My Self-Publishing Journey—William E. Dimorier: Servant Leader

Purchase William E. Dimorier: Servant Leader

It’s been a long time coming, but the Dimorier Project finally has something to show for years of research and writing to honor a good man—William E. Dimorier. After numerous efforts to get William’s story published in the traditional way, I finally decided to publish his biography myself. It is now available, and I hope that many people will learn about servant leadership through the life of one interesting man. Order here.

It was a chance lunchtime outing in 2004 that served as the catalyst for a decades-long project – see Prologue. Even though I only used half of my research notes, the manuscript amassed more than 400 pages. Its length, coupled with what was seen as a local project, formed a barrier to capturing the commitment of an agent or a publisher. Two years ago, a local start-up publisher contacted me, and it seemed that the book might finally be published, but it just wasn’t a good fit, so we amiably parted ways. 

I must admit that I was averse to self-publishing. I thought that if no traditional agent or publisher believed in my work, then it must not be worthy enough to print. As the years went by and William’s story wasn’t being told, though, I lived with a nagging guilt. I gradually warmed to the idea a self-publishing, but I had no idea where to begin.

A few years ago, I happened to volunteer on a World War One Centennial Committee whose mission it was to erect a monument to the soldiers from our community who had paid the ultimate price for our freedom. After we raised the funds and the monument was installed, our leader told us we weren’t done. We were going to write a book. Throughout the pandemic, the committee researched and wrote and eventually, the book was independently published. It is Answering the Call: Erie County in World War One.

I learned a bit about self-publishing during the World War One book process, but I was intimidated by the task of laying out and designing the book myself. Luckily, I had already engaged the services of an expert editor, so I knew the manuscript was in good shape. 

By chance one day, I was on the Erie County Library website and saw a notice for Pressbooks Public Self-Publishing Platform. With Pressbooks, I could create, edit, format, and generate print-ready and eBook formats for my book. I started clicking and noticed that Pressbooks is built on a WordPress platform, something I’m familiar with through blogging. I dropped a chapter in and started playing around. 

Some HTML formatting was necessary because William E. Dimorier: Servant Leader contains a lot of Dimorier’s poetry. Then, when it came time to publish, the title was breaking in an awkward way, so my son-in-law fixed it with some changes to the CSS code, which I am not familiar with at all.

I already knew which printer I wanted to use, based on the World War One book experience, so after I checked and rechecked and checked my work again, I exported my file and uploaded it to 48-Hour Books in Akron, OH. I was able to avoid the cost of shipping by picking up the books and incorporating a visit to a relative who lives there. I also let 48-Hour Books handle the ISBN for me, which they printed on the cover.

It’s a good feeling to finally be able to share the story of a man who wished to serve first and lead second. Mindful of honoring Dimorier, I had to overcome the paralysis of knowing the book isn’t perfect, but I hope I’ll be forgiven for errors, which I hope are few. I hope that William E. Dimorier will receive proper recognition when more people learn about his contributions to both northwest Pennsylvania and upstate New York–not because he would expect it, but because we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Here’s how to order a copy of William E. Dimorier: Servant Leader.