Leon Stevens's Blog, page 82

Thursday Thoughts: Indie April / National Poetry Month

Indie April. Is it just a made up thing to raise awareness of the plethora of independent authors? Well, yeah.

National Poetry Month. A month to raise awareness and foster the love of reading and writing poetry? Uh-huh.

Good time to put my books on sale? It can’t hurt.

Is book three of my sci-fi trilogy coming out in the middle of all this? You bet.

Is this going to be a busy month?

I think you know the answer to that.

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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My Poetry Collection, “More Poetic Meanderings” is Now Available for Purchase as a Kindle Download in the Kindle Store

National Poetry Month is fast approaching.

K Morris - Poet

I am delighted to announce that my collection of poetry, “More Poetic Meanderings” is available in the Kindle store to download in Kindle format,  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BZT9G139/. “Meanderings” will  soon also be available in paperback and I will post a link here once this is the case.

Book Description:

“More Poetic Meanderings” is a collection of poems that explores the complexities of life through the lens of the human experience. Each poem offers a unique perspective on various themes, such as love, loss, mortality, pain, joy, hope, and the beauty of nature.

The collection begins with an introductory poem that sets the tone for the rest of the book. The collection delves into deep themes, such as the meaning of life, the struggle for self-discovery, and the beauty of nature.

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Weird Wednesday March 29: Cartoons and Poetry Sale

Poetry Sale: April 1st (no Foolin’).

To celebrate National Poetry Month, both my poetry collections will be on sale April 1-8 (US/UK)

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The Final View Release

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Music Monday March 27: Another Canadian Indigenous Artist – William Prince

There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it. Maybe you will find a new favorite.

When you think about Canadian music, do you think about indigenous Canadian artists? Well you should. They are very good. You may have missed this post where I mention singer-songwriter, William Prince:

Music Monday: Songs You Might Want to Hear- Indigenous Canadian musicians.

From his website:

William Prince approaches the big questions with humility and curiosity, and his songwriting is a masterclass in skillful simplicity. Since his JUNO Award win in 2017, Prince’s momentum has continued to build, with each new album adding depth and dimension to an exceptional body of work that has received international acclaim. From national network television appearances, top tier media coverage and performances at major international festivals, William Prince has become one of the country’s most respected and celebrated songwriters.

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Weekend Wrap-up March 25: Can I rant? Of course I can (and will).

And of course it is about Amazon.

The other day I noticed that my book prices had increased for 2 of my books:

The first book should be $2.99 and is shown as $3.00, while the second went from $3.99 to $4.07.

After several emails with KDP (Amazon’s publishing platform) and getting nowhere (of course), I discovered the price increased again:

WTF?! who would buy books priced at $3.03 and $4.12? Prices like that just look odd, right? There is a reason retailers set prices with 0.99 or 0.98 in them.

Well, I can say that Amazon never fails to disappoint. Back to the emails …

-Leon

This week on my blog:

Free Book Friday March 24: Sales figures behind the scene
Weird Wednesday March 22: It’s a sh*#y spring, and Cartoons
Music Monday March 20: Eric Johnson

1681743600

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until

The Final View Release

Start at the beginning: The View from Here

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter and receive a free book!

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Free Book Friday March 24: Sales figures behind the scene

Ever wonder what an author sees when they look at their sales graph? It looks pretty cool until you see the scale on the left.

Yeah. that first number below 1 is 250 000. There’s a lot of books out there. Every sale counts!

Sometimes it is easy to miss a post or a promo, so I’m leaving last week’s in for you reading enjoyment. Next week, to kick off National Poetry Month, I have a conversation with poet Juanet Martinez.

Had some positive feedback on this short story:

Free Book Friday March 17: No Conversation but a free short story!

The story behind Free Book Friday:

I’ve met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can’t do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?

Readers don’t just read one author – they stick with their favorite genres. There lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other’s sales? Why not. It’s called karma.

Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.

