The Robot Makes Me Want to Make Things
May 2026 edition of the Boopish Newsletter
Topics (click the link to go directly to the thing):
Podcast and news
AI and the Creative Boom (and a guitar clip!)
Short story link: Last Light on a White Night
Book Updates
Discount indie novel (thriller)
Kickstarter Updates!
I’m happy to say that the Northern Roseaarde Omnibus Kickstarter has been doing great! There are 3 days left in the campaign, and:
In 7.5 hours, the base goal was met!
The $1,000 stretch goal (head/tail bands and bookmark) was met 3 days later!
The soggy middle has seen its ups and downs, but hovered just under the second stretch goal for a long time.
With a week remaining, we hit the $1500 stretch goal for sprayed edges!
There are still 3 days left if you want to get in on it! Use these links to get the newsletter subscriber discount:
🎧 Podcast
I’ve loaded several shorts to the podcast page, so if you’re self-publishing yourself, or like English etymology, take trip to the podcast!
📰 News & Ramblings
Recently, Draft 2 Digital (a self publishing aggregator platform) and Barnes & Noble announced their intent to curb the influx of AI created works by introducing increased price requirements and sign up fees.
Draft 2 Digital: So D2D is where I like to submit eBooks for sale across multiple platforms like Kobo, Fable, Smashwords, Apple, Google, etc. It’s easy to set up an account, and load your materials like you would on any other platform. A lot of indies use D2D as a way to get their books into libraries.
They just rolled out their new account model meant to combat the influx of AI cash grabs (which I’m completely on board with), by charging a one-time account set up fee of $20, and a recurring annual fee of $12 if you don’t meet a sales threshold of $100 annually (which I’m not on board with).
I’ve been grandfathered into the system, so the $20 account setup fee doesn’t apply to me, but I don’t make a ton of sales through D2D. In fact, I think the last sale I made on the platform was a year ago. That means, I’ll be charged $12 annually, starting this month. Now, $12 isn’t a lot, I can agree with that. However, the principle of the matter is that the $20 fee was waived, why not the annual? The argument some indies make about the fee is that it’s “not a big deal” and “it’s cheap,” and so on… yet, they’re not taking into account those of us that don’t want YET ANOTHER fee to gatekeep our work. Also, there are budding authors who may not have the $20/$12 to get their books on the site.
I appreciate the need to stop AI trash from flooding the sites we’ve come to rely on for getting exposure and sales. I just think there has to be a better way to do this without penalizing authors who haven’t quite “made it” yet (i.e. me).
Also, me being the leery person that I am, I feel like this new rollout is only the beginning. What’s to stop them from increasing these fees in the future? Increasing the sales bar? And/or doing what B&N is doing (discussed below)?Barnes & Noble: This one is a little less complicated. They’re increasing the minimum price requirement for paperback books to $14.99. It doesn’t matter what length the book is. In the case of Hillbilly Vamp, the book is about 100 pages, and is currently priced at $7.99 for a physical copy ($2.99 digital). I can’t justify charging $15 for a book that is only 100 pages. So that means HV will be pulled from B&N. Metaxysm may also have to go, as it’s priced at $11.99.
If you want a physical copy of Hillbilly Vamp, you can either go through my site or Amazon. I’m debating, despite the changes with D2D, on adding physical copies to that platform as well.
What do you think of these changes?
✒️ AI and the Creative Boom
Speaking of AI… I’ve discussed this on YouTube a while ago, but I think it merits mentioning again.
There’s an interesting thing happening, at least with me, and I’m sure I can speak for several others as society navigates the hell that is this AI landscape. With each new iteration or “tool” that is shoved in our faces, and those who’ve been quick to use it as a get rich quick scheme, AI has had the opposite effect on me. I’ve been wanting to create MORE things with my own two hands.
If you’ve ever spent any time with generative AI, you’ll learn quickly that there is a “look” to it or a “read quality”, and it’s easy to spot. Additionally, it rarely ever creates what you’re thinking. The more the tech sphere tinkers with each model, they do improve, but the outcome remains the same: soulless incarnations of stolen material.
I’ve played with art generators, text generators, and even music generators, and every time I do, it just makes me itch to do it myself. I picked up digital art, and I started back up on guitar about a year ago. I’ve been plucking around and wrote a couple tunes for my fantasy series, while learning how to navigate a rather complex Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
Here is something I’ve been fiddling around with on my guitar and DAW:
(it’s not polished - my fingernails needed cutting, and I kept skipping beats when plucking)
I also played around with some effects to see what they could do. The current DAW I’m using is called Cubase 15, and apparently it’s used by Hans Zimmer, so of course there are a TON of options (it’s overwhelming). I’m on the free trial right now, otherwise it’s something like $500 🫠
Anyway, I feel like I’ve been exploding lately, wanting to create all the things. Anyone else feeling the itch?
🔖 Short Stories
Last Light on a White Night, a short story written for the NYCM short horror story challenge was sent out last month, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s the link:
I turned in another Writing Battle entry on April 19th. They’ve changed the structure of these battles so that you’re not technically forced to write in a genre you’re not comfortable with. They did this by allowing you to assign yourself a “class.” While I think this can be cool, I felt like it took away some of the surprise creativity these competitions require. I signed up as a Fighter, so I generally won’t know which genre I get. That means I could be handed something way out of my abilities, like a romance, and go head to head against someone that only writes romance.
A part of me doesn’t think that’s fair, but these competitions are cannon fodder for my anthology anyway, so win or lose, they’re still going to live on somewhere! What do you think? Do you think it’s fair?
I got the Bard story (which is sort of a comedy), and the title is “Pogonophobia is the Fear of Beards.” I’m excited to share it later this year!
I’ll know the results of this competition by the next newsletter.
Coming to Substack on the 19th of May: Concerto Memento Mori (one of my more twisted ones, I might add)
📖 Book Updates
Work In Progress Updates
I’m working on two side chapters, as well as a continuation of one of the endings for Metaxysm!
Eventually I’d like to have all 3 different continuations available as a second volume, as well as one big book together with Metaxysm. This will probably be something that happens next year.
Subcutaneous Updates
I’m still on query with Subcutaneous, hoping to get some answers soon. When I do (and I fully expect nothing but rejections), I’ll reveal cover art and list preorders (in time for Halloween!).
New Low Content Book
I actually created this for myself without the intention of selling a bunch of copies…
I have what some people would call a disgusting habit, but to me, it’s not so much as a habit as it is a hobby: I like cigars. It is what it is.
I didn’t like the various journals already available on Amazon, so I created a hard cover version of my own! Here is what the cover looks like, along with a link if you also like cigars:
Here is the link if you’d like to check it out: JOURNAL ON AMAZON
💲Extras and Freebies
Susan Stillwater is magically thrust into a not-quite-right version of her home town, where she has no idea who to trust, and the Magical Investigation Bureau (MIB) is interrogating her about an illegal summoning…
🫧 LH Soaps & Sundries updates
VISIT THE SOAP PAGE HERE to check out the “final call” soaps and/or the scrub bars.
I also have some first edition paperback copies of Metaxysm and Hillbilly Vamp listed on my soap site if you’d like to1 CHECK THOSE OUT HERE.
Anyway, that’s all for now! Thanks for being awesome!