids. I'm going to do it for fun. If it becomes a first job I'll throw it in the corner of the garage along with my other 100 bright idea's I've had when I use to smoke the good stuff. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Thank you Blackjack and JCIN. I'm not going to do this for profit. Hell if I don't have enough money now at 67, then I'm sorry for my kids. I'm going to do it for fun. If it becomes a first job I'll throw it in the corner of the garage along with my other 100 bright idea's I've had when I use to smoke the good stuff. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Interestingly, a little Larry Nevel factoid, but did you know that when he's on the road, he listens to audio book CDs as opposed to music when he's in his car? I thought that was kind of cool!

Audio book CD has a lot of possibilities! The editing feature would need to be user friendly in my case, but I kind of like this concept! :p

JAM
 
Just to keep this thread as pool unrelated as possible (hey it's my thread and it's Father's Day)
I have a note up on my PC to call Olive Garden for take out later today...all it says is Olive. My wife of 41+ years comes in, reads it and says, "who the hell is Olive and who are you Popeye?" I thought it was cute she still cared. Johnnyt
 
When I went to London for the first time I walked into a used sports book store. Every top snooker player had a bio. It was fantastic. From Alex Higgins to Jimmy White to Steve Davis to Stephen Hendry and on down the line. I was in hog heaven. It talked about their mentors, their training regimens, and their gambling experience as well as their personal life. I only wished we could have that here in the states.
 
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