JarRyJorNo Publishing

I earned my college degree late in life - Alumnus of Penn State University with a degree in Information Sciences and Technology.. I'm proud of my degree, but I must say, most of what I know has come from mentors - whether they know they are my mentors or not.

Early in my life, my brother Peter and I had a few great trumpet teachers. We were privately tutored for $7 each per week - an amount our parents could hardly afford. I can say with immodesty that their investment was well worth it. The few who know of my musical background and read this blog could attest that my brother and I have reached some level of success in music and are considered accomplished as musicians, writers, and producers.

Feeling a magnetism to all that is creative, in my early twenties I also pursued a path in mechanical engineering. My Dad's partner, Venerio J. Rigolini was a true Da Vinci maestro in the mechanical sciences. I spent 14 years being tutored by him, and in the process was honored to have been an integral part in the invention and design of a half-dozen pieces of proprietary manufacturing machinery. Yet, Vinnie didn't just teach me engineering. He taught me how to look at life - to him - as a continual array of challenges that engineers took joy in overcoming. Vinnie was a U.S. MARINE who fought in the terrible Battle of Iwo Jima, but his greatest accomplishments and his true love was in inventing and designing what had never been created before. I believe it was he who ignited my passion to love something and pursue it. "Do what you love and all of your days will be happy," he'd tell me repeatedly. He was right, of course.

I could go on with stories of several others who have motivated and taught me over the span of my life - from my brother Peter - to legendary KANSAS producer Jeff Glixman - to my wife Lisa, but those are stories for another time. I decided to write this piece because there is someone to whom I owe a great deal - though he probably will never know it. He is master author W.E.B. Griffin.

I'm a person of routine. I find peace and harmony through routine. Routine allows me to write most efficiency. When it comes to creating, I am an easily distracted individual. That would never do, if one intends to become one of the most prolific writers of his generation. The truth is that "life gets in the way" for everyone. Those who rise to the top in their professions and arts are the ones that overcome life's distractions. To that end, I use a daily regimen to help me focus. One aspect of my regimen is, every morning, to read from one of the master storytellers that have had the most impact on me. Of all the many writers that have, one has had the most impact - W.E.B. Griffin.

For those who don't know him, Griffin is one of the premier writers of historical fiction. His varies series and novels tell some of the most dramatic stories of World War II, not so much from a macro perspective, but from an intimate, individual perspective. Griffin's characters propel his stories and not the other way around. Both the good guys and the bad guys are interesting, well-rounded, filled with virtues and faults, talents and habits, and senses of humor and compassion. I find myself wanting to revisit them every single morning and that is the highest compliment a writer can ever receive. Griffin's characters are as important in my life as any people I know that live in this existence, and not on the written page.

I find myself continuously learning from his writing style. His stories are not filled with blood or action or sex. Yet, as Hitchcock could scare 10 years off my life without a decapitation or zombie appearing in his movies; Griffin can have me sitting on the edge of my seat gripped with suspense with just a conversation between two of his characters.

I really enjoy the depth of his characters, but just as much, I enjoy the tempo of his stories. There's no rush - no pressure to sew it all up by the last page. Many of the problems his protagonists face are too complex to solve in one story or in a 100% way.

Griffin isn't a flowery writer, but his descriptions of the scotch his characters drink and the food they eat has, more than once, led me to pour two fingers and look forward to a juicy T-bone.

I was introduced to Griffin's books when buying several Clancy novels way back when, from Barnes & Noble. Apparently someone had put down one of Griffin's novels - book 1 of his "The Corps" series in the Clancy section and I came upon it. Opening the front cover I saw a blurb from Clancy stating that, to him, Griffin was the ultimate writer of war fiction. That, and the fact that my dad was a U.S. MARINE in both WWII and Korea was enough for me to buy it and read it.

I was blown away.

I ended up giving it to my dad, who didn't like reading war fiction because, to that time, he used to say it was too unreal. That was, until he read Griffin's The Corps series. As he would finish one book in the series, I would buy him another. He loved them and I loved him and so I appreciated Griffin's books even more.

My dad died mid-way through the last novel in The Corps series. I'm not particularly sentimental, but I left his bookmark in the scruffy paperback. It reminds me of the joy the novels brought to him - all the way up to his last days.

Writing stories like W.E.B. Griffin is what I aspire to do. Though my stories will undoubtedly be different in terms of plot and style, one aspect I hope to emulate is his power to tell a story and to bring characters alive.

