Vincent Zandri's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Working Writers: The Interview!!!
Do I actually make a Jesus comparison in this interview? Ok, I'll lay off the crack for a while....
http://workingwritersandbloggers.com/...
http://workingwritersandbloggers.com/...
The Overnight Success Story!!!
I love it when success comes overnight. Especially when it takes 12 years worth of overnights!!! Here's my thoughts on the E-Book publication of my new thriller, The Remains, and how it has debuted on the Amazon "Hard Boiled" Kindle bestseller list....
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
The Bedroom: Where the Magic Happens!!
Writing is hard. It might even be the hardest job there is. Which is why where you do your writing is so important. Having been asked by "Living in the First Draft" to describe the place where I usually bring my stories to life, I discovered that the magic almost always happens inside the bedroom, even if that bedroom is in Africa on board a hospital ship!
Check out the scoop here:
http://lifeinthefirstdraft.blogspot.c...
The RemainsMoonlight Falls
Check out the scoop here:
http://lifeinthefirstdraft.blogspot.c...
The RemainsMoonlight Falls
To My Readers: Thank You!
Sundays are a great day to for reflection...and thank yous!
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
The 'What Now' Syndrome
What the hell do we do with ourselves once we finish a bog book? Find the answers in the new Vincent Zandri Vox!:
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The Remains
How to Write the "Great" Agent Query Letter
I no longer have to write query letters to agents.
That part of my life is over. I have a great agent now and plan on spending the rest of my life with him. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
I wasn't always good at writing agent query letters. It took a lot of practice honing the essential information I needed to include in the letter and to be able to present said information on a single page. Agents hate to read more than one page and often will read no further than your first sentence. So make it a good one.
But I've spent literally hours upon hours working up query letters and getting them out to agents. Originally I did this via snail mail and the cost was astronomical. For the past decade I've been able to pretty much go through the process of query submission and agent response via email and while that has diminished the cost element, it still takes up a huge chunk of time.
Time that could be used for writing.
That said, I thought it might be a good time to give you an idea of what makes a great query letter. Notice I don't say a “good” query because in this climate of radical publishing shifts in which the Big 6 publishers in New York are slowly downsizing, giving way to a huge influx of indie presses like StoneHouse Ink and StoneGate Ink, and/or self-published authors, agents must be more choosy than ever in which clients they decide to take on and which they decide to reject.
Get the rest of this at The Vincent Zandri Vox:
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
That part of my life is over. I have a great agent now and plan on spending the rest of my life with him. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
I wasn't always good at writing agent query letters. It took a lot of practice honing the essential information I needed to include in the letter and to be able to present said information on a single page. Agents hate to read more than one page and often will read no further than your first sentence. So make it a good one.
But I've spent literally hours upon hours working up query letters and getting them out to agents. Originally I did this via snail mail and the cost was astronomical. For the past decade I've been able to pretty much go through the process of query submission and agent response via email and while that has diminished the cost element, it still takes up a huge chunk of time.
Time that could be used for writing.
That said, I thought it might be a good time to give you an idea of what makes a great query letter. Notice I don't say a “good” query because in this climate of radical publishing shifts in which the Big 6 publishers in New York are slowly downsizing, giving way to a huge influx of indie presses like StoneHouse Ink and StoneGate Ink, and/or self-published authors, agents must be more choosy than ever in which clients they decide to take on and which they decide to reject.
Get the rest of this at The Vincent Zandri Vox:
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
Why I still Publish Traditionally!
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'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...
Meet The Blisterz!!
Writers, even the famous or infamous ones, haven't always stuck to just writing. Hemingway had his fish and mounted buffalo heads. Faulkner had his farm. Mailer had his movies. Zeltserman's got his karate. And I've got my punk rock. More specifically, I've got the drums that I play in an upstate New York punk outfit called, The Blisterz.
Consider us a side project, or consider us a way to blow off steam, or don't consider us at all. But there's something deeply satisfying about heading out to band practice after a hard day's night of writing. And besides, playing in band makes me feel young, even if half the bands we often share a stage with are young enough to be our kids!
But the song I present for you below is the first single lifted from our new album, "Rebels Without Applause," which is a line taken from the guitarist's own song, which in a real way demonstrates his own skill at wordplay.
Sometimes I like to imagine my characters listening to The Blisterz...
Get the rest of the rockin' scoop here:
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
Consider us a side project, or consider us a way to blow off steam, or don't consider us at all. But there's something deeply satisfying about heading out to band practice after a hard day's night of writing. And besides, playing in band makes me feel young, even if half the bands we often share a stage with are young enough to be our kids!
But the song I present for you below is the first single lifted from our new album, "Rebels Without Applause," which is a line taken from the guitarist's own song, which in a real way demonstrates his own skill at wordplay.
Sometimes I like to imagine my characters listening to The Blisterz...
Get the rest of the rockin' scoop here:
http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
G-Zone's Giovanni Gelati, Unleashed!
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
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
