Part 2: Find your own voice and go for it, by rock journalist and author Anthony Bozza.

Anthony co-wrote Slash: The Autobiography. Illustration by Robin Boyden

Tell us about your relationship with your audience and how you interact with them?

The first time I realized that there were people out there really reading what I wrote was when a college student who was doing a paper on my writing, contacted me for an interview. That was special. She sent me a copy of the final result and it was really good – I think she got an A. As someone who truly enjoyed the process of researching and writing papers when I was in school, to see my own writing dissected and discussed in that same forum was fantastic. That definitely changed my perspective on what I do and made me feel like I could be a guide and inspiration, directly, to up and coming writers.

And thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter I’m more in contact with fellow music fans and fans of my writing more than ever and I really enjoy it. Having that kind of conversation with people makes you feel, in a genre which is kind of a ’solo sport’ like golf, that you’re not just doing it for yourself.

Your work has inspired many emerging writers, how important do you think it is to encourage and motivate others in your field?

Well, last year I started Igniter, a publishing company with Neil Strauss who is author of The Dirt and The Game, as a way for us to champion up-and-coming writers and put out interesting books that we think the publishing industry may have otherwise overlooked. A lot of our ideas and some of our writers even, came to us through interacting as directly as possible with our fans. Both of us feel very strongly that interacting with our fans and listening to their interests is key to what we want to do with the company. So really I mean it, I welcome all correspondence. We writers do like to write emails too, you know!

Anthony enjoying a Yankee’s game

How important do you think the Internet is in publishing and distributing work?

The web and digital domain are essential to all creative fields at every level and it can’t be underestimated. The pace of creation, the font of information and the exchange of ideas that are now possible thanks to the Internet is nothing short of incredible. As someone who grew up at a time when all of that became a reality in every day life, I feel lucky to have known what it was like before.

There are elements I miss, like having to hang out at record stores or dig for fanzines to find out about an underground band you liked. But overall, the ability to research an interest or discuss an issue at a moment’s notice with someone on the other side of the world is akin to magic. However, I do think that the instant-gratification of the Internet has been detrimental to art forms like music and film as well as to the undervalued virtue of patience.

The Internet accomplished what television started: it has made us all ADD, given us the memory retention of a goldfish. Still, I somehow feel that this was inevitable. I think the Internet is a human-driven evolutionary anomaly on the path the human race has cut for itself to run through time. There is always something lost when a species evolves but I’d like to think that something equally valuable is also gained.

You feel the digital age has affected the process of our evolution, can you explain this further?

There are so many facets to our existence that can be analyzed to gauge the effect of the digital domain but since music is very important to my general well-being I’ll use that as an example.

When I look at a band like Radiohead, who came through the traditional system and released rock records that were always unique yet identifiably rock, before completely leaving that form behind to make cutting edge records that embrace the possibilities of the Internet and digital media in form and content, I think we’ve made progress. They exemplify exactly how it should be done by a band at their level.

For younger bands, the Internet has allowed them to connect with fans all over the world, which in turn allows them to book tours, and become an operational business much sooner than they otherwise would have. All of this means faster change and more of it. The Internet also allows people in creative fields to form collaborations with people half a world away. In music, artists can collaborate on a track without being in the same city. I think that opens everything up to the limits of human imagination, which is exciting.

How has this impacted journalism and the creative writing industry?

In terms of my own field, I think the Internet has made written communication more important than ever. That doesn’t mean that there is more good writing out there necessarily but there is more writing and reading going on. I think writing is a vital form of human communication, one that bridges the old and the new and anything that allows more of that, I see great validity in.

Unlike the immediate gratification of photos or video, writing tells a story the old fashioned way – by engaging the reader’s imagination. It takes the reader on a journey but allows them to fill in their version of the details. Good writing tells you just enough to paint a picture but not enough to leave you with a cut and dried snap shot. And if there is a medium like the Internet to bring that very vital, very rewarding, very human tradition to more people at once, I’m glad. If a medium can bring us all together no matter how far we live apart, then despite its flaws, it’s inherently good.

Anthony’s book Why AC/DC Matters is an analysis of the legendary rock band. Illustration by Robin Boyden

Can you tell us about that final leap of faith when you decided to leave the confines of Rolling Stone Magazine and become a fully fledged author?

After seven years at Rolling Stone I had reached the top of the food chain as far as staff writers went, and realized that I was also at the top of the salary chain. I then realized that I was going to have to make a choice. If I wanted to make more money and get some career insurance – because staff writers are often the first to go when editorial regimes turn over – I was either going to have to focus my efforts towards becoming an editor there or at a competing magazine. If I wanted to expand my horizons as a writer I was going to have to make less money and cut myself loose to freelance.

I wasn’t the greatest at playing office politics so becoming an editor full time, particularly at Rolling Stone, probably wasn’t going to work for me. So I opted for a contributing editor’s contract which would afford me a salary for a year but allow me to work outside of the office where I could pursue other writing opportunities.

I had been angling one for over a year and when it was finally offered it was for much less than what I knew other contributors were making. Contributors who’d achieved equal and in many cases less than I had at the magazine. That came as a huge surprise to me since I had produced well and done whatever else was ever asked of me during my time as a staff writer and associate editor.

What went through your mind and how did you decide what action to take next?

It was a slap in the face but it lit a fire under my ass and reiterated that I could rely on no one else but myself and it gave me something to prove. I thought that maybe I’d made the wrong decision and went on an interview or two for editorial staff jobs at other magazines. But it didn’t feel right, so I relied on what I knew and tried to sell a book.

And I did – it was my first book, ‘Whatever You Say I Am: The Life and Times of Eminem’, which sold both in the UK and USA and landed on the New York Times Bestseller List, as well as remaining a top five bestselling book in England for three straight months.

That experience taught me that taking risks I believed in had its advantages. It showed me that you have to do what you feel is right for you, not what is expected of someone in your position. Even if it’s a huge gamble, if you are true to yourself you’ll have no regrets.

Thanks Anthony for sharing your journey with us. It’s inspiring how you have taken control of your career and produced so many captivating books with some truly exciting creatives.

Have you been motivated by Anthony’s story, has it given you the courage to push your ideas forward and trust in your instincts? Whether you work for a company or for yourself, why not follow Anthony’s example and expand your horizons by taking on a new challenge which will push you to the next level. Tell us in the comments what your new challenge will be and when you hope to achieve it.

Interview by Angel Greenham
Co editor Sian Claire Owen
Proof Reader Sophie Claire Ames
Custom Illustrations by Robin Boyden

Links

www.anthonybozza.net
www.myspace.com/anthonybozza
www.facebook.com/why-AC/DC-matters

Special thanks to Paige Plum