Month: October 2018

Dim the Sun Release Announcement!

~ stevestredauthor ~ Leave a comment

Hey all!  So that exciting teaser I had yesterday was for this: Dim the Sun.  14 dark poems and 1 dark short story.  This collection will be released December 1st, with pre-orders starting soon!

The collection will be an Ebook only release for now and will be $0.99 Canadian!  All proceeds will be going towards Rob Derman’s pursuit to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games!

For full details and a behind the scenes look, check out the official release announcement at Kendall Reviews!

RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT: Steve Stred unleashes an exciting new poetry collection ‘Dim The Sun’ with proceeds going to an Olympic cause. (Includes Pre-order links)

Dim the Sun Cover

LEFT HAND PATH ANNOUNCEMENT

~ stevestredauthor ~ 2 Comments

LEFT HAND PATH: 13 More Tales of Black Magick ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Ok!  Are you ready for the big massive, amazing announcement!??

IS IT AN AWARD!? – nope.

IS IT MOVIE OR TV NEWS!? – nope.

WELL?? WHAT IS IT!?

Sorry to disappoint, but it’s not as massive as most will expect.

So tag line – LEFT HAND PATH is an amazing collection of stories people love, but very poorly edited.

Now a few things up front;

I am an indie author.  I have no backing (like a publisher) etc.  So it is all on me.  I write the stories, I get the covers set up (I don’t create them but work with someone to create them), I set up my own marketing plan, I try and create any sort of ads and I try and get folks to review them.  I have had so much amazing help in the past it has been very, very humbling.

I completely self-released my first collection, The Fence: and Other Sordid Tales.  (Same with my novel Invisible).  I designed the cover and formatted etc etc.  I also edited that myself.  It was pretty bad.  After fantastic feedback by author JZ Foster, I had it actually edited by David Sodergren (who also edited Wagon Buddy and YURI), had the cover revamped of For Balder Walks and re-released The Fence as Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery.  The feedback since has been outstanding.  From the cover that my friend Lee Orr created to the stories themselves.  A number of folks have said it completely changed the reading experience.

With Left Hand Path, I keep getting such amazing feedback about the stories.  So I had someone edit it who didn`t want any credit, just wanted to help, and it came back.  (This was not my sister Jodi, FYI.  I give her thanks in the afterword, but she wasn’t the editor.)  I sent it off to JZ (who formats the projects for me and creates the file types needed for publication) without really re-reading it.  Then some feedback started to come back after it was released.  The cover was fantastic!  The stories are great, BUT, the editing sucks.  Poor grammar.  Incorrect use of too versus to.  But the most common thing I heard was this;

“Do you say shake your head for an agreement?”

That was the question I was asked most frequently.  I never thought about it.  I do say ‘shake your head.’  But in the literary world, that is incorrect.  You say ‘nod your head.’  David filled me in when editing Frostbitten, YURI, and Wagon Buddy.

Now why am I bringing this up?  Well for several reasons.

  • People pay some money to read my stuff. It’s not a lot, but I pride myself on putting out really good content.  To hear someone didn’t enjoy it because I didn’t take that extra step of re-reading the work before sending it to be formatted is my fault.  Not the readers.  I am a busy guy, but that’s no excuse.  I was excited and couldn’t wait for it to be released.
  • People won some copies. I said in the emails that some of the winners were receiving pre-release uncorrected copies.  But still – you won a contest.  I don’t like to disappoint folks.
  • I don’t want to be a massive hypocrite. I have started doing some reviews for the fantastic Kendall Reviews site.  How can I possible review someone’s work and comment on poor editing when I have that hanging over me?  Not fair at all to the other author and makes me look like a tool bag.  “Why should I believe him when he doesn’t edit his stuff?”
  • I am actively trying to gain fans. I want to release stuff people can’t wait to read.  Things people getting excited about.  I write some crazy, dark, sad, horrific stuff.  I have a messed up imagination.  There are folks who enjoy that.  I want them to be proud to be a fan and be a reader of my work.

So what now?

Well, I try to be a stand-up guy.  I am not trying to rip anyone off.  I think there really is only a few things that can be done.

  1. Left Hand Path will be re-edited ASAP. I have a number of works in progress, but nothing planned as an official release until next year.  So this will be prioritized.
  2. If you downloaded the book for free from my various promos or purchased the eBook (thank you so much!) when the book is re-uploaded you will be able to update the file. You can go to Manage Content and Devices and go to that file, click update.  I will update folks when that will happen.
  3. If you bought a physical copy (again thank you!) or have a physical copy for review, please message me through any of the various channels and I will send you a new Mobi copy as a thank you. I do apologize, I just simply do not have the money to replace everyone’s physical copies.
  4. If you won a copy of Left Hand Path in any of the contests I have had, message me and I will resend you an updated copy once it is ready.

 

I hope that sounds fair, and I hope that you will all stick with me and continue to support me!  I try hard and want to put out fantastic stuff!  And, as I said before, I can assure you, Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery, Wagon Buddy and YURI are all high quality, highly edited works!

Cheers.

Steve

New short story

~ stevestredauthor ~ Leave a comment

Hey all!  You may have noticed a couple new tabs on the main menu here!

The first is Kendall Reviews, which will compile all of the reviews that is published over at the fantastic Kendall Reviews site.  The second is simply titled Eaten.  I have a number of works in progress, and one of those is the next batch of short stories.  This will be one of them!  So enjoy Eaten!

Cheers

https://stevestredauthor.wordpress.com/eaten/