Here are this week’s promos to check out:

Featured Authors

Chris Sarantopoulos is a Greek writer who learned to communicate in English almost at the same time he started using his native language. He studied Geology in Scotland (you may hear him say aye a couple of times), then decided to diversify and completed a Master’s degree in Service Management. He almost started a PhD, but that didn’t work out. He enjoys writing science fiction, particularly post-apocalyptic fiction and cyberpunk, but also dystopia, fantasy, high fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror (not the splatter type though).

M. Rothmus

Rothmus is a doctoral student in Europe. Originally from the Middle East, his writing fuses the political and philosophical concepts of voluntaryism, individualism, propertarianism, and free will with the futuristic elements of science fiction and post-State societies.

Influenced by the works of Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, Vonnegut, Rand, and Moore, he writes in the political, metaphysical, and dystopian science fiction genres.

Reads From StoryOrigin and BookFunnel

StoryOrigin and BookFunnel allows authors to advertise their books to each other’s audience. I hope you have been able to discover a new favorite!

Free Books March 15 BookFunnel March 15 StoryOrigin March 22 Purchase links StoryOriginTired of finding sub-par books? Theses titles are all rated 4 and 5 stars! Starts March 1

Previous promos: Discover New Authors and Free Books.

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter and receive a free book!

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

HOW TO SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW WRITER

Story Empire

Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about supporting our fellow writers.

Have you ever wished people would be more supportive of your writing? Or wonder how to help other writers? I know I have.

An author’s body of work can vary, including novels, short stories, nonfiction, poetry, articles, or blogs. One thing they all have in common is they are all looking for readers. Does that make it a competition? No. Each audience is unique. A writer offers personal insight and life experience on any given subject. The wonderful writing community is where we can all exist successfully. I am always cheering for every achievement of my fellow writers.

What are the best ways to offer our support?

Read! There are many genres out there, and it’s impossible to read all of them. So read the ones you enjoy.

If you enjoyed the book you’ve read—write a review. Didn’t like…

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Weird Wednesday March 22: It’s a sh*#y spring, and Cartoons

Is it Spring yet? Doesn’t feel like it other than the sun’s rays have a bit more oomph. The last few days the temperature dipped to -17 C. Still a chill in the air.

I suppose the first sign of spring is when you see how many irresponsible and lazy dog owners their are by the amount of … well you know. What baffles me thought is finding the poop bags in the snow banks. C’mon, you have the bag you picked it up and you can’t wait to find a garbage can?

Shame on you.

Here’s my latest review:

Start the Adventure! 1681743600

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The Final View Release

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

Music Monday March 20: Eric Johnson

There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it. Maybe you will find a new favorite.

The first guitarist that wowed me was Eddie Van Halen (you might have heard of him) it was around 1979, and my friend played me a tape of Eruption off the first album.

Next was Jimi Hendrix, followed by Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jeff Healey (I featured him on April 4, 2022).

I then entered my Heavy Metal phase and was drawn to a different caliber of players, not always melodic, and often fast … very fast.

But American guitarist Eric Johnson brought me back to reality showing that you could be both technically proficient and musically brilliant. He is still putting out recordings, but this is how I remember him.

Same performance, but unfortunately not the best quality. What I like about it is that a few minutes in, Eric aborts and begins again. Why? He does hit a stinker of a chord and continues for a few notes, but obviously it was enough to bother him.

At one point I did learn much of “Cliffs of Dover” but not all the crazy parts. “Trademark” on the other hand was more manageable.

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

Weekend Wrap-up March 18: Less is more

I really have nothing to say this morning…

-Leon

This week on my blog:

Free Book Friday March 17: No Conversation but a free short story!
Weird Wednesday March 15: Cartoon
Tuesday Tirade: In Praise of Amazon. Wait, What?! 
Music Monday: Distant Cousins

1681743600

  days

  hours  minutes  seconds

until

The Final View Release

Start at the beginning: The View from Here

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.