Kindle’s best-seller Vincent Zandri

Vincent Zandri is a bestselling author. He is known for his 100,000 plus Kindle E-Book sale of his novels. Recently he signed a major deal with Thomas & Mercer for the publication of his new novel “Murder by Moonlight”, and the re-publication of many of his back-list titles, including “The Innocent” and “The Remains”. Some of his works have been translated into Dutch, Russian, and Japanese. An adventurer and freelance photojournalist, Zandri has been the author of the blogs, Dangerous Dispatches and Embedded in Africa for Russia Today TV (RT). He also writes for other global publications, including Culture 11, and Globalspec. He is the drummer emeritus of the Albany-based punk band “Blisterz”.

Interviewed by Stephen M. Thompson, Ph.D.

Welcome to OpenBeast. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Thanks for having me. I’m a full-time novelist and photo-journalist. I live inNew York.

What is “The Innocent” all about?

A cop killer escapes from prison and the prison Supervisor or Warden, gets blamed for it. When other people start dying, the Supervisor gets blamed for that too and goes on the run to uncover the truth, even if it kills him.

Tell us about your Kindle experience? How did you achieve such a BIG success?

I didn’t know anything about the Kindle as recently as May 2010. Then I signed a deal with an indie publisher, Stone House/Stone Gate Ink for a couple of books and they broke out in April/May of 2011. This all resulted in a major deal with Thomas & Mercer, Amazon’s new powerhouse mystery/thriller line. How did I achieve success? I blog and keep up with social media everyday. But mostly it’s luck.

Talk to us about your “Murder by Moonlight”.

It comes out in the spring. It’s based on the true life story of Chris Porco of Delmar, New York who attempted to murder both his parents with a fireman’s axe while they slept. The cops believe he succeeded at killing his dad and brutally maiming his mother. But I’m not so sure he did it all himself. Thus the novel.

Describe your social media marketing strategy?

I rely heavily on hiring virtual tour marketing pros. Otherwise, I try and stay active on Twitter and Facebook. I don’t promote my books directly because that rarely works. Instead I try and blog at The Vincent Zandri Vox about writing topics and subjects relevant to writing in 2012 and beyond.

Any upcoming initiatives or projects you would like to disclose?

I just signed the major deal with Thomas & Mercer. Two brand new books will be published from that deal plus two older books and three relatively new books that were released by the Stone Inks over the past 16 months.

So what is Blisterz and how did you get involved?

The Blisterz is a punk rock band I started in 2006. We played all around New York State. Nothing like playing in a live band. But eventually it got in the way of my traveling and writing so I had to call it quits.

What are your favorite leisure time activities?

Working out running and lifting weights. I love to travel more than anything in the world even if it’s a quick weekend in NYC. Otherwise I like to cook, have a couple of beers, and hang out with my girlfriend when I have one.

Any advice for our want-to-be-authors?

Write, write and write some more. Also read what you like and as often as possible. Travel, and don’t tie yourself down with a serious love commitment.

Finally I got a significant question: McDonalds or Burger King?

Wendys.