Vincent Zandri's Blog - Posts Tagged "publishing"

No I don't live under a rock.
I'm well aware that the "in thing" these days is to self-publish. Jeeze, remember the golden olden days (like 6 months ago...), when an author who even muttered the words "self-published" was considered the worst kind of vain vermin, especially to MFA in Writing School types and college poetry professors?

Well, the world has changed and more than one self-published author, Amanda Hocking among them, have gone from absolute nobodies to multi-millionaires within a period of about a year. Having sold more than a million of her paranormal thrillers on Kindle and E-Book, Amanda just signed a deal worth two mill at St. Martin's Press. Big news in New York City, not to mention a watershed event of Tsunami proportions.

But wait a minute...hold the phone. Didn't I just point out that the cool thing to do these days is to self-publish? And why would a writer who is already making a million bucks decide to upset the "program" if you will, and make switch to a traditional major publisher?

In a word: TIME...

For the rest of the scoop, head to the "Vox":

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

I spend up to two months in Italy per year, but I rarely eat gelato. It upsets my stomach. However, there is a sweet alternative to Italy's ice cream, and that's Gelati.
Giovanni Gelati, that is.
Anything but vanilla flavored, this man who hails from New Jersey has not only become one of my most ardent supporters, he's also become a very good friend (even if we have yet to meet one another in person). He runs a great blog for writers and readers called, well, Gelati's Scoop (go figure!) and a popular daytime blog talk radio program coined, The G-Zone. Obviously Giovanni knows no limit to his tongue-and-cheek media titles. A tall, strapping, good looking dude, he's the kind of guy you can sit down with over cappuccino to discuss the Ancient Greek tragic mythology inherent in German author Max Frisch's, Homo Faber, and then soon after switch to beer while trashing the New York Football Giants backfield ("Yo, Vin let's hit a strip club!"/ "Right on G-dude, we gotta empty out a cash machine first!") . Exactly the type of dynamic person I am lucky enough to meet on special occasion and whose friendship will last me a lifetime.

But enough of my yacking....Gelati, it gives me great pleasure to unleash your wisdom upon the reading public:

For the rest of the scoop, head on over to he Vincent Zandri Vox:

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

The Remains

A lot of my peeps have been chiming in asking me what it feels like to be selling a whole bunch of Kindle E-Books these days on Amazon. Like thousands, per day. No kidding. That ain't no typo. Not bad numbers for a former construction worker. Go figure! (Me, shaking my head in disbelief, but also looking up to the heavens with gratitude!)

But the truth is, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. Currently I'm the number 4 overall bestselling Kindle and have been as high as number 3. Two of the three authors above me are propped up by major motion pictures (Hope I get a move produced one day!). Since the middle of March I have moved around 31,000 units of The Innocent, and Godchild, it's sequel is about to enter into the Top 100 books also.

But back to how I feel about it.

I feel great, naturally. Who wouldn't feel great. It's cool to be popular. I thought there might be some talk about the pricing, but the sale price of a buck is only temporary and my other books, like The Remains, that are priced at the normal $2.99 are selling in the low hundreds. Even the $9.00 Moonlight Falls has gained something like 200% in the rankings and is holding steady, if not slowly gaining more ground, which tells me a lot of my fans are willing to pay an extra few dollars for my brand of "quality" thriller and mystery (Thank you!!!).

So, the question still persists: How do I feel?
... Grab the rest of the scoop at The Vincent Zandri Vox

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

The Innocent

I’m an artist. Ok, not a visual artist, but I am a writer. A full-time writer who was groomed for the commercial construction business and who, for a time, worked as a project manager for said construction business.

My dad, a commercial construction business owner, taught me to think “inside the box” as it were. Because after all, this was a business of straight lines that were supposed to come together and/or intersect at precise, planned points; a business of bottom-lines, efficient use of space and time, apples and apples, oranges and oranges.

I hated it.

Being very different from my dad, I insisted on thinking “outside the box,” simply because that was my nature. In a word, I have always been very uncomfortable with thinking inside the box, finding instead a sort of comfort in my attraction to all things, well, outside the box. In high school, I was the kid who befriended the outsiders who wore black, and styled their hair into spiky Mohawks. I dug punk rock and new wave instead of classic rock. I dreamed of living in Europe rather than the burbs, and I took to the construction business like a fish takes to a dry desert environment...

Get the rest of the scoop at the "Vox":
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

The Innocent

About a year ago I decided that I would be content with publishing the occasional novel, maybe selling a few copies here and there, gathering some good reviews, and that would be that. I'd continue with my freelance journalism, travel, maybe down the road teach at a creative writing program. But the thought of once more making a living as a fiction writer no longer seemed like reality.

Then my agent at the time, Janet Benrey, told me that she was working on a deal for me with Aaron Patterson of StoneHouse Ink. StoneHouse was an E-Book-first publisher who also published in trade paper, but only after the E-Books made a splash. I remember being not only skeptical about the whole thing, I also remember being sort of, well, pissed off. E-Books??? You kidding? Are E-Books even real?

In the end however, I agreed to give it a shot. My career was going nowhere anyway, so what could it hurt?...
....Get the rest of the story at The Vincent Zandri Vox:

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...

Godchild

You guys have all heard of James Frey no doubt. You remember, the dude who wrote a supposed alcoholic-turned-redeemed-recovering alcoholic memoir A Million Little Pieces which one the Oprah Award and was later debunked as a "Million Little Lies" when it came to light that he made most of the story up?

Ok, bear with me here.

I'm not about to comment a whole lot on what happened five years ago and what Big NYC was thinking when they marketed "Pieces" as nonfiction when I as a writer knew from the get-go that it was fiction. In fact, I liked the book a lot and I continue to like Frey's writing a lot. I think he's got chops and was seriously mistreated by his publisher and made to act as a fall guy for a big corporate conglomerate. None of this however prevented Oprah from stripping him of his award and spanking him over her meaty thighs in front of millions of people (she has since apologized for this and has invited Frey back on her show).

While jealous novelists who couldn't begin sell their way through a wet paper sacks were ganging up on James Frey and kicking him while he was down, shouting, "You're fried in this town, Frey!!!" I sort of had the feeling the dude would have staying power...
...Get the rest of the scoop at The Vincent Zandri Vox

http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...



The Innocent

New York Times bestselling Thriller Award winning author Vincent Zandri talks about whether he prefers traditional or independent publishing. Maybe, just maybe, he prefers a little of both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CM3...

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Paradox Lake
Vincent Zandri