I was just in a discussion with a fellow writer about how to
make sales. My advice to her was promote, promote, promote! Don’t think that
the PR people at your publishing house is going to do it all themselves, they
have a load of books to try to promote not just yours. As the author it is part
of your job to bust down doors and get word of your creation out there.
Remember writers you are gods, you create worlds. You hold the destinies of
those you create in the palm of your hand. So, you need to get off your ass and
make some noise, because no one will do it for you….
I’ve learned this over the years I’ve been doing horror. The
problem is the horror community and especially those who think they run horror
have no respect for writers, neither screen writers nor book writers; that is
why we have been barraged with lack luster scripts and cookie cutter plots.
Shit, I remember an argument I had with a big convention promoter. He told me
writers were useless to him, that they don’t put butts on seats. He said in his
opinions writers should shut up, pay for their tables, and be happy that they
are allowed at conventions at all because they are considered beneath vendors
and belong in the back of the vendors room. Here is what I got to say about
this…get a fucking clue. Over the last seven years reading is back in style and
with the invention of Nooks and Ebooks books are back in vogue and are in fact
getting more popular than films even. Readers are finding the plots and
characters more desirable in books than their counterparts on screen,
especially in the horror genre. With big name scream queens dragging their way
through performances with no heart and pretty much looking like they are on
drugs, people are getting tired and revitalizing their imaginations with a good
book. But still podcasts and conventions are still living in the 90s and don’t
see what is clearly a fact in todays horror culture. The saviors of horror are
not going to be The Twisted Twins or any other filmmakers unless they under crank
those massive egos and ally themselves with the true gods of horror, the
writers. Remember this a single writer can create terrors that even the great Stan
Winston could never bring to life. Writers are the future of horror and people
need to acknowledge that...
