Books signings suck...

A fun place to sign: Thriller Fest in NYC. Yup that's Diane Capri and Lee Child

...unless that is, you're an angry celebrity politician like Hillary or a witty cable television news anchor like Gutfeld or Sleepy Eyes Chuck (sorry, couldn't help it). A few authors can still command a decent audience at book signings. Lee Child, and of course, JK Rowling. Maybe if you write children's books you can gather a tribe of school kids who love your books. Some romance authors maybe. EL James and all her "Shades of Grey."

I do maybe one or two signings per year, and it usually takes place in Manhattan. These are usually quiet affairs but fun nonetheless as we like to make a night of it, no matter how many people show up (or don't). I guess I'm known mostly for my eBooks, but naturally, all my work is available in print and audio too (shameless plug).

This about sums it up...

Bad book signing memory: I show up to my signing and an old dude is standing in my place at the very front of the store as you walk in. I recognize him as a local news anchor who's penned a tall-all about the local Albany news scene. The book is published by the bookstore owner. When I enter the bookshop, I'm told to "Go to the back of the store. There's a table set up for you there." This is back when an earlier edition of The Remains was published (sloppily I might add) by a small press. I sign maybe 12 books in the hour I spend there, and then I walk out, tossing my pen in the garbage.

I never went back to that store again. Why should I? Writers have power now in this the new golden era of writing and publishing. We no longer have to be bullied and trampled on by stores, publishers, or agents who think we need them more than they need us. Hit the road Jack...

But The Remains would go on to be sold to a major publisher (Thomas & Mercer at Amazon Publishing) and overall I believe it's sold 200K units over the course of its two editions. Not bad for a guy who was pushed to the back of the store not that long ago.

Even now, I can promo my books online and sell hundreds if not thousands while doing something else, like writing new fiction for instance. Because after all, I'd rather be writing than standing like a dope in the middle of a bookstore. However, that doesn't mean I don't love meeting my fans. It's just that book signings no longer need to happen at bookstores. They can happen at conferences, bars, eateries, book clubs, you name it.

Yesterday, I told around 2K books while whooping it up in a bar for St. Patty's Day. It was a hell of a day, let me tell you. A home run kind of a day. Not all days are like that, but every now and again, you need one both for your bottom line and your head.

I love bookstores, especially those that sell rare editions. They're not going away anytime soon, or so I hope. But unlike the old days, I don't feel the need to come crawling to them in order to "move the units." When I sign live and in person, it's just more of a fun, interactive kind of thing. Bottom line: I'm happy to sign books for anyone who wants one. But it may not happen at a brick and mortar bookstore. And why should it?

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

How Do I Publish My Novel?

Lately, I've been fielding more than my fair share of phone calls, emails, texts, and barroom queries over how precisely one goes about getting one's book to the marketplace. The kinds of people asking me these questions might be varied in age, gender, occupation, and relationship to the author (that's me), but they all have one thing in common: not only the desire to publish a book or books, but also to make money from it.

What I find most interesting is that they come to me in the first place. As if I know a secret formula no one else knows and all it will take is my snapping a photo of said formula with my smartphone and forwarding it along the digital transom. Within a day or two, a new novel would be available for sale on the global marketplace. But what's even more interesting is the way these people perceive me as a writer.

"You have a lot of luck publishing eBooks."

"You publish real books."

"You publish with a big publisher."

"You work with an Amazon Publishing imprint."

"You work with an independent publisher."

"You write pulp fiction."

"You write stand-alone suspense thrillers."

"You write PI series." 

It goes on and on. The truth is that I am all of the above and more than all of the above. I am a hybrid author who at one time or another in his career, was a slave to the old system of write a novel, submit novel to agent, wait to hear from agent, finally hear from agent, rewrite novel, submit once more to agent, wait while they submit to publishers, wait some more, collect rejections until maybe...just maybe...you field an offer. Then wait some more. Just like magic, however, your book appears in the bookstores where it will live a  shelf life of perhaps six weeks, if you are lucky. That entire process can eat up two to three years of one's life.

But now, with the advent of eBooks, Kindle Direct Publishing, and a new breed of author/reader friendly major publishers like Amazon Publishing (in particular, the Thomas & Mercer imprint), I am able to publish many books per year, in several different genres, in multiple formats, and enjoy infinite shelf life. Since some of these books are published under my own imprint, I make a far greater profit per unit sold than I would under that aforementioned "12 Years a Slave" publishing process of yesteryear.

