iUniverse author Ronald Probstein: Living Outside the Law-Part 2

Breaking News……Prof. Ronald Probstein Wins 2013 Pendray Aerospace Literature Award

iUniverse: You’ve written several professional non-fiction books. Was it a difficult transition to writing these memoirs?

“Probstein: Writing the memoir turned out to be a big surprise to me for after writing many professional books I thought this would be easy by comparison. It wasn’t and it gave me a great respect for the non-fiction book writer.”

iUniverse: Who do you think will be interested in reading your book?

“Probstein: The book has a number of likely audiences. There have been enough successful memoirs about fathers or mentor-like father figures in recent years that it has almost become its own publishing category. Honest Sid tells a somewhat different story from the kind of noble uplifting parenting examples one usually finds in such books, and provides an offbeat and perhaps welcome alternative to the standard fare for readers of this category. The book brings Depression-era New York to vivid life and the American public never tires of reading about this milieu. Additionally the book will certainly appeal to every New York Centric reader as well as anyone who has ever been caught up in the gambling scene.”

iUniverse: What advice would you give to fellow iUniverse authors hoping to achieve a similar degree of success?

“Probstein: I don’t know that I am capable of providing advice to fellow iUniverse authors since what you are referring to as success in my case is the quality of the book and its writing. My feeling is that most of your authors would see success as large book sales in many thousands of copies and associated large dollar earnings, notoriety through reviews in the truly major review sites such as the NY Times, placement of the book in significant numbers and locations in major bookstores throughout the country, mainstream publishers actively seeking the book without the usual rejection of “it’s been published”, getting a literary agent, and/or a significant film producer optioning the book. A handful of self-published authors have achieved this type of “success” most have not, including myself, despite a large number of 5 star media and online reviews. Despite recent articles to the contrary the principal problem is self-publishing. To do so still leaves the stigma of being a last resort for an author who lacks the talent to get his or her book published by a mainstream publisher.”