Boom-Books

22/06/2024

We adore Little Free Libraries -- & we need more of these! Does your town have one?

With its monthly repair cafes and nearly 5,000 items to lend, Buffalo's Tool Library is chipping away at throwaway consumerism.

08/10/2022

10/09/2022

How Kindle's recently added "delivery charge" cuts into the royalties you earn -- and can even flip your income to a debit.

There is an Amazon downloads charge for Kindle delivery. If your ebook has lots of images, your royalties on the Kindle KDP 70% rate reduce.

04/07/2022

Once again Amazon encourages customers to steal from authors. First it was their listen-&-return-it policy on Audible; now it's their read-&-return-it policy on Kindle. Don't fall for it! Tell Amazon you support the writers you love by signing this petition (& buying their books: https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks)

Change Amazon Return Policies for Completed E-books: Protect Authors from Theft!

30/06/2022

Do you "read" audiobooks? Do you publish audiobooks? How about podcasts? This corporate merger may change everything.

On June 16, Spotify finalized its acquisition of Findaway, a digital audiobook creation and distribution platform used by many independently published authors with a vast catalog of titles. The deal is a key part of the streaming app’s plans to expand by selling audiobooks. Spotify is making its m...

17/05/2022

Good news for SF Bay Area writers!

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has taken a cue from Francis Ford Coppola's Story Dispenser at his Columbus Ave. restaurant in North Beach, SF, by adding story dispensers in transit stations. Now they're calling for submissions, max 7500 characters: https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2022/news20220516-0

This would be really interesting if they meant "characters" in the central-casting sense. Still, $200 for nano-fiction. . . .

RELEASE DATE: 05/16/22In celebration of BART’s 50th anniversary this September, BART is proud to announce our first-ever short fiction contest: BART Lines.With BART Lines, BART will shine a light on the literary voices that make the Bay Area unique, diverse, and creative. Our riders keep BART movi...

01/03/2022

Tired of winter? Grab your phone and go sailing! CJ Verburg's Shafted, or The Toastrack Enigma: an Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod Mystery is now available on Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd, and Nook for just $2.99 (e-book).

22/01/2022

FREE today only on Kindle -- for any mystery fans who haven't yet picked up an e-copy of "Shafted, or The Toastrack Enigma" https://www.amazon.com/Shafted-Toastrack.../dp/B09KDBQQC8

Shafted, or The Toastrack Enigma: an Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod Mystery

07/01/2022

And now his dream ironically comes true, with a bidding war for his true-crime story of scamming celebrities.

Filippo Bernardini, 29, was taken into custody at JFK airport in New York City on Wednesday on suspicion of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He is due in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.

02/01/2022

For writers & fans of short stories (or any kind of stories), this "class" may be the best guidance and the most fun you'll ever have.

Crap. "First Thoughts on Revision."

28/12/2021

Boom-Books author CJ Verburg reviews Maggie O'Farrell's HAMNET: https://boom-books.com/cj-verburgs-review-of-maggie-ofarrells-hamnet/ (Rehearsal photo from Hamlet, Cotuit Center for the Arts, May 1997: L to R Doug Mckenna, Vincent Myette, Robby Hanner, Joe Richards, Paula Carpenter, Kevin Ahern; dir. CJ Verburg, set by Edward Gorey)

03/12/2021

When your caption writer hasn't seen a beach in way too long . . .

David Reed, 53, has been arrested in the beating death of his half-sister in 2001 after police found his DNA on the shell, officials said.

06/10/2021

Mystery Magazine: October 2021

11/09/2021

Congrats to Desert Sleuths on this weekend's "WriteNow" conference! Grand finale was a publishing panel moderated by marketing expert Julie Trelsted. Here are recent insights from Julie on how writers can (& should) approach publishing a book in 2021: https://julietrelstad.medium.com/?p=a914f58a9640

Read writing from Julie Trelstad on Medium. Creative Director of Julie Ink, Author Strategist. Every day, Julie Trelstad and thousands of other voices read, write, and share important stories on Medium.

31/08/2021

One more way the automation of literature has failed book-lovers:
https://time.com/6078993/goodreads-review-bombing/

Many authors and publishers now see the social networking site as a "necessary evil"

24/08/2021

Looking for tales of the "Westward Ho!" migration? Don't ask Amazon!

02/08/2021

The Book Club of California's Summer Book Sale has begun! Exquisite limited-edition volumes on the history of children's books, Chinatown drawings, Yosemite, and much more. https://bookclubofca.square.site/

15/07/2021

"The fully evolved detective story is technically by far the trickiest form of fiction humanity has so far devised. For we have come to demand of it not only a mystery with a plausible solution, but over and above that a mystery with a surprise solution; and over and above that, a mystery with a surprise solution which by rights we ought not to have been surprised at all." -- Edmund Crispin, quoted in Howdunit by Martin Edwards

05/07/2021

Very entertaining, though not entirely factual:
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/six-fun-facts-about-kurt-vonnegut-on-cape-cod/
Includes a link to a reproduction of Vonnegut's short, charming 1964 reflection "You've Never Been to Barnstable?"

Kurt Vonnegut lived with his large family in West Barnstable, Mass., for 20 years. Here are six fun facts about his time on the Cape.

13/06/2021

A great opportunity for crime-fiction writers (& citizens) to look behind the scenes & behind the stereotypes -- moderated by Sisters in Crime NorCal expert Ellen Kirschman.

In partnership with Palo Alto University, we are offering a specialized live course on Police Psychology in an Era of Social Unrest. This course will overview the uncomfortable subject of police, racism, and psychology.

10/06/2021

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021, 4:30 PM: Authors David Talbot and Margaret Talbot discuss their new book.
REGISTER: https://48hills.org/2021/06/the-sixties-uncensored-and-unredacted/

David and Margaret Talbot’s “By the Light of Burning Dreams” brings to life the revolutions, and revolutionaries, who rocked the Bay Area and beyond in the '70s.

10/06/2021

With audiobooks booming, authors & readers are no longer stuck with just Amazon/Audible/ACX. Check out this comparison of six rival audiobook distribution services — Author’s Republic, Findaway Voices, Kobo Writing Life, Lantern (formerly ListenUp Audio), PublishDrive, and Soundwise. https://selfpublishingadvice.org/audiobook-publishing-alternatives-to-acx/

Through ACX and Audible, Amazon dominates the audiobook industry. But there are excellent alternatives for authors seeking a wider audience.

17/05/2021

Thanks to Tom Gauld for the image and Linda MacConnell for posting!

06/05/2021

Why they'll never pry the serial comma from our cold dead keyboard:

04/05/2021

If you missed Boom-Books author CJ Verburg's publishing-in-a-nutshell Zoom talk at San Francisco's wonderful Mechanics' Institute Library, you can watch it online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twbh2zLKX-s

02/05/2021