What wouldn't would-be author Stefan Lonce do to find a publisher for his book, LCNS2ROM – LICENSE TO ROAM: VANITY LICENSE PLATES AND THE GR8 STORIES THEY TELL (www.lcns2rom.com)?

In November 2007, Lonce and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents the DMVs, released the first-ever Vanity License Plates Survey, which found that there are 9.3 million "vanitized" motor vehicles in the U.S.
(http://www.lcns2rom.com/vanityplatesurvey.htm).

In July 2008, Lonce published an op-ed article in The New York Times, suggesting a better way for DMVs to screen "offensive" vanity plates while complying with the First Amendment's right to freedom of speech, which the Supreme Court has held applies to license plates. 

DMV officials all over the United States like Lonce's idea.   The Times even included Lonce's favorite neologism, "vanitize," which he defines as "to embellish a motor vehicle with a vanity license plate or plates," in the published op-ed article. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/opinion/05lonce.html?_r=1

Now, Lonce has persuaded Tony Castro, a Democrat who's running for Westchester County District Attorney in the 9/15/09 Primary, to vanitize with a plate that says TONY 4DA.  Lonce, who is also a graphic artist, designed the first-ever political poster that incorporates a vanity license plate image. 

[Downloadable images of the TONY 4DA poster and plate are posted on the home page at www.lcns2rom.com]

"Vanity license plates are minimalist poetry in motion; vanity plates are message platforms that empower motorists to tell the shortest of stories, or to promote causes, including themselves, as Tony Castro has done," Lonce said.  "I hope that other candidates choose to vanitize with messages appropriate for their campaigns, and use their vanity plates in their campaigns."

"I'm having so much fun working on LCNS2ROM, which is my actual New York vanity plate," Lonce said.  "Book publishers frequently reject books that are different and new; Dr. Seuss had a hard time finding a publisher, as did the authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul.  LCNS2ROM shows how fascinating, and how much fun, vanity plates are."