#Book Club on Substack for Indie Authors

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Merging of Fable & Everand Mean to Indie Authors

Early reflection and perspectives from an indie author on how this strategic merger empowers book authors to reach engaged, censorship-free audiences across borders. Publishing Case Study #137 Are you a book author looking to reach a broader audience through a proven system supported by a like-minded community? Are you an aspiring writer who wants to publish your first book within 3 months with…

[i-cast-teatus-deletus]

Part 3 Entertainment - Books Part 2

I finally(!) learned about Stuff Your Kindle Day (SYKD), which is a bit of a misnomer as it's

Not amazon- or kindle-exclusive

Multiple times throughout the year

but it's a day where indie publishers/author promo groups all sell free books at once, adding up to dozens or hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of free books at a time, for a single day. If you were thinking about getting some ebooks to help pass the time at consults/after surgery, it wouldn't take very many out of those large number of free books to have plenty of reading material. I've been able to confirm that, outside of the US, this is also available in Canada, the UK, and Australia. Other countries may be participating as well, but I'm struggling to confirm one way or another, and the same book may not be free in all regions.

It's worth mentioning that Kindle, Apple, Nook, and Kobo all have free apps if you don't have an ereader (or would rather use a tablet than have a dedicated ereader), and that all of these storefronts are, to my knowledge, participants in all of these events. I will say that I was initially hesitant to get an ereader and waited a long time to get one, but I don't regret it. I have been, in particular, VERY vocal in recommending them to people who struggle to read paper books because you can change the font/font size/margin to make them more accessible, including using the OpenDyslexia font.

SYKD originally was romance-exclusive, and the "official" STKD events are still heavily romance-focused, but there are other publishers and groups coordinating similar, smaller events in other genres ("Book Blast" seems to be the current popular name for discount events not associated with the original group running SYKD).

If you know me at all, I am a pretty prolific category romance reader (especially at places like the doctor's office, where a romance novel is a nice time-waster that doesn't require wifi and allows me to not be fully immersed while I listen for my name to be called), so I'm quite excited for the official announcement for STKD, likely happening in March. In 2023, for some measure of comparison, SYKD happened on March 31, June 30, September 20, and December 27.

Romance Bookworms is the home of the "original" SYKD and allows you to sign up for email alerts (or substack) when they announce the dates for 2024, which are a closely guarded secret. SYKD is the largest of events by FAR with about 2,000 books available in the December 2023 event. Romance is the primary genre, but other books in other genres are free for SYKD as well. Several sources indicate that Romance Bookworms has sections on their SYKD listings specifically for BIPOC authors and for books that feature LGBTQ+ protagonists.

Romance Book Lovers is an unrelated group that is hosting a Romance Book Blast, with the next listed date as April 23.

The Cozy Mystery Book Club has coordinated several Cozy Mystery Book Blasts in the past, including in January of 2024, with the next event listed publicly as April 25.

Witchy Bookworms coordinates the Witchy Book Blast, which ran last on January 27 and already has the next date listed publicly as April 27.

Fantasy Book Dragons just ran their first "Stuff Your Kindle with Fantasy" event in January and have mentioned plans for another event in June with no date announced yet.

YA Bookworms runs a similar YA-focused event, the last one I can find info on happened on October 7. They also have a substack.

Terrify Your Tablet seems to run on October 31 only each year (This is the same event as Spook Your Kindle; they changed the name to clarify that it's not amazon-exclusive).

Thriller Blast appears to be a similar event for mystery, suspense, and thriller books, with a similar hook of waiting on an email announcement for dates and no clear indication on the landing page when the last event was held. I also wasn't able to confirm anyone participating it in via reddit, or anywhere else, so your guess is as good as mine.

Romance Audiobookworms also runs a similar event for audiobooks, Stuff Your Earbuds, with an event announced for spring but the date still unannounced, just like SYKD. This is still a relatively new event, unlike SYKD.

There's a lot of whining online about the quality of the books available for these events (especially SYKD, which I'm sure is unrelated to the fact that it's mostly romance and the general feelings most people have about romance as a genre), but the fact of the matter is that books available on kindle, especially for free, vary wildly in quality all the time no matter what. I've quit reading a lot of duds in the year I've owned an ereader, but I've read a lot of things I liked, too, and I assume the offerings for these events are a similar mixed bag.

