" What compensation in the form of the eventual "published book" do the patrons of these stories recieve? "

LOL- if the book is published, he'll be lucky if he doesn't owe the publisher money at the end!

I think the book idea is a great one, of course I'm biased because I had the same idea.  This was after a women in her 50-60's saw my Vanagon after trick or treating and told me about how her motor mounts broke, and the trailer hitch was holding the engine in.  She also wonder why anyone would put a trailer hitch on (splittie or bay) VW van,

Then''s there's my friend Jean who dropped his engine on his 58 in a  rest area in Arizona (he's from Mass) to repair it and then re-install it - solo.

Or my friend's family who took a by window van across country with something like 6 family members in it and chugging up hill (1970-ish).

No I think you have to be content that your story is out there making people laugh - or cringe - or inspiring them and forget about the cash or compensation.

My $.02
John