Writing in Tampa Bay
The writing life on this stretch of coast: the rooms worth a morning, the literary history buried in these towns, how a local author gets onto a shelf, and the stories sitting in people’s houses.
No pitch. No pressure.
This hub is laid out in chapters, from places to write and the literary history to bookstores, libraries, museums and the stories worth writing here. If you’re in Tampa Bay and have a book in you, see my ghostwriting services or start smaller with the Book Discovery Intensive.
2. The literary history nobody tells you about
4. Every bookstore within thirty miles
- ► Emerald City Comics, Clearwater: Thirty-Seven Years on 49th Street
- ► Barnes & Noble Clearwater: The County's Last Big General Bookstore
- ► The Book Rescuers, Largo: Three Miles of Shelves and a Landfill Problem
- ► The Comic Book Underground, Largo: Glass Cases and Thirty Years of Memory
- ► Portkey Books, Safety Harbor: The Smallest Store With the Biggest Nights
- ► Back in the Day Books, Dunedin: Bestsellers Out Front, Rare Books Behind Glass
- ► Bitter End Books, Ozona: A Simon & Schuster Alum Behind the Counter
- ► The Gilded Page, Tarpon Springs: A Bookstore Run by an Author
- ► Sam's Books, Oldsmar: A Bookstore Hidden in a Flea Market
- ► Barnes & Noble Palm Harbor: The Newest Big Bookstore in the County
- ► Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg: Seven Thousand Books, Chosen One at a Time
- ► Wilson's Book World, St. Petersburg: Fifty Years and Three Generations
- ► Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg: Open Three Days, Then the World Closed
- ► The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg: Tropes on the Bookmark, Catan on the Table
- ► The Story Garden, St. Petersburg: A Children's Bookstore in a House
- ► Cultured Books, St. Petersburg: Where a Book Report Buys a Book
- ► Pages and Perks, St. Petersburg: A Bookstore in a Hotel Lobby and a Building Under Renovation
- ► Feed Your Imagination Comics, St. Petersburg: The Shop That Sends You Elsewhere
- ► Oxford Exchange, Tampa: A Bookstore With a Building Around It
- ► Black English Bookstore, Tampa: Named for a Baldwin Essay, Built for a Family
- ► Mojo Books & Records, Tampa: Nineteen Years From a Nook
- ► Steamy Lit, Tampa: A Romance Bookstore With an Open Submission Form
- ► TampaAntiquesandBooks: Rare Bindings in Among the Furniture
- ► Bookends, Ybor City: Four Years, One Bungalow, and a Trailer Full of Books
5. Public libraries in range
- ► Palm Harbor Library: The Town That Taxed Itself for a Library
- ► Dunedin Public Library: The Red Skull on Every Mystery
- ► Tarpon Springs Public Library: Five Books for a Dollar
- ► Oldsmar Public Library: The One With a Museum Inside It
- ► Clearwater Countryside Library: Torque Wrenches and Seed Packets
- ► Clearwater East Community Library: Open at Nine, Still Open at Eight
- ► Clearwater North Greenwood Library: The Best Reading Light in the County
- ► Clearwater Beach Library: Ten Hours a Week and No Parking Lot
- ► Largo Public Library: Fifteen Hundred Romance Readers on a Saturday
- ► Seminole Community Library: Open at Eight, Open on Sundays
- ► Barbara S. Ponce Library: The Children's Wing and the Staffed Desk
- ► The Obama Main Library: A Real Coffee Shop and Seven-Day Hours
- ► Mirror Lake Library: St. Petersburg's 1915 Carnegie Building
- ► North Community Library: The Drive-Through Book Drop
- ► West St. Petersburg Library: Eight in the Morning, Playground in the Lot
- ► Gulfport Public Library: A Reading Garden With Actual Shade
- ► St. Pete Beach Library: They Lend Metal Detectors
- ► Jimmie B. Keel Library: The Best-Rated Building in This Series
- ► Town 'N Country Library: The Closest Tampa Branch to Pinellas
- ► John F. Germany Library: Twenty Thousand Photographs of a Vanished City
- ► Where to Write in Clearwater
- ► Where to Write in St. Petersburg
- ► Where to Write in Dunedin
- ► Where to Write in Largo
- ► Where to Write in Palm Harbor
- ► Where to Write in Tarpon Springs
- ► Twenty Thousand Photographs of a Vanished Tampa
- ► Haslam's Book Store, Closed Since March 2020
- ► Tim Dorsey Wrote 26 Books and Toured Every One
- ► Who Hosts Author Events in Tampa Bay
- ► The Two Literary Magazines Published in Tampa Bay
- ► Finding a Book Club in Tampa Bay
- ► Silent Book Clubs: The Format That Stopped Pretending
- ► Writing Florida Without Writing a Postcard
- ► Researching a Family History in Tampa Bay
- ► Interviewing Your Own Parent or Grandparent
- ► What to Do With a Box of Unlabelled Photographs
- ► The Tampa Bay History Museums Writers Never Use
- ► What a Pinellas Library Card Really Gets You
- ► Where to Donate or Sell Books in Tampa Bay
6. Museums, and what each one holds
- ► Heritage Village, Largo: Twenty-Eight Buildings Moved Here
- ► Dunedin Digitised Forty Years of Its Own Newspaper
- ► The Segregated School That Became the County Archive
- ► The Tampa Bay History Center Has Two Research Libraries
- ► The Henry B. Plant Museum and the Summer of 1898
- ► The Nail by the Door: Ybor City Museum State Park
8. Working with me where you are
- ► Safety Harbor Ghostwriter: A Writer Who Works in the Art Town
- ► Clearwater Ghostwriter: Your Book, Written Where the Gulf Meets the Page
- ► Tampa Ghostwriter
- ► St. Petersburg Ghostwriter
- ► Palm Harbor Ghostwriter
- ► Largo Ghostwriter
- ► Pinellas County Ghostwriter: I Know the Whole Peninsula
- ► Polk County Ghostwriter
- ► Florida Ghostwriter: A Book Author Who Chose This State on Purpose
- ► Remote Ghostwriter: Your Book, Written From Anywhere in the World
- ► Book Discovery Intensive
Thinking about a book of your own? Start with the Ghostwriting Hub. Related: Memoir Hub, Writing Hub, Publishing & Marketing Hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your story is worth writing down
The people who built the mound at Philippe Park left no account of themselves. The record goes to whoever left one. Let’s talk about yours.
No pitch. No pressure.
