Nope, not a bookmobile service.
Well, not per se.
Books In Motion publishes unabridged mysteries, romance, historical fiction, Westerns, Americana, copyright-expired classics, science fiction, military, and Christian fiction - exclusively a) in audiobook format, and b) for a very specific audience:
Long-haul truckers.
That's a 10-4. Which explains, in part, the focus of the company's stated philosophy: to develop audiobooks as rugged and durable as their listeners. From the company's Web site:
All phases of the development of a Books In Motion audiobook are accomplished "in house." We do all the recording, editing, high speed duplication, and packaging in our state-of-the-art recording facilities in Spokane, Washington. As a result, we have complete quality control throughout the entire audiobook development process. Our packaging is especially durable. Our vinyl book packs are made to our specifications with tough, heavy-duty vinyl, sturdier backing, and nylon webbing in the spine. Our tapes are the highest quality BASF, proven to hold up under the toughest usage. If they are inadvertently damaged, replacement tapes are always available.
Books in Motion are only available for purchase online, and at truck stops.
The high-volume reader may prefer to opt into a rental plan, by which Books in Motion may be rented and returned to any one of several hundred truck stops around the country. For an idea of how vast this literary web is spun, see the company Web site. Visitors can select a state and a highway, and receive the exit ramp numbers that will bring them to another Books in Motion depot. By this mechanism, you can pick up Devil's Wind in Indiana, drop it off in Wisconsin, and rent a copy of The Daughters of Luke McCall in the same place, to return in California.
No Agent? No Past Publications? No Problem!
From The Writer's Market:
...25% of books from first-time authors; 90% from unagented authors. Pays 10% royalty on wholesale or retail price. No advance. Publishes book 3 months after acceptance of ms... Reports in 3 months on queries, 1 month on proposals, 2 months on mss. Book catalog free...
On the whole: not great, but not bad, either. And here's the surprising bit:
Minimal profanity and no gratuitous sex.
And less surprising:
We like series using the same charismatic character. Query with synopsis and first chapter.
Why not?
Acquisitions, c/o Gary Challender, President
9212 E. Montgomery, #501
Spokane, WA 99206
Yes, you. Why not?
Come on. You know you've got it in you. Forget all the high-flying literary crap and just tell a story.
Dig down deep, and let the lizard talk through your bones. It's archetypal. Forget everything that you're supposed to know. Believe in black and white. Believe in strong men, soft women, bad guys with a bull's eye a mile wide painted right on the front of their shirts, and in loyal dogs that die to save their masters. You want to believe. Hell, we all want to believe. So go ahead. Knock one out for the good guys.
And if you feel a presence, now, something summoned by the whispering in the back of your mind that says "Yes, yes, be a Jack London, a Louis L'Amour, a counter-literary Calamity Jane, be the one who never goes to cocktail parties or makes a million but who has a loyal readership riding the concrete rivers, yessssss, do iiiiit" - it's the Trucker Muse.
She's petite, curvy, long and curly red hair, freckles, chapped rosebud lips, wearing a faded Harley t-shirt, new jeans, old tooled-leather belt, silver belt buckle that says Live Free or Die, work boots, cheap silver dreamcatcher earrings.
She takes off her mirrored aviator sunglasses and looks at you, smile catching in the crinkles around her green eyes. It doesn't matter if you're a girl (Thelma and Louise? Yeah, that was her) or a boy. She's ready to ride shotgun. And she loves a good story.