John Maxtone-Graham was 40 when he became, quite by accident, a writer. Today he has two sons who “followed” in those footsteps.
“One is producer and writer for The Simpsons,” he says. “In the trailer from one show, more people have seen his name than have seen mine in all the [24]books I have written. My other son is a writer, too…for Beavis and Butthead!”
Their father writes mostly books, mostly about maritime life, mostly about ships. He does that between assignments on cruise ships, where he is an engaging guest lecturer, a circumstance that dovetails nicely with selling books, which he has been doing since writing “The Only Way To Cross” in 1972.
“I had never written before when I was asked to write this book about ships that cross the ocean,” he recalls. “I said yes in a nanosecond. They asked me to write 20 pages about a ship. I did a year of research and I handed in the book…late. It wasn’t lumped in with other books and it turned out to be the bible of crossings. It came to me out of nowhere, and it changed my life completely.”
John has written books about cruise ships and/or ocean liners called France, Norway, Queen Mary 2, Normandie and others. He has written about the histories of polar exploration and cruising. He has written Violet Jessup’s account of being a Titanic survivor.
Next up is his own Titanic book, appropriately timed for fall release, just months ahead of the 100th anniversary (April 2012) of the great ship’s sinking.
“The Titanic is inexhaustible,” he explains. “When someone says the word ‘Titanic’ silence falls over the room. People don’t want to hear the marine experts because they can’t convey it to laymen. There’s too much technical data. They want someone who can link the social with the mechanical.”
His book is called Titanic Tragedy. He will sell it, as he does all his books, on board his cruises. He makes it a souvenir for passengers, personalizing his signing for everyone “who crossed with me in the [season] of [year].” 
While he takes the details, his wife Mary takes the orders.
The books are not cheap. Ours was $50, the price of a personalized memento of the cruise, including shipping. That’s what makes it special for passengers, and it also minimizes the loss of sales through re-selling his book. Who wants to buy a book inscribed with “To Bob and Nancy”?
You can find an un-personalized, used, library copy of a book re-reprinted many times for a dollar, but you can also buy a new one online for $99. That makes his autographed copies a deal. Ours just arrived, so we haven’t read it yet. Maxtone-Graham says the Titanic Tragedy will be $24.95.
If we enjoy this as much as we enjoyed him, count us in!