Grandissimo

The Launch at VIMFP: Details

We are a mere nine days away from the Grandissimo global launch event at The D Casino Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas.

The event is part of the Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic’s Main Event. As you can see from that link, it is quite a lineup. 

The Grandisismo launch will be happening sometime shortly after 4 pm on Saturday, October 19. I will talk about the book, thank a few folks who deserve all our love, read a bit, and take questions.

There will be giveaways: postcards, bookmarks, stickers, and even some limited edition Walls360 repositionable wall art. 

So come on down. I’ll be part of the Vegas Gang, which starts at precisely 1:57 that afternoon, and will be thoroughly enjoying the Five Hundy segment which follows. I’d love for you to share this day with me and a few dozen like-minded Vegas lovers.

Thanks to Hunter, Chuck, Tim, & Michele for putting this together, as well as our host, Derek Stevens. This will be a blast.

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The Grandissimo ebook(s), take 1

Grandissimo is available as an ebook!

The Kindle book has been available since Friday, and the Nook version went on sale today. If you want to buy the book for either platform, you can do it right now.

It’s a bit more complicated for the other two platforms I’ve created ebooks for. 

Kobo is telling me that the book has been published, but there isn’t a page for the book in the Kobo store as of right now, so when you search for the book you get this. I’m hoping that the book page appears soon. When it does, I will, and you must believe this, let you know.

EDIT LATER THAT NIGHT: The Kobo version is now available! Go here to see for yourself. 

The iBook version has been submitted. It validated on my first submission attempt, which was one little victory for me. I don’t know when it will show up in the store—it could be tomorrow, or it could be late next week. But I will certainly let you know when it does.

Thanks to everyone who has bought the book—sales on both Amazon and Kindle have been respectable. If you like the book, I would be grateful if you could leave a review and let others know what to expect from it.

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Grandissimo on Amazon

I’ve got to give the folks at Amazon a lot of credit. According to CreateSpace, once you publish your book it will appear on Amazon in 5-7 working days. They were an order of magnitude off—it took less than 5 hours!

So you can now buy Grandissimo on Amazon:

Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas: How Jay Sarno Won a Casino Empire, Lost It, and Inspired Modern Las Vegas

Paperback – October 3, 2013
by David G. Schwartz (Author)

Thanks to everyone who has gotten me here, and thanks to everyone who clicks that link and takes a chance on my book.

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Grandissimo is published!

After years of work and lots of help along the way, Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas, the first full-length biography of casino builder Jay Sarno, is available for purchase!

As of right now (2am October 3, 2013), you can buy the book on CreateSpace. If past experience is any guide, the book will be available on Amazon by the weekend and other online sales outlets after that. Within a few weeks, you will be able to order the book from any brick-and-mortar or online retailer.

Ebooks are coming as well. I have a few minor production issues to resolve there, and as soon as I do, I will be rolling it out on Kindle, Nook, iBook, and Kobo.

I will post updates as the book progresses through its various sales channels.

Grandissimo is published! Read More »

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The official Grandissimo proclamation

October 19, the day of the official launch for Grandissimo, is shaping up to be huge. The launch will be part of the Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic event at The D hotel & casino on Fremont Street.

How big a deal is the launch? Well, I’ve got a proclamation from Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman that says it’s worthy of recognition:

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The text reads: 

I, Carolyn G. Goodman, Mayor of the City of Las Vegas, do hereby proclaim October 19, 2013 as Jay Sarno—Grandissimo Day in the City of Las Vegas and ask all citizens to join me in recognizing all the contributions Jay Sarno made to the development of Las Vegas through the groundbreaking casinos he built, Caesars Palace and Circus Circus. Thirty years after his death, his influence on how casinos are built and run is still felt. Today we celebrate the launch for GRANDISSIMO: THE FIRST EMPEROR OF LAS VEGAS by David G. Schwartz, a full-length biography of Sarno that tells the incredible story of the Las Vegas pioneer.

Thanks for this go to the mayor’s office, which kindly issued the proclamation.  

And if you needed another reason to join us in launching Grandissimo, the mayor thinks you should. 