So when it comes to answering the queries from those interested in getting their new opus in print, my answer is not always simple. There are simply too many options available to authors these days. From going strictly indie to pursuing a traditional deal. I do stress the importance however, of keeping one's options open and not sticking strictly to one method of publishing. I published with Amazon Publishing because, hands down, they are the best at what they do. The marketing department operates like they invented book marketing. Because of their efforts, I'm closing in on my first million sold. In terms of the traditional deal in a no longer so traditional world, I can't imagine being anywhere else.

But then, AP and independent bookstores don't always see eye to eye, and that means the paperback versions of my novels aren't often found inside those hallowed brick and mortar walls. Which means I need to also publish traditionally with a publisher who will produce a hardcover book and distribute it to all the bookstores. Enter my friends at Polis Books who recently published my newest stand alone noir novel, Orchard Grove.

And yet, there's the third method of publishing for the hybrid author and that's self-publishing. Back when I was in writing school, if you even breathed the words "self publishing" you might have been banished from campus (I was banished anyway, but for other reasons I won't get into here). Now however, self or "indie" publishing, is all the rage. And while I avoided it for far longer than I should have, I now make significant profits from my own imprint, Bear Media. My son, Harrison, who will release his first supernatural YA novel, Howard, in April, can't imagine going any other way than indie. "Why would you want to give away your rights, dad?" he says. You gotta love the millennials.

But what KDP also allows me is speed. I'm a fast writer and I work everyday, six and a half days per week, as if I were working for a big company like Miramax, for instance, who might expect me to put out a script per week. "But don't you ever get writer's block, Mr. Zandri?" the would-be writer asks on occasion. I always answer them the same way, "My dad worked construction for sixty years before he died. Never once in all his working life did he experience construction block."

So back to the basic premise of this essay which is first-time authors asking me how to go about publishing their first novel. It's totally up to you. Do your research. Google the term "traditional publishing." And do the same for "hybrid publishing" and "self/indie publishing." Determine which method suits you best, your goals, and the effort you're willing to put into it.

One thing is for sure. There's no fast track to riches and fame in the writing business. Sure, there's the occasional first time breakout that takes the globe by storm, but you have a better chance of being struck by lightning while cashing in your winning Power Ball ticket than you do becoming a mega bestseller right out of the starting gate. There's only one sure fire way to succeed as a writer, and that's to write, publish, stretch, repeat. If you possess talent, and you're willing to put in the work, you will enjoy a degree of success. Perhaps even major success.  So stop reading this and get to work.

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

  

Russo's War

The new one from Russo, in paper edition only...

Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo is trying to stop progress or, said another way, reverse recent history. He's decided to boycott the ebook edition of his newest collection of stories (You can get the exciting story here) in favor of only paper versions (Go to hell all you trees!). Russo feels that in doing so he will become the savior of the ever failing independent bookstore. Hey Russo, where were you when the behemoth Barnes and Nobles and Border's bookstore giants were crushing the itsy bitsy independents? Oh, you were doing book signing tours for them, right? Course you were.

In any case, Russo claims that lots of authors will eventually give up their ebook editions in order to follow his crusade. Wow, Richard, we're all holding our breath. I wonder how many paper copies Russo will sell regardless of giving up ebook sales? I can bet it will be a lot. Certainly more than the average mid-list author who usually won't earn enough back on paper sales to make up his or her advance. But now with ebooks being all the rage, and having great books available at affordable prices to young people who are devouring them on their e-readers, many authors can make a good solid living again. I know, I'm one of them.

Sure, all my books are published in paper, audio, and e-book, and yes I publish with a major publisher (Thomas & Mercer) and with at least two, small, independent publishers (including StoneHouse and StoneGate Ink). Like a writing professor of mine once said, "I lust publishing." Me too! Heck, if there were a way for a book to be published over a smart phone, I would lust that too. Oh, wait, you can get all twelve of my in-print books on a smart phone. You can read plenty of Russo's books that way too.

I wonder if the entire literary intelligentsia is going to jump on the Russo, "Let's go back to the olden days when authors had to struggle to be published and hardcover books cost $30 a piece?" I wonder if the MFA programs and the literary wanna-be NYT newspaper reporters will join in? Not likely. Then they'd have to stop the electronic versions of their papers appearing on their Nooks and Kindles. I wonder if the bookstores Russo is trying to save will give up the antiquated old fashioned system of book returns or stop pulling new books from the shelves after only six weeks? I wonder if they will give up their Internet connections, their Google searches, their smartphones, their Pandora and their Sirius radio in order to support musicians who want to see a return to vinyl records and cash for each single played on the air?

Ok, my point is made.

Mr. Russo, I have the utmost respect for your talents, but please don't encourage other authors who have not won a Pulitzer to follow in your footsteps. Instead encourage them to sign the paper editions of their books at their local independent bookseller. Not since the 1920s have authors enjoyed so much freedom to publish however and wherever they want without having to suffer horrible humiliation at the hands of the corporate media giants. And make no mistake about it, the untalented ones will fail and the talented ones will persevere and sell, just like always. It's not how the words are published, Mr. Russo, it's the fact that they are being published and that people are reading them again at an affordable price.

WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

 

Predictions and Prophecies: Vive le Revolucion!!!

Lately I feel like I'm at war with the world's bookstores. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it's true I've been social networking and virtual "cyber" pushing the Kindle and EBook sales of my new bestsellers, The Remains and Moonlight Falls (and the forthcoming The Innocent), like a street-corner prostitute on crack, I haven't completely ignored the value and communal benefits of the traditional bookstore. After all, all my books are still published in paper and like any other author, there's no greater feeling than holding your own book in your hand.

However, bookstores if they are to last must face some serious facts, the major one being, if they don't adapt to the new indie publishing revolution, especially EBook/Kindle publishing, they will go out of business, or at the very least relegate their personalized service to the big box Target's of the world. That includes the littlest corner shop to the big B&N stores.

So what's going to happen if bookstores are to survive?
-They will reduce inventory and order on an add needed basis which will fuel the rise of POD and short print runs.
-The old, antiquated, and author damaging return policy will either be abandoned or seriously reduced. In other words, shop owners will no longer be able to depend on this luxury for balancing their bottom lines.
-POD kiosks, like the kind seen in Japan, will become more and more the trend. How's this work? A reader walks into a book store, browses from a list of titles and covers, and orders a copy. It is automatically printed and bound inside the store.
-EBook sections will arise. It will work just like the POD kiosk only you will receive downloads on your EReader.
-Bookstores will become much more communal; meeting places for writers, authors, etc. This is already happening of course, and has been for years. What it means however, is that Book Store Owners will now have to get into the food and beverage business.
-Book Stores will become mini publishing houses. They will begin to offer electronic and POD publication of a few select authors in their communities. They will publish a few traditionally, perhaps even entertaining agented deals. But most will offer publishing services in which wanna-be authors will "pay to play." This is already happening in Albany in a big way!
-The retail space Owners must rent will be reduced to perhaps half of what was once needed in order to house thousands of titles.
-As traditionally published books fade into the sun, much like 8-track tapes, cassettes, vinyl disks, and CDs of old, Book Stores will reply more and more on used and "Rare" book sales.

Paper books will survive alongside EBooks. Book Stores will survive too. But only the ones that embrace the radical changes that have not only occurred in the industry over the past year, but that will come to a head over the next three to five years.

Welcome to the new world publishing order where authors have more control over their own work than ever before!!! Viva le Revolucion!

EBook Observations!!!

"This guy got a cool job or what? What's he got to do with EBooks? read on...."






A year ago I was primarily employed as a freelance journalist. Over the past 14 months, I've been on assignment in Africa, Moscow, Italy, Paris, and New York. All totaled I've written probably about 600 short pieces for various global publications over the past 5 years like RT, and Globalspec, written hundreds of professional blogs. Being a freelance writer is hard, so I consider myself lucky. I have work.

But over the past 6 months, my life has changed. With the publication of my new thrillers Moonlight Falls and The Remains, my first published novels since Godchild of 2001, I am now making money again as a fiction writer. Where's the bulk of that money coming from? EBooks and Kindles.

6 months ago, I hardly knew EBooks existed. Now I'm all about EBooks. Why? They are not only the future, they are the present, BIG TIME. I know, I know, you all like to hold a real book in your hands, smell the paper, feel the touch....I do too. Which is why all my books are still being published in trade paper as well. But in terms of making money on paper, let's put it this way, I don't even bother to look at my numbers. What's even more interesting, if not disturbing, my present publishers have all been complaining that distributors are lagging far behind on payments because bookstores are lagging far behind on payments and what's worse, going out of business before they MAKE their payments.

Back to the EBook. Why do I love them as an author? Because....
1. I make far more money per unit sold. So does my publisher and so does my agent, and so long as they're happy, they will want to continue working with me. And my novels are EBook bestsellers so that means my work is popular.

2. I have more control as an author. My rights aren't locked up in some NYC vault for ten years. Also, I don't have to wait a full year for a book to be published. EBooks can be edited, proofed, delivered, and published within a few short weeks, increasing their earning capacity by leaps and bounds. And once they are published, they will always be published and always be making money. If one day I decide to start publishing my own books, I will make twice the money per unit I'm earning now.

3. The EBook market, while ten years old, is in its infancy. As the price per reader device comes down and as EBooks become more popular than even mass market paperbacks, my earning capacity will increase considerably. In fact, it's increasing everyday, which is my my present publisher has not only signed me for two more books.

4. Enhanced EBooks are on their way. I'm looking forward to seeing my novels enahanced with video, pics, audio files, music and more.

5. I don't have to do so many book signings. You might think as an author, I might love doing book signings. That they migh be a big ego boost. Well, they are, and I support indie bookstores as much as I can. However, I've done too many signings where just about no one shows up, and I'm sick of disappointed looks from shop owners. Now, with the EBook, I can sell more books in the time it takes to drink a large Dunkin Donuts coffee by engaging in social media marketing from my bedroom or my sun-drenched stone terrace or my five story walk-up apartment in Florence, Italy, than I can standing all alone in some local bookstore.

6. Digital Shorts. During the span of my near 20 year career, I've published about 20 short stories in various journals and magazines. None of these properties make me any money nor are they available to the general public. Until now that is. Now two of my most anthologized shorts,
True Stories and Pathological, are available exclusively on Kindle for $.99 And guess what, they are both bestsellers in True Crime, Theater and Drama....

7. All of my previously Out of Print books are about to be re-edited, repackaged and re-published. They will be making money again.

8. The future. It feels good to have gotten in on the bottom floor of an ever expanding universe of EBook and Kindle opportunities. Taken altogether, I'm selling about 300-500 plus Kindle units alone per month. That includes Digie Shorts, and all my novels. By this time next year I expect that number to triple or even quadruple. In other words, my sales will explode exponentially.

What all this means of course, is that in a very short time, I won't have to be a journalist anymore if I don't want to. However, I'm not just a writer. I'm also a lover of adventure. I can't imagine a future without packing my backpack with a few days worth of clothing, packing my laptop, my passport, my guidebooks, my camera. I can't imagine not lacing up my big leather boots, slipping on my leather jacket or safari jacket (depending upon the climate), and heading out to the airport for some overseas flight to a destination I've never before experienced. I can't imagine not writing about it either. Only difference now, is that instead of packing and lugging a couple of pounds worth of books with me, from now on I'll take along my Kindle. When I arrive back home, I'll purchase the paper versions for my library.

Bon voyage summer. Hello fall...Hello football weather!
To order the bestselling "Remains," click HERE!

JA "Jesus H" Konrad's Sermon on the Publishing Mount!

What did the cassette tape say to the eight-track tape?
"We've replaced you, you are obsolete."

What did the CD say to the cassette?
"We've replaced you, you are obsolete."

What did online downloads and yah, pirating, say to the CD?
"We've replaced you, you are obsolete."

What did the E-Book say to the Big New York Print industry?
"We're about to bury you!"

Check out JA "Jesus H" Konrad's newest sermon on the future of publishing hot off the cyber press at the Huffington Post!!!

PS. Yah, I made up the Jesus H thing....

In this Corner, the E-Book; In that Corner, the Hardcopy!

Everyone's a critic....



Is it really really E-Books versus Print? Much like an inevitable global confrontation between good and evil, is the future of publishing really setting the stage for a war of reading mediums? Or can print and E-Books live together in harmony? Check in this Sunday at "CMash Loves to Read" book blog hailing from out of my old stomping ground, Providence, Rhode Island. I'll be ranting and raving about this very topic while you cure your hangovers with coffee, eggs, bacon and home-fries. Hey, the little state likes to do big things. And Providence rocks. And I used to party with Mayor Buddy Cianci back in the 80s!!!