Vincent Zandri's Blog - Posts Tagged "thomas-mercer"
"Bond...James Bond..."
The following blog is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
As most of you already know, I've been away since the first week of March and only arrived back in New York a couple of days ago. Not only have I been living six hours ahead of EST, I experienced two back to back daylight saving "spring aheads." Add to that flying from Paris to California and then back to New York, three days later, and you can see why I'm awake all night and asleep all day. I am however, getting back into my normal writing schedule.
A few things have happened since I've been overseas. My books THE REMAINS and THE INNOCENT both made the rise back into the Top 200 over-all Amazon Kindle Bestsellers, the latter coming within a short hair of breaking the Top 100. This just goes to show you that E-Books can have many, many runs up and down the Amazon bestseller list. Perhaps an infinite amount of runs. In the old days, you had one run at the top and that was about it. Now anything is possible with a bookshelf that contains infinite space.
The State Department has filed their suit against the Big 6 (or is it Big 5?) for colluding on E-Book prices. Indie expert J.A. Konrath has the story here. To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure I understand the ins and out of this "Agency Model" suit. But as writer who was originally groomed for the construction business, I certainly know what "collusion" means. And it ain't good. All I know is that Random House nearly ruined my career once and that in itself is crime enough. If these companies did indeed collude to fuck over writers, I hope the judicial system tosses the book at them.
Thomas & Mercer, my new powerhouse publisher and Amazon Publishing imprint, has just acquired a whole bunch of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. More specifically, the publisher has acquired E-Rights having snatched them right out of Penguin's hands. The enthusiastic and future-thinking spokesperson for the Fleming estate had this to say about Amazon's ability to place their books in a position to outsell any other publisher on the planet: “We believe that Amazon Publishing has the ability to place the books back at the heart of the Bond brand, balancing traditional publishing routes with new technologies and new ways of reaching our readers.”
Can you say, "Bond...James Bond...?" In any case, I'll drink to that. A dry martini. Shaken, not stirred.
I've been invited to attend the BEA in New York City this June by Amazon Publishing, and I was honored to accept the invite. It takes place June 5-7 and should be a very exciting opportunity to rub elbows with the best of the best in the ground zero of literary success. I hope to run into some old friends and make some new ones, and of course, to push my new novels, BLUE MOONLIGHT and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT, both coming in December from Thomas & Mercer.
Finally, the re-publication of my 1995 literary novella, PERMANENCE, is about to become a reality. And for the first time ever, I am putting one of my out-of-print novels out on my very own. Yup, I'm about to self-publish through Amazon's KDP program. Makes me kind of proud and nervous at the same time. But I see this as the first in many books, novellas and short stories I will be publishing through Bear Media while continuing to publish traditionally with my indie and major publishers.
It's Spring in New York. A really great time to put pen to paper. I have a lot of stories to tell this year and while I've begun some, I'm having a hard time holding others back. I only have two hands to work with. But it's nice and comforting to know that the stories are still in me no matter who publishes me and how.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Innocent
As most of you already know, I've been away since the first week of March and only arrived back in New York a couple of days ago. Not only have I been living six hours ahead of EST, I experienced two back to back daylight saving "spring aheads." Add to that flying from Paris to California and then back to New York, three days later, and you can see why I'm awake all night and asleep all day. I am however, getting back into my normal writing schedule.
A few things have happened since I've been overseas. My books THE REMAINS and THE INNOCENT both made the rise back into the Top 200 over-all Amazon Kindle Bestsellers, the latter coming within a short hair of breaking the Top 100. This just goes to show you that E-Books can have many, many runs up and down the Amazon bestseller list. Perhaps an infinite amount of runs. In the old days, you had one run at the top and that was about it. Now anything is possible with a bookshelf that contains infinite space.
The State Department has filed their suit against the Big 6 (or is it Big 5?) for colluding on E-Book prices. Indie expert J.A. Konrath has the story here. To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure I understand the ins and out of this "Agency Model" suit. But as writer who was originally groomed for the construction business, I certainly know what "collusion" means. And it ain't good. All I know is that Random House nearly ruined my career once and that in itself is crime enough. If these companies did indeed collude to fuck over writers, I hope the judicial system tosses the book at them.
Thomas & Mercer, my new powerhouse publisher and Amazon Publishing imprint, has just acquired a whole bunch of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. More specifically, the publisher has acquired E-Rights having snatched them right out of Penguin's hands. The enthusiastic and future-thinking spokesperson for the Fleming estate had this to say about Amazon's ability to place their books in a position to outsell any other publisher on the planet: “We believe that Amazon Publishing has the ability to place the books back at the heart of the Bond brand, balancing traditional publishing routes with new technologies and new ways of reaching our readers.”
Can you say, "Bond...James Bond...?" In any case, I'll drink to that. A dry martini. Shaken, not stirred.
