👏 Thursday's in the house!

🌤️ Today's weather: "Feels like" temps around 100.

💫 Sounds like: "What Dreams are Made of" from "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" starring Hilary Duff, who will bring her tour to the Frost Bank Center in November 2027.

🥂 Bring a friend — or make a few new ones. Join Axios readers going to dinner Oct. 6 at restaurants we hand-picked in Southtown. Pull up a chair.

Today’s newsletter is 1,074 words — a 4-minute read.

A new publishing house based in San Antonio is taking a unique approach to give lesser-known authors a platform for success.

Why it matters: Major publishers often focus limited resources on big-name writers, leaving others to face fewer options to promote their work — or to self-publish and do it all themselves, Christopher Bodmann, co-founder of Inbound Books, tells Axios.

What they're saying: "We designed Inbound Books to really address all of that," Bodmann says. "We're going to treat each book like it has the best chance in the world to become the next fire book."

How it works: Inbound Books is a co-op that makes its authors stakeholders in the press. That means they can help other writers prepare for a book launch, and then share in the profits. The more they contribute, the more they earn.

• The publisher also provides authors with a marketing plan and a toolkit on social media, events, media interviews, podcast appearances and long-term promotion.

The latest: The press is accepting submissions now, a process that will look similar to that of other publishers.

• They hope to publish authors from San Antonio and beyond.

State of play: Bodmann, a middle-grade author based in San Antonio, teamed up with three other area writers to establish Inbound Books: his wife Jayne Bodmann, B.J. Bell and Joseph Guyer.

Zoom in: The press' first release, "Karma Ledger," is by Bell. It's a cyberpunk thriller about a hacker who risks everything to try to change a medical system.

• It's slated for release Oct. 23 and can be found wherever books are sold.

The bottom line: "One of our hopes is that we will be able to find books that maybe a traditional publisher wouldn't want to publish for some reason," Christopher Bodmann says.

Go deeper

Latino voters swung sharply toward Republicans in 2024. Now, much of that gain is fading amid shifting views on immigration policy.

Why it matters: An Axios analysis of recent polls shows Latino voters aren't simply swinging right, then left.

By the numbers: Democrats lead Republicans 56%-29% on the generic House ballot among 1,353 Latino registered voters in seven states including Texas, per a new bipartisan BSP Research/Shaw & Co. poll for the American Business Immigration Coalition and American Families United.

• The pollsters calculated that Democrats' advantage among Latinos is 11 points wider than in 2024.

State of play: Inflation and gas prices remain voters' biggest concerns, but immigration remains highly salient — though voters don't choose between enforcement and legalization as an either-or.

• More than 70% in every state surveyed backed strengthening border security while providing work permits to long-term undocumented immigrants who work and pass a background check.
• 76% preferred a candidate position calling for a bipartisan path to permanent legal status and immigration reform, compared with 24% who preferred a deportation-focused position.

What they're saying: "Latino voters are making clear that they don't see border security and legal pathways as competing priorities," Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, tells Axios.

Methodology: The overall margin of error is ±2.7 percentage points.

Go deeper on gender divides

👮 Two former San Antonio police officers who were acquitted in the 2023 shooting death of Melissa Perez have been hired by the Bexar County Precinct 3 Constable's Office. (Express-News 🔑)

🎷 Doc Watkins, the local musician who owns Jazz, TX at Pearl, is opening a new jazz club in Chicago. (SA Business Journal 🔑)

🗳️ Stat du jour

Bexar County received more than 45,000 online voter registration applications from the Texas Department of Public Safety that have not been processed due to a DPS error. The voter registration deadline is Oct. 5.

• "The Elections team is already hard at work reviewing every application and will be extending hours to make sure all records are updated well before early voting begins," county elections administrator Michele Carew said yesterday in a statement.

San Antonio has begun replacing César E. Chávez Boulevard street signs with Durango Boulevard signs.

Catch up quick: The City Council voted in August to restore the Durango name following allegations that labor and civil rights leader César Chávez sexually abused women and girls, including longtime collaborator Dolores Huerta.

• The street had been known as César E. Chávez Boulevard since 2011.
• As of yesterday, most signs east of South Flores Street to the Alamodome, where the road becomes Iowa Street, had been changed.

State of play: The city began work Monday to replace about 80 signs and expects to finish by the end of the month, Public Works spokesperson Nicholas Olivier tells Axios.

• Highway signs are expected to take six months to a year to design, fabricate and install in coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation, Olivier says.

Tell a friend

A new documentary about the rivers that define Texas is hitting theaters tomorrow.

The latest: "Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers" is narrated by Texan Ethan Hawke and supported by H-E-B.

• It features the range of wildlife found in Texas, from otters to turkeys and even the prehistoric alligator snapping turtles.
• Expect to learn more about the Rio Grande and the Sabine and Neches rivers.
• The film will also explore "the critical water challenges facing a rapidly growing population," per the movie's description. Filmmakers are calling on state officials to protect Texas' water supplies.

Flashback: The first "Deep in the Heart," released in 2022, was narrated by Matthew McConaughey. You can stream it on Apple TV or rent it on Amazon Prime.

What's next: Santikos Palladium will screen the new movie and host a Q&A with director Ben Masters at 3pm Saturday.

• Several San Antonio-area theaters are showing the movie.

Thanks to our editors Astrid Galván and Bob Gee.

🤩 Madalyn is making her game plan to get Hilary Duff tickets.

👻 Megan thinks it's pretty cool that the rodeo is going to offer haunted hayrides this Halloween season. Similar events were always one of her favorite October activities growing up.