B &N Screws yet another author. And they're working the big dogs now!

I came across an interesting post on my FB page two days ago, from another author. As usual, I checked the publisher. I don't want any authors writing for publishers who discriminate based on denomination littering my page. Well this author actually did write for one of those publishers. His latest book was published by Stone House, Wesscott Marketing's "Christian" arm. I raised my finger to hit unfriend when something stopped me. I'm not sure what it was but something said, "hold up. Give him a chance."

So I perused his FB wall and found from his recent post that he was recently screwed by Barnes & Noble. Still I felt little remorse. After all, he's published by "one of those" publishers. I perused his wall a little longer to find him freely using words like "ass" and "f&*k" and oh MY!!! LOL Maybe I was wrong about Stone House. Maybe they weren't targeting that "Christian" market at all.

As it turns out Vincent Zandri is a straight up kind of guy (whom I'm quite honored to have met.) He's been published by some of the big dog publishers (in the day when such a thing was possible and actually happened.) His Barnes & Noble nightmare is outlined here in a blog post he made on his blog. It pretty much mirrors ALL the experiences EVERY small press or self-pubbed author is going through and has gone through since forever. Only now it's waaaaaay worse.

As I said in another blog, there is no mystery behind why chain bookstores are failing. They refuse to embrace that publishers exist outside their little world of Simon & Schuster and Random House and Knopf and the list goes on. It isn't the economy and it certainly isn't technology that's bringing them down. If anything technology has leveled the playing field. It has done what needs to be done.

Watch large publishers as they try to maintain a foothold outside their little story-book fairy tale of an existence. Welcome to the Jungle remains my motto.

My feelings on Stone House publishing taking on Vince Zandri, well I certainly have some but I'll keep from sharing them here. ;D

Feel free to ask though.

My thoughts on the current trend of large bookstore closings!

Large bookstores were once small bookstores who helped large publishers get their books to readers. When technology changed and made it easier and less costly to publish, along came small publishers. Large bookstores refused to acknowledge the change. Large publishers were fine with this. It limited the competition. Large bookstores weren't about to bite the hand that has fed them so long. But I'll bet they never expected that same hand to actually starve them to death and then come back looking for the scraps. Funny how that worked out. And I don't mean funny ha-ha either. :(

For those of you who say that technology ruined the publishing industry, you couldn't be more wrong. Technology has leveled the playing field and so to all those large bookstores who are collapsing under their unwillingness to embrace small and self published authors and to all large publishers who can't figure out which way to turn now, I have only this to say and you should just be glad you can't hear me sing it. . .

Welcome to the Jungle!

You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me.