I hope it worked! I've launched the digital distribution for all the backerkit orders, so everyone should get their epubs, pdfs, and relevant mp3s!
International Backers should be getting their physical books soon!
Domestic U.S. Backers -> They ship next week!
For the digital distribution, some of them are bundles, so the only way to distribute them is a text link to a file download. Just copy it into your browser and grab your files.
I HOPE (because I have no idea what it looks like on your side) that it's easy peazy. Let us know!
If you see any tracking from 4HP Publications that's us! So if you get emails or any notifications in the coming weeks, that's where it's coming from! They are our publishing partner for novels.
International Backers:
Your orders are going into the system this week and then it should take the typical 2-3 weeks for the books to arrive at your doorstep.
Digital Distribution:
I've set up and toggled digital distribution through Backerkit...hopefully...it works in a non-annoying way. See... there are basically 5-6 separate digital products all mixed and matched around and HOPEFULLY they all work smooth. (and don't make you click on a ton of things).
THE Black Ballad Metal album is done! I'm just waiting for the files from DiAmorte and those lucky people who preordered it here, will get it a few months before it's released. I'm aiming to do all the digital distribution at once next week.
Domestic US: The printing hath begun! As soon as they show up, they will be zipped back around and out, right in time for the May shipping window!
Alright everyone! We finally have the full cover art and the books are finished with typeset. We've pulled everyone's data from the pledge manager and sent it over to distribution.
In the next two weeks you may see shipping notifications from 4 Horsemen Publications! That's us! They handle the novels.
Pretty artwork will follow after the rest of this post!
A Big Favor To Ask. If you find yourself having time this weekend and really want to help out the studio, the Crit Awards nomination window is now live. It takes a while to go through the form, so we made a handy voting sheet for everyone:
It has all the categories ST Forge, Severed Threads, and some of our closer peers are eligible for. It will take about 15 minutes, but it shines a spotlight on our studio. So, if you would be so kind, click the link and have at it!
Now for the Pretty Artwork! Here's the cover banner for every book in the set!! Everyone who is a part of this will get their copies before the novels are actually released this July!
I've got updates! Books are getting so close to print ready. How ready? We come bearing layout / typeset. I wanted to post an update here before the madness begins on a totally different project next week.
Four Horsemen Productions likes making pretty novels on the interiors, and for that to happen they need the cover art to be finalized. We are 3 out of 4 novels fully finished when it comes to cover art, and we are just waiting on the last cover art for To Slay a God.
So what do they look like? At the bottom of this email, you'll find a few pages from the prologue of Mortal Coils.
Duskwalker, Mortal Coils, Black Ballad, Ashlynn's Journal, and Memory Thief are all finished and as soon as we have the last one through the publishing que: Everyone's orders are getting shipped.
As for the metal soundtrack from DiAmorte, it's in the final mixing and mastering stage and to quote the audio group: "This thing is as dense as a neutron star." I know they are close, it's just taking a long time to render each metal track. If the metal soundtrack lags behind, it won't impact shipping so it should generally hit / arrive at the same time the physical books do.
We are still on track to deliver all products BEFORE our predicted May timeline! So...yay! Divination success!
Lastly, for the hardcore book readers that BURN through books faster than anything: 4 Horsemen and Paige Lavoie only have 4 days left on their crowdfunding for the limited edition of "Mothman in Love" trilogy. A monster-romance series dealing with fey, spicy monster stuff, and a cozy life with a cryptid boyfriend. You can check out the last 4 days of that kickstarter by clicking RIGHT HERE.
Now Without FURTHER ADO! TAKE A LOOK AT THE GORGEOUS MORTAL COILS!
Smoke Test for Chronicles will be launched this week! Once that's sorted, then we will release the pledge survey's for everyone else. This gets us to collect tax, shipping, handling while the books are in type and layout. We are still on track for books coming out and getting printed in May if not sooner.
DiAmorte's metal album is in the final stage of engineering BUT they did release this for everyone: https://youtu.be/v5TG7C-eq7o?si=y_PicmQj2vli5wmS (The full Black Ballad Orchestral on their side. This way, if you aren't following them on youtube, you know where to go)
With that out of the way! ARTWORK! First, the Mortal Coils Cover!
Next! Some fun banners that we made for 3 out of the 4 novels! (To Slay A God is the last cover we have to finish!)
Special Thanks to C.D. Corrigan for the pretty layouts! Feel free to download them and use them if you wish!
That's probably it for the Feb updates until To Slay A God is finalized, but once that happens, it will be very fast that typeset and publication rolls forth into physical books that end up in your hands! We just need to let artists do the art thing for a bit and then layout handle their stage :)
Thank you guys so much!
STF Team and of course, ALL THE FRIGGIN AUTHORS SAT WAITING FOR PUBLICATION DAY! (I know their pain from being on the other side of the publishing process. Sorry guys...)