I've been invited to attend the BEA in New York City this June by Amazon Publishing, and I was honored to accept the invite. It takes place June 5-7 and should be a very exciting opportunity to rub elbows with the best of the best in the ground zero of literary success. I hope to run into some old friends and make some new ones, and of course, to push my new novels, BLUE MOONLIGHT and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT, both coming in December from Thomas & Mercer.
Finally, the re-publication of my 1995 literary novella, PERMANENCE, is about to become a reality. And for the first time ever, I am putting one of my out-of-print novels out on my very own. Yup, I'm about to self-publish through Amazon's KDP program. Makes me kind of proud and nervous at the same time. But I see this as the first in many books, novellas and short stories I will be publishing through Bear Media while continuing to publish traditionally with my indie and major publishers.
It's Spring in New York. A really great time to put pen to paper. I have a lot of stories to tell this year and while I've begun some, I'm having a hard time holding others back. I only have two hands to work with. But it's nice and comforting to know that the stories are still in me no matter who publishes me and how.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Innocent
Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Great Writer?
The following blog is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
Last evening I watched a new movie presented by HBO called Hemingway and Gellhorn. It offered a fascinating but sadly cliched view into the life of two of the 20th century's greatest writers. Both were portrayed as hard drinking, whiskey bottle by the side of their typewriter, bombs blasting in their bedroom, always traveling to exotic locales, wild sex with every sentence individuals. Like their novels, much of this is made up. But then, in some ways Hemingway and Gellhorn lived up to this over romanticized image.
Giving credit where credit is due, the literary couple were more than what was presented on the silver screen (or LCD TV in this case).
In reality they both struggled over their writing, and painstakingly wrote their articles, stories and novels, often wrestling with every word. Hemingway would produce on average no more than 250 new words a day and in the prime of his life, took three straight years off from writing altogether. That's how hard it was for him.
Martha would write alone, sometimes for three or four solid hours a day. Then she would toss it all out and start over the next morning. Like her lover, she possessed a very fine built-in shit detector and in this, she was her own worst critic.
Truth is, they never drank booze while they wrote. They didn't get hammered the night before and wake up fresh and write like the words were simply bleeding out them. This is the stuff of Hollywood. This is romance. This is pure bullshit.
The truth about Hemingway and Gellhorn:
They're writing came first.
It came before love.
It came before war.
It came before partnership.
It came before car payments and mortgages.
It came before children.
It came before health and sickness.
It came before leaky roofs and broken refrigerators.
It came before school PTA meetings and dinner with the neighbors.
It came before birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and graduations.
It came before Christmas.
It came before fun.
It came before happiness and sadness.
It came before God.
This is why fifty years after Hemingway's death and fourteen years after Gellhorn's (both of them by suicide), Hollywood is making movies about the couple. Because they were the best at what they did. And to be the best, you must make tremendous sacrifices.
Being a writer is not about being available to the world. It's about locking yourself away, at a great distance if need be, in order to work. Work alone, with yourself, without interruption. It's selfish and it is painstakingly hard work. In Hemingway's words, it is like "biting the nail."
Do you have what it takes to be a great writer?
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Innocent
Last evening I watched a new movie presented by HBO called Hemingway and Gellhorn. It offered a fascinating but sadly cliched view into the life of two of the 20th century's greatest writers. Both were portrayed as hard drinking, whiskey bottle by the side of their typewriter, bombs blasting in their bedroom, always traveling to exotic locales, wild sex with every sentence individuals. Like their novels, much of this is made up. But then, in some ways Hemingway and Gellhorn lived up to this over romanticized image.
Giving credit where credit is due, the literary couple were more than what was presented on the silver screen (or LCD TV in this case).
In reality they both struggled over their writing, and painstakingly wrote their articles, stories and novels, often wrestling with every word. Hemingway would produce on average no more than 250 new words a day and in the prime of his life, took three straight years off from writing altogether. That's how hard it was for him.
Martha would write alone, sometimes for three or four solid hours a day. Then she would toss it all out and start over the next morning. Like her lover, she possessed a very fine built-in shit detector and in this, she was her own worst critic.
Truth is, they never drank booze while they wrote. They didn't get hammered the night before and wake up fresh and write like the words were simply bleeding out them. This is the stuff of Hollywood. This is romance. This is pure bullshit.
The truth about Hemingway and Gellhorn:
They're writing came first.
It came before love.
It came before war.
It came before partnership.
It came before car payments and mortgages.
It came before children.
It came before health and sickness.
It came before leaky roofs and broken refrigerators.
It came before school PTA meetings and dinner with the neighbors.
It came before birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and graduations.
It came before Christmas.
It came before fun.
It came before happiness and sadness.
It came before God.
This is why fifty years after Hemingway's death and fourteen years after Gellhorn's (both of them by suicide), Hollywood is making movies about the couple. Because they were the best at what they did. And to be the best, you must make tremendous sacrifices.
Being a writer is not about being available to the world. It's about locking yourself away, at a great distance if need be, in order to work. Work alone, with yourself, without interruption. It's selfish and it is painstakingly hard work. In Hemingway's words, it is like "biting the nail."
Do you have what it takes to be a great writer?
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Innocent