If I'm successful, it's because I had a great teacher. I hope I get the opportunity to tell him that one day.

Here’s the latest:

·         Effective July 2012, JarRyJorNo Publishing (my imprint) decided to leave KDP Select. Truth is I never felt comfortable limiting my distribution. KDP was a success for me though. From December to June, it garnered me thousands of new readers, yet, I received complaints from incumbent readers. That is not an acceptable tradeoff for me. I come from a family of successful small business owners. I was taught early on to place the highest value on customers. The ranking was oldest customers = most valuable; then came new customers, followed by prospects. For the KDP Select contact period, in order to service my loyal customers who did not read Kindle, I ended up supplying free copies in other formats. That is also unacceptable. If you own a deli, you give out free samples of your cold cuts – you DON’T give away free heroes though. Which brings me to my next item …

·         JarRyJorNo Publishing has also decided to severely cut back on free copies, whether they are offered in giveaways or via distributors. Here’s my view – Tom Clancy never supplied me with one of his novels for free; nor did W.E.B. Griffin … or Jack London … or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle … or Stephen Hunter … or any of the authors of the myriad STAR TREK novels that I’ve read … or Shakespeare for that matter (I bought his complete works). I gladly paid for ALL of the novels that I ever wanted to read. As for novels that I didn’t want to read, offering me a free copy of them would not have changed my mind to read them. I’ll tell you something else – the only (really) negative reviews I have ever received have ALL come from people who received a FREE copy of one of my novels. That really makes no sense to me – people joined free giveaways for my novels and then wrote negative reviews stating at the onset that 1-they had won the novel on Goodreads, etc.; and 2-they didn’t enjoy the story (mostly because they didn’t read that type of novel). Question … why would a person join a giveaway for a counter-terrorism novel if the person doesn’t believe in punishing terrorists? For the free copy? Another question … why would that same person then go to the trouble to publish a review of that same novel? To tell the world that they had won it? To tell the world that they don’t believe in punishing terrorists? Here’s what I do: I don’t like to read puritan romance novels, SO, I don’t buy puritan romance novels. Nor do I join free giveaways for puritan romance novels … and even if I met a puritan romance author and that author offered me a complimentary copy of their novel … and even if I accepted the comp copy, so as not hurt the author’s feelings .. I certainly would NOT publish a negative review of it, starting with, “I don’t like anything about this novel …” blah blah blah. <sigh> This is not to say that I won’t offer comp copies – but I prefer to offer them to people who actually: A-like the genre of my novels; and  B-want to read my novels.

·         The audiobook editions of THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM and SIGNS OF WAR are now available on Amazon, audible.com, and in the iTunes store. I’m very pleased with the way they came out! I can’t say enough about the excellent narration by the talented actor Elijah Alexander. Standing ovation for E-bro! And a special thank you to Amazon/ACX for agreeing to pay a stipend in order to produce both works!

·         On Monday, July 23, filming of the first CRIS DE NIRO series trailer will take place … with yours truly acting in it. I tried my best to have Elijah act in it, but alas, I couldn’t make it happen. So, the part of Mr. De Niro will be played by … his creator. I would be terrified if it weren’t for the incredibly-talented director, Philip Norbert of Inklinker. Philip is also a dear friend of mine. He’s gathered an incredible production team. I place myself entirely into his hands. I’ll let you know how it turns out. By the way, it was my idea to shoot a “series” trailer, as opposed to a “book” trailer. There’s a few reasons for this – the trailer can act as a cohesive marketing tool for all of the novels in the series – and – more resources can be spent on ONE trailer that can then be attached to all of the novels in the series, resulting in a higher quality marketing piece. An idea I offered to Inklinker and one that I think will benefit other indie publishing houses in time to come.

·         I’ve started writing Book 4 of the CRIS DE NIRO series, PROJECT 111. It picks up right after the last events in RISE TO THE CALL and I’m very pleased so far. I hope to have it out by December.

·         Book 5 of the CRIS DE NIRO series is in pre-production. I won’t say more about it yet, but its title is NOTHING SO GLORIOUS. Its storyline is different than the series’ other storylines. I’m excited about expanding the scope of plots in the series. I hope to have it released in first quarter 2013.

·         Pre-production has also begun on my new fantasy-adventure series, SAGA OF THE SEVEN SEALS! It’s a seven-book saga set in the Biblical time of Revelation. I hope to have book one of S7S, THE FIRST SEAL: YEAR OF THE WHITE HORSE released by next summer.

That’s enough for now. Thanks for tuning in!