The official Grandissimo proclamation Read More »

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ISBNs for the book

Another sign of Grandissimo’s impending publication: I have two ISBNs for the book. 

What is an ISBN? Bowker, the kind folks who sell ISBNs, say that “ISBNs are used world-wide as a unique identifier for books. They are used to simplify distribution and purchase of books throughout the global supply chain.”

For the Grandissimo paperback, the ISBN is: 978-0-9900016-0-7

For all editions of the Grandissimo ebook, the ISBN is: 978-0-9900016-1-4

If you want to order the book from a retailer, you should be able to give them the paperback ISBN and, once the book has been populated in the Ingram catalog, they should be able to find and order it.

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Here’s the cover!

You got a glimpse of it in the photo of the print proof—here is the cover in all of its glory.

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Brilliant work from cover designer Mr. Charles S. Monster—it matches the interior content in many ways, some of them quite subtle. You’ll notice liberal use of Sarno block, an architectural element from Caesars Palace that to me perfectly represents Sarno’s design aesthetic.

Here’s the cover! Read More »

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First media notice

Grandissimo got its first media notice on September 13, in John L. Smith’s column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

GRAND SARNO: After devouring a galley copy of David G. Schwartz’s new book on the wild life and times of casino man Jay Sarno, I can only say aficionados of Las Vegas history will love it when it becomes available in late October. It’s titled “Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas.”

LVRJ link

John L. Smith was kind enough to write a few words about the book, which you can read on the Advance Praise page.

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Print proof received!

rollthebonesbook:

I got the print proof in the mail yesterday, It’s everything I had hoped it would be.

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Now I’m looking through the proof for any issues to fix before putting the book into print. Once I do that, I’ll start working the conversion to ebook formats. The book will be available very, very soon.

Print proof received! Read More »

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We did it!

I came back from class to a very welcome message in my inbox:

Your project has been successfully funded!

That’s a great email to get from Kickstarter. If you want to see the page, go here. I’ll be sending out a follow-up update soon.

Thanks to everyone who backed this; it’s an incredible feeling to know that others believe in you.

In other news, I have seen the cover, and it is incredible! We are right on target for our October launch window.

We did it! Read More »

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One Day to Go at Kickstarter!

As we head into the homestretch, I’d like to first of all thank everyone who has backed Grandissimo so far—we’ve far exceeded my original goal and we’ve even reached my initial stretch goal of $6,000. It’s been an incredible experience for me, as a writer, to see just how enthusiastic people are about my work. Thank you.

Of course, there seems to be no shortage of things to spend money on to promote the book, so more funding is always appreciated. 

As of today, I have a completed index, which I have integrated into the layout of the book, meaning the layout is substantially done. Once the campaign is complete, I’ll be adding quite a few names to my acknowledgements (thank you all $50 and over backers) and doing one last read-through before ordering a print proof. Once I get that in the mail, it’s time to make sure the book looks the way it’s supposed to on paper. If it does, I then put the book into production, making it available for sale online and ordering a few dozen copies to send out to backers and to have available for sale at VIMFP

I’ve had lots more exciting news about book signings in the past few days that I’ll share with you as well. I’ll be signing at the Vegas Valley Book Festival on November 2 from 2-4, have discussed doing a talk and signing at the Mob Museum later this year (no date yet, but possibly sometime in December), and am scheduled to give a talk and signing at the Clark County Library on March 6. 

If you would like to see the Kickstarter project page for Grandissimo, to make a last-minute pledge or to just see what all the fuss is about, please go here

Thank you all again!

One Day to Go at Kickstarter! Read More »

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Early September Update

Things are looking good for Grandissimo.

The book is at the indexer’s, being gently indexed as we speak. The interior layout (other than the indexing) is finished. I ran a very, very rough version through CreateSpace’s proof process, and liked what I got back. 

I’ve seen a rough version of the cover, and like what I saw.

