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Stefan J. Lonce, author of the forthcoming book, LCNS2ROM – LICENSE TO ROAM: VANITY LICENSE PLATES AND THE GR8 STORIES THEY TELL,is an editor and graphic designer who tells compelling personal stories in prose, graphics and pictures. Lonce is the editor of The Montauk Sun newspaper, distributed on the east end of Long Island, New York.
Lonce decided to write LCNS2ROM in 2006, when he realized that vanity plates told stories, that they are minimalist poetry in motion. It seemed obvious to Lonce that the title of the book had to be an actual New York vanity plate, and that LCNS should be part of the vanitized message. LCNS2ROM conveys not just how Americans spell on vanity plates (which resembles the spellings used in emails, instant messages and text messages); it conveys the power of license plates as message platforms.
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Working with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents the American and Canadian departments of motor vehicles, Lonce quantified, for the first time, the vanitizing phenomenon: there are 9.3 million vanitized motor vehicles in the U.S., and 440,000 vanitized vehicles in Canada. American, Canadian and British media extensively reported the results of the AAMVA-LCNS2ROM Vanity License Plates Survey in November 2007.
Since then, Lonce has become the leading expert on license plates in the United States, regularly quoted by reporters on license plate controversies and in news stories. The New York Times and The State have published op-ed articles by Lonce examining how the First Amendment's right to freedom of speech applies to license plates, and how religious messages on license plates generate heated passions – and many lawsuits.
In his NY Times op-ed , Lonce proposed creating a national database of prohibited vanity plate messages, compiled with advice from First Amendment experts, to better enable DMV-ers to screen "offensive" vanity plates, while complying with constitutional mandates; DMV officials want to establish the database.
Lonce's NY Times op-ed also included his favorite LCNS2ROM neologism, "vanitize," and many reporters have used "vanitize" in their stories about LCNS2ROM.
Now, Lonce has persuaded a candidate for District Attorney in Westchester County, New York to become the first political candidate to vanitize and use his actual vanity plate in the campaign; the candidate is Tony Castro and the plate says, TONY 4DA; Lonce used his graphic design skills to create a phenomenally eye-catching campaign poster.
Lonce's "vanitized" achievements are extraordinary; just search for "LCNS2ROM" or "Stefan Lonce" online, and more than 500 results appear, a remarkable achievement for an unpublished book.
Still, after more than three years, Lonce has been unable to find a publisher for LCNS2ROM, or land a literary agent. The publishing world is notorious for rejecting books that are new and different: For example, publishers repeatedly rejected Dr. Seuss, and 140 publishers rejected Chicken Soup for the Soul (which went on to sell more than 100 million copies).
Lonce knows that LCNS2ROM will find a publisher and will sell: If only 5% of American vanitizers, who are personally passionate about their vanity plates, buy LCNS2ROM, they would buy 465,000 copies! Readers who are "unvanitized" will also buy LCNS2ROM, because it's a GR8 read: The profiles of vanitizers featured in LCNS2ROM combine compelling text with eye-catching graphics and photography to recount the GR8 stories that inspired those motorists to vanitize, like this one:
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Alison Masry is always with her husband, Rudolph, even when they're miles apart. That's because, in 2003, Ally donated a kidney to Rudy, who suffered from end stage renal failure. Ally's NY vanity plate says DONOR, and Rudy's says DONEE. |
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LCNS2ROM also explains fascinating facts about vanity plates, such as: FDR was vanitized (his plates said FDR), and one of the most popular artworks at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum is "Preamble," which recites the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution ["We the people…"], on 51 vanity plates.
And LCNS2ROM is laugh-out-loud funny, as befits a humor book: For example, the #1 reason to vanitize is, "Vanity plates are cheaper than tattoos… and you can remove them by taking out the screws."
LCNS2ROM is fun: It's written in a short, light-hearted style, as befits a book about vanity plates. Lonce's demonstrated ability to generate positive free media coverage of LCNS2ROM and the vanitizing phenomenon virtually guarantee that the book will succeed commercially; Lonce has platform. Through his contacts with AAMVA and the DMVs, Lonce will have even more opportunities to promote LCNS2ROM when it's published.
LCNS2ROM is Lonce's first book. He is a member of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association. Lonce's vanity plate, of course, is LCNS2ROM.
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