The Power to Publish

 

Photo courtesy Huffpost.com

Publishing is easy and instantaneous in the 21^st century. But that power bears enormous responsibility.

It’s a huge responsibility when you think about it. This new age of publishing is all about the freedom and the democratization of language. In place of the once speculative process of submitting our work in exchange for paid publication—a laborious process that can take weeks, months, and in some cases, years—we now have the power to publish complex thoughts, ideas, and stories, instantly. We choose to do this without contract, without direct payment in exchange for the adrenaline rush of publication. 

I once listened to a writing professor of mine announce to our humble workshop, “I lust publication.” His words hit home, even when I was starting out, and publication meant typing up a story, and sending it to a magazine via snail mail. Maybe you’d receive the coffee-stained story back in the mail three or four weeks later along with a form rejection letter, “Sorry but no dice.” Suddenly you’re back to where you started. Or hell, if that’s your twentieth rejection, maybe you just gave up and decided to drive a truck for a living. 

But now you don’t need the mail. You don’t need the publisher. You need your laptop and a place like Medium to publish whatever you want to write. Amazon KDP will publish your book, no questions asked. So will Kobo, Google, iBooks, and Barnes and Noble/Nook. ACX will record your audio. YouTube will make you a video star. Twitter will create scandal, for which you will become famous or infamous. Facebook and Instagram posts will make all your friends and colleagues jealous when you post pictures of your vacations and notices of your successes. Because no one ever posts pictures of their dirty toilet. No one ever posts news of their empty bank accounts. Or do they? 

Publishing in the new world order…The walls have been torn down, the gatekeepers removed, the barriers blown up. Writers (and that can anybody who calls him or herself a writer) now possess a tremendous amount of power. Imagine the enormous responsibility that comes with that power? 

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

 

So I Finally Went and Published It Myself!

A lot of people...readers especially...associate me directly with Indie Publishing. There's good reason for this since for the past two years I have been publishing with arguably the hottest indie-based publisher in the country, StoneHouse/StoneGate Ink (Get the full story on my indie journey here at SUSPENSE MAGAZINE). And I've done very well with them. So well, I've landed a major deal with Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint. But that doesn't mean I won't continue to work with the StoneGates.

Not by a long shot. 

But it also means something else too. For ages now I've been preaching that for an author to be successful he or she needs to engage in a variety of publishing methods. Those methods are, and I repeat: Traditional major, indie-based small press, and self-publishing. I've engaged in the two former methods sometimes successfully and other times dreadfully. But the latter of the three, self-publishing, has eluded me for some time now, even if a whole lot of people out there assume that's what I've been doing for a while now.

But now, I have gone and done it with the re-publication of my literary psychological suspense novel, Permanence, first published in 1995. For my first venture into the world of DIY, I wanted to make sure I did it right, so I hired the best editorial and conversion pros I could find. I also hired a great cover artist, and just one look at the stunning woman-in-the-water book cover might make you realize this is not going to be your everyday thriller.

I also rewrote some of the book, having added a brand new plot point towards the end. I know some fans might consider this cheating, but to be perfectly honest, I'm a better writer now and I wanted to give the reader his or her money's worth. That includes well written sentences and a well developed plot.

This is not your everyday Vincent Zandri thriller. It's a bit of an experiment and the narrative relies heavily on image. Something I was very into at the time. Through the years, some of my fans who read the original version have called this my best, most powerful book. I'm not sure about that, but who knows. Like I said, it was a departure when I wrote it and now, in this second edition published by my own Bear Media label, it remains a departure. But a good read nonetheless and an important stepping stone in the evolution of my noir career.

I hope you think so too

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM