Vincent Zandri's Blog, page 3
November 8, 2014
The Prostitute (Choosing an Indie Publisher Part II)
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox in slightly different form: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.it/2014...
A colleague of mine attended a writer's conference recently in which a self-published author who is also an "indie publisher," was overheard telling a would-be scribe that he didn't need to be a good writer just to publish a book since he can just get someone else to "clean it up." However, the would-be scribe should never hire an English major to clean up said book. The English major will just, and I quote, "screw things up."
Re-read the above paragraph and try to grasp, if you will, its importance, as well as the repugnance I feel for it. It's easy nowadays to publish a novel. Authors have choices. We can either enter into the old game of submitting a manuscript to a big publisher and play the waiting game, or we can publish it with an independent press that utilizes the Kindle Direct (Self) Publishing platform for its system of distribution. However, along with KDP also comes those prostitutes who, seeing that there is money to be made off of people who lust the validation of publication, will stop at nothing to sell them a bill of cheap gratification.
The prostitute/indie publisher will typically also claim to be a skilled writer, and he might have even made a few bucks doing it since he knows precisely how to "game" Amazon's algorithm system. He will even brag about gaming the system, while the old truism about a good book selling itself organically via word of mouth is for...well...chumps. But he's not really a writer since he will inevitably have to hire someone to write (or "clean up") his books for him.
He is however good at one thing: Prostituting himself and his indie press to published-starved individuals who will cut off their left arm for the gratification that can only come with a publishing contract. These unknowing people are the prostitute's clients. He will tell them, don't worry about skill. You can hire people to fix that. But not English majors because the English major is too smart, too hard working, too caring about the English language. We are into this venture to make money and that's it. Doesn't matter if the product is inferior and even insulting. People are stupid and they are still going to buy it. In fact, he can "trick" them into buying it.
Imagine if Hemingway, or Mailer, or Stephen King thought that talent and hard work were not a necessity and prerequisite of writing? That literature could simply be cobbed together like a half-assed addition to some trailer home out in the boondocks. Imagine the cheapening and eventually, dumbing down of literature that would inevitably occur? Or put another way altogether, imagine if an aeronautical engineer wasn't required to be that good? Or a structural engineer? Or a brain surgeon? You get the picture.
Writing is not only something to make money off of, it is a responsibility. A priestly endeavor that for the true writer, will never be mastered, but only worked at with all the struggle and negative capability that Shakespeare put into Hamlet. I've been saying for a long time now, that perhaps KDP and other self-publishing platforms should hire teams of editors to monitor the quality of the indie writing they self-publish. I suppose the amateur review system that's been put in place is a kind of monitoring system. But believe me when I tell you, the prostitute has that game conned as well, more than likely having paid big bucks for four and five star reviews for spiel that under the old publishing paradigm, would not have been considered fifth grade level.
Back in the mid 1990s, I earned my MFA in Writing. It took me two years full-time while I had a wife and two toddlers running around. We were broke but sacrificing for the betterment of me as a writer, knowing that one day, with more hard work, it would pay off. And it has. But there is so much more hard work to do and under no circumstance will I ever hire someone to clean up after my mess. Indie publishers who prostitute themselves for the sake of a quick and easy buck should be exposed and stopped before they undermine a proper literary legacy that has taken centuries to construct.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
Moonlight Weeps
Moonlight Weeps
A colleague of mine attended a writer's conference recently in which a self-published author who is also an "indie publisher," was overheard telling a would-be scribe that he didn't need to be a good writer just to publish a book since he can just get someone else to "clean it up." However, the would-be scribe should never hire an English major to clean up said book. The English major will just, and I quote, "screw things up."
Re-read the above paragraph and try to grasp, if you will, its importance, as well as the repugnance I feel for it. It's easy nowadays to publish a novel. Authors have choices. We can either enter into the old game of submitting a manuscript to a big publisher and play the waiting game, or we can publish it with an independent press that utilizes the Kindle Direct (Self) Publishing platform for its system of distribution. However, along with KDP also comes those prostitutes who, seeing that there is money to be made off of people who lust the validation of publication, will stop at nothing to sell them a bill of cheap gratification.
The prostitute/indie publisher will typically also claim to be a skilled writer, and he might have even made a few bucks doing it since he knows precisely how to "game" Amazon's algorithm system. He will even brag about gaming the system, while the old truism about a good book selling itself organically via word of mouth is for...well...chumps. But he's not really a writer since he will inevitably have to hire someone to write (or "clean up") his books for him.
He is however good at one thing: Prostituting himself and his indie press to published-starved individuals who will cut off their left arm for the gratification that can only come with a publishing contract. These unknowing people are the prostitute's clients. He will tell them, don't worry about skill. You can hire people to fix that. But not English majors because the English major is too smart, too hard working, too caring about the English language. We are into this venture to make money and that's it. Doesn't matter if the product is inferior and even insulting. People are stupid and they are still going to buy it. In fact, he can "trick" them into buying it.
Imagine if Hemingway, or Mailer, or Stephen King thought that talent and hard work were not a necessity and prerequisite of writing? That literature could simply be cobbed together like a half-assed addition to some trailer home out in the boondocks. Imagine the cheapening and eventually, dumbing down of literature that would inevitably occur? Or put another way altogether, imagine if an aeronautical engineer wasn't required to be that good? Or a structural engineer? Or a brain surgeon? You get the picture.
Writing is not only something to make money off of, it is a responsibility. A priestly endeavor that for the true writer, will never be mastered, but only worked at with all the struggle and negative capability that Shakespeare put into Hamlet. I've been saying for a long time now, that perhaps KDP and other self-publishing platforms should hire teams of editors to monitor the quality of the indie writing they self-publish. I suppose the amateur review system that's been put in place is a kind of monitoring system. But believe me when I tell you, the prostitute has that game conned as well, more than likely having paid big bucks for four and five star reviews for spiel that under the old publishing paradigm, would not have been considered fifth grade level.
Back in the mid 1990s, I earned my MFA in Writing. It took me two years full-time while I had a wife and two toddlers running around. We were broke but sacrificing for the betterment of me as a writer, knowing that one day, with more hard work, it would pay off. And it has. But there is so much more hard work to do and under no circumstance will I ever hire someone to clean up after my mess. Indie publishers who prostitute themselves for the sake of a quick and easy buck should be exposed and stopped before they undermine a proper literary legacy that has taken centuries to construct.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
Moonlight Weeps
Moonlight Weeps
October 11, 2014
An Affair in Italy
The following essay is now appearing in slightly different form at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.it/2014...
He's been coming to Italy to work alone for six years now.
The first year he came, he hardly worked at all. He was suffering from the pangs of lost love, and a career on hold, and he barely had enough work to keep him going, much less a novel in the works. He was also broke. He brooded as he walked the cobbled streets of Florence in his black leather coat in the rain, wondering where things in his life had gone wrong.
The next year he was a different man. He'd pulled himself out of his funk, and he reinvented himself once again as a freelance journalist who traveled to places like West Africa and Moscow writing for global news outlets such as RT. He was taking pictures and writing articles and essays as fast as he could while working under deadline. He came to crave the rush of dispatching a story written up on the fourth floor of a Florence guest house to Moscow, and then an hour later seeing it as a top-of-the-hour story in Europe. He was a foreign correspondent and life abroad was thrilling.
The year after that he was still a journalist but now he was back to writing fiction with a vengeance and it was wonderful to come to Florence be alone and walk the streets and think up plots. He had some scratch in the bank now and he could afford a real apartment. He would wonder about people he knew or had known, and women he had loved for a short time or a long time, who were going to make it as characters in his newest novel. People were drama and drama, although painful, was sometimes fun. It was also fun to play God in a place where almost no one knew him.
These days he's no longer unknown, and he's working on at least three books (and novellas) at once for three different publishers, plus a book for his own label. He's still a journalist (he knows this because he just paid his SPJ dues), only the fiction is trying to shove it out the door like the beautiful, young, brunette-haired affair who's angrily had enough of the wife. It's a violent and emotionally heartbreaking conflict. He forces himself between the two beauties wishing absurdly and selfishly that they could somehow get along and coexist peacefully.
"I need you both," he pleads.
But they both stare him down.
"Soon, you must choose between one or the other," says the affair.
But he will never choose. He wants them both. So, he just keeps on working as best he can, no matter what happens in his life, no matter what goes on in the world. The work: She is his most reliable friend, his most trusted lover, his affair, and his wife. She is ageless and her beauty only improves with the years, like ancient green-white marble that glistens and radiates in the Tuscan rain. She might resist him sometimes. She might pretend to be elusive, but in the end, she always sheds her clothing and slips into bed with him.
The work ... He comes to Italy to be with her, alone.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
He's been coming to Italy to work alone for six years now.
The first year he came, he hardly worked at all. He was suffering from the pangs of lost love, and a career on hold, and he barely had enough work to keep him going, much less a novel in the works. He was also broke. He brooded as he walked the cobbled streets of Florence in his black leather coat in the rain, wondering where things in his life had gone wrong.
The next year he was a different man. He'd pulled himself out of his funk, and he reinvented himself once again as a freelance journalist who traveled to places like West Africa and Moscow writing for global news outlets such as RT. He was taking pictures and writing articles and essays as fast as he could while working under deadline. He came to crave the rush of dispatching a story written up on the fourth floor of a Florence guest house to Moscow, and then an hour later seeing it as a top-of-the-hour story in Europe. He was a foreign correspondent and life abroad was thrilling.
The year after that he was still a journalist but now he was back to writing fiction with a vengeance and it was wonderful to come to Florence be alone and walk the streets and think up plots. He had some scratch in the bank now and he could afford a real apartment. He would wonder about people he knew or had known, and women he had loved for a short time or a long time, who were going to make it as characters in his newest novel. People were drama and drama, although painful, was sometimes fun. It was also fun to play God in a place where almost no one knew him.
These days he's no longer unknown, and he's working on at least three books (and novellas) at once for three different publishers, plus a book for his own label. He's still a journalist (he knows this because he just paid his SPJ dues), only the fiction is trying to shove it out the door like the beautiful, young, brunette-haired affair who's angrily had enough of the wife. It's a violent and emotionally heartbreaking conflict. He forces himself between the two beauties wishing absurdly and selfishly that they could somehow get along and coexist peacefully.
"I need you both," he pleads.
But they both stare him down.
"Soon, you must choose between one or the other," says the affair.
But he will never choose. He wants them both. So, he just keeps on working as best he can, no matter what happens in his life, no matter what goes on in the world. The work: She is his most reliable friend, his most trusted lover, his affair, and his wife. She is ageless and her beauty only improves with the years, like ancient green-white marble that glistens and radiates in the Tuscan rain. She might resist him sometimes. She might pretend to be elusive, but in the end, she always sheds her clothing and slips into bed with him.
The work ... He comes to Italy to be with her, alone.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
September 27, 2014
What I Feared the Most
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox in slightly different form: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
This time of year is a bit strange for me in several ways, not the least of which is the anniversary of my split with my second wife. This happened 9 years ago, almost to the day. It was a rough time for me, for her, for our infant daughter, for my two sons from my first marriage.
I was in rough shape. After having had a successful run as a freelance journalist, having earned my MFA in Writing, having nailed my first quarter million dollar contract with a big NYC publisher, all within a period of 7 or 8 years, I found myself without any kind of writing job whatsoever, my hope of nailing a second book contract a pipe dream, and now, my second marriage to a woman I loved, most definitely on the rocks.
For years I blamed the publishing system. You know, if it hadn't been for their silly consolidations my editors wouldn't have been fired and I, along with a bunch of other writers, wouldn't have been shown the door, our only hope to start all over again. If they hadn't given me that big two book contract in the first place, I wouldn't have quit freelancing as a journalist and severed ties with my bosses. The hole I had dug all by myself, for myself...somehow it was all somebody else's fault when in fact it was my fault for not seeing the writing on the wall in the first place and for storing all my golden eggs in one basket that was riddled with holes.
You see, once you've been to the big time and enjoyed the accolades and the parties and the back pats, it's pretty damned hard to pick yourself up again from out of the gutter, and start all over. All you want to do instead is run and hide. You fear everything. The phone ringing, a knock on the door, dinner with friends. You know, friends who will ask you if you are "still writing."
You fear the bills coming in. You fear the hollowness in your wallet and in your heart. You fear that look on your wife's face that says, "We're broke. Why don't you pick up some kind of work?" You fear having to get a job. A real job. You fear having to become a nobody again, and you fear having to write your way out of a hole because you worked so damned hard at it the first time around, you're not sure you have the energy to do it all over again even if you haven't yet hit forty.
Mostly what you fear is yourself.
My wife didn't want to have to ask me to leave, but she had no choice. As I stood inside my new small apartment, alone, feeling devastated, I knew I had no choice but to confront my worst fear. I sat down in front of my laptop, and I pushed all resistance aside, and I went to work writing the novel that would become Moonlight Falls. For better or for worse.
Nine years ago this week, I faced my worst fear, and it has made all the difference.
The newly released 8th Episode in the Dick Moonlight PI Noir series: MOONLIGHT WEEPS
Moonlight Weeps
Vincent Zandri
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
This time of year is a bit strange for me in several ways, not the least of which is the anniversary of my split with my second wife. This happened 9 years ago, almost to the day. It was a rough time for me, for her, for our infant daughter, for my two sons from my first marriage.
I was in rough shape. After having had a successful run as a freelance journalist, having earned my MFA in Writing, having nailed my first quarter million dollar contract with a big NYC publisher, all within a period of 7 or 8 years, I found myself without any kind of writing job whatsoever, my hope of nailing a second book contract a pipe dream, and now, my second marriage to a woman I loved, most definitely on the rocks.
For years I blamed the publishing system. You know, if it hadn't been for their silly consolidations my editors wouldn't have been fired and I, along with a bunch of other writers, wouldn't have been shown the door, our only hope to start all over again. If they hadn't given me that big two book contract in the first place, I wouldn't have quit freelancing as a journalist and severed ties with my bosses. The hole I had dug all by myself, for myself...somehow it was all somebody else's fault when in fact it was my fault for not seeing the writing on the wall in the first place and for storing all my golden eggs in one basket that was riddled with holes.
You see, once you've been to the big time and enjoyed the accolades and the parties and the back pats, it's pretty damned hard to pick yourself up again from out of the gutter, and start all over. All you want to do instead is run and hide. You fear everything. The phone ringing, a knock on the door, dinner with friends. You know, friends who will ask you if you are "still writing."
You fear the bills coming in. You fear the hollowness in your wallet and in your heart. You fear that look on your wife's face that says, "We're broke. Why don't you pick up some kind of work?" You fear having to get a job. A real job. You fear having to become a nobody again, and you fear having to write your way out of a hole because you worked so damned hard at it the first time around, you're not sure you have the energy to do it all over again even if you haven't yet hit forty.
Mostly what you fear is yourself.
My wife didn't want to have to ask me to leave, but she had no choice. As I stood inside my new small apartment, alone, feeling devastated, I knew I had no choice but to confront my worst fear. I sat down in front of my laptop, and I pushed all resistance aside, and I went to work writing the novel that would become Moonlight Falls. For better or for worse.
Nine years ago this week, I faced my worst fear, and it has made all the difference.
The newly released 8th Episode in the Dick Moonlight PI Noir series: MOONLIGHT WEEPS
Moonlight Weeps
Vincent Zandri
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
September 25, 2014
Spanking: A Confession
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
I was just about fed up with the spanking debate that's tackled NFL football, in particular Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings who, in the wake of the Ray Rice-left-hook-to-finacee's-jaw debacle, was sidelined after it was learned he spanked his four-year old with a switch. Apparently spanking with a switch was enough to cause the child some bruising, which in and of itself is a little disturbing, especially now that so many football players have come to his defense stating that they too were spanked as kids with switches. Ouch!
I was spanked as a kid. But not with a switch. I wasn't beaten or punched or tossed out the door of a moving vehicle. But I was spanked. It seemed normal at the time because I can remember doing some really stupid things like ignoring my math homework for a couple of months which I most definitely did not do a second time after my dad learned about it and spanked me as a punishment (he took away my bedroom TV too which hurt a lot more). Lesson learned. And like my grandmother used to say, If God didn't want us to spank our children, he wouldn't have given them soft little bums.
Howard Kurtz at Fox News is reporting today that Chris Cuomo of CNN confessed to spanking his little boy. In fact, Cuomo goes a step further by saying he might have gotten too physical with the child on occasion and for this he is deeply apologetic and regretful. I would imagine that Chris, having grown up in an Italian American family, albeit a politically famous one, was also spanked. I can make that assumption since I too grew up in a mostly Italian American family. Italian dads, especially when overworked, can be real hotheads, myself included. It's also interesting to note that Cuomo and I attended the same private high school, The Albany Academy, where on more than one occasion I witnessed a teacher whalloping an out-of-line student. Prior to that, I attended a Roman Catholic grade school where I saw a blue habit-wearing nun literally punch the shit out of a bad kid. I remember the kid's name was David and I also remember that he was bully who tossed his weight around. That nun had a left hook that would have made Mike Tyson proud.
Later on, as I grew into adulthood, I was surprised to find that spanking would still play an important role in my life. Only this time, it wasn't as a punishment. It became a kind of fun thing to do behind closed doors with the girlfriend. A little spanking here and there could liven things up. Some of the spanks were far harder than they were when I was being punished but somehow, they felt way better.
Spanking added some real spice to an otherwise bland, foreplay-missionary sex-grab-me-a-beer-honey-while-your-up evening. And to be further honest, we'd inevitably have a good laugh over something that hurt so good.
For anyone who doesn't believe spanking should have a place in our adult lives think again. Check out these little online tidbit:
How to spank: Sensual spanking tips and tricks
Did you know that spanking a child is illegal in Germany, but spanking your girlfriend (or she spanking you), is entirely encouraged. I'm all for outlawing spanking with a switch. It seems a barbaric practice to me. But why then does a little light spanking with a leather whip between my sig other and myself seems so enticing?
Chris Cuomo shouldn't be so hard on himself. He should learn from his mistakes and embrace the other side of spanking. Adrian Peterson might do the same. Certainly, Ray Rice needs to learn that punching your fiancee out in an elevator is an act that deserves a spanking, but not the good kind.
Cracked.com reports that even famous geniuses like TE Lawrence of Arabia liked to be spanked. So did Percy Grainger, and so did Declaration of Independence inspiration, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Can you just picture the scene: "That spanking was positively Rousseauvian in delivery, darling!"
The famous actors Jack Nicholson and Sharon Stone like to be spanked. Okay, I'm making that up, but they seem like the type, don't they? I know that, given the opportunity, I'd spank Sharon Stone. Wouldn't you? Even my serial PI-with-a-piece-of-bullet-in-his-brain, Dick Moonlight, likes a good spanking now and then. But then when it comes to sex, he's most definitely a player.
I guess in the end, what it all comes down to is this: The world is filled with too much spanking, and not enough spanking.
Get the spankin' new Vincent Zandri release from Down & Out Books, MOONLIGHT WEEPS!
Moonlight Weeps
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
I was just about fed up with the spanking debate that's tackled NFL football, in particular Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings who, in the wake of the Ray Rice-left-hook-to-finacee's-jaw debacle, was sidelined after it was learned he spanked his four-year old with a switch. Apparently spanking with a switch was enough to cause the child some bruising, which in and of itself is a little disturbing, especially now that so many football players have come to his defense stating that they too were spanked as kids with switches. Ouch!
I was spanked as a kid. But not with a switch. I wasn't beaten or punched or tossed out the door of a moving vehicle. But I was spanked. It seemed normal at the time because I can remember doing some really stupid things like ignoring my math homework for a couple of months which I most definitely did not do a second time after my dad learned about it and spanked me as a punishment (he took away my bedroom TV too which hurt a lot more). Lesson learned. And like my grandmother used to say, If God didn't want us to spank our children, he wouldn't have given them soft little bums.
Howard Kurtz at Fox News is reporting today that Chris Cuomo of CNN confessed to spanking his little boy. In fact, Cuomo goes a step further by saying he might have gotten too physical with the child on occasion and for this he is deeply apologetic and regretful. I would imagine that Chris, having grown up in an Italian American family, albeit a politically famous one, was also spanked. I can make that assumption since I too grew up in a mostly Italian American family. Italian dads, especially when overworked, can be real hotheads, myself included. It's also interesting to note that Cuomo and I attended the same private high school, The Albany Academy, where on more than one occasion I witnessed a teacher whalloping an out-of-line student. Prior to that, I attended a Roman Catholic grade school where I saw a blue habit-wearing nun literally punch the shit out of a bad kid. I remember the kid's name was David and I also remember that he was bully who tossed his weight around. That nun had a left hook that would have made Mike Tyson proud.
Later on, as I grew into adulthood, I was surprised to find that spanking would still play an important role in my life. Only this time, it wasn't as a punishment. It became a kind of fun thing to do behind closed doors with the girlfriend. A little spanking here and there could liven things up. Some of the spanks were far harder than they were when I was being punished but somehow, they felt way better.
Spanking added some real spice to an otherwise bland, foreplay-missionary sex-grab-me-a-beer-honey-while-your-up evening. And to be further honest, we'd inevitably have a good laugh over something that hurt so good.
For anyone who doesn't believe spanking should have a place in our adult lives think again. Check out these little online tidbit:
How to spank: Sensual spanking tips and tricks
Did you know that spanking a child is illegal in Germany, but spanking your girlfriend (or she spanking you), is entirely encouraged. I'm all for outlawing spanking with a switch. It seems a barbaric practice to me. But why then does a little light spanking with a leather whip between my sig other and myself seems so enticing?
Chris Cuomo shouldn't be so hard on himself. He should learn from his mistakes and embrace the other side of spanking. Adrian Peterson might do the same. Certainly, Ray Rice needs to learn that punching your fiancee out in an elevator is an act that deserves a spanking, but not the good kind.
Cracked.com reports that even famous geniuses like TE Lawrence of Arabia liked to be spanked. So did Percy Grainger, and so did Declaration of Independence inspiration, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Can you just picture the scene: "That spanking was positively Rousseauvian in delivery, darling!"
The famous actors Jack Nicholson and Sharon Stone like to be spanked. Okay, I'm making that up, but they seem like the type, don't they? I know that, given the opportunity, I'd spank Sharon Stone. Wouldn't you? Even my serial PI-with-a-piece-of-bullet-in-his-brain, Dick Moonlight, likes a good spanking now and then. But then when it comes to sex, he's most definitely a player.
I guess in the end, what it all comes down to is this: The world is filled with too much spanking, and not enough spanking.
Get the spankin' new Vincent Zandri release from Down & Out Books, MOONLIGHT WEEPS!
Moonlight Weeps
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
September 22, 2014
West African Aid Worker Killings No Surprise
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox:
It's being reported that eight or more aid workers and journalists have been brutally killed inside what's described as a remote village in Guinea, West Africa. The deaths are apparently the result of a toxic distrust amongst locals for the foreign presence in their land. The distrust seems to be spreading as fast if not faster than the Ebola virus itself. However tragic and disturbing, this comes as no surprise.
A few years ago I traveled to West Africa to report for RT on the work of a Christian hospital ship that was docked in the Port of Cotonou in Benin beside civil-war torn Nigeria. What struck me as strange was the way the indigenous people refused and even ran from the methods by which the ship's medical crew attempted to educate them in the ways of western hygiene. Fliers were distributed with simple illustrations showing a human being defecating into a toilet. The next illustration would show a pair of hands being washed with soap and water. Said drawings would then be circled in bold green as if to indicate, "Good."
Below those drawings might be the same drawing of the person defecating, only this time he or she would be doing it in a field. A red circle would surround that drawing as if to indicate bad. But to a native living in West Africa, crapping on a toilet that other people use is the most disgusting and unsanitary concept ever thought up. Better to go find your own "clean" spot of grass and do your business there. Never mind that the waste then filters into the water system. Such are the challenges of culture and geography.
One such challenge is distrust. The coast of West Africa used to be known as the Slave Coast. It's where most of the slaves who were shipped to the Americas and to points south came from. Out of this practice grew the belief in Voodoo which is still extremely prevalent in West African nations like Guinea and Liberia where Ebola is spreading fast. Many natives will practice Christianity or Islam during the daytime hours, but at night, revert back to voodoo beliefs. If something terrible like a bad debt or lack of food, or a sickness like Ebola strikes these people, chances are the effected person will believe that he has not become the victim of bad luck or a deadly virus, he will believe instead that he has become the target of bad voodoo. When foreign aid workers come to help, many natives are so frightened of them they feel they have no choice but to lash out, and even destroy the very people who are trying to cure their disease. To some locals, the foreign aid workers are doing the work of bad voodoo.
It's difficult to change what amounts to an ancient culture in just a few days in the interest of stopping the spread of what is now a serious epidemic. But if you ever have the chance to drive a 4x4 through the bush country of West Africa, do not be surprised when you come upon an old abandoned town that might have been constructed by the French many decades ago. Or don't be surprised when you see the shell of a modern skyscraper that might have been under construction two or three years ago, but that's been abandoned while the money for the project is now lining some corrupt official's pockets. Don't be surprised if you see the natives giving you a strange look because you're stepping inside a porta-potty to relieve yourself. To them, nothing is more disgusting and distrustful.
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
It's being reported that eight or more aid workers and journalists have been brutally killed inside what's described as a remote village in Guinea, West Africa. The deaths are apparently the result of a toxic distrust amongst locals for the foreign presence in their land. The distrust seems to be spreading as fast if not faster than the Ebola virus itself. However tragic and disturbing, this comes as no surprise.
A few years ago I traveled to West Africa to report for RT on the work of a Christian hospital ship that was docked in the Port of Cotonou in Benin beside civil-war torn Nigeria. What struck me as strange was the way the indigenous people refused and even ran from the methods by which the ship's medical crew attempted to educate them in the ways of western hygiene. Fliers were distributed with simple illustrations showing a human being defecating into a toilet. The next illustration would show a pair of hands being washed with soap and water. Said drawings would then be circled in bold green as if to indicate, "Good."
Below those drawings might be the same drawing of the person defecating, only this time he or she would be doing it in a field. A red circle would surround that drawing as if to indicate bad. But to a native living in West Africa, crapping on a toilet that other people use is the most disgusting and unsanitary concept ever thought up. Better to go find your own "clean" spot of grass and do your business there. Never mind that the waste then filters into the water system. Such are the challenges of culture and geography.
One such challenge is distrust. The coast of West Africa used to be known as the Slave Coast. It's where most of the slaves who were shipped to the Americas and to points south came from. Out of this practice grew the belief in Voodoo which is still extremely prevalent in West African nations like Guinea and Liberia where Ebola is spreading fast. Many natives will practice Christianity or Islam during the daytime hours, but at night, revert back to voodoo beliefs. If something terrible like a bad debt or lack of food, or a sickness like Ebola strikes these people, chances are the effected person will believe that he has not become the victim of bad luck or a deadly virus, he will believe instead that he has become the target of bad voodoo. When foreign aid workers come to help, many natives are so frightened of them they feel they have no choice but to lash out, and even destroy the very people who are trying to cure their disease. To some locals, the foreign aid workers are doing the work of bad voodoo.
It's difficult to change what amounts to an ancient culture in just a few days in the interest of stopping the spread of what is now a serious epidemic. But if you ever have the chance to drive a 4x4 through the bush country of West Africa, do not be surprised when you come upon an old abandoned town that might have been constructed by the French many decades ago. Or don't be surprised when you see the shell of a modern skyscraper that might have been under construction two or three years ago, but that's been abandoned while the money for the project is now lining some corrupt official's pockets. Don't be surprised if you see the natives giving you a strange look because you're stepping inside a porta-potty to relieve yourself. To them, nothing is more disgusting and distrustful.
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
September 14, 2014
Radical Islam's Long Planned Murder
The RemainsVincent Zandri
The following essay is now appearing at the Vincent Zandri Vox in slightly different form: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. Certainly our President doesn't like to issue bad news. In fact, he'd rather retreat from it to the golf course, or downplay the severity of an international crisis by referring to something like ISIS as the "JV team" or even in recent weeks, refusing to call them what they are: Radical Muslims.
When the embassy in Benghazi was attacked two years ago, it was President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who dismissed all evidence of an organized attack by Radical Muslims, and instead blamed the murder of several innocent American diplomats and military personnel on an anti-Islamist video that was circulating YouTube (in other words, he was blaming America). It was of course, a lie perpetrated by liars, and an absurd one at that.
Now, we have ISIS, a Radical Islamist State or Caliphate, that is not only beheading innocent men, women, and children at will, they are building up an army that is closing on 50K strong. They are also funding their operations with stolen oil reverses to the tune of $3 million per day. At present they are recruiting some of the world's most talented computer hackers in order to wage a cyber war with the west.
In the meantime, we have a major domestic problem in the form of two porous borders, both north and south. Just last week a reporter dressed in a Bin Laden costume casually walked across the southern border into the United States. Yet, the present administration is refusing to do anything about this lack of security in fear of losing their voter base come November and ultimately in 2016. Some naysayers will argue this point by saying, we have the largest police presence ever stationed on the borders, while others will say it's impossible to build walls that large. I say, declare a State of Emergency to exist on both borders, establish a formidable military presence, and in the meantime, engage in the aggressive deportation of the 11 million known illegals presently shacking up in this country while revoking the passports and student visas of questionable aliens. Yes, this will take a toll on the Democrats and their voting base, but national security shouldn't be a political issue determined by professional politicians.
When I think about this administration in years to come, I won't see the dismembered head of journalist James Foley resting on his own torso in the unforgiving desert sun. I will instead see Obama's smiling face as he went golfing only minutes after addressing reporters about the barbarous act of murder and war. A display of unimaginable disinterest if not callousness from a man who refuses to lead and who seems particularly bent on dismantling the US as a world power.
Two years remain in this Presidency and in terms of national security, they will be our most vulnerable and most dangerous since the outbreak of WWII. Here's a sampling of what we can expect:
--An attack on our homeland that will come in the form of a dirty bomb, or even a crude nuclear device.
--An all out cyber attack that will severely injure our power grid, delete bank accounts, dismantle our communications systems, and more.
--Attacks by Radical Islamists in Europe where military might has largely been depleted due to the costs of socialism and socialist programs.
--Attacks on the world's transportation systems, including trains and planes.
--Meanwhile, Russian, China, and other regimes who have already taken advantage of a weak, if not dangerously inept President, will make their moves in order to grab what they can while the taking is good.
This is not to be alarmist, but it is a reality that all of us are going to have to deal with one way or another. Like Hemingway said of the Nazis and their power grabs of the late 1930s, "A world war is certainly coming. It's like a long planned murder." And that's what is presently happening right before our eyes: a long planned murder by barbarians who dress in black, fly the black banner of Radical Islam, and who have one goal and one goal only: to administer the total destruction of the Judeo-Christian establishment, Europe, and the United States of America.
WWWVINCENTZANDRI.COM
The following essay is now appearing at the Vincent Zandri Vox in slightly different form: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. Certainly our President doesn't like to issue bad news. In fact, he'd rather retreat from it to the golf course, or downplay the severity of an international crisis by referring to something like ISIS as the "JV team" or even in recent weeks, refusing to call them what they are: Radical Muslims.
When the embassy in Benghazi was attacked two years ago, it was President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who dismissed all evidence of an organized attack by Radical Muslims, and instead blamed the murder of several innocent American diplomats and military personnel on an anti-Islamist video that was circulating YouTube (in other words, he was blaming America). It was of course, a lie perpetrated by liars, and an absurd one at that.
Now, we have ISIS, a Radical Islamist State or Caliphate, that is not only beheading innocent men, women, and children at will, they are building up an army that is closing on 50K strong. They are also funding their operations with stolen oil reverses to the tune of $3 million per day. At present they are recruiting some of the world's most talented computer hackers in order to wage a cyber war with the west.
In the meantime, we have a major domestic problem in the form of two porous borders, both north and south. Just last week a reporter dressed in a Bin Laden costume casually walked across the southern border into the United States. Yet, the present administration is refusing to do anything about this lack of security in fear of losing their voter base come November and ultimately in 2016. Some naysayers will argue this point by saying, we have the largest police presence ever stationed on the borders, while others will say it's impossible to build walls that large. I say, declare a State of Emergency to exist on both borders, establish a formidable military presence, and in the meantime, engage in the aggressive deportation of the 11 million known illegals presently shacking up in this country while revoking the passports and student visas of questionable aliens. Yes, this will take a toll on the Democrats and their voting base, but national security shouldn't be a political issue determined by professional politicians.
When I think about this administration in years to come, I won't see the dismembered head of journalist James Foley resting on his own torso in the unforgiving desert sun. I will instead see Obama's smiling face as he went golfing only minutes after addressing reporters about the barbarous act of murder and war. A display of unimaginable disinterest if not callousness from a man who refuses to lead and who seems particularly bent on dismantling the US as a world power.
Two years remain in this Presidency and in terms of national security, they will be our most vulnerable and most dangerous since the outbreak of WWII. Here's a sampling of what we can expect:
--An attack on our homeland that will come in the form of a dirty bomb, or even a crude nuclear device.
--An all out cyber attack that will severely injure our power grid, delete bank accounts, dismantle our communications systems, and more.
--Attacks by Radical Islamists in Europe where military might has largely been depleted due to the costs of socialism and socialist programs.
--Attacks on the world's transportation systems, including trains and planes.
--Meanwhile, Russian, China, and other regimes who have already taken advantage of a weak, if not dangerously inept President, will make their moves in order to grab what they can while the taking is good.
This is not to be alarmist, but it is a reality that all of us are going to have to deal with one way or another. Like Hemingway said of the Nazis and their power grabs of the late 1930s, "A world war is certainly coming. It's like a long planned murder." And that's what is presently happening right before our eyes: a long planned murder by barbarians who dress in black, fly the black banner of Radical Islam, and who have one goal and one goal only: to administer the total destruction of the Judeo-Christian establishment, Europe, and the United States of America.
WWWVINCENTZANDRI.COM
September 2, 2014
Moonlight Weeps is Coming!
The following Press Release has been issues by Down & Out Books: http://downandoutbooks.com/2014/09/01...
Down & Out Books is publishing New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Vincent Zandri’s latest fast-paced, grizzly thriller in the Dick Moonlight series, offering readers plenty of wry humor, bullets, car chases, and Scarface references.
Dick Moonlight can’t help himself. Moonlight, the private detective known as the head case with a bullet lodged in his brain, should be grateful for his current job. But when it becomes clear the cash-starved brain surgeon he’s been hired to drive around is protecting his son from a rape conviction, Moonlight is disgusted.
Worse, when the charges turn into a case of “reckless murder,” Moonlight’s the only one trying to keep the kid from the electric chair though the girl—a state senator’s daughter—clearly committed suicide.
Then Moonlight and his unwilling assistant, a fat Elvis impersonator owing him money, stumble into a much bigger plot and are soon dodging Hollywood obsessed drug-running Russian thugs, corrupt government officials, and the specter of Moonlight’s recently diseased girlfriend.
Praise for Zandri’s previous Moonlight books
has been overwhelming positive.
“Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant.”—New York Post
“Gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting.”—Harlan Coben, bestselling author of Six Years
“Tough, stylish, heartbreaking.”—Don Winslow, bestselling author of Savages
“Vincent Zandri nails reader’s attention.”—Boston Herald
“Well worth every minute…”—Suspense Magazine
Moonlight Weeps is available in trade paperback and ebook formats.
Kindle | Nook
Amazon TP | BN TP | IndieBound TP
Moonlight Weeps
Down & Out Books is publishing New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Vincent Zandri’s latest fast-paced, grizzly thriller in the Dick Moonlight series, offering readers plenty of wry humor, bullets, car chases, and Scarface references.
Dick Moonlight can’t help himself. Moonlight, the private detective known as the head case with a bullet lodged in his brain, should be grateful for his current job. But when it becomes clear the cash-starved brain surgeon he’s been hired to drive around is protecting his son from a rape conviction, Moonlight is disgusted.
Worse, when the charges turn into a case of “reckless murder,” Moonlight’s the only one trying to keep the kid from the electric chair though the girl—a state senator’s daughter—clearly committed suicide.
Then Moonlight and his unwilling assistant, a fat Elvis impersonator owing him money, stumble into a much bigger plot and are soon dodging Hollywood obsessed drug-running Russian thugs, corrupt government officials, and the specter of Moonlight’s recently diseased girlfriend.
Praise for Zandri’s previous Moonlight books
has been overwhelming positive.
“Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant.”—New York Post
“Gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting.”—Harlan Coben, bestselling author of Six Years
“Tough, stylish, heartbreaking.”—Don Winslow, bestselling author of Savages
“Vincent Zandri nails reader’s attention.”—Boston Herald
“Well worth every minute…”—Suspense Magazine
Moonlight Weeps is available in trade paperback and ebook formats.
Kindle | Nook
Amazon TP | BN TP | IndieBound TP
Moonlight Weeps
September 1, 2014
Curious Conversation About 'Eat, Pray, Love'
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
The other day someone asked me what immediately comes to mind when I imagine my life from this day forward (I'm not going to get into the circumstances of who asked me and why, so just bear with me). I immediately responded by saying something along the lines of, "writing, traveling, eating, drinking...At the end of the day, my sig other and I head out for some red wine and a nice dinner under a moonlit night somewhere in Italy, or France, or South America, or..." well, you get the picture.
The woman who asked me the question assumed a kind of sour puss, shook her head, said, "Eat, Pray, Love...That's you. I hated that book."
I said, "I read it, and I liked it." Me, smiling, like, lighten up already.
She said, "Selfish. The writer of that book gave up everything so she could pursue only what she wanted in life."
I said, "But it's her life. The only one she's got. Maybe she gave up what she didn't want anymore, so that she could gain the world."
The woman shook her head once more, checked the time on her wristwatch, then quickly changed the subject.
___
THE SHROUD KEY is fast approaching its first 10K sold. Get yours now!
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Shroud KeyVincent Zandri
The other day someone asked me what immediately comes to mind when I imagine my life from this day forward (I'm not going to get into the circumstances of who asked me and why, so just bear with me). I immediately responded by saying something along the lines of, "writing, traveling, eating, drinking...At the end of the day, my sig other and I head out for some red wine and a nice dinner under a moonlit night somewhere in Italy, or France, or South America, or..." well, you get the picture.
The woman who asked me the question assumed a kind of sour puss, shook her head, said, "Eat, Pray, Love...That's you. I hated that book."
I said, "I read it, and I liked it." Me, smiling, like, lighten up already.
She said, "Selfish. The writer of that book gave up everything so she could pursue only what she wanted in life."
I said, "But it's her life. The only one she's got. Maybe she gave up what she didn't want anymore, so that she could gain the world."
The woman shook her head once more, checked the time on her wristwatch, then quickly changed the subject.
___
THE SHROUD KEY is fast approaching its first 10K sold. Get yours now!
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Shroud KeyVincent Zandri
Choosing an Indie Publisher? Choose Wisely
The following essay is now appearing at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
Most of you know by now that I don't stick to one type of publishing method or even one publisher. My books are published by several publishers both large and small, and they are also published traditionally and independently. The new digitally-based publishing model has not only become a boon to small, entrepreneur-minded individuals looking to create new indie publishing start ups, but it has literally turned upside down the method by which the old New York mega-houses have been doing business for nearly a century.
Perhaps the biggest example of an indie-minded start-up is Amazon Publishing and their many imprints (I publish with AP imprint, Thomas & Mercer). AP, however, can also be considered a traditional major publisher since it operates much the same way by offering big advances, stellar marketing, and equally stellar editing. But there are other far smaller indie publishers springing up all over the country who don't offer advances per se, but instead offer a high ebook royalty rate along with the promise of a quick draft-to-distribution publishing experience.
I've published with one or two of these "indies," and trust me when I say, not all of them are what they appear to be. An author just starting out (or even a seasoned mid-list author looking to re-establish his career) needs to have their guard up when it comes to publishing with these new outfits who might appear, on the surface anyway, to be "writer friendly" and "an alternative to the old traditional model that locks up your rights forever." These indie publishers might even invest in a nice website with false testimonials plastered all over its facade, but the outfit might truly be a rat in a sheep's clothing.
By this I mean, the indie publisher might persuade you to sign on the dotted line by dangling promises before your eyes like, "superior marketing," "a 50% ebook royalty," and even "manipulation of the Amazon algorithm system." But these are false promises delivered by shady characters who are looking for one thing and one thing only: to make a buck off of your hard work. The reality is more like this: these indie publishers will get you to sign their contracts knowing full well that they will (and I bullet here for your reading convenience) ...
--Skip out on the editing (or hire interns for no pay who are entirely incompetent)
--Make no cash investment in marketing (they will expect the author to do this...)
--Manipulate the pricing of your book entirely to suit themselves
--When your book doesn't sell, they will quickly lose interest and move on to the next victim
--And this is the big one: if your book goes on to sell very well despite the odds, they will lock up your rights forever and ever, or gladly return them to you say, in exchange for a couple hundred grand. Or, if the book is being picked up by a major, demand half your advance money plus an on-going percentage. Highway robbery? You betcha...
So what should you look for in an independent publisher?
--First thing to ask is this: what are the publisher's terms should you decide to request the rights back to your book, regardless of how it sells. Get the facts of author rights reversion clarified before you even think of signing a contract. To be honest, if you end up signing with a bad indie, it's really your own fault. I blame myself for past mistakes.
--Are the publisher royalty rates competitive?
--Ask about editing. Who are the publisher's editors and what are their credentials? Read one or two of the novels on their list and scrutinize them for mistakes.
--Talk to other authors who are publishing with the house. Do you recognize any of the names?
--Do some of the top agents work with the publisher?
--Does the publisher attend events like Bouchercon and Thrillerfest?
--Is the publisher willing to put serious cash and effort into marketing? Marketing that enhances your own efforts? Ask about a marketing plan.
--Is the publisher in fact, a wanna-be writer himself? If so, this could actually be a conflict of interests since the would-be author will always take care of himself first and foremost. I know of several indie imprints being run by established authors. Some are well run establishments. Others are traps designed to lock up your rights.
--Has the publisher experienced a mass exodus of writers who feel they've been lied to or even shafted? Do writers sign with the publisher only to realize they've been snared into said trap, and then fight to get the hell out?
There are of course other things you will need to watch out for, like detailed royalty reports for instance. Anything less is criminal and reeks of underhandedness. Demand a sample royalty report upfront prior to signing.
Bottom line is this: If you're going to publish with an indie publisher, make certain they are as reputable as one of the big publishers. Your best bet is to engage in the publishing process via a reputable agent. Don't make the mistakes I've made by entering into some of these agreements casually, only to have been burned in the end. Again, I have myself and only myself to blame. In a word, don't drink the Kool-Aid. Better to start your own indie publishing business which publishes your own books exclusively than to give away your rights and profits to a used car salesman posing as a saint.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Shroud KeyVincent Zandri
Most of you know by now that I don't stick to one type of publishing method or even one publisher. My books are published by several publishers both large and small, and they are also published traditionally and independently. The new digitally-based publishing model has not only become a boon to small, entrepreneur-minded individuals looking to create new indie publishing start ups, but it has literally turned upside down the method by which the old New York mega-houses have been doing business for nearly a century.
Perhaps the biggest example of an indie-minded start-up is Amazon Publishing and their many imprints (I publish with AP imprint, Thomas & Mercer). AP, however, can also be considered a traditional major publisher since it operates much the same way by offering big advances, stellar marketing, and equally stellar editing. But there are other far smaller indie publishers springing up all over the country who don't offer advances per se, but instead offer a high ebook royalty rate along with the promise of a quick draft-to-distribution publishing experience.
I've published with one or two of these "indies," and trust me when I say, not all of them are what they appear to be. An author just starting out (or even a seasoned mid-list author looking to re-establish his career) needs to have their guard up when it comes to publishing with these new outfits who might appear, on the surface anyway, to be "writer friendly" and "an alternative to the old traditional model that locks up your rights forever." These indie publishers might even invest in a nice website with false testimonials plastered all over its facade, but the outfit might truly be a rat in a sheep's clothing.
By this I mean, the indie publisher might persuade you to sign on the dotted line by dangling promises before your eyes like, "superior marketing," "a 50% ebook royalty," and even "manipulation of the Amazon algorithm system." But these are false promises delivered by shady characters who are looking for one thing and one thing only: to make a buck off of your hard work. The reality is more like this: these indie publishers will get you to sign their contracts knowing full well that they will (and I bullet here for your reading convenience) ...
--Skip out on the editing (or hire interns for no pay who are entirely incompetent)
--Make no cash investment in marketing (they will expect the author to do this...)
--Manipulate the pricing of your book entirely to suit themselves
--When your book doesn't sell, they will quickly lose interest and move on to the next victim
--And this is the big one: if your book goes on to sell very well despite the odds, they will lock up your rights forever and ever, or gladly return them to you say, in exchange for a couple hundred grand. Or, if the book is being picked up by a major, demand half your advance money plus an on-going percentage. Highway robbery? You betcha...
So what should you look for in an independent publisher?
--First thing to ask is this: what are the publisher's terms should you decide to request the rights back to your book, regardless of how it sells. Get the facts of author rights reversion clarified before you even think of signing a contract. To be honest, if you end up signing with a bad indie, it's really your own fault. I blame myself for past mistakes.
--Are the publisher royalty rates competitive?
--Ask about editing. Who are the publisher's editors and what are their credentials? Read one or two of the novels on their list and scrutinize them for mistakes.
--Talk to other authors who are publishing with the house. Do you recognize any of the names?
--Do some of the top agents work with the publisher?
--Does the publisher attend events like Bouchercon and Thrillerfest?
--Is the publisher willing to put serious cash and effort into marketing? Marketing that enhances your own efforts? Ask about a marketing plan.
--Is the publisher in fact, a wanna-be writer himself? If so, this could actually be a conflict of interests since the would-be author will always take care of himself first and foremost. I know of several indie imprints being run by established authors. Some are well run establishments. Others are traps designed to lock up your rights.
--Has the publisher experienced a mass exodus of writers who feel they've been lied to or even shafted? Do writers sign with the publisher only to realize they've been snared into said trap, and then fight to get the hell out?
There are of course other things you will need to watch out for, like detailed royalty reports for instance. Anything less is criminal and reeks of underhandedness. Demand a sample royalty report upfront prior to signing.
Bottom line is this: If you're going to publish with an indie publisher, make certain they are as reputable as one of the big publishers. Your best bet is to engage in the publishing process via a reputable agent. Don't make the mistakes I've made by entering into some of these agreements casually, only to have been burned in the end. Again, I have myself and only myself to blame. In a word, don't drink the Kool-Aid. Better to start your own indie publishing business which publishes your own books exclusively than to give away your rights and profits to a used car salesman posing as a saint.
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Shroud KeyVincent Zandri
August 8, 2014
Preston and NYTimes Resort to Pathetic Tactics
The following essay is now appearing in slightly different form at The Vincent Zandri Vox: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
I've been in the limelight recently with my take on the Amazon/Hachette situation. My opinion on the matter is said to be somewhat unique in that I don't support one side or the other. I would like to see a healthy publishing environment where many publishers compete for the right to publish great books for low costs to consumers. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I said as much on my interview this week at Fox News.
Recently The New York Times featured me in an article that was pretty much balanced in its take on the publishing war situation, if you want to call it that. The reporter, David Streitfeld, and I have become professional friends over the years we've corresponded via Internet, telephone, and more recently, in person. But the latest article the journalist penned regarding Douglas Preston and his encouraging 900 authors to sign a petition against Amazon and its practices is so off base as to be not considered journalism, but instead, an attack on a company that has treated me, my books, my family, and my career, far better than the corporate giants who make up the Big 5.
(Me, taking a breath, ...)
Questions and more:
--Why do I feel like The New York Times, and Mr. Streitfeld in particular, take an opinion of Amazon Publishing that is not far different from Jimmy Carter's take on the terrorist organization Hamas, which utilizes little children as human shields to protect their missiles which they indiscriminately lob at Israel? Amazon Publishing wasn't born with the sole purpose to destroy Big Publishing anymore than Israel was created to crush Palestine. AP was born as a result of Big Publishing's mistakes, greed, and mismanagement. They have thrived out of a reader's basic need for good books at low prices. They have thrived out of an author's need to make a living without being a slave to an antiquated system that places writers at the bottom of the totem pole.
--What is wrong with a major publishing company that wants to treat its authors like human beings and offer books up to its readers at low costs, and willing to take a huge loss as the same time? It's easy for the Times to select an author like Preston to give them the cocaine they need for their anti-Amazon fix, when said author is speaking to them from a cozy writer's cabin on a golden pond only feet away from his mansion. Of course Preston doesn't want to see change, folks. He's swimming in Hachette loot. Do you think he gives a rat's ass about the mid-list author barely making a living? Trust me mid-list author, you have about as much chance of being invited to the Preston's for dinner as Nancy Pellosi does of housing all those poor south-of-the-border kids who were dropped off at the border.
--Have we, as a country, become so disenchanted with "winners" and "doers" that we want nothing more than to see success become failure? Have we become jealous and bitter over someone else's success? Preston describes himself in the NYTimes piece as a wimp and a boy who used to run from fights. That's pathetic. I prefer the company of strong people who stand up for strong values.
--I was treated so poorly by a Big 5 publisher that I nearly had a nervous breakdown. For certain, their dropping of me and many other authors over a corporate merger, resulted in my wife and I divorcing when I nearly went bankrupt. People in the business whom I thought were my friends turned out to be morally corrupt and concerned with saving themselves.
--It took me years to battle back to my level of success when none of the Big 5 would touch me because I hadn't earned out my advance (Of course I didn't earn out my advance. I was dropped before I had the chance!). Because in the publishing business in NYC, if you don't earn out your advance, it's not the publisher's fault. It's the author's fault. But when you score, it's because of an awesome publisher marketing program. Later on, when I was able to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of these same books via Amazon Publishing, suddenly, I'm not only back to making a living, I'm building up an audience that my Big 5 Publisher prevented me from establishing by not only dropping me, but by holding my book rights hostage for 8 years ... Hey Hachette and the Big 5, if you're gonna drop an author, then how's about releasing their books rights immediately!!!!????. Perhaps Mr. Stretfield would like to write an article about that.
--Listen up Hachette Authors, it's not Amazon Publishing that's holding you and your books hostage. It's Hachette Publishing's corporate giants and their Hampton's beach house mortgages and their Park Avenue rentals. Wake up, you are being used in a ploy meant to dismantle a success story, when in fact, reporters like Mr. Streitfeld are not only championing an antiquated and author-unfriendly system (and this goes for you too bookstores and your "returns" policy), they are doing so not with true reporting, but with propaganda. This isn't journalism, it's butchery.
--I still support a healthy publishing environment, and I hope to God that publishers like Hachette wake up and realize that by trying to fabricate a bully out of another publisher is really just a maneuver to tug at the heartstrings of those who are ill informed. Let's all get on the same page and create a new New York and a new publishing world with lots of publishers who offer great books at low costs. Come on David Streitfeld, you are so much better than this! And sorry, Big 5 New York, this might mean that you have to give up the Broadway location, move to Jersey, and buy a metal building for both publishing and distribution. Instead of lunch at Les Halles, you can eat at Franks' Diner. Costs less, the savings of which will be passed on to authors and readers. And you authors out there who are drinking the NYTimes and Preston Kool-Aid, save yourself now. You are being used for their own profit, for their own agendas, and as a palliative for something that is seriously missing in their souls and in their lives.
But don't take my word for it. Berry Eisler has written far more eloquently about this matter than I ever could in a response to today's NYTimes article. Get Berry's blog here:
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
I've been in the limelight recently with my take on the Amazon/Hachette situation. My opinion on the matter is said to be somewhat unique in that I don't support one side or the other. I would like to see a healthy publishing environment where many publishers compete for the right to publish great books for low costs to consumers. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I said as much on my interview this week at Fox News.
Recently The New York Times featured me in an article that was pretty much balanced in its take on the publishing war situation, if you want to call it that. The reporter, David Streitfeld, and I have become professional friends over the years we've corresponded via Internet, telephone, and more recently, in person. But the latest article the journalist penned regarding Douglas Preston and his encouraging 900 authors to sign a petition against Amazon and its practices is so off base as to be not considered journalism, but instead, an attack on a company that has treated me, my books, my family, and my career, far better than the corporate giants who make up the Big 5.
(Me, taking a breath, ...)
Questions and more:
--Why do I feel like The New York Times, and Mr. Streitfeld in particular, take an opinion of Amazon Publishing that is not far different from Jimmy Carter's take on the terrorist organization Hamas, which utilizes little children as human shields to protect their missiles which they indiscriminately lob at Israel? Amazon Publishing wasn't born with the sole purpose to destroy Big Publishing anymore than Israel was created to crush Palestine. AP was born as a result of Big Publishing's mistakes, greed, and mismanagement. They have thrived out of a reader's basic need for good books at low prices. They have thrived out of an author's need to make a living without being a slave to an antiquated system that places writers at the bottom of the totem pole.
--What is wrong with a major publishing company that wants to treat its authors like human beings and offer books up to its readers at low costs, and willing to take a huge loss as the same time? It's easy for the Times to select an author like Preston to give them the cocaine they need for their anti-Amazon fix, when said author is speaking to them from a cozy writer's cabin on a golden pond only feet away from his mansion. Of course Preston doesn't want to see change, folks. He's swimming in Hachette loot. Do you think he gives a rat's ass about the mid-list author barely making a living? Trust me mid-list author, you have about as much chance of being invited to the Preston's for dinner as Nancy Pellosi does of housing all those poor south-of-the-border kids who were dropped off at the border.
--Have we, as a country, become so disenchanted with "winners" and "doers" that we want nothing more than to see success become failure? Have we become jealous and bitter over someone else's success? Preston describes himself in the NYTimes piece as a wimp and a boy who used to run from fights. That's pathetic. I prefer the company of strong people who stand up for strong values.
--I was treated so poorly by a Big 5 publisher that I nearly had a nervous breakdown. For certain, their dropping of me and many other authors over a corporate merger, resulted in my wife and I divorcing when I nearly went bankrupt. People in the business whom I thought were my friends turned out to be morally corrupt and concerned with saving themselves.
--It took me years to battle back to my level of success when none of the Big 5 would touch me because I hadn't earned out my advance (Of course I didn't earn out my advance. I was dropped before I had the chance!). Because in the publishing business in NYC, if you don't earn out your advance, it's not the publisher's fault. It's the author's fault. But when you score, it's because of an awesome publisher marketing program. Later on, when I was able to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of these same books via Amazon Publishing, suddenly, I'm not only back to making a living, I'm building up an audience that my Big 5 Publisher prevented me from establishing by not only dropping me, but by holding my book rights hostage for 8 years ... Hey Hachette and the Big 5, if you're gonna drop an author, then how's about releasing their books rights immediately!!!!????. Perhaps Mr. Stretfield would like to write an article about that.
--Listen up Hachette Authors, it's not Amazon Publishing that's holding you and your books hostage. It's Hachette Publishing's corporate giants and their Hampton's beach house mortgages and their Park Avenue rentals. Wake up, you are being used in a ploy meant to dismantle a success story, when in fact, reporters like Mr. Streitfeld are not only championing an antiquated and author-unfriendly system (and this goes for you too bookstores and your "returns" policy), they are doing so not with true reporting, but with propaganda. This isn't journalism, it's butchery.
--I still support a healthy publishing environment, and I hope to God that publishers like Hachette wake up and realize that by trying to fabricate a bully out of another publisher is really just a maneuver to tug at the heartstrings of those who are ill informed. Let's all get on the same page and create a new New York and a new publishing world with lots of publishers who offer great books at low costs. Come on David Streitfeld, you are so much better than this! And sorry, Big 5 New York, this might mean that you have to give up the Broadway location, move to Jersey, and buy a metal building for both publishing and distribution. Instead of lunch at Les Halles, you can eat at Franks' Diner. Costs less, the savings of which will be passed on to authors and readers. And you authors out there who are drinking the NYTimes and Preston Kool-Aid, save yourself now. You are being used for their own profit, for their own agendas, and as a palliative for something that is seriously missing in their souls and in their lives.
But don't take my word for it. Berry Eisler has written far more eloquently about this matter than I ever could in a response to today's NYTimes article. Get Berry's blog here:
WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
The Remains
Vincent Zandri