So right now it’s about fixing little things and waiting for the big things to come in. We’re still right on target for the October 19 launch at VIMFP

The Kickstarter campaign is about half-way done. I met my initial goal, which covers the basic expenses of publication, and am now hoping to reach $6,000, which will let me do some more intense marketing and promotion of the book. No matter how the campaign ends up (I’m just shy of $5,000 as I write this), I am both honored and humbled by the incredible response it has gotten. Writing this book hasn’t been easy; whenever you can’t find a home for a book that you know is a good one with a publisher, you can’t help but have second thoughts about how good it is (or isn’t). 

The overwhelming support has really blown me away. It is so gratifying to know that people out there want to read my telling of the Jay Sarno story.

Thank you all.

Early September Update Read More »

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Kickstarter goal met, and a new challenge

It didn’t take long—about 4 hours—to reach my initial goal for the Grandissimo Kickstarter campaign, $2,500.

As of right now, I’m at about $4,000, which is great, because I can put the additional money into more marketing for the book, which should translate in getting it in front of more people. So if you haven’t pledged yet, your money will still be put to great use. I also want to do things like printing up cards and maybe even t-shirts to help promote the book.

Thanks to everyone who has already pledged—it’s a wonderful feeling to know that people believe in your work.

Kickstarter goal met, and a new challenge Read More »

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Publish GRANDISSIMO Kickstarter has launched!

I’ve talked about doing it, and now it’s done: the Grandissimo Kickstarter campaign has launched and hopefully, over the next 29 days, I can raise $2,500 and publish the book in time for VIMFP. 

You can read more about the project (and hopefully back it) here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588383140/publish-grandissimo-the-first-emperor-of-las-vegas

Basically, I need the money to help me with some of the editing, indexing, and marketing expenses to get the book launched. As of today, I’m just about done the layout (waiting for rights permissions for 4 photos), and it’s almost ready to go to the indexer.

I’m gratified that I’ve already attracted a few backers—before I could finish this post, I have gotten 10% of the way to my goal. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out!

Publish GRANDISSIMO Kickstarter has launched! Read More »

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When will Grandissimo be available?

It’s a question I’ve gotten a bit lately—when will Grandissimo be available for purchase? 

The answer: October 19, 2013. That’s the official launch date for the book. It’s no coincidence that this is also the date for the Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic

With the book a little ahead of schedule right now, it may be available for download and/or purchase before that—I would say the earliest would be the first week of October.

What needs to be done? As of today, I have to make a few minor edits; incorporate the notes section into the book; add four pictures that I’m waiting rights permissions on; have the book proofed one more time; have the book indexed; and get the print-ready pdf where I wanted. There’s also the small matter of a cover, which is on its way (love what I’ve seen so far). 

The ebook process is a little different; in some ways in involves deconstructing the print files and tweaking them so they’re best optimized for devices, then saving the resulting epub files a few different ways to accommodate the four ebook channels I’m using. Some of these are more time-consuming than others. If the past is any guide, the iBook will be available 1-2 weeks after the Kindle version.

In any event, I’m very happy to tell you that a book that I’ve been working on for more than six years will be available within the next two months.

When will Grandissimo be available? Read More »

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We have a call number

This is really exciting to me: GRANDISSIMO now has a Library of Congress call number, thanks to Kathy Rankin of UNLV Libraries. That means that, once the book is out and available in libraries, this will be its call number.

The call number is: HV6710.3.S27 S38 2013

This is just one of the many little steps the book takes before it’s ready for you to read. 

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Progress report

Work on the book is coming along well. I’m in the final stages of photo permissions, and the layout is pretty much set. Right now I’m eliminating the numerical endnote markers in the text and adding textual cues to the citations in the notes. It is actually less exciting than it sounds.

My next step is to finalize the layout. From there, it’s one final round of proof-reading, then indexing, and then into production. 

I’ll keep you posted.

Progress report Read More »

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Progress on Grandissimo

With Roll the Bones out now, I’ve dove back into GRANDISSIMO. In the past few weeks I’ve given the manuscript its hopefully final major edit and have started to flesh out this site.

You can now read Who is Jay Sarno to get a sense of the man GRANDISSIMO is about, and see the Cast of Characters.

My next step is to create a Kickstarter campaign to get the money I need for the last bit of work on the book—copy-editing, indexing, and marketing.

Hopefully by this October, you’ll be able to read GRANDISSIMO for yourself.

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