Considering how many new events have cropped up in the past 18 months or so, I'll be excited to see in any new author groups decide to run similar promotions in the future or whether more groups decide to align with SYKD.

[ear-worthy]

What If We Get It Right Podcast: The Future Is Now

Essentially, there are two kinds of podcasts. There is a podcast that covers a topic that’s been covered thousands of times, but the show’s goal is to do it better than anyone else. A prime example includes movie review podcasts Verbal Diorama and What Went Wrong. Both shows are essentially “how this movie was made” podcasts. What separates them from the thousands of other podcasts with the exact same premise is that they do so much better than anyone else.

Then, there are indie shows that defy classification and often marry genres together into some kind of Island Of Dr. Moreau proto-genre. A perfect example is Another F*cking Horror Podcast, which seamlessly blends true crime, horror, and humor into a delightful show of bizarre tales and snarky intentions.

“The podcast is a futurist, climate solutions interview show, but she always keeps things fun and gives us hope,” notes podcast consultant Andreea Coscai of Tink Media.

The creator/host of the podcast is Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, who is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. She co-founded and leads the Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank focused on the future of coastal cities, and is the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College.

How to Save a Planet, and co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. She earned a BA in environmental science and public policy from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She serves on the boards of directors for Patagonia and GreenWave, as well as the advisory board of the Environmental Voter Project. Above all, we’re told, Dr. Ayana Johnson is passionate about climate solutions.

If you’re interested in climate solutions — and you should, unless you enjoy sweating and continual storm clean-up — check out Dr. Johnson’s Substack, which offers forward-looking musings on climate from a scientist and policy nerd.

The podcast began in September 2024 while Dr. Johnson was on her book tour. Back then, she explained: “I’m on a seven-week book tour across the USA, and I’m taking you with me: 20 cities, 40 events, each one different. I’ll be in conversation with all sorts of fantastic folks, talking climate, policy, politics, and culture. I’ll be sharing the best bits of that here. And perhaps I’ll get to meet some of you in person along the tour. Details are here: getitright.earth/tour.

This first episode featured excerpts from the book launch Climate Variety Show, which she co-hosted with Jason Sudeikis at the Brooklyn Museum on September 17, 2024.

Some of my favorite episodes since include the April 29, 2025, show called “The Future of Coastal Cities.”

Dr. Johnson says, “This week, I’m chatting with Jainey Bavishi, an expert in climate adaptation and resilience. We cover everything from social aid and pleasure clubs, to recovering from climate disasters, civic infrastructure, why we should absolutely not privatize weather forecasts, and — of course! — What getting it right in coastal cities looks like, in New York City, New Orleans, and beyond.”

Dr. Johnson continues: “One in seven people in the U.S. live in coastal cities — that’s more than 47 million Americans. Additionally, the U.S. coastal economy supports 54.6 million jobs and contributes $10 trillion to the country’s total GDP. And this is certainly not a so-called coastal elite issue — poverty and unemployment rates are higher in coastal cities than the national average. Plus, coastal areas face the threats of sea level rise and storms made more potent and more damaging by climate change.”

On the May 28th episode, Dr. Johnson reconnected with her former co-host from How to Save a Planet, Alex Blumberg. On the show, Blumberg kept his suggestions straightforward and focused on local solutions, such as joining condo or HOA boards to advocate for clean energy and energy efficiency measures. Blumberg explained that Buildings and construction account for 38 percent of CO2 emissions globally — cement manufacturing alone accounts for eight percent.

In response, NYC’s building energy grading law requires buildings to benchmark their energy and water consumption. NYC’s Local Law 97 (enacted in 2019) aims to drive deep emissions cuts from buildings, which are responsible for more than two-thirds of NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr. Johnson is as proficient as a podcast host as she is as a writer. She’s articulate, witty, knowledgeable, and most of all, amusing in a way only scientists can be.

If you're concerned about climate change and are interested in solutions, check out 'What If We Get It Right.' If you’re not interested, then consider decreasing your deductible on homeowners' insurance, buying an inflatable raft, having a go bag, and learning to love humidity.