Hatton
Cross Steampunk (HCS) Publishing
HCS Publishing is a
concept as much as it is a publishing house. It began as an idea conceived at a
convention between two authors and an artist. The conversation went something
like this: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a publishing house that really cared
about promoting the author more than generating a profit for themselves? Wouldn’t
it be nice if WE were the focus of what that publishing house did?”
This conversation triggered a reaction and sent owner
(and author) Dave Lee into motion. As an author, Dave wanted a publishing house
that would get his books out there to the masses, generate interest in him as
an author, AND not take all of the revenue generated by book sales. Crazy
concept, I know. There are plenty of vanity publishers out there but they are
really more about selling services and generally could care less about book
sales and the content published. This caused Lee to look at things a different
way.
With each person Lee met and the more he spoke to
people about the idea, the larger it grew. Before he knew it, HCS Publishing was ready to get off the ground
with an entourage of extremely talented folks. When they opened shop on June 1st,
2013, they had already amassed four novels with a fifth debuting on the same
day! The four novels were “Country in Ruin:1865”,
by Dave Lee, “When October Ends”
as well as “Chasing” by teen
author JM Lee; and “Liberation at 50 Paces”
by Jarod D. Crews.
June 1st, their opening day, was celebrated by the debut collection
of steampunk short stories “Ætheric Elements” by radio personality Travis I.
Sivart. By the end of the year, HCS Publishing had
released the debut novel “Hollow Thunder” by
Nicole Ordway and the graphic novella & CD “Once Upon a Midnight” by
Valentine Wolfe & Jacob Wenzka.
Each title displayed the company’s desire to focus on great
stories, rather than a particular genre. Being a “steampunk” focused company
did not seem to matter as everyone loves a good and entertaining story. Having
a colonial era paranormal (Hollow Thunder)
totally fits into HCS Publishing’s mantra
as it’s a great story with superb writing and provides inspiration to those
that may wish to add steampunk to that era. Why not? If nothing else, the
reader will be absolutely pleased with the adventure Ordway takes them on.
One of the key elements, as identified by Dave Lee,
was the importance of quality and talented editors. One thing that plagues
independently published authors is the lack of good editing. Lee realized that
if this was to work, he would require an army of talented, passionate and
quality editors. This is perhaps just as important as having talented authors.
He was fortunate enough to meet Jeanne Wilkins and
immediately enticed her with the glorious title of Editor In Chief. Ok, well
maybe not so glorious initially but Jeanne got what Lee was trying to do. She
believed in it and the stage was set. Jeanne brought a wealth of experience in
editing and being an avid reader, she brought an eye for good stories as well
as the talent of helping authors polish their works to gold. The editing team
expanded with the addition of Angela Bellamy-Knowles and author/editor Nicole Ordway. With each editor, a unique
personality and set of skills joined the team and the family grew.
Another element that was imperative to success was
artists and graphic artists. Lee had several years of experience designing book
covers for clients and knew just how important this asset was to a publishing
house. You may not be able to judge a person by the cover but EVERYONE judges a
book by the cover. Lee brought the incredibly talented artist James Christopher Hill (from Charleston
SC) to the team. James was the artist that initially encouraged Lee to pursue
this endeavor and consequently Lee was thrilled when he agreed to be a part of
the team. Hill, being a very talented and accomplished artist, brought a high
degree of options to the table as far as cover art and cover design.
So what’s next for HCS Publishing? MORE TITLES! 2014 will see the
release of book number 2 for Travis I. Sivart “Steampunk for Simpletons”, novel number
two for Nicole Ordway “The Loyalty of Dew”
(the sequel to Hollow Thunder),
debut novel from renowned steampunk maker Stephen Chapman “The Stonehenge Rift”, debut novel from
Shawn Cosby “Brotherhood of the Blade”,
novel number three from teen author JM Lee “Novus Orsa”, novel
number two for David Lee “World in Ruin:1870”,
novella number three from Jarod D. Crews “Forbearance”, a
Divinci ‘esque art book by James Christopher Hill
and a continuation of the web comic by S.E.
Ripley of “Country in Ruin:1865” written by Dave Lee.
Future endeavors by HCS Publishing include branching out from
printed media to include audio books of their titles. Rather than crank out
simple audio versions however, they team will be pursuing audio versions
reminiscent of the classic radio shows of the 1940’s and 50’s complete with
retro sound effects and voice acting.
With this much passion towards something that everyone
on the team believes in, it would seem that they can’t go wrong. Be sure to
keep up with this eclectic family and all that they have to share via Facebook, Twitter and their website.
You can purchase copies of any of the HCS Publishing titles from their website, or directly here:
Chasing:
book 2 of the Novus Proprius Chronicles – JM Lee
What a powerhouse group of people! I look forward to following this house as it becomes even more famous than it already is. Great idea guys - keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThe future is looking bright for HCS...
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Thank you, everyone who's following the progression of our burgeoning company!
ReplyDelete