Local Author Makes it Big With Boystown Book

Local author Jake Biondi, who has lived in Boystown for 20 years, always knew that he'd love to write a story about life in the neighborhood — but he had no idea just how many people would love to read about it. 

His book, Boystown, started off as an online story, with the intention being that he'd write one installment a month — but the series became so popular that readers begged him for more. 

"I decided to write the first chapter and put it online just to see if anybody read it or had feedback," Biondi said. "To my surprise, happily, I started to get a lot of responses ... by the time November rolled around, I had released eleven 'episodes!"

Boystown was turned into a book featuring the first ten chapters this winter, and is for sale at the local Unabridged Bookstore, as well as Barnes and Noble and Amazon. 

Biondi has always written on and off as a hobby, and much of the story of Boystown is inspired by his experiences with friends and from living in the neighborhood. 

"I thought it was time for a continuous story with gay characters at its core," he said. "The neighborhood is really diverse...racially diverse, culturally diverse. While many of the characters are gay, there are certainly characters of all different racial and ethnic backgrounds in the mix." 

Biondi wrote the book a like a TV show, where things happen quickly and each installment ends in a cliffhanger. 

"It's a little racy," he said, laughing. "It's like, 'Fifty Shades of Gay'!"

The series quickly developed a following through social media, and a fan has even organized an Online Book Tour for Biondi to participate in in February, where he'll give interviews and insights to a variety of different bloggers. 

A sequel book, featuring episodes 11 through 20, will be published this spring — and things are just getting started for the author. 

Biondi, along with an actor-model friend in Hollywood named Aaron Savvy, have been in contact with several networks and producers about possibly turning the series into a television program. 

"The response has been really positive," Biondi said. "Who knows where it will end up, I'm optimistic. ... It's been exciting and fun and scary and all those things at once!"

Biondi advices other hopeful writers to never stop trying. 

"Persistence is the key," he said. "Anybody who is writing, be true to yourself, go with your gut and your passion and keep getting it out there. It's really just a matter of being persistent and really patient and seeing where it goes." 

Biondi said that, no matter what happens in the future with Boystown, he's very grateful for the opportunity to have people read his book. 

"It's been an interesting ride, that's for sure," Biondi said. "Even if it goes no further than this, it really has been great. I'm very grateful, and I'm really appreciative of people who have reached out." 

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