Dark green built-in bookshelves brim with colorful tomes and set the moody, fantastical atmosphere as Zac “Z.S.” Diamanti settles in for our interview. His published and printed titles are displayed, covers out, in front of the neatly shelved books behind him, and he’s eager to point them out. It’s a bookshelf any reader—or writer—could be proud of, and that goes double for the success Zac has cultivated over the past two years.
If you’ve seen his TikTok account, Kickstarter projects, or the overwhelmingly five-star reviews of his Epic Fantasy novels, you’d never imagine that Zac struggled to read as a child because of an undiagnosed vision problem, and his schoolwork and reading suffered because of it. While he loved comic books and drawing, reading was a much more difficult task when he was young. When he joined the Air Force, the problem was identified and corrected with glasses, broadening his world and making reading and drawing easier and more enjoyable. Eventually, it would help him write, too.
After Afghanistan
Zac joined the Air Force in a medical field to ensure he could pay for college and spent six years serving before ending his time in service and settling in Colorado. But as he readjusted to civilian life, he found he needed a break from the visual arts and drawing that had been his outlet previously. “Because visual arts, after everything you see while you’re deployed—it’s a little difficult, sometimes, to process that way,” Zac says. “So I started writing.”
He started by writing Horror short stories and short stories in other genres, and the practice helped him process some of what he’d witnessed and experienced during deployment. When he started sending out his short stories to publishers and magazines, the feedback came in the form of praise and money. As payments for his stories rolled in, Zac was encouraged to write more.
He’d explored other genres to start, but when Zac decided he would write a book, nothing called to him more than Epic Fantasy. It all stemmed from his childhood: Although he had to lean his head against the pages to see the words, he managed to read The Hobbit in its entirety. He still owns a copy now and insists that everyone should.
“The Hobbit was just this wonderful Fantasy adventure… so when I knew I wanted to write books, it was like, ‘We gotta write Epic Fantasy!’” Zac says.
He started writing Stone & Sky in 2020, and from there, his grand adventure began.
Going All In
When Zac wrote Stone & Sky, he still had a full-time job, so he spent his early mornings writing consistently and sometimes fit additional time into the evenings around his kids’ after-school activities. His wife, Brittany, read the book and gave him the honest—and surprising—feedback he needed to dive in and invest himself in publishing.
“This is good,” Brittany told him. “You could do this.”
Zac immersed himself in self-publishing education, researching how other authors found success. He studied marketing assets like websites, newsletters, and social media. With Brittany’s support, Zac quit his job on August 30, 2022, to pursue his publishing goals full-time.
“Stone & Sky came out on August 29 of 2023,” Zac recalls. “I did not have a job for a year before the book came out. So I was spending every second I had working on marketing.” He built his presence carefully, initially discussing similar books on social media to attract the right fan base. When the launch arrived, Zac provided a reader magnet offering short stories via newsletter subscription.
Brittany’s support was critical. “I could not have done it without that,” Zac says.
By launch day, the family was financially strapped, yet his strategies, especially embracing TikTok Shop early on, paid off. He swiftly recouped their investments, ensuring his writing career's sustainability.
Writing and Marketing
Zac’s creativity accelerated with practice and experience. While Stone & Sky took two and a half years, subsequent titles like Stone & Tide and Stone & Ruin each took only two months. His Cozy Fantasy, Guard in the Garden, was completed even faster, thanks to his renewed enthusiasm. It released March 4, 2025, and notably achieved over $25,000 in its Kickstarter campaign.
Campaigns, crowdfunding, and direct sales have now made writing a family endeavor—with Brittany handling taxes and accounting and their children pitching in to pack orders.
With two completed novels awaiting release and another currently being drafted, Zac’s careful strategy and devotion have led to thriving success.
Be Joyful Always
Zac channels his military experiences into vivid, family-friendly Epic Fantasy narratives. His flying creatures and gripping battles echo his Air Force tenure, and including medical realities and healing journeys enriches his stories with authenticity. His novel Guard in the Garden directly narrates a veteran’s recovery within a Cozy Fantasy setting.
Determined to emphasize joy amidst growing darkness in contemporary Fantasy, Zac aims to create wholesome stories families can share. His personal mantra, inspired during childhood by a simple message from a nun—“Be joyful always”—guides his storytelling and living.
Zac concludes, “We can have fun, laugh together, smile together… At the end of the day, we’re fighting for joy because, man, we need it.”
