A twist in the plot. Julian Gallo discusses his new novel and gives his view on the reality versus perception of self publishing

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Author Julian Gallo discusses his new novel Mediterraneo and the influence that the 50 Shades trilogy has had on self-published books.

Julian Gallo is a self-published writer. In the last decade his poetry and short stories have been published across the internet and in print; submissions that were accepted by various literary venues.  Gallo has also released four novels through self-publishing sites such as Lulu and Amazon. The reason I started off this article with that first statement is because self-publishing often has a reputation of low quality writing as opposed to the quality of writing found though major publishing houses.

The debate over the quality of self-published versus ‘officially’ published books has been a hot topic lately. The release of 50 Shades of Grey, which was originally self-published and then picked up by a publisher (Arrow) and is now the best-selling book in the UK since records began has brought a new lease of life to the self-publishing quality debate.

Is the writer EL James, the author of 50 Shades of Grey, a good writer? I haven’t read her books so cannot comment on the quality but there’s no doubt over her popularity. There is also no doubt that hype and word of mouth have helped sell the 50 Shades trilogy; it has been heavily promoted using the term “mommy porn” and here in the UK you cannot open the arts section of a newspaper lately without seeing yet another story on EL James. In terms of popularity the hype has made for fantastic sales, but are readers happy that they bought into the hype?

If you are judging the original 50 Shades novel by Amazon reader ratings you can gauge that it is about equal when it comes to five star and one star reviews; half of the people who bought her first book in the series loved it, half hated it. The three 50 Shades books are all in the top 5, best-selling books in the Amazon rankings. I’m pretty much presuming here that people didn’t start buying these books at number two or three but bought the first one and continued on with the sequels. The feedback I obtained when I asked a few readers about the trilogy was that they had become bored before finishing the original book but had bought the sequels because they wanted to find out how the story ended.

This to me seems telling in as much as that although the quality of writing may be poor, as many have stated, James does have a way of hooking her readers, making them curious enough to want to shell out the cash to find out what happens next.

But will the 50 Shades series now make people seriously consider checking out self-published or ‘independent’ writers or will the trilogy simply reinforce the argument that self-published writing is of inferior quality?

As I wrote earlier, before I got caught up in my own self-publishing debate, Julian Gallo has published four novels since 2007. Many writers would love to sell as many copies as EL James or have her popularity but Gallo isn’t actually too concerned about this aspect of writing; he simply writes his books, publishes them and over time has built up his own readership.

I’ve seen Gallo’s writing progress over the course of his four books. His novels are often lengthy, some stretching to almost 600 pages, and usually containing multiple characters with interconnecting storylines. For me, Gallo found his voice with his 2011 novel Naderia, a book that once finished not only makes you immediately want to read it again but also a book that would definitely change your mind if you were under the impression that self-published writing is of inferior quality.

Above all, Gallo’s writing is a blend of intelligence and entertainment. He not only makes you think about the themes he explores but has learnt how to keep his readers turning the pages, to keep them hooked, and that is not an easy thing to do. Mediterraneo, his latest book, is no exception.

Mediterraneo focuses on two New Yorkers who take a vacation to the old country, in this case Southern Italy, to a fictional town in Calabria, where they hope to find some clues about their family history. This sleepy little town slowly begins to reveal extremely dark secrets that have been buried for decades until the newcomers arrive and unknowingly unlock the door to the past.

This is a book where build up is just as important as the pay-off. Gallo drenches you in hot Italian sunshine until you can feel the sweat drip from your forehead. He introduces the cast of characters slowly until you are familiar with them. He has researched Italian folklore and traditions and inserts them into the book for a reason. By the time he has set the scene you feel as if you know this town and its inhabitants, and yet while you bask in the sunshine and enjoy wandering around this little town there is also the feeling that something is coming, something ominous is about to happen and you can feel it creeping up just out of sight. It’s a subtle and unnerving build up that wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch film.

To say more would be to give away the twists and turns of this story. One of the twists won’t actually hit you until you have finished reading the book and thought about it for a while. It’s a testament to Gallo’s writing that as someone who thinks they’ve read and seen it all I couldn’t work out what actually lay ahead no matter how hard I tried.

Mediterraneo is probably one of Gallo’s most graphic books in terms of sex and violence and is, as is always the case with his books, completely different from the novel that preceded it or indeed any of his previous novels. Gallo is a self-published author worth a look. If you have previously been of the opinion that independently published books were full of low quality writing then Gallo’s novels should come as a pleasant surprise.

The debate over the quality of self-published books will no doubt continue. But with reports than the major publishers are now scouring the self-publishing websites for future best sellers (Penguin books owner Pearson have just bought an established self-publishing website for $116 million)it could be time to go to these sites directly and discover some writers yourself before the big publishers get there first.

I caught up with Julian Gallo and talked to him about his new novel and the progression of self-publishing